HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-05-23-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of May 23, 1983
Present Roberta Black, Ilene White, Judy Zabin, Stan Finkelstein, Howard Reynolds,
Tom Zarle Bea Phear
Guests BarbaraWhite Roy Hebert, Irwin Alterson - all CMARC parents
CMARC
The purpose of the meeting with CMARC representatives was to get acquainted There
was clarification of the Town's position that all funded agencies are required to
inform the Town of the funding sources, including contributions, and the CMARC repres-
entatives felt that the issue raised last month was now moot Mr Hebert mentioned
that bake sales etc were a continuing effort of the parents
They briefly described the gradual evolution of CMARC from a workshop in back of a
church to a professionally staffed organization, much of this evolution due to the
pressures from DMH Their current site is a new building that could handle up to 125
clients but there is no funding They estimate a waiting list for Lexington at
DMH to be 5 now, with 2 others about to leave the school system,
In discussing new programs and needs, they are excited by a cafeteria training
program they will initiate with donated restaurant equipment and a vocational
evaluation system (a series of computer programs to make sophisticated diagnostic
tests for individualized service plans and for reimbursable diagnostic work for
outside clients) They feel that the intern's evaluation of need for a job developer
is correct, and they expect the contract with the Town to be targetted on that position
Financial stress comes from the fact that DMH is only level funding, which means a
reduction in slots and the Rate Setting Commission's rates that address costs from
the previous year to allocate rates for the upcoming year They are now doing about
$90,000 worth of contracted work, due to the energy and ingenuity of the procurement
officer
They urged the Human Services Committee members to go and visit, telephoning Sheri
MaCann ahead (935-7057) The Committee is also invited to a cocktail party on
June 3 from 4 00-6 00 pm at the workshop in Woburn
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of April 25 were approved as mailed
Cable TV
Discussion of Cable tv programming was tabled, since Steve Baran wasn't at the meeting
DSS
Bea summarized PPPP efforts to date, and reported that Rita Williams (Area Board Chair)
planned to talk to the Area Director and asked the Town to do nothing for the time
being It was decided that Steve Baran should call her to see what was happening
(Note enlcosed letter received 5/24/83 Bea has spoken with Bill Blout and we fill
1
meet with DSS to discover exactly what this offer means )
School Department Liaison
Roberta had been asked by Steve to talk to Tony Clough but had not done so until
speaking with the Committee We should decided what we have in mind, since we are
the ones who initiated the contact Stan felt it would make sense to have a school
liaison person, but it need not be a School Committee members, and could be Jack
Monderer
Roberta will call Mr Clough and ask what format and mechanism they had been thinking
of at their meeting of Mat 10 She will suggest that what we might start with is
just having a specific name of someone to contact as issues arise
Town Meeting
Judy felt that some of the positions of the Committee were not able to be fully
explained at the time of Town Meeting, because the format didn't allow in depth
discussion She suggests that next year the Committee present a written report to
the Town Meeting, as the Transportation Advisory Committee does now
Mystic Valley
Steve had a meeting with Richard Weiss, and Bea reported that her impression of that
was that it was primarily a get acquainted meeting rather than substantive There
was a suggestion that Judy be added to the Mystic Valley sub-committee
Stan said that Richard Weiss is interested in earmarking the new $1,000 contract to
information collection and management reporting and be accountable for the entire
Mystic Valley program for reporting purposes Stan feels we should encourage their
interest in internal management reporting
There was some confusion as to what this might mean in terms of what data we would
receive It was decided to invite him to a meeting to discuss his ideas Stan will
talk to Steve about inviting Mystic Valley to a meeting
Future Committee
Bea said that, to her knowledge, there was only one resume received from people
interested in serving on the committee She said she knew that Dave Enman was also
interested, but he had not submitted a letter to the Selectmen. Howard asked if
we could cull through old requests or requests to serve on other committees that
might be in the talant bank
We could also request an advertisement, or ask permission of Jim Crain to write a
letter to the editor of the newspaper It was also suggested that Bea announce to
Providers at the next Provider Council meeting that there were openings on the Committee
There was some concern about having advocates for specific programs or target populations,
and that is was important to have the committee act as a generalist, with perhaps having
subcommittees of special interests
Providers Meeting
Judy requested finding a better room than Estabrook, which is cold and barren, and
suggested downstairs at the Library, or back at the Fire Station Bea will research
There was concern expressed about how to move to Lexington Information and Referral
issues following the CAIRN demonstration Bea said she was interested in getting the
providers' input via CAIRN, into what they felt they needed for I & R Judy was
also interested in moving to the I & R needs of someone who was not yet hooked up
into the system or an agency
It was requested that Bea write Renee a thank you letter from the committee, for
Steve's signature
Chief Bergeron's Request
The chief had asked for help in finding people to sit with a family while waiting
for the medical examiner in the case of unexpected death It was suggested that a
list could be established through churches and temples Judy thought the Arlington
Hospice might have resources Roberta will ask her Rabbi to bring the subject up
at the next meeting of the council of churches
Charitable Trusts
Bea reported that a new appointment had been made, and Jim Crain has written another
letter on May 17 to Frank Parrish
Next Meeting
June 13 at 4 30 pm room G-15 (immediately following Providers Council)
we will go out to Peking Garden after the meeting, at 6 00
Agenda. Cable TV
Agency Contracts
Respectfully Submitted,
Beatrice Phear
Bea was requested to send copies of all agency quarterly reports to all members of the
committee, not just to the subcommittees