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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-10-27-HSC-min.pdf October 27, 1980 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Present Ruth Butler, Ruth Nablo, Carol Perez, Nicky Osborne, Steve Baran, Also Elizabeth Pressman Absent John Mackey, Howard Levingston The meeting was called to order at 7 30 p m. Minutes of September 29, 1980 were accepted as corrected A discussion took place about FY 1981 funding for Mystic Valley Mental Health Center Nicky read a draft letter to the Selectmen about this topic It was decided to ask to meet with the Selectmen as soon as possible to discuss that issue, as well as the evaluation criteria At that time the committee would like to clarify the lines of communication between it and the Selectmen, The committee would also like to know when a recommendation concefning the town social worker position is desired Some discussion of contracts with town funded agencies took place It was felt that whichever town department is responsible for monitoring such a contract should also participate in the writing and understand the reasons underlying a particular contract Ruth Nablo suggested that perhaps the position replacing the social worker could participate in monitoring of contracts Laurie Kern, of the Community Health Committee, said that she would suggest to her group that they look at the structure of the Health Department Possible tasks for a human services coordinator, including contract monitoring, were mentioned The committee will send criteria to the Selectmen Ruth Nablo suggested that the Selectmen send the criteria on to the agencies for the agencies to consider with their budget requests Carol Perez added that the agencies should respond to the evaluation questions by December 8, a firm deadline This deadline is necessary in order for the H S Committee to do its work in a timely fashion Some discussion of the League of Women Voters' Human Services meeting followed All who had attended felt it had been a good meeting Ruth Butler reported that there had been a good discussion about changes in human services around normalization Carol Perez suggested discussing a job description for a human services coordinator Nicky Osborne offered that if there is to be no Heller School lab, then the committee might find it useful to form some subcommittees It would not be possible for the entire committee to look a system models A brain-storming session was suggested by Ms Perez The committee could recap what it has done, refresh some ideas presented earlier but not yet acted upon, and refocus The Selectmen's charge to the committee could serve as a framework Steve Baran suggested looking at phases of the committee Ruth Butler initiated some discussion of the Health Planning Council She had received copies of correspondence between Mrs Angela Frick and Ms Johanna Bluestone regarding knowledge of the HPC by Lexington town officials and citizens Steve Baran agreed to report on the council at the next meeting Ruth Butler will invite Selectman Jim Crain to the next HS meeting, or any subsequent meeting that is convenient for him. He is the liaison to the committee for the Board of Selectmen. The agenda for the next meeting includes 1 Discussion of the draft letter to the Selectmen about MVMHC funding 2 Review of charge to the committee Steve Baran read a draft on a workshop to possibly be sponsored jointly by the HS Committee and the Community Health Committee After some discussion, it was decided that the committee as a whole did not have time to work on such a project, but Steve Baran offered to participate and serve as a liaison The meeting was adjourned at 10 p m. Respectfully submitted, a w .-- Elizabeth H Pressman