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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-10-07-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of the Meeting of October 7, 1985 Present Judy Zabin, Stan Finkelstein, Leonora Feeney, Marion Shepp, Sheila Martin, Sylvia Perlman, Jan Eustis, Bea Phear The Minutes of the meeting of September 23, 1985 were approved as mailed. Coordinator' s Report 1. The planned staffed apartment on Evergreen Lane will be holding an open house on October 16 Committee members are welcome They expect clients to move in about November 1 2 A group met at RePlace to discuss the adolescent study There was reluctance to plunge in with a direct survey, and the group will start with a literature review and interviewing key informants It was decided to focus on Junior High aged kids, and look at a variety (as yet unspecified) of behaviors The next meeting is Monday, October 28 at 3 30 p.m. Judy suggested PTA's 3 The Visiting Nurse & Community Health senior monitor program will be reporting on Monday, October 28 at 1 00 p.m. They have added one client (now 25) in Lexington, and have funding to expand to Arlington They have designed a new assessment tool that the state is interested in. Bea will know more after the meeting Goals/Structure of Committee In the past several years the committee has concentrated on agency relationships and contracting It was decided to put more energy into three general functions that will become the subcommittees 1 Strategic Planning To consider how to develop an ongoing process/system to monitor changing needs and potentially how to act on that Jan & Sylvia 2 Research To select a study that is "doable" and that has some comparative element, either among agencies or with other communities Lee & Marion 3 Community Relations Thinking about how to relate to others - Town Meeting, other agencies - and being the first place to receive requests, comments, and problems Judy & Stan, plus the new appointee Sheila will wait to be assigned, depending on what subcommittee interests Harvey It was decided that the subcommittees will meet in the beginning of each meeting and then report to the larger group Several suggestions were put forth, including that the Strategic and Research Committees might work together, that we could compare Lexington Human Services with other municipal structures, and that the purpose of the Providers Council is networking and that a directory might become a planning tool Agency Monitoring/Budget Planning Since the focus of the committee will move somewhat from day-to-day monitoring of funded agencies, Bea expressed concern that she would become the only source of information about agencies, and recommendations would become filtered through her perspective only She thought that was dangerous It was decided that each committee member would have one agency to keep track of in a less formal way - including receiving minutes of meetings, copies of the quarterly reporting,and only occasionally attending a meeting This assignment will also be for the first round of looking at FY87 budget requests Mystic Valley Mental Health Center - Lee & Jan RePlce - Sylvia & Sheila CMARC - Marion & Harvey (?) Council on Aging - Stan & Harvey (?) Hospice - Lee & Jan Cooperative Elder Services - Judy Everyones Youth Group - Sylvia & Sheila Stan and Judy prepared an outline of guidelines for evaluating agency funding requests (enclosed with these minutes) Material is available from Bea's files, and committee members are welcome to come in and look through them at any time (Telephone ahead to make sure the office is open.) Bea also suggested having a regular contact with the State agencies, such as Office for Children, Department of Social Services and Department of Mental Health She will get lists of the membership of these area or regional boards Lee mentioned that the Woburn Council has a food pantry, with participation by eight Lexington families This might be an area for the Trustees to help fund. Bea said that there was a Lexington familiy that was interested in working for a food pantry in Lexington, but the numbers were very small to make it worthwhile It could be located out of the Senior Center Symposium Marion arranged for a donation of the wine from the Wine Cellar of Silene Stan brought a draft invitation which was approved, and a response card. Judy arranged for cabel TV coverage Bea will warn the participants The guest list was expanded to include all Town Meeting Members The only hand-out will be a list of registrants Sylvia and Harvey drew up a draft statement for the Housing Issue module, which was enthusiastically approved. This will be distributed to tha panalists in advance Lee and Sheila will create a similar statement revolving around family issues They may frame it in terms of a case study, from RePlace They are also gathering data on adolescent issues This will be presented at the next meeting for discussion. Next Meetings It was decided to schedule meetings for the first and third Mondays The next meetings are October 21 November 4 November 18 December 2 December 16 Respectfully submitted, Beatrice Phear HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Guidelines for Evaluating FY 1987 Agency Funding Requests Activity Timing 1. Review background materials, contracts, October 8-31 and other previous experience of the Human Services Committee with the agency being evaluated 2 Review current agency proposal and develop November 1-15 questions for agency management and board members Questions should include, but not be limited to inquiries about agency committment to Lexington and anticipated changes in program or funding in the coming fiscal year 3 Meet with appropriate agency personnel November 16-30 4 Develop a recommendation for Human Services December 1-7 Committee action in consultation with Com- mittee chairs and Human Services Coordinator 5 Full committee discussion and decisions December 8-15