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Human Services Lommittee Minutes , 2/21 /90
Present Renee Cochin and Bob Cushman, Co-Chairmen; Leonora
Feeney; Ann Irving; Dennis Murakami ; and Steve Baran,
Human Services Coordinator
Minutes of 1/29/90
The Minutes of 1 /29/80 were accepted
Report Human Services Coordinator
A meeting is was being co-sponsored by the Mass Municipal
Association and Suffolk University on the theme of women and
human services
The Friends of the Council on Aging are undertaking a Financial
Assistance Program Renee commented on the importance of
accountability and involvement of the Human Services Committee tn
scholarship policies and implementation where Town funds were
involved Steve reported that Linda was proceeding to do work in
these areas with the cooperation of the relevant agencies
welcomed assistance from the Committee in the area of devising
claims forms
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\- Orientation for all Town employees was going forward on the newly
available Employee Assistance Program
Customer Satisfaction training is underway for all Town
employees
A Wage and Compensation study has recently been completed
The Enablement Committee and the Lexington Citizens for Special
Needs have agreed to request consolidation as an advisory
committee to the Selectmen Dennis commented that the two
committees are cooperating in drafting a statement of purpose
Review of meetino with the Selectmen
Renee and Bob felt that the presentation of the Human Services
Committee had gone well , and RePlace had been pleased with the
Committee' s support Renee had expressed concern about cuts in
the non-Town portion of the COA budget and suggested that this
type of cutting might have future implications for the Town
Permanent renresentative to the Council on A/ing
The following reasons were given for having a permanent
( } representatives from the Human Services Committee to the Council
\�~/ on Aging
Human Services Committee Minutes 2/21 /90 Page 2
The COA represents the largest item in the Town' s human
Services budget, and the Human Services Committee must
understand the COA and how they arrive at budget
decisions
2 The relationship of the Committee to the COA is unlike
its relationship with other Town-funded human service
agencies Since COA is a Town agency, the Human
Services Committee has a primary responsibility to be
helpful and add its perspective
3 It is more important for the Committee to have a
representative to the COA than for the COA to have a
representative to the Committee at this time since they
do not wish to be in the position of "reporting" to the
Committee
4 The COA needs to be encouraged to continue to consider
the issues of long term care and the needs of its frail
elder members
C"l 5 The COA needs to be involved in the needs assessment
that will be carried out under the auspices of the
Human Services Committee
Dennis agreed to become the permanent representative of the
Committee It was suggested that the Council on Aging might find
one of its members to serve as a member of the Human Services
Committee
Needs assessment
Steve announced that a Heller School management team from
Brandeis was soon to begin work leading to a needs assessment
The Town represented a first choice for each of the three
students on the team The Town Manager is supportive, prepared
to contribute some funding eventually to a needs assessment
Outreach and recruitment
Renee had hoped to get a note in the League of Women Voters
bulletin referring to a vacant position on the Human Services
Committee, but she was unsuccessful rt was suggested that there
be some sort of announcement in the Minute-man perhaps in
relation to a news article about the forthcoming needs
assessment A picture of the students would be helpful
It was mentioned that Leonora Feeney and Sheila Martin were
planning to resign from the Committee
Steve Baran