Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-04-12-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the meeting of April 12, 1983 Present. Steve Baran, Stan Finkelstein, Howard Reynolds, Roberta Black, Bea Phear Wild Acre Inn Stan asked Howard if there had been any explanation of the delay in their responses to our questions Howard thought just a head-in-the-sand attitude, and fear that this was an effort to close them down Stan would like to go along on a site visit with the Health Director Bea will try to arrange it Providers Council The committee reviewed the first draft that Renee had prepared for an evaluation form It was felt to be too long, and it was suggested that only page 3 be used, also include showing order of preference in what liked Steve asked to what extent the providers saw Renee as convener of these meetings, and thought Bea's signature should go on the cover letter, to strengthen the response rate Steve asked if the time and place of the May meeting was set, and suggested considering another breakfast meeting with food It was also suggested that if it were early mornign, Dick Kirk of Hayden might like to be host Bea will talk to Renee about this DMH Steve and Stan attended the DMH Area Board meeting at which the vote was taken to award the Crisis Intervention contract Although the majority voted for Mystic Valley, the Area Director, Ernie Cook, decided to award to Norfolk Human Services, the agency that sponsors the Concord Area Crisis team of Beth Jones It is rumored that Mystic valley will appeal There was a general discussion about the committee's participation in State level decision making, whether we should try to have liaison with DSS and DMH area boards, and give more feedback to the MAPC representative, Angela Frick It was decided to discuss this further when more committee members were present An expectation of regular attendance would follow appointing a liaison, but merely asking them to alert us if there was an issue of concern to Lexington would probably get lost in the shuffle DSS Bea reported on the DSS Area Board meeting that she and Linda Conrad, from Replace, had attended The Board listened courteously to the plea that adolescent services in Lexington be included in their needs assessment and that RePlace be considered a target for funding Some Board members expressed that they were surprised that DSS did not fund services in Lexington, and felt that Replace is a good program, however Bea was unsure of their level of influence in the actual decision making Steve asked what more we could do given the meeting at the regional office, a supportive letter farm Rep Stephen Doran, the letter and presentation to the Area Board, and the formal letter of intent Stan suggested getting the Replace Board to write the Governor Steve wondered of a telephone call to Peter Koehan from either him or Bob Hutchinson would help It was decided that the first step would be for Bea to call the Area Office planner, Carol Rushee, and see what the progress was, followed by a call from Steve to the Area Board chair, Rita Williams School Committee Roberta attended the School Committee meeting to discuss central office reorganization The subcommittee of Jim Beck and Paul Newman had met with staff and will hold a meeting with parents at Clarke next week, and come back with a report in a month Jack Monderer had submitted an alternate reorganization, which gives away some of the functions and has the Director of Pupil, a"part time position combined with the head of guidance K-12 Geoff Pierson also said the state was distributing $406,000 more to Lexington, which reduces the pressure Mystic Valley Stan has written a letter of welcome to Richard Weiss, and.mill request a meeting with him The letter from Steve commenting on their February report went to Weiss from Stan as an enclosure, and specific written report comments will be made after the meeting Bea wrote a memo to Robert Hutchinson, saying that the third quarter report was more comprehensive than previous ones Stan feels it is still not adequate, but Bea felt it was a considerable improvement and does indeed comply with the contract, despite the fact that units of service are not explained, nor is there any specificity of what is done which we (unfortunately) do not specifically require Charitable Trusts The Selectmen made their appointment to fill the vacancy on the Trustees, and Bea will now write Mr Rutherford, the Chairman, with further information on the target recipients recommended by the committee and the Selectmen Cable TV Steve called Dan Frank regarding producing other programs It is an area we might consider, time consuming but fun. Future Membership Terms on the committee expire this spring The Zarles will continue until the end of May and then resign. Ilene is also planning to resign Steve is undecided Stan, Roberta, and Howard want to continue Judy was not present to report The standard procedure would be for an announcement to go in the newspaper from the Selectmen requesting interested people to register their names Steve suggested that should be slightly embellished, with some statement of the committee's actions It was suggested that the current committee could pre-screen for the Selectmen if they wanted us to, perhaps submitting twice the number of names as there were vacancies It was also suggested that informally, people should be alerted to apply, to help get a balance of interests, ages, and perspectives Steve will write to Jim Crain, suggesting the wording of an ad Next Meeting April 25, 7 30 pm room 111 UJI Respectfully Submitted, Beatrice Phear 4�