HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-06-25-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of June 25, 1984
Present Roberta Black, Ed Foley, Stan Finkelstein, Marion Shepp, Judy Zabin
Bea Phear
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of May 14, 1984 were approved as mailed.
The minutes of the meeting of June 11 were approved as mailed.
Membership
Roberta reported that Thea Sheveloff plans to resign from the committee because
she is over extended. Roberta spoke with Paul Marshall (liaison with Selectmen)
about appointments, and he told her the Selectmen plan to do an extensive
review of appointments this year and will probably put out a large advertisement
asking for volunteers to a number of committees Steve Baran has sent Paul a
summary of the three former applicants who are still interested.
Contracts
It was decided to rewrite the contracts for RePlace and CMARC as last year' s Bea
will call the Trustees about refunding Cooperative Elder Services and duplicate
that contract as well, if it is to be funded.
There was discussion about the Mystic Valley contract Stan, Judy and Bea will
meet with Richard Weiss on Thursday Bea suggested 50% of Town funds be targetted
on reducing the operating costs of the clinic and 50% be spent on community
education andoutreachprograms such as MR information/recreation, groups for
divorce or alzeimers, or other services that we specify The committee felt it
was unwise to instruct them how to run their agency, and they have priorities
established that we should not try to change, but rather the issue of reporting
and communication is most important to maintain and enhance In the FY84 contract
the list of reporting requirements was confirmed as still needed.
There was strong feeling that Mystic Valley should provide both the data AND
analytic treatment or discussion of the data. The third quarter report was
thought to be very good. Ed pointed out that we should make them stick to the
issue of timeliness in reporting
Marion thought the Hancock Street house could need more than the 20hours per
week of staff that is being assigned to it Marion was also concerned that Mystic
Valley was not involved in some of Bea' s efforts, such as the MR study and the
Providers Council meetings Stan felt it is a question of time constraints,
especially if "productivity" is defined as face-to-face client hours
Committee Structure
There was discussion about possible different ways to do subcommittees, especially
with new members coming soon It was decided that for now, subcommittees would
at least be focused on monitoring one of the agencies, and that other projects
might emerge from that - these could be a study or a service advocacy It was
thought that monitoring would be less time consuming this year, with familiarity
Each committee member was asked to think about his own goals for the committee
in the next year and bring a list to the next meeting
( Mental Retardation
Bea will send a copy of her brief study to each committee member Housing and
recreation were studied. She is now talking with the Lexington Housing Authority
and local agencies about a possible application for Chapter 689, handicapped
hosuing, program for a residence for retarded people Joan Halverson has
already expanded her scope of recreation services as a result of the study
Bea is very concerned about having raised expectations by doing a study, and
wants to give the responders some feed back She will send copies of the report
and an invitation to a meeting in July, to be focused on either housing or
recreation, as yet undecided.
Alan November
Bea reported that Steve Baran had told her Alan November was interested in being
involved in other human service projects He is a teacher at the High School
and supervises the Intergenerational Friendly Visitor program and has done
computer work with both the Enablement Committee and Sing-Along He will be
invited to a future meeting
United Way
Bea reported that she got the list of agencies serving Lexington that receive
United Way funding These are Family Services Association, Minuteman Red Cross,
North Metro Homemaker, Patriot Girl and Boy Scout Councils, Cancer Society,
Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Hard of Hearing, and Samaritans She thought
committee members might like to make contact with United Way and discuss Lexington
needs and ask them how their funding allocations are made, offering input
Marion will learn what she can Marion sees a need for vocational programs for
adults
Trustees
Bea will check with them to see if they made a decision about Cooperative Elder
Services and tell them Stan is interested in going to their next meeting The
committee needs clarification on how much money is available and how the Trustees
want to deal with the committee
Providers Council
Bea reported that the Providers Council series is finished. Meetings were
December 13, Trends in Lexington, attendace 14
February 16, Crisis services, attendance 9
April 25, Needs, attendance 23
June 11, Self Help, attendance 9
She was concerned about the low attendance Perhaps this mechanism was not the
best to get providers together, especially including such groups as churches
Maybe an annual conference or a cocktail party woudl be a better vehicle Perhaps
K_ the origional purpose has been met. The committee will think about this
Next Meetings July 17, July 31, August 21
Respectfully Submitted, Beatrice Phear