HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-09-09-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of September 9, 1985
Present Roberta Black, Leonora Feeney, Sylvia Perlman, Marion Shepp, Sheila
Martin, Stan Finkelstein, Harvey Lowell, Bea Phear
The minutes of the meeting of August 19 were approved as mailed.
Cable TV
Bea announced that she had an upcoming meeting with three people who were interested
in volunteering for cable tv projects They were recruited through the efforts of
the Volunteer Coordinator, Nancy Gordon, who is on contract through an EOCD state
grant to set up a system for volunterism throughout the town, library, CoA, and
schools
Special Needs Art Fund
Bea announced that the committee was invited to attend a benefit for the Special
Needs Art Fund on Septmber 29 at 3 30 p.m. at the Follen Church The guest
artist will be Adelle Nicholson, and the Special Needs Chorus will also sing
Committee Membership
Roberta reported that C.0 Chao has decided to resign It was decided that Stan
will discuss appointments with Paul Marshall, with an interest in trying to recruit
a member who is not from the human services field, in order to increase diversity
on the committee
Replace
Bea announced that she has been invited to work with RePlace on a town-wide needs
assessment of adolescents This is still quite unfocused, and may take the form of
a survey, of a series of meetings, or key informants The issues to be addressed
are still undecided. Bea asked if any committee members were interested in participating,
and if any had survey instruments or studies they would recommend we look at or use
She will be meeting with Bill Blout, with a plan to include Bob Delulio, from the
School department as well Sylvia, Harvey, and Roberta all were interested in being
kept informed, and will give Bea materials from their files It was also suggested
to invite Bill Blout to the meeting of Sept 23 F
RFP Process
It was decided to repeat last year's request for suggestions and proposals, sending
the letter to the same list that has been developed for the conference Additionally,
a notice will go in the Minuteman newspaper
Bea reported that she has not yet received a draft contract from Hospice Care Inc, and
they are not yet receiving funds They are in flux administrateively, and it is
assumed Ed Dolan will contact Bea when he is ready She will send any draft contract
he proposes to Stan and Leonora.
Conference
Marge Battin, Dick Kraus, and Neil Houston have all accepted the invitation to sit
on the panel Nancy Kaufman has said she may have a conflict, but will try to come
or will send someone Bea has not yet reached a corporate person nor the Town Manager
It was decided to try to reduce the list of needs to about six, that would
generate good discussion Bea will come to the next meeting with a draft list The
panelists should be told ahead of time what the list will be and what we are asking
of them.
Bea said she sees two kinds of issues citizen needs that Lexington has, as do
other communities, such as housing, transportation, home services etc and also
a systemic issue of low incidence, given the affluent community, and the greater
cost of living. in Lexington, particluarly for real estate and rental
Roberta and Bea distributed the first draft of a possible brochure that could be
distributed at the meeting, although it is designed as information to citizens
They request comments, especially on where to drastically reduce the number of
words It was suggested that we use Alan November to see if any student is interested
in type-setting
It was suggested to add a section on volunteerism.
Mystic Valley
Marion Sheppreported that the Hancock St. house is in jeopardy, since there must
be an emergency egress on the second floor which will take away one bedroom. She
has been told that the program will move to Arlington and that her daughter will
no longer be part of it Bea said she had talked to Richard Weiss, and understood
that he did not intend to move the whole program, but did have to remove the one
bedroom, and was planning to move Susan Shepp out
There was discussion that the committee could not comment on the clinical issues
of a possible move for Susan Shepp, but that we should express concern about the
removal of any supportive bed from the community and ask Mystic Valley to consider
creative solutions Bea will send such a letter, with copies to Sen Kraus, Rep
Doran, and Dr Cooke in the area office Several members offered suggestions to
Marion in her efforts ,Harvey thought Permanent Charities might be interested in
helping with needed construction dollars
Next Meeting
The next meeting is September 23 at 7 30 p.m. in room 111
Respectfully submitted,
Beatrice Phear