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