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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-11-23-HSC-min.pdf Minutes, Human Services Committee �( November 23, 1987 Present Harvey Lowell, Co-Chairman; Bob Cushman, Co-Chairman; Sheila Martin; Marion Shepp; Syliva Perlman; Renee Cochin; Jan Eustis Absent Leonora Feeney, Seymour Mandel Announcements Bob Cushman is the proud grandfather of Samantha Jean Cushman' Leonora Feeney was diagnosed at Brigham and Women's Hospital for a ruptured disk She has had surgery and will be returning shortly to her home Committee members are invited to a reception for Rick White, new Town Manager, to take place on Thursday, December 3 from 5 to 7 in the Selectmen's Meeting Room. Minutes of 11/9/87 Minutes of 11/9/87 were corrected as follows ( In section on Replace on page 2, paragraph 1 it was clarified that Re- Place was not Seeking to avoid involvement with the Human Services Co- mmittee although they felt theymight eventually have to take their case directly to the Selectmen and Town Meeting In the same section it was suggested with respect to the administration of RePlace that the Board had not reviewed the full range of administrative options Subcommittee reports pertaining to FY '89 human services budget Council on Aging (Renee, Sheila, Marion) There had been a delay in getting narrative to support budget materials Meeting with Linda Crew Vine, COA Director, has been scheduled Mystic Valley Mental Health (Sheila, Renee) Proposal has not yet been received. Cooperative Elder Services (Jan and Syliva) Social day care and Adult day health programs for frail elderly providing respectively respite and respite and health monitoring are well run and supplement other programs for this population in the community Sylvia asked if total amount of $3,000 appropriated for FY '87 was spent Accepted Agency request in the amount of $3,000 Human Services Committee Minutes, 11/23/87, p 2 CMARC (Harvey, Bob) Central Middlesex Association for Retarded Citizens has 120 clients 80 in a sheletered workshop and 40 on job sites The administration of the agency is of a high order and up to the complex task of supervising clients on site and providing them with transportation The Agency is totally organized around job training and employment and its central goal is to move all clients into actual jobs where they perform better and feel more respected. Increase in request this year from $8,000 to $10,000 reflects increase up to 13 clients served. Bob Cushman advised that CMARC receive an incentive amount for every client placed in industry At the present time it receives no reward for placing a client Rather, appropriations from every funding source are reduced to reflect clients placed CMARC will be asked to request incentive from Town when they next submit a budget Accepted Agency request for $10,000 Replace (Jan and Seymour) Jan reported on Replace while Seymour went to fund raising meeting at Replace Replace has been able to take steps to deal with expected funding shortfall for this year One staff member went on unpaid paternal leave The Director's position was eventually funded half-time by Mass Department of Mental Health. Another staff member who was scheduled to work full time worked 80% time Private sources in the amount of $4,000 to $5,000 will make up remainder of deficit A large share of the funding increase requested from $75,000 in FY '88 to $98,400 related to a desire to bring salaries up to the State level It was not clear whether figures presented were for part-time or full- time staff Harvey reviewed Replace statistics with Committee It was not clear how many hour or interview units were devoted to counseling Steve said that he had requested Bill Blout to supply this information There were 77 crises handled during the year, and Harvey felt this was significant, but it was not clear what significance to attribute to the large number of outreach contacts It was noted that RePlace was in a position to take up the slack in counseling that had been earlier provided by Mystic Valley Mental Health. Renee felt that if the case could be made that RePlace services were valuable, then the Town should pay for them On the other hand, had their effectiveness been proven? Harvey and Jan felt that Replace had been slow to undertake expanded fundraising while there had been a general agreement of the Committee, Selectmen and RePlace that large increase in funding in FY '88 was a one-time rescue effort Human Seivices Committee Minutes, 11/23/87, p 3 Sylita asked if it was a good policy for the bulk of Town funding to continue to go to Replace It was felt by others that the 27% increase request was not realistic in a time of extreme funding scarcity and that with the Human Services Committee becoming increasingly proactive other priorities unrelated to the needs of any one agency had been set through the hearing on needs and priorities in human services of June 19, 1986 Harvey advised that Replace should become a Town-administered agency The Town would then take responsibility for seeking funding from the State Senior Health Monitor (Sylvia and Bob) Council on Aging Board met to review proposal There was a lot of support for the concept Subsequently their Executive Committee met with reser- vations about liability, whether they were ready to assume responsibility for health services and concern about duplication of case management services already being provided to many of the clients in this program by the Minuteman Home Care Corporation Steve reported that Joan Butler West, Executive Director of the Minuteman Home Care Corporation,was prepared to consider extending services to an above-income-eligible population ( Renee, noting that the Council on Aging board had not shared in the process of development for this program, felt that a lesson had been learned about seeking Board participation in the future for program development in all agencies, not only Council on Aging The Committee is awaiting a written statement of the Council on Aging position Equity Sharing Review Harvey and Rob reported that the Equity Sharing Review Committee had met and chosen Abt Associates to conduct feasibility study 0KM Associates, while knowledgeable, seemed more inclined to include implementation with study in their scope of work, and this was not what had been requested in the Request for Proposal A meeting on the contract was held this same evening, 11/30,when a formal vote was taken on the decision The final report will be delivered by March 4 Respectfully Submitted,ub_ ' 0 v' Stephen Baran, Human Services Coordinator