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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-01-08-HSC-min.pdf Human Services Committee Minutes , 1/8/90 Present Renee Cochin and Bob Cushman, Co-Chairmen; Ann Irving; Seymour Mandel ; Dick Dougherty; Dennis Murakami; Judy Zabin and Bill Blout, RePlace (after 9 30 p m ) ; Steve Baran, Human Services Coordinator Minutes of 12/18/89 The Minutes of 12/18/89 were accepted Report of Human Services Coordinator At Renee ' s request Steve talked with Leo McSweeney about the Committee ' s interest in an ongoing structure for dealing with substance abuse issues and that the Committee is unable to take main responsibility Leo will discuss this with Rick White Steve suggested that the Committee link up with the Local Officials Human Services Council of the Mass Municipal Association Renee agreed to attend their meeting of 1/11 p The Employee Assistance Program has been accepted by the Board of Selectmen The contract has gone to Commonhealth, Inc There was extensive employee participation in the planning which included the involvement of the Human Services Coordinator ff Steve reported on the Town Manager ' s budget recommendations The Town Manager feels positively toward RePlace and would like to reward it instead of recommending no further funding 1989 Annual Report of Human Services The report on Human Services for the Town' s 1989 Annual Report was reviewed and approved with minor editing Review of Budaet Situation Committee members agreed that education remained a priority for the Town Seymour commented that if RePlace were eliminated the Town would be left with no other organized mental health services Renee wondered if keeping the East Lexington branch library open meant a duplication of services said that all items were open for debate The Committee could speak at Town Meeting Human Services Committee Minutes, 1/8/90 Page 2 ( Subcommittee Reports Council on Aging/Senior Health Monitor Dennis and Seymour felt COA was doing a good job recommended level funding Seymour gave a very positive report of his personal observation of services rendered There is a great deal of satisfaction expressed by the members They are trying to develop a program budget Data on numbers served by program will be provided Renee suggested recommending to the Selectmen research into feasibility of opening at hours beyond 9 to 5 and investigating what other COAs ' were doing around innovative programming particularly with reference to the frail elderly CMARC Leonora and Renee will be visiting the program RePlace ( Dick and Ann reported Bill Blout had prepared an internally consistent budget which raised questions about high unit costs e g , for counseling--$85 per hour without overhead $178 per hour with overhead, $51 per hour if collateral work is taken into consideration Amount of time devoted to collateral seems excessive Costs are 60% above comparable agencies Bill agreed that the services were expensive, but RePlace provided a "network of services" He agreed to obtain comparative unit cost data suggesting that RePlace was a hybrid between Choate-Symmes Emergency Psychiatric Services and the Arlington Youth Consultation Services He will show professional supervision of housing program supervision of volunteers, costs of hospitalization prevented by RePlace intervention, etc Dick agreed to be in touch with RePlace which will be invited to come back to the next meeting for a half hour Cooperative Elder Services ( Renee and Bob reported 22 Lexington clients are served with 8 on scholarship Town pays Medicaid rate If O Human Services Committee Minutes , 1/8/90 Page 3 of $28 per day Private pay clients pay $30 per day The sliding feel scale is outdated Bill procedures are unclear An improved billing form is being recommended showing number of days attended and unique identifying numbers for each client along with periodic reporting The client census has not changed over time There is a need for significant outreach Contracts Renee felt that contracts with human service agencies failed to spell out what was being purchased in a way that would permit the Human Services to understand what was being provided Herb Wasserman Candidacy Steve commented that Herb had seemed keenly interested in Town' s approach to human services when they last talked It was the Committee s impression that he seemed less than enthusiastic and so it was decided not to recommend him to the Selectmen AIDS School Policy Committee ( Renee has agreed to attend the next meeting of the AIDS school policy committee which is being formed Steve will inform his of the Committee ' s decision If On Aaenda for Next Meeting Needs assessment and meeting of Committee with the Selectmen to be discussed at the next meeting on January 22 Respectfully submitted, Stephen Baran, Human Services Coordinator If