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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-01-25-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee Minutes of the Meeting of January 25, 1982 Present. Steve Baran, Ilene White, Ruth Nablo, Nancy Zarle, Tom Zarle, Howard Reynolds, Stan Finkelstein, Roberta Black, Judy Zabin, also Bea Phear The meeting was called to order at 7 30 pm The minutes of January 18, 1982 were approved as mailed Selectmen' Budget Marge Battin reported to Steve that revenue from the state was being reduced, and the Human Services budgets would have to be cut $10,000 She wondered what the Committee's choice would be, to cut $10,000 from RePlace or from Mystic Valley? The Committee does not know which budget she referred to the requests, the Committee's recommendations, or the Town Manager's recommendations Members of �{ the committee felt they needed further information to make a decision on how to respond since they already had given their advice It was unknown if other areas were also to be cut or only human services Why only two agencies targetted? i Decided Steve will telephone Jim Crain and give him a summary of committee concerns and then will decide if action is necessary Decided In future years, the Committee recommendations will be given to the Selectmen ordered by priority, so that reductions in total can be made by the Selectmen, if necessary, in accordance with recommendations CMARC Ruth spoke with Ralph Richardson, the Area Office mental retardation coordinator, regarding his letter to CMARC which said there were five potential Lexington CMARC clients Ruth is awaiting a written report She called Paul Lombard at the School Department to see if he could get this information as well (Schools will be required to fund transportation, now at $40,000) Decided. No change in recommendation at this time Newspaper There was concern that the Selectmen's meeting of January 18 had been inacurately reported in the Minuteman No action was taken Cable TV Bea reported that there would be a Cable TV workshop in Cary Hall on February 19 from 8 30 to 6 30 Bea will attend Roberta Stan and Steve are also interested Bea will notify the coordinator, Lauren Goldfarb It is assumed the $10 fee will be waived Correspondence Course The Town has purchased a course on Local Government Financing, and committee members are welcome to participate at no cost Ruth and Steve want to sign up, depending on class schedules Bea will notify Susan Adler who is arranging the course January 25 page 2 Mystic Valley Mystic Valley has asked for a future meeting with the Human Services Committee Steve commented that bon Lund had said last year that MV was interested in a case management approach, and Steve wondered if the Friendly Visitor proposal had stemmed from that The Committee doesn't know how much of that proposal, if any, was actually worked out with the Council on Aging It was also interesting that Don Lund had not ti even mentioned elderly services in his presentation to the Selectmen Ruth wants to have us talk with Ralph Richarson, to explore the whole issue of chronically ill people, Does Mystic Valley have the same problem as CMARC with getting information and funding? Role of SubCommittees The telephone call from Marge Battin to Steve suggests that we might go back to the agencies and let them come in to lobby for their money Tom suggested that the subcommittees go back to agencies and explain the process that was used, how we arrived at our figures, and how the year appears to be unfolding Steve said he also thought that we should pursue the discussion that Bea had started last year with RePlace about alternate funding sources Judy felt that that was not our role but rather a job for their own boards Steve clarified that he had meant new human service money that would cross boundries of agencies or working as a committee to stimulate new funding sources Bea pointed out they may need other than money, eg volunteers Decided Subcommittees will keep in touch with their agencies throughout the year, and we will largely avoid having agencies come to talk to the committee as a whole Future Meetings There was discussion on the next steps for the committee Possible actions include • a series of meetings on different target populations; needs assessment; reviving the ad hoc human services council on providers It was felt that there needed to be more than just "show and tell" for a providers council What about prevention? Forums could allow agencies such as Mystic Valley to improve their image Stan asked if a needs assessment was warranted if there was no money for services Judy was concerned about agenciy linkages Ruth suggested inviting Ernie Cook, area director of DMH Ilene is concerned that agencies know what each other is doing Decided The committee will spend the next several meetings identifying issues Bea will give a summary of various needs assessments at the next meeting A taxonomy of issues/needs will be developed so we can agree on dimensions Muzzey Junior High School One possible inclusion in proposals for Muzzey is a senior center Should the committee be involved? The town also has a commitment to low and moderate income housing Steve will ask Jim Crain if he's going to want our involvement on Muzzey Next Meetings February 8 and February 22 at 7 30 pm room 111 Respectfully Submitted --1244:176 Beatrice Phear