HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-03-14-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of March 14 1983
Present Steve Baran, Stan Finkelstein, Howard Reynolds, Judy Zabin, Ilene
White, Bea Phear
Charitable Trusts
Steve spoke at the Selectmen's Meeting on March 7, requesting that they vote on
the Committee's recommendation for Charitable Trust money The Selectmen asked for
further information about who was actually receiving services from these agencies
and what the procedures for funding and reporting would be
Bea presented draft contracts to the Committee, and will send them on to the Board
of Selectmen incorporating suggestions from the Committee Howard expressed
concern that the Trustees may not be willing to dole out money on a quarterly
basis Bea will investigate this Judy suggested that the three day limit on
agi care services was too restrictive in the case of emergency That clause will
be eliminated, as the sliding fee guidelines already mention that three days is
preferred, except in emergency
Wild Acre Inn
Stan reported that the Wild Acre Inn had been consistently unresponsive to requests
for information from the town, and the Committee had so reported to the Selectmen,
with the recommendation that the Selectmen send a letter to Mr Mason the Wild
Acre Inn attorney The Selectmen sent a very strong letter with the request that
Mr Mason contact Stan To date there has been no response
Stan will be out of town next week, and Howard was designated as the liaison Bea
will telephone Mr Mason to inform him of this
Department of Social Services
Bea reviewed the history of the attempt to get DSS to fund RePlace through the
Public Private Partnership Program which has been a saga of misconnections DSS
has a priority of donors being found from the business community rather than local
governments, and the decisions are made at the central office Bea now feels that
it might be a futile effort, and is reluctant to ask Bill Blout to complete the
arduous RFP forms if there is no chance of money
Judy felt it was a real need to locate additional funding for Replace, and perhaps
the Committee could work with the Replace Board to help find business donors, using
matching funds as a selling point
Steve was concerned about the citizen participation issues, and suggested we write
a letter to the DSS area board with a cltnology and saying we are still interested
in FY84 funds There should be a copy to RePlace, in order to demonstrate our
concern
Stan also suggested pointing out that the Committee is concerned that Lexington is
neglected by DSS and is not getting our share of funding He also suggested that
Stephen Doran be sent a copy of the letter
It was decided to ask Bea to draft a letter to the Area Board president, and to send
a copy of the "Charlie Brown cartoon, that had appeared in the RePlace minutes
Providers Council
Steve briefly reported on the March 1 Providers Council meeting, and expressed
concern that attendance was relatively low, and that a number of people left before
the afternoon was over He wondered whether another morning meeting might be better
Judy felt frustration about dropping the topic of crisis services, since there seemed
to be a sense that they needed more planning Steve thought this might be an
opportunity to capitalize on the improved relationship with Mystic Valley, and have
us all pu25n it together, with an announcement that the H S Committee priority
is somewhere halfway between emergency services and information and referral, and
building a planning nucleus perhaps including Linda Roemer, who had been interested
in the topic at the Providers Council
Bea thought it was part of the issue of the purpose of the Providers Council, either
as an opportunity for providers to meet one another and learn about a specific topic
as an "audience , or as a planning team. Bea feels the former pattern is the one
we have used so far, and the group is too large and divers to really plan together
Although topics and specific agencies could be located through the council, the
actual planning discussions are better in smaller meetings
Stan thought it important to lead to collaboration, on the principle that we should
follow-up on something that was identified.
Ilene asked what the providers wanted, when they come to a meeting, or why they
don't come She suggested a follow-up by Renee on what they were looking for Howard
thought it was information and referral knowledge and a chance to learn something, but
they probably were not interested in planning Steve thought that if we knew there
was an enthusiastic acceptance of the current model, we would feel better
It was felt that, since the next meeting was already announced for April 11 on respite
care we should go ahead with that, and relate it to information and referral
Judy asked that Renee go back over her notes and develop an invitation that stresses
that we, as a community, want to plan together and allows more time for discussion
Ilene suggested a final meeting before summer that functions as a wrap-up
Mystic Valley
Stan said MVMH is closer to getting a new director He said Kay Tiffany had approached
him and Bea about the write-up in the Town Meeting Members Association information
packet. She felt it was too negative and should have an additional sentance referring
to improved dialogue Bea will contact Mardy Rawls about adding such a sentance
Stan mentioned that he thought MVMH was distressed with him as a liaison, feeling
that he was not longer objective, and wondered whether the H S Committee wanted to
designate someone else The Committee thoguht his role was misunderstood, and they
asked him to remain as the liaison Howard also volunteered to be added to the MVMH
subcommittee, since CoA affairs are less pressing and the CoA subcommittee has more
members It was also felt that Tom was not well, and the MVMH subcommittee work
could be spread out some
Stan brought up a memo he had received from Bea about the committee participating in
the DMH contract award for crisis services for our area This year both Concord
Crisis team and Mystic Valley will be bidding It was felt that we did not have
enough information to make a useful contribution, but that the committee should
make contact with the state agencies in the future and get involved somewhat with
state planning issues that effect Lexington
Coordinator's Time
Bea reported that she will be taking a leave of absence this summer from July 11
until August 26 She is going to Africa with her family
Next Meeting
The meeting of March 28 was cancelled because it is the first night of Passover
It was rescheduled for March 30
Respectfully Submitted,
Beatrice Phear
Human Services Coordinator