HomeMy WebLinkAbout1985-12-09-HSC-min.pdf l tonne R9A,e.Q__ AAQA_
( HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of December 9 , 1985
Present Stan Finkelstein , Harvey Lowell , Leonora Feeney , Sheila
Martin , Sylvia Perlman , Jan Eustis , Marion Shepp
Minutes
The minutes of the November 18 meeting were approved as mailed
Announcements
1 Judy and Stan participated with Bob Hutchinson in interviewing
the six finalists for the Coordinator ' s position on Friday All
three of them agreed on a first choice , and the position was
offered to her over the weekend She is to meet with Bob
tomorrow , and it is hoped that she will accept If she does not ,
there is no clear second choice Stan felt very pleased about the
process
2 Party for Bea Phear 21 people are planning to attend the
dinner on December 15 at Cory ' s All members of the committee ,
and their spouses , will be there , as will several former members
Judy plans to purchase a gift this week , and welcomes suggestions
3 Search for new committee member The Selectmen have not
referred any names to us as a result of their general
announcement Judy went over a list of Town Meeting members in an
effort to think of potential members , but could not find any Stan
has asked to see the resumes of people who expressed interest in
other committees If none of these methods work out , we may go
back to those who had volunteered last year
4 The Cary Hall ramp was unanimously passed by the special Town
Meeting last week
Agency Evaluations
Evaluations will be begun tonight and completed next week
General Issues
1 Stan suacested the possibility that the committee set
priorities rather than merely recommending specific funding
amounts This would permit / require the committee to advocate for
certain programs Jan felt that priorities could only be
established within a particular context The possibility was
suggested that we develop three priority levels within our
recommendations
L
( 2 Elderly services Last year Selectmen asked whether all
funding for elderly services should be either Human Services
Committee or Council on Aging line item ( and not split between the
two ) This issue was discussed with the focus on ( 1 ) whether the
committee should continue to monitor the COA budget , and ( 2 )
whether the VNA Senior Health Monitor program should be included
in the Housing Authority or COA budget rather than ours
Agencies
1 Visiting Nurse and Community Health VNA is again seeking
"bridge " funding from the town , to cover the costs of their Senior
Health Monitor program between July and October They expect that
they will receive permanent funding after that time from the
Depts of Elder Affairs and Communities and Development Bea
recommended no funding for them The program has an excellent
reputation , but shows indirect costs of 24% in a $33 thousand
budget Half the program ' s clients are in Lexington Housing
Authority projects Lee and Jan therefore wonder whether the LHA
might help support and /or evaluate the program
2 Council on Aging Bea did not include the COA in our budget
this year , although they always have been included in the past
When Stan and Harvey tried to schedule an appointment with Linda
Vine she was reluctant She finally agreed to see them "as a
courtesy " The COA , whose board is appointed by the Town Manager ,
is requesting a budget increase of 38% for 1987 Discussion
centered on whether the committee should continue to serve a
monitoring function vis a vis the CUA The general sense was that
the Selectmen would probably want us to do so
3 Everyone 's Youth Group Sheila has been unable to reach
Ashley Rooney , who is requesting funds for the purpose of
developing new television programming for adolescents and their
parents
4 RePlace RePlace is seeking a 9% increase in its allocation ,
to $59 904 This represents an increase of $5040 , all of which
would be used to raise salaries -- for an over-all salary increase
of 7% Although Bill has shown in his proposed budget an increase
of $840 per person , rather than proportional raises , he
acknowledged that he does not necessarily intend to distribute the
money that way Rather , he would like leeway to allocate the
funds as he deems necessary , with the goal being to keep the staff
he has worked hard to recruit over the past year or so It was
felt that we should probably recommend the requested increase if
it is truly needed to achieve wage equity but it was also noted
that we would take actual expenditures into account in reviewing
the 1987 budget
5 CMARC CMARC serves 116 people , increasingly in competitive
Lsituations rather than in sheltered workshops Although corporate
settings are more expensive to supervise , they are also more
beneficial to the people being served They are requesting a 38%
increase in their allocation , from $5500 to $7500 They have
increased the number of Lexington people served from six to eight
this year Harvey was much impressed with the agency , which runs
efficiently and well It also does its own fundraising
6 Mystic Valley Mystic Valley is requesting a $20 thousand
increase ( from $15 to $35 thousand ) , apparently because they lost
1 1/2 positions this year The budget they presented to the
committee requires considerable discussion , and Jan and Lee will
be meeting with Richard on Thursday
7 Cooperative Elder Services and Lexington Play Care Center
These two programs are being monitored by Judy , who will report on
them next week
The Research and Strategic Planning Subcommittees did not meet
this week Their meetings will be resumed early in January
Submitted by Sylvia Perlman