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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-10-04-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the Meeting of October 4, 1983 Present Roberta Black, Ed Foley, Steve Baran, Judy Zabin, Thea Sheveloff, Bea Phear Minutes The minutes of the meeting of September 13 were approved as amended on page two paragraph 9, Judy's comments were that she suggested clustering issues in order to organize around need as a central focus Agency evaluation is just one part and we also must not lose sight of the planning focus Charitable Trusts Bea reported that she attended the meeting of the Trustees last month They approved the request of the Woburn Council for Social Concern and denied the request of Sing-Along Chorus They feel that funding must go to benefit low income people, by the rules of the various trusts, and Sing-Along is not in that category The Trustees urged the Human Services Committee to continue to make recommendations, for programs for the poor and said the committee could go directly to them not needing to go through the Selectmen They would like to distribute approximately $2,000 per year The Trustees asked Bea and the Committee to also consider recommending funding to target individuals who are in an emergency Bea told them she was uncomfortable with this, as she has no verifying process It was suggested that the committee could do this through agencies, as is being done this year with Cooperative Elder Services Roberta suggested mentioning the funds to the Providers Council and soliciting creative ideas We would have to design a process Steve suggested using the calendar year rather than fiscal year Judy also does not want to lose sight of the George Gilmore fund ($2,000/yr) for non-poor projects This fund is requested through the Selectmen. Collaborative Efforts Bea distributed a sheet describing some of the collaborative efforts that she is aware of The list is probably incomplete Judy noticed that Mystic Valley was not included in the adolescent group This may be an oversight, and Bea will check Steve asked about the Police Programatically the collaboration is focused on case discussion but not on joint programming, such as pooled funding or subcontracting The subcommittees will develop this networking list for their areas Subcommittees Steve distributed a plan for subcommittees Both the planning/ongoing needs assessment functim and the affective function of maintaining good relationships should be pursued by the Human Services Committee Steve sees the fourth subcommittee being a source of innovation, with the members freed from the usual evaluative efforts He is also trying to avoid the tilt towards specialization and away from our responsibility of planning that he has noticed in the past year There was concern that the work load was too great, although the committee agreed it made sense and it was important to have the broad View Some alternatives include having a steering committee to set the agenda for the whole committee and keep them on a planning track; having the tasks of #4 be the charge of the whole committee having certain individuals step forward to pursue one function from time to time (eg voluteerism, providers council) It was decided to split Steve' s #1 subcommittee into two elderly & disabled It was decided to continue to think about #4, but meanwhile assign the others so the monitoring and liaison work can begin Subcommittees are Youth Elderly Disabled Mental Health/Retardation Black Sheveloff Baran Zabin Foley Steve will ask Stan Finkelstein and Howard Reynolds how they would like to be assigned Since there is the Enablement Subcommittee already, it was felt that that group should have only one member of the Human Services Committee Steve will also pursue the appointment to fill the one vacancy There is also the possibility of augmenting the subcommittees with volunteers, possibly some of the people who applied to serve on the committee but were not selected Rguests for Town Funding Bea distributed her cover letter to be mailed October 5, and a slightly abbreviated review criteria. Steve pointed out that the prevention focus needed to be added to the review criteria The committee recommended sending the invitation to Replace, Mystic Valley, CMARC, and Share-A-Ride It was decided not to send the letter to the Council on Aging, since they are a town program, but to discuss the issues included in the review criteria as part of the process of learning about their programs The committee does have a responsibility to the Selectmen to comment on the CoA budget however the CoA does not apply' in the same form. Coordinator's Report There will be no intern this year, as the student who was lined up has withdrawn from school because she has hepatitis Bea will present a plan for the Provider's Council at the next meeting The Youth Commission will be focusing on substance abuse, recreation, and student government day this year The Special Needs Art Fund is having a benefit and invited the committee It will be October 16 A summary of the purpose of the fund was distributed Bea distributed a summary of some of the census data Hire-A-Youth filled 80 jobs this summer, down from last year Guidelines have been distributed to Town departments regarding the new conflict of interest laws and interpretations All committee members are classified as "Special Employees This means that they may not engage in financial interests in Town Contracts, such as owning a printing company that prints stationary for the Human Services Committee Roberta asked if this would include serving on the Board of an agency that receives Town funding Bea thought that this would be a conflict Any questions about conflict of interest that members may have should be sent to Bea In some cases , a ruling by Town Counsel can be requested. The Town Report photographer will be at the next meeting Next Meeting October 18, room G-1, 7 30 pm Respectfully submitted, Beatrice Phear