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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-12-29-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee Minutes of the meeting of December 29, 1981 Present Steve Baran (Chair) , Judy Zabin, Roberta Black, Stan Finkelstein, Tom Zarle, Nancy Zarle, Ruth Nablo, Ilene White also Bea Phear The meeting was called to order at 7 40 pm The minutes were approved as ammended. Steve announced that Judy wanted to reconsider meeting dates It was agreed that the regular meetings would be changed to Mondays The next meetings are scheduled for January 4, 11, 18 25 Bea announced that the Town Manager was planning to discuss human services budgets on January 18, and she hoped that the Committee would be prepared to be there and respond as appropriate Bea distributed a paper summarizing human services requests and the Manager's recommendations to the Selectmen There was discussion about trying to arrange and appointment with the Manager prior to that date, to learn his reasons but it was decided that the Committee would be better to do their own research independently Bea gave her view of his reasons for not wanting to support the Mystic Valley request. These include that Safehouse reaches only a very few Lexington residents, that there is a finite number of dollars to be spent on human services and RePlace is both more cost-effective and more preventative1/4 Ruth felt that we could not produce a recommendation by the 18th, and the Committee should just go and listen. Tom said that if we were to advise the Selectmen, and the time was tight, we still should do the best we can with the information we have It was decided that it would be premature to decide that the Committee could not give WW a report by that date, and we should try to see how far we get It was felt that any report could be described as the current feeling, but that did not preclude revision as more information was gathered. The Committee decided to invite Jim Crain to meet on January 11 between 7 00-7 30 Judy wanted clarity on the process Does each sub-committee report to whole committee which then tries to find consensus? The feeling was yes In past years representatives from agencies had come to speak to the Human Services Committee, but it was felt that there was insufficient time for that this year The sub-committees will go over the review criteria responses, do site visits speak with others who might be knowlegeable, and then make their reports Mystic Valley ,.LJni auu oLan made a preliminary report on their visit to Mystic Valley They met with Don Lund, the Director, and several others including two Board members, the director of children's programming (Scott Bock) and the director of geriatric programs (Murial Elman) They discussed both requests Safehouse and Elderly Stan said that of the two, he feltA,that the elderly request regarding friendly visitors was the best, although Mystic Valley didn't seem to have thought it through and hadn't successfully documented a need There were five components to that proposal adding up to 16 hours of staff time 1 Friendly visitors using high school students, with the MVMHC role being that of trainer, and Council on Aging doing the recruiting and dispatching 4 hours 2 Friendly visitors using elderly volunteers, as above 2 hours 3 Supervision of Council on Aging outreach workers and direct outreach for acute cases 4 hours 4 Crisis intervention and counseling 3 hours 5 Leadership of ongoing support group 3 hours December 29, 1981 page 2 Mystic Valley's other elderly proposal was for eight hours of clinical time to elderly MVMHC was asked if these proposals were modelled on any others, and the answer was no Roberta was concerned about the medical component Ruth wondered if this duplicated 1 supervision that Minuteman Home Care gave to the outreach workers Stan and Tom felt that MVMHC was unable to document need, to tell how they located at risk' clients, or to understand much about the demographics They wondered if things like this are to be done with Town money, perhaps it would be better through the CoA They then turned to the Safehouse request. Stan felt that the biggest problem is that it would be Town funding for a specific project rather than seenias a piece of the whole Despite what the Human Services wanted, it makes it difficult to separate out Safehouse from the other components of what Mystic Valley offers He also said that the $10,000 would be multiplied by the Department of Social Services Donated Funds program, whereby contributions are funnelled to agencies through a match with local money This would mean our $10,000 would become $40,000 for Safehouse There is also a domino effect with other towns, depending on which has their Town Meeting first Both Stan and Tom were very impressed with Scott Bock He seems to know the network of services well, and to have a clear view of where Safehouse fits in on the spectrum It fills a different need between Replace volunteer families and Metropolitan State hospital In general, they felt that they wanted other input and wanted to think further before offering a recommendation. They were uncomfortable with the lack of background thinking in the elderly proposals and with the small number of Lexington youth served at Safehouse, or even if other programs would pick up the slack if Safehouse disappeared, but on the other hand, they felt that Mystic Valley was performing more than $10,000 worth of services in Lexington as a whole Steve suggested Dr Ernie Cook, the DMH Area Director as a source of information The question of getting a consultant, either a citizen volunteer or a Town employee such as the Comptroller to look at the audit that was recently performed on MVMHC Also Ruth mentioned internal practices that Dr Lund had said he wanted to address when he spoke to us last year, including productivity issues and accounting procedures CMARC Ruth then reported on her review of CMARC to date They do plan to ask for $5,000 to fund Lexington clients, who would otherwise go unfunded, do to level funding and cut backs elsewhere They now have 59 clients, two of whom are unfunded, and their Board has voted to accept as many as five unfunded clients Bob Renna, in the Lexington School department had told Sheri McCann that he expected several Lexington residents to graduate from the 766 program and to need CMARC services next year Ruth said she continues to be impressed with Sheri McCann, and that she feels the CMARC programs are good, and clients are being moved into industry There had been a problem of clients not getting paid in the past, but now it seems that the contracts are coming in, and clients are getting paid appropriately on a percentage of what they would get if they worked at full speed There is a waiting list of clients RePlace Judy and Roberta had scheduled a meeting with Bill Blout for next Monday, but will try to change it They wondered if the Committee had any suggestions of issues they should December 29, 1981 page 3 explore Bea mentioned concern that the agency was growing too much, and that its focus was evolving into more of a counseling service than outreach Steve said that the alternate funding sources were an issue, and wondered if more business and foundation money was being sought Be also was concerned about burnout issues last year, and wondered if they were still a concern, about the relationship with the school department, especially regarding funding, and if they still felt the lack of a Town Social Worker The meeting was adjourned at 10 00 pm Respectfully Submitted, Beatrice Phear s I Lexington Human Services Committee Chronology November 20 , 1979 to December 17 , 1981 11/20/79 First meeting of the Human Services Committee which agrees to review Town-funded programs previously reviewed by the Board of Health and the Town Manager Replace asks for $35,000 from the Town 12/11/79 Committee meets with Jack Monderer, Director of Pupil Serviceg and members of the guidance departments concerning school guidance issues, need recognized for a school counselor to be present during the summer and for day care after school and during vacations Expendi- ture for special needs students is $1 , 751,000 12/18/79 Reed Street neighborhood group addresses Committee about proliferation of institutionally supported housing in their neighborhood The matter is referred to the Selectmen 1/22/80 CMARC subcommittee recommends contract for the purpose of hiring a contract developer working on commission only 2/25/80 Mystic Valley Mental Health Center subcommittee expresses concern about accounting practices such as apparent failure to control accounts receivable or clearly account for accumulation of surplus monies Committee decides to recommend total Replace request for $34,423 3/3/80 Committee votes to make no recommendation for Mystic Valley due to their failure to indicate how previous year' s $30 ,000 appropriationhad been spent , lack of outcome measures, and vagueness about finances 3/17/80 Jim Crain, Human Services Committee liaison on the Board of Selectmen recommends in Town Meeting holding Mystic Valley FY ' 81 apprtpriation "in escrow" until they provide data 4/8/80 Barry Marshall moves that an agenda be prepared, objectives be listed and prioritized, and subcommittees be established to reach objectives 4/29/80 When Committee meets with Replace staff inability to show effects of agency' s primary preventive thrust beyond anecdotal illustrations is discussed; difficulty in getting reimbursed for services to the school depart- ment; and reluctance to charge consumers, their families, or third party sources for services 5/13/80 Carol Perez resigns as Chairman to undertake doctoral program ( stays on as member) Committee reco- mmends that the Planning Board map all subsidized housing and community residences, and that the Selectmen dra up U11ellnes -or citizen narticination around community residences _um..ar .)arvices Committee Cnrono1oz,}, , page 2 5 /70 /'0 'iutn 2utler becomes re' Chairman , „,teve Baran , Vice Chairman Ruth advocates developing and implementing a human services system hich will respond to identified needs and Promote well being and qualit;, of life for all se-ements of the population (as opposed to (Selectmen ' s emphasis on " vulnerable populations' ) 5/27/80 Steve Baran offers planning strategy focused on prevention 6/23/80 Ruth Butler nresents prevention theme at meeting of Board of Selectmen 7/7/80 Committee gives input into elderly reed assessment re approach, instrument , and. Procedures 10/6/80 Committee conducts workshop ""ith human service agencies on draft evaluation criteria 10/22/80 A living room 'aor_kshop is held by League of 'omen Voters and chaired by Judy L,abir or a Lexington nurnan service system 11/3/80 Bea Phear makes preliminary renort to the Committee on elderly need assessment 11/10/80 Trancy Banks, Assistant to the Torn Manager, reports that Committee ' s questions re cystic Valley ere never sent out in spite of --ielectmen ' s request that this be done She expresses the opinion that the Selectmen 'Pant the Committee to provide ongoing monitoring of Town- funded agencies throughout the year, not just at budget time, and Five definitive guidance on allocation of human service resources 12/1/80 Committee begins budget revie' , is oorcernod ti4 t 'replace way be losing sight of outreach and prevention and becoming a mental healtn treatment `a.cilit`r high administrative costs of Iiruteman ome rare r ornoretion are hated 12/15/80 Committee notes recommendations of To\.vn manager and the Selectmen to cut •cystic /alley turdinc due to shortfall in excise tax revenues Jack Lionderer discusses school counseling, children ' s reeds , referrals tc Replace , a•-d h,, the schools do not reimburse Replace agencies ars seer as substituting for the lack of school counselors durin_ the summer 12/30/80 Bea Phear reports that the Selectmen ill need bud,cet from Committee by January 19 , 1981 1/5/P1 ': +IARC responds to Committee' s draft criteria C human Thrvices Committe Chronology, na"e 3 1/12/£1 Replace responds to criteria through presentation by their Director, reports increasing caseload and staff burnout , misses staffing support of Torr. social Aorker ystic Valley sends descriptive material Revier of school budget by Howard Levingston is suggestive of redundancy 1/19/81 Committee recommends funding Replace request and developing a contract 'ith mystic Valley around Information and Referral , consultation , and clinical services, is positively impressed by CF•4A'RC performance Selectmen • recommend below Replace request; 11, below Coulcil on Aging request; level funding for Veterans , Visiting Murses , and Cv,ARC ; and no funding for Mystic Valley Committee recommends that the Selectmen in responding to elderly need place establishing a system of services before Senior Center 1/26/81 Committee submits Annual Report 3/23/81 Committee discusses ideas about policy and structure with Jim Crain and mentions problems of communication 'ith the Selectmen and 'o 'm iJanacer 4/13/Fl Don Lund, re ly appointed 'ystic Valley Director, ( meets d th Committee , announces shift in emphasis to responding to the needs of the chronically ill through day activities ' programs in Arlington , oburn, and Bur_ linLon , -ill expand emergency services fie is seeking greater productivity and may institute a case manager _grogram. Committee follows up by inviting request for funding 4/14/el A number of Lexington groups led by the Community Health Tommittee and the Human Services Committee hold a workshop on elderly needs attended by 120 people barge Sattir is the keynote speaker reed for adult education on home finances, home maintenance and housing, and a comprehensive information exchange (hot line , job bank health information , matching of elderly 'ith young people for mutual helping) are among items prioritized 5/11/81 Last Committee meeting for first term members , report to the Selectmen completed 5/29/P1 ,inal report submitted to the Selectmen 6/4/°i contract is drafted ret een To'"n and ystic Valley for performance of services bet—een July 1, 19E1 and Jure 30 , 19°2 related to funding support for half the cost of ore bed for Lexington youth at Safehouse , emergency youth shelter" Contract calls for initial statement and quarterly reports ( folio ing appropriation of 10 , 000 voted in Tor Meeting as a result of revenue sharing funds being made available to the To' n) 1 tuma.n Cervices Committee Chronology, page 4 1 7/81 Affiliation agreement is drafted bet^een _Mystic Valley ana community based programs - Arlington Youth Consulta- tion Center, Renlace , _•urlington Community Life Center, end oburn Council -announcing common goals of mental health and related services, intent to minimize duplication , share resources , and coordinate program planning ith Department of Mental Health, Department of Social Cervices, Office for Children , and sbhool systems 8/3/el "electmen accent charge drafted by , arge Battin Ruth Nablo , and Steve Saran for 19£2-1983 Human Services Committee including policy 12/14/81 Ton tanager appoints Bea Fhear as Human Services Coordinator 12/17/81 'irst meeting is held of Human Services Committee members appointed for term ending may 31 , 1982 ( Ruth Thblo for term of 6 months) SEtsb