HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-01-07-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of January 7, 1985
Present Roberta Black, Judy Zabin, C.C. Chao, Leonora Zola, Marion Shepp,
Stan Finkelstein, Sheila Martin, Bea Phear
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of December 17, 1984 were approved as corrected. Roberta
corrected the spelling of the name of Bob Delulio.
Hospice
Roberta reopened the question of funding Hospice Care's two programs in relation
to criteria offered by Bea in her draft of 11/83 Is this a municipal responsibility?
Are there other sources of funding? Do the number of people served justify the
dollars spent? (e g 6-12 Lexington children for $2,500)
After much discussion it was decided to confirm the decision to recommend full
funding of the request. It is recognized that the implementation is not very
well thought out and either program may not succeed, but it was felt that Hospice
offers a valuable service to be supported, that innovative ideas do not have the
basis in history to be reviewed, that the conmitee wants to encourage responsiveness
on the part of agencies to emerging needs, and that the quarterly payment system
will limit paying for services not rendered.
It was decided to have an introductory paragraph in the budget recommendations that
explained the committee's RFP concepts and the response of Cooperative Elder
Services and Hospice Care Inc
CMARC
Marion reported that CMARC has one additional Lexington client since last year and
is expecting another, to bring the total to eight. The increased number of clients
and staff salary increases justify the increased request. There has been no increase
in the past three years
There was some discussion about the justification of the increase on those grounds,
since the Town had been funding a job procurement officer and job placement officer
The CMARC request also had no 1985 projected budget
It was decided to ask Bea to speak with CMARC and ask about the 1985 budget and
plans for Lexington funding, possibly offering to support the grantsmanship function
as an argument for expansion. It was decided to recommend full support of the
request of $5,500y pending satisfactory responses
Adolescent Drinking/Driving yy
Sheila suggested the committee think through wds to stave off problems of drinking
and driving around the proms and graduation parties She suggested possibly offering
Lexpress free those nights This would be similar to what Boston MBTA and New
York did for New Year's eve
J
Going to and from the proms is usually taken care of by limousines, but the
private parties afterwards are where problems lie
Roberta suggested a volunteer corps of drivers who would be available by calling
a central number (police? fire?) Threre might be problems of insurance liability
with volunteers
Bea will talk to Lexpress about the idea. Sheila will talk to the Youth Commission
and Michael Waring and the Police
Mystic Valley
Marion reported that the Hancock Street house is now finally open. There are
four adult women, all in day programs The house has 40 hour a week staffing
by a social worker, Barbara Miller Marion was concerned that Mystic Valley
had not arranged transportation for Susan to work in Cambridge, but June Rowe in
the Area Office is arranging it.
Community Service
Marion talked with Pat Falconer at the High School about chores for the frail
elderly Pat thought using higher functioning retarded people might be descriminatory,
but that the school was thinking about having a service criteria for graduation,
which could be coordinated with the Council on Aging
Coordinator's Report
1. Bea will be out of Town on January 21. The next meeting date was changed to Jan 28
2 The Manager said he is leaning towards supporting Bea' s expense budget recommendation
3. The Housing Authority still has no confirmation from EOCD about the Hill Street
project being accepted, consequently there is no movement on that.
4. There is a new day care starting at Trinity Covenant Church called Language
Enrichment Arts Program. It will be a full day for ages 2 1/2 to 4 1/2
5 The Council on Aging hired a new Social Day Program coordinator, Linda Vine,
who has a degree in Public Administration and is from Ohio with considerable
experience in elderly services Bea is very sorry to be lousing Natalie Rudin,
but pleased with Linda.
6 Bea' s office will move to room 104 (across from the Water Dept) and telephone
extension will change to 441 on January 11. It is anticipated that the
telephones will be a mess for a while, as the new switchboard will be in the
school building
Next Meetings
Monday, January 28 (NOT January 21 as origionally scheduled)
Monday, February 11
Respectfully submitted
Beatrice Phear