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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-08-21-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE / Minutes of the Meeting of August 21, 1984 Present. Roberta Black, Stan Finkelstein, Ed Foley, Judy Zabin, Marion Shepp, Bea Phear Minutes The minutes of the meeting of July 17, 1984 were approved as mailed. Committee Appointments The Board of Selectmen expect to make appointments in the fall. Roberta has left a message for Paul Marshall (who is on vacation) to see if some interviews can begin to be scheduled, so that they are ready as soon as possible Trustees / FY86 Budget Roberta and Bea met with the Trustees of Public Trusts Funding of $2,500 was approved for Cooperative Elder Services, to repeat the contract of FY84 for sliding fee scholarships for Lexington residents. The Trustees also said. 1. There is annual income in the human service focused trusts of ( approximately $3,000 2 There is a current accumulated income balance of approximately $10,000 3. They encourage requests that address one-time demonstration or emergency programs rather that getting into continuing funding situations 4. They want recommendations from the committee or Bea at any time, and can address emergencies (e g a burst boiler for a low income family) as well as program recommendations Discussion followed on the advisability of putting out requests for proposals for spending Trust money in FY86, and for balancing the Trust funding with other human service funding in the Town budget It was decided to draft an RFP that invited proposals, and also suggested areas of need that have been identified, such as MR recreation, homecare workers, transportation The committee will look at the FY86 budget in its entirety, perhaps moving CMARC from a Warrent Article into Community Services and readjusting other agency funding rather than automatically renewing The RFP will go to Providers Council list and Churches The committee may also recommend that some programs be put into other Town budgets, such as Recreation or Lexpress Stan pointed out that the committee was not set up to examine four agencies year c_ after year Coordinator's Report 1. Minuteman Home Care Corp and the CoA are both experience a severe shortage of people willing to be home care workers The salary is low ($4 00) with no benefits MHCC is planning to request permission from the State to hire its own workers rather than go through agencies Bea recommended that this be supported, as it may generate new workers Judy pointed out that there are two sides, and the agencies can supervise and administer She thought the overhead that goes to the case worker is valuable, since MHCC would then have to absorb the supervision 2 Roberta and Bea met with RePlace last week The new outreach worker has been hired. Bill Blout has some plans for groups Bea and Roberta encouraged him to consider a brochure listing fall groups to expand outreach. Strategies may need to change, with changing adolescent needs 3. The Enablement Committee will meet September 19 to plan a possible public meeting for October 3 to discuss the General Revenue Sharing "Evaluation and Plan" that is being developed. The timing may be unrealistic Committee members are urged to come September 19 to help with the discussion. 4. A meeting was held August 1 for families that had responded to the MR questionnaire There was considerable interest in forming into task forces for housing, recreation, and transportation. George Zitnay, Assistant Commissioner of Mental Health for Retardation, has agreed to speak on October 10 at a kick-off meeting for the task forces 5 The Council on Aging's new Social Day Care program is going very well, with 12 registrants 6 Alice Hinkle has started a newpaper series on human service issues, in conjunction with Bea. Three articles have appeared in retardation, and one each on Social Day Care, Eating Disorders, and next week will have Self-help A future article will be on abuse 7 Bea will have an intern from B U School of Social Work starting September 13 She is a first year student, Christine Boisvert, who had been set for last year but was ill and delayed her enrollment She will be two days per week Projects are not yet decided, but she will begin on access questions with the Enablement Committee Roberta suggested a human services newsletter Cable TV Roberta reported that Steve Baran will not be able to continue his work on cable for human services Is any one else interested? This may be an area for Christine Handicapped Housing The Lexington Housing Authority is planning to submit a Chapter 689 application for two sites for staffed apartments for retarded persons Bea has been working with them on this They will apply in conjunction with the DMH Area Office and then RFP the vendor Stan offered to help with the RFP process and will contact Jim McLaughlin Volunteers Roberta reminded the committee that Alan November had expressed interest in helping the committee through computer use Do we want to invite him to a meeting? There was a sense that the committee was not sure how to use his expertise Perhaps for information and referral? Roberta will call him and get a clearer idea of the posibilities Stan wondered if he should not also be included as an applicant to the committee He lives in Middleton and teaches in Lexington, there might be an eligibility question. School Department Roberta reported that the new Lexington Coordinator of Guidance was Bob Delulio, formerly Roberta' s supervisor in Newton. He wants to speak with the committee, which leads to the possibility of more coordination with the schools Mystic Valley Stan and Judy decided to schedule the next quarterly meeting with Richard Weiss Bea will try to set it up for September 13 at 2 00 p m. (Not yet confirmed) Next Meetings It was decided to hold regular meetings on the first and third Monday of each month. Meetings have been scheduled at 7 30 pm in room 111 (Lexpress) on the following dates September 17 October 1 October 15 November 5 November 19 Respectfully submitted, Beatrice Phear