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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