HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-07-21-HSC-min.pdf n HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Meeting of July 21, 1986
Present Marion Shepp, Leonora Feeney, Bob Cushman, Harvey Lowell, Stan
Finkelstein, Betsy Moore and Rachel Rosenblum of Youth Survey
Committee, Steve Baran (Human Services Coordinator)
The Minutes of the meeting of June 30, 1986 were approved as mailed.
Youth Survey
Stan reported that there was concern on the part of Town Manager and Human Services
Committee Selectmen Liaison around purpose of youth survey and decision of the
Human Services Committee to constitute Youth Survey Committee as a subcommittee
Stan had explained that creating a subcommittee did not mean an endorsement of the
project itself
Questions posed by members of the Human Services Committee were as follows
1 Will the Town of Lexington end up "owning" the Survey without having had anything
to do with it?
2 What are the policy implications of carrying out the survey?
3 Why is it necessary for the Town to sponsor the survey?
4 Why is the survey concerned with issue of anomie which pertains to theory-
building if it is ostensibly focused on needs assessment?
5 How can there be assurances that the data is valid? Will respondents take the
survey seriously?
6 Are there alternative approaches to the creation of a subcommittee?
Youth Survey Committee representatives explained that their essential motivation
for seeking Town sponsorship pertained to the "generic" nature of the need they
perceived which was not academic or categorically related to any one human service
agency The survey was initiated by a group of concerned professionals, but there
was no mechanism, other than through the Town, for provision of formal auspices or
receiving funds for paying for the survey (although its costs would largely be
defrayed by volunteer participation and school system contributions of in-kind
assistance)
It was agreed that Stan would seek to have the youth survey topic removed as an
agenda item from the forthcoming Selectmen's meeting of July 29 This would allow
the Youth Survey Committee to respond to letter from Steve Baran requesting response
to questions on purpose, methodology, costs, etc during the summer
Steve Baran suggested that independent sponsorship of the survey outside of Town
or School auspices might be appropriate as means of conferring upon the process
the greatest degree of credibility
Youth Survey Committee will prepare a proposal to be reviewed by the Human Services
Committee before it is presented to the Selectmen
(over)
Minutes of Human Services Committee Meeting of July 21, 1986, page 2
RFP Format
Revised RFP format was reviewed and suggestions made on first draft as follows
1 Include request for data on Agency background
2 Require all agencies seeking funding to complete format whether or not they
have received funding in the past
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Human Services Committee will take place on Monday, August
11.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Baran