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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-12-22-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting of December 22, 1980 Present Nicky Osborne, Ruth Nablo, Carol Perez, Steve Baran, Howard Levingston, Ruth Butler, John Mackey; also Bea Phear The meeting was called to order at 7 40 p m The minutes were approved as written Schools The committee discussed its reactions to the previous week' s meeting with Jack Monderer and Paul Lombard Ruth Butler felt that the weakest areas in their presentation had to do with the lack of systematic reporting, evaluation, and guidelines Ruth Nablo was impressed with their guidance report, which does put the kids in contact with counselors on a regular basis and is more preventive work than previously Steve' s personal experiences led him to have more respect for their work, and the balancing act between paperwork and tests versus counseling and involving the family Howard said that at BB&N and Exeter these functions are totally distinct Ruth Nablo felt that with all the choices that kids have to make, they need these people to help them out Ruth Butler felt that there should be more emphasis on the family John said he thinks it is a posistive factor that kids want their parents out of it, in the older grades, and they should go to two sources to bounce ideas There was discussion about the issue of referrals and funding It was believed that Mystic Valley would continue its contracted services but would reduce the extra consulting with the withdrawal of money from the Town Ruth Nablo felt there was no real resolution about RePlace funding Howard suggested that the School Department and the Town share the cost, but John felt this would lead to bickering over percentages, and that the schools should fund all of RePlace The Committee also believes that RePlace should charge fees Carol pointed out the importance of RePlace' s stance of confidentiality, but it was agreed that this image would not be injured if parents were charged once they became involved, in fact charging might engender more respect for the service Budget Recommendations Howard and Ruth Nablo explained the budget making process it is the function of the Town Manager to present a budget to the Selectment, working out a compromise from the "green sheets" submitted by each Department head This budget becomes Article 4, as revised by the Selecmen Everything else is a separate article The Appropriation Committee must write a report to Town Meeting commenting on every article that requests money The Capital Expenditure Committee is supposed to comment on items with long term projections The Select- men and the Appropriation Committee usually meet to "hone down" the budget and try to agree, or agree to disagree It is then thrown to Town Meeting, which listens to arguments and votes on each article Town Meeting can also alter any article, including article four The Human Services Committee' s input is to the Selectmen The Committee felt we needed answers to the "review criteria" questions before a recommendation could be made, and also a date deadline from the Selectmen Nicky was concerned about cutting Mystic Valley, primarily because it removes money from human service funding Carol agreed that was a good point Ruth Nablo suggested that M V might go for a separate article, but we needed to know how they appear on the Warrant It was decided that Bea would learn the Selectmen's timetable and call each agency for their responses, and ask if they have any questions, introducing the concept of a deadline at that time Bea will also get CMARC reports from the Health Department for discussion at the next meeting If criteria questions are unanswered, Ruth Butler felt we still have a responsibility to comment on progr s John suggested discussing Recreation and CoA now, since we didn't ask them any questions There was the feeling that the Committee would like to support keeping the Old Res open, as a low intensive service that people need more in harder times It offers a different type of service than the pool The Committee also felt that the schools ' testing programs could be streamlined and we should open a dialogue with the schools re the levels of testing and the cost-benefits Additionally there was concern for the children in the divorce group over vacations Bea was asked to draft a few paragraphs with these preliminary recommend- ations, and the promise of more, following further committee deliberations Ruth Butler brought up the apparant neglect of the nurses in the guidance program We could work with the Health Committee on this John reported that he will be busy until after April 15, but will offer occasional comments on minutes The Committee asked that he not resign but rather take a leave of absense Ruth Nablo pointed out that he will be very useful past April, when we will be making recommendations as to the structure of the H S Committee The next meeting will discuss Agency responses to the review criteria Elderly needs The draft of preliminary recommendations Respectfully Submitted, c` VL G Beatrice Phear