HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982-03-08-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee
Minutes of the Meeting of March 8, 1982
Present Steve Baran, Stan Finkelstein, Judy Zabin, Ilene White, Roberta Black,
Ruth Nablo, Howard Reynolds, Nancy, Tom Zarle also Bea Phear
Minutes The minutes of February 22, 1982 were approved as mailed
I
General Revenue Sharing The hearing with the Selectmen is March 15 Steve will hi
represent the Committee It is largely a federal requirement, stipulated to encourage
such spending in human service area, but to be absent would be unwise
Mystic Valley
Ruth reported that Mystic Valley had come before the Town Meeting Members Association
meeting over the weeked with a request for $10,000 to be spent on emergency services
They also said they wanted to meet with the Committee Stan and Tom already have
a scheduled meeting with MVMHC on March 15, having structure of their organization as
the agenda item That will probably be set aside in favor of alternate funding
proposals, and the rest of the Human Services Committee is also welcome to come
CMARC
Ruth still has heard nothing from Mr Richardson She spoke to Dr Cook, who said the
Mystic Valley area is looking for funding for 25 new clients All the providers are
being level funded by DMH, which means they will have to negotiate dropping some clients
while at the same time they are required to keep the staffing levels consistent with
mandates The area office funds CMARC and one in Arlington, but there are three or
four other workshops with other levels that are attended by Lexington residents Ruth
will look into them
Also she learned at the League of Women Voters meeting that Jim Beck is interested in
reducing 766 and investigating using other programs They might have better service in
a place like CMARC for less money than the LABS If you look at it that way, it is to
the Town's advantage to keep CMARC in ggod health
Judy wondered how we can get across to Town Meeting that we didn't support funding
because of the nature of their request rather than that ther's no need Also why not
fund the ones in Arlington through Mystic Valley if they are in equal need
Ruth said DMH has identified 25, with five from Lexington, who are portentially unfunded,
however we don't know name, address, or level of disability, and they may not go to CMARC
We know CMARC can handle five more and not be crowded, but it is difficult to support
unless we know more about those people
RePlace
Roberta and Steve attended the School Committee meeting at which Replace made its request
Linda Conrad was well prepared, and there was a very supportive atmosphere The
School Committee viewed RePlace as a professional agency and instructed Jack Monderer
to make arrangements to draw up a contract and fund them for services
Brainstorming
The remainder of the meeting was devoted to exploring roles for the Committee Tom led
the discussion starting with a review of the charge and the report of May 1981 He
asked what we wanted the legacy of this committee to be, what time we have, and what
needs to be done given those two questions The charge ranges from philosphy, to
relations among providers, to education and relations with citizens The Report
stresses prevention as a theme as opposed to remediation
Questions are what do we want to a'nomplish, what skills we have, and what are the needs
Issues that nose included process versus product
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getting people together, eg staging an event on the model of a health fair
resource directory
advanced technology such as cable/computers
interviewing agencies in a structured way
Kinds of issues crisis f,
pressure spots in the community eg Reed street �=
high/low profile issues
advocacy
There was a brief talk about going into the schools
We should evaluate how well agencies communicate, even if they have a public relations
person
There was a decision to try to document requests for help, as one source of data Bea will
start tomorrow, and get information from CoA and other agencies as available Perhaps
one target period could be used as a sample
Restructuring services was discussed
Respectfully Submitted,
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CCO
Beatrice Phear