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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-06-27-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the Meeting of June 27, 1983 Present Steve Baran Judy Zabin, Stan Finkelstein, Roberta Black, Bea Phear Guest Richard Weiss Mystic Valley Mental Health Association Mystic Valley The Committee welcomed Dr Weiss, the new Executive Director of the mental health center The discussion focused on ways the two groups could work together over the next year and how best to target the $1,000 appropriation the Town has voted to the center Dr Weiss informed the committee that, as it stands now, the Dept of Mental Health contract for emergency services has been awarded to Norfolk Human Services; this has been approved by the Commissioner Mystic Valley is appealing this action to the Secretary, Manuel Carballo, but is not planning to go to court if this appeal fails Mystic Valley will place an advertizement in the Minuteman announcing that they will no longer provide crisis services They are no longer bound to see clients without appointments and active clients will receive top priority There was concern on the part of the committee that potential clients would no know where to turn in emergency, and even current Mystic Valley clients who experience an emergency without appointment would not be supported Dr Weiss said that was possible but he was not planning to include alternative resources available in his announcement He said the loss of the contract was hurting the agency in both direct and indirect ways This is particularly difficult because there is a concurrent $125,000 federal block grant reduction along with the loss of the $260 000 crisis contract In discussion of the town's relationship to the center, he said he was interested in providing information that would help the committee in its mission, which was why he had requested copies of the charge and needs assessments For example, they could tell us what they were doing using indicators of prevention or intervention as determined to be meaningful to the committee He is currently focusing on the basic principles of the agency, in preparation for devolping goals objectives, and tasks For example there is a paucity of day programs for the mentally ill, and the agency is obligated to generate revenue to meet that need He felt there was a need to develop indicators in order to compare agenies and programs, which could be in terms of cost competetive issues or programmatic ones He said we could then balance volume and severity (eg value of a teen center with value of services to one retarded child) There would be the dimensions of efficiency and cost effectiveness Stan proposed spending the $1,000 on the development of "meaningful" indecators for Lexington Judy was concerned about our ability to look at the coordination of services, not being sure it made sense to look at apples and oranges We are also concerned with gaps in services and needs assessment Bea asked if it would be possible for them to do a specific task, such as hosting a cable TV show Dr Weiss thought that any of these routes would be possible, but it was up to the committee to decide what it wants One thing he is interested in is looking into mobile services for the elderly After Dr Weiss left, the committee discussed the best way to alert the public about the change in crisis provider It was decided that Bea would call Norfolk and find out how they were planning to phase-in, and suggest to them that they run an advertizement +, as well She will also notify the Police and Fire departments about the switch (see enclosed memo) Charitable Trusts Bea reported that the Trustees had met, had asked her some clarifying questions, and were expecting to vote in mid-July Susan Adler will handle the mechanics in Bea's absence Replace/DSS Negotiations Bea reported that Bill Blout had met with the DSS staff to begin negotiations, and then went back to his Board to get a decision on the percentage of non-Lexington clients they would accept The Board voted that 25% of the DSS funded time could go to non-Lexington. They are also concerned about "closed" cases that can't come in on evenings and weekends, the sharing of the DSS caseload among the Replace staff and the possible danger of refocusing the RePlace mission Bill will continue to negotiate along these lines Providers Council Bea reported that she had investigated giving continuing education credit for attendance There must be and educational goal , six weeks advance notice, a reading list, and named instructors Bea felt the standards were manageable, and she would apply for CEU creditation in the fall Agency Contracts The contracts as drafted for CMARC and RePlace were approved Mystic Valley's contract will be discussed at the next meeting Cable TV Steve reported that there had been a meeting of interested people at the Adams Russell studio Plans are progressing Selectmen's Breakfast Steve reported that he had attended the breakfast last week, and found the presentation by the Planning Department very interesting In the fall we will discuss analysis of social indicators Minutes The minutes of the meeting of June 13 were approved as mailed Next Meeting Monday, July 11 at 6 30 pm with Jim Crain Agenda Discussion of role of Selectmen's liaison Request for comments on the work of the Committee Should the committee prepare a report for Town Meeting in the future? Appointing new members - time frame, involvement of committee? Mystic Valley contract Respectfully Submitted, Beatrice Phear