HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-01-12-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the meeting of January 12, 1981
Present Ruth Butler, Steve Baran, Nicky Osborne, uth Nablo, Howard Levingston;
also Nancy Banks, and Bea Phear
The meeting was called to order at 7 35 pm.
Ruth Butler reported that she had spoken to a women's group at the Hancock Church
and described the Committee and its thrust toward prevention. Questions they had
revolved around volunteerism, information and referral, and the purpose and life-
span of the Committee
CMARC Ruth Nablo moved that the Committee recommend to the Selectmen that the
CMARC contract be renewed for another year Approved unanimously Ruth Butler
suggested that the material CMARC forwarded to the Committee be copied and used in
discussing the Committee's long range plans, particularly as an agendiitem for a
Human Service Providers Council meeting She felt that Sheri McCann had answered
the questions well and was able to demonstrate the "what", describing her system
and the diminution of costs at various critical points There are some questions
regarding the "how' and evaluation measures In addition there is concern that two
Lexington residents are unfunded. Ruth Nablo will visit there next week, and also
discuss the need to expand their Board of Directors
Nancy pointed out that CMARC failed, through a misunderstanding to file a Warrant
article Nancy had suggested that they try an ammendment on Town Meeting floor
Howard said that Ruth Butler, as chair, should go to the Selectmen and ask them to
put CMARC in Article 4, under the Health Department's Community Services line Ruth
planned to telephone Jim Crain on January 13 to discuss this with him. The recommen-
dation to renew CMARC's contract will be included in the Committee's report to the
Selectmen on January 26
Nicky suggested creating a form for next year that includes procedural issues and
explains the decision making process as well as the review criteria for all human
services that apply for Town funds It was also decided to request that all h s
data from agencies be channelled through Bea
REPLACE Bill Blout arrived, fortuitously at 9 20 p m with his responses to the
review questions, which were given to Steve f examination Bill reported that he
is not requesting consulting services from Mystic Valley, since RePlace has some
volunteer psychiatric time but that they do need more help with some of their family
work They now get approximately 50% of their referrals from the schools, mostly
for the "hard to reach" kids, since RePlace offers a neutral site and comfortable
atmosphere He said that about 20-30% of the caseload is welfare families, and about
half could pay fees but many of these are already contributing Ruth Butler pointed
out that they appear to have an assumption that "free" services are of therapeutic
value Bill agreed, and thought is was related to the adolescent need for peer
group support acid community feeling Replace now has a waiting list, and the staff
is in danger of burn-out They are seeing problems of depression, suicide, and
isoia-ion In response to a question about a youth center, he said it is hard to
imagine something between RePlace and Hayden Ruth Nablo suggested tha schools,
..hick Bill thought a good idea especially as it would enhance the schools as more
of a resource
The phone of Charlie McManus rarely rings, but RePlace nonetheless misses his
assistance in staffing and filling in. Future funding from DMH for drug prevention
is unclear Steve Baran will draft recommendations regarding Replace for discussion
at the January 19 meeting
MYSTIC VALLEY Nicky reported that the material they submitted is primarily a
description of services and a financial plan for the future She would like to
explore the possibility of putting them on a contract for specific services to the
CoA, RePlace, and the schools We should pay for what we want, rather than just
letting them decide, and rather than taking that money out of human ;services She
also felt some more money might better go to Replace for another counselor, or to
the CoA to buy Mystic Valley services Howard pointed out that Lexington citizens
do support M.V through its tax exempt status, municipal services, and personal
income taxes Nicky will draft a report, although she is concerned about possible
conflict of interest and time pressures She will do a brief draft of comments,
similar to the comments on elderly services, since M V has not answered the
review criteria, without a systematic appraisal
SCHOOLS Howard has looked at the FY/81 school budget He feels they have a great
deal of money scattered around in various programs for example, nurses appear in
several places
AGENDA FOR JANUARY 19
The Committee will review and ammend the draft recommendations prepared by
Bea (Introduction, and comments on recreation, elderly and schools)
Steve (RePlace)
Nicky (Mystic Valley)
( Ruth Nablo (CMARC)
Respectfully Submitted,
Bea Phear
(