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Human Services Committee Minutes
December 18, 1989
Present Renee Cochin, Co-chairman, Ann Irving, Sheila Martin, Seymour
Mandel, Leonora Feeney, Richard White Town Manager, and Herb
Wasserman
Meeting with Town Manager
Richard White discussed his responsibility for managing programs and ex-
ercising control of town departments. He commented that he saw the re-
sponbilities of the Committee to be in the areas of recommendations on
budgets to the Selectmen and monitoring human services programs, as con-
tained in the charge from the Selectmen to the committee During the dis-
cussion, Seymour expressed concern regarding potential disagreements
between the Committee and the Town Manager on budget recommendations
to the Selectmen. Ann felt there was no conflict since both parties can
make independent recommendations and the differences will be resolved by
the Selectmen and, ultimately, Town Meeting. There was a brief discussion
C) of the need for continued communication between the Town.Manager and the
Committee to assure that both receive timely information on activities of
mutual interest.
Minutes of 12/4/89
The minutes were approved with the following corrections:
Add Dennis Murakami to those present.
Revise last paragraph of corrections to minutes of 11/6/88 to
read: Committee members raised questions about the extent
of followup to the program in the schools.
Page 2, Second Paragraph, Line 5: Change "side to site."
Annual Town Report
A draft proposal describing the past year's activities of the Committee to
be submitted for the Annual Town Report was given to the members. They
were asked to review it before the next meeting and bring suggested com-
ments or changes.
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Needs Assessment
The content of the upcoming Needs Assessment project was discussed at
some length. The following were some suggested areas of interest that
might be the major focus of the current assessment or a continuation of it
after the initial one is completed:
Unmet needs of special needs populations ( including those with
with mental and/or physical disabilities and those sensorially
disabled) ag. housing, recreation, transportation, audiovisual
services
Counseling and psychological services available to children in the
school system, particularly at the K-5 level,
Information on homeless families housed in Lexington and their
needs,
Other services to the elderly,
Use of alcohol and drugs in the general population of Lexington.
Further discussion and recommendations will take place at the next
C) meeting.
Human Services Committee Candidate
The Committee interviewed Herb Wasserman, candidate for membership on
the Committee. Discussion and recommendation to the Selectmen were
deferred to the January 8 meeting.
Budget Recommendations
Preliminary reports from program reviewers on each program overseen by
the Committee are to be presented on January 8.
Respectfully submitted,
Renee Cochin,
Co-chairman
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