HomeMy WebLinkAbout1983-11-29-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of November 29, 1983
Present Steve Baran, Judy Zabin Howard Reynolds Roberta Black, Ed Foley,
Stan Finkelstein Bea Phear
Minutes The minutes of the meeting of November 15 were approved as ammended
Coordinators Report
Bea visited the Wild Acre Inn on November 16 Although the visit was short, and
she did not speak with residents, she was relieved as to quality of care The
lodging house was neat and clean, with a somewhat 'homey' atmosphere There was a
number of items posted, including a scrabble tournement score, menu, activity
schedule staffing schedule and the residents' rooms appeared self-decorated
NASW has granted the request to credit the Providers ' Council with continuing
education units The series will be worth 0 8 class I CEU's
A meeting was held with mental retardation specialists on November 17; Steve
Bea and Joan Halverson represented the Town A start was made on gathering some
census figures and discussion of needs and services The group will meet again j.
on Monday, December 12 at 2 00 pm All members of the committee are invited
Report to Selectmen
Steve suggested that the committee think in terms of goals for the year either by
suggesting a list or by approving Bea's list These goals could be included in the
report if they are developed
Stan suggested giving a committee report to TMMA. It was suggested that it could be
more detailed, with perhaps an outline of the policy, criteria, census data, and
whatever was relevant explaining the reasoning of the committee There should be
a precis at the beginning
The report to the Selectmen will have a summary with explanation of funding
recommendations and then discussion of each o the programs that includes a program
description four paragraphs each focusing on the criteria clusters, and if
applicable, a discussion of the funding rationale
Each subcommittee will write a draft and get it to Bea by December 7 She will
duplicate and send out for study over the weekend and discussion on Dec 13
RePlace
Roberta and Ed recommend full funding of the Replace request of $52,064 They feel
this is necessary to maintain the level of service Replace has hired a new LICSW,
Lisa Langner, formerly with Malden DSS, on a part-time basis while Stephanie is on
maternity leave The fund-raising cost item in the budget was for printing They
now plan to go to the foundation library, but fear that grants offered will not be
geared to their services The emergency housing request data does not necessarily
mean placement as it is often used as start for counseling The committee is
interested in the actual number of housing placements , as the volunteer effort can
be costed out The subcommittee will ask about that figure
Elderly
Stan and Thea have no basis to argue with the CoA request It looks reasonable and
the increases are in categories that make sense Judy suggested that when they
write the report they include some use statistics , as she felt Town Meeting was
worried that the new senior center will not be used
Mystic Valley
Howard and Judy held another meeting with Richard Weiss He submitted more information
on his request for funding that included program descriptions They feel that the
agency is in better administrative and financial shape than in the past, serving
vsc 'about 6741clients per year with a range of services usually after insurance is
exhausted. The subcommittee recommends funding as a demonstration that the agency
is making a contribution and has improved its practices There is no specific
target program and the funding level is not related to a specific need which
makes consideration of the amount difficult Howard believes that this makes it
the most flexible, and he would be willing to adjust the amount in relation to
other agencies Judy feels comfortable recommending the full $15,000 request
It was recommended to the subcommittee that their report include as discussion of
the rationale behind not targetting a specific program, and that there had been
concern last year about the management which was now less of an issue
CMARC
Steve spoke with Sheri McCann about incorporating the CMARC budget into the Town's
budget as a line rather than being a separate Warrant article This is related to
the question of their one-time request of several years ago Apparently Steve
Politi feels that CMARC should make its intentions known, if they are going to
continue to want regular funding
Bea said Sheri had discussed this with her Bea feels it is too late in the budget
cycle to change this year, and that there are pros and cons on both sides of the
question of being an article The CMARC request will be to cover both the Contract
Procurement position and a new Job Development position Bea is concerned that job
development may be optimistic, given the client population
General
Steve mentioned a possible concern about CMARC being a specific therapeutic program
whereas the others are multi-service and focus more on prevention The committee
felt it could be looked at in different ways, as Mystic Valley is also treatment
Steve said it looks like each subcommittee is going to recommend full funding, which
will be well over the 5% requested by the Manager He thinks is is extremely
important that the report makes it very clear in showing problems the agencies have
in getting funding He also suggested having a fall back position if the Selectmen
come back and request a 5% increase only We should set priorities
Next Meeting December 13, 7 30 pm room G-15
Respectfully submitted,
Beatrice Phear