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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-06-02 Council for Human Services (CHS) and Contract Review Committee(CRC) June 2, 2010 2 Fairgrounds Road Minutes of the meeting of June 2, 2010. The meeting took place at 1:00 pm in the town building at 2 Fairgrounds Road Nantucket, MA 02554. Members present were: Linda Williams (CHS & CRC), Sue Marques(CHS), Linda Barrett(CHS), Christy Kickham(CRC), Mary Wawro(CRC), Michael Kopko(CRC). John Belash and Jack Gardner (CRC) arrived at 1:30 Absent: Jackie McGrady, Rachel Rosen, Dorothy Hertz and Maria Pena. Public present: Pauline Proch, Louise Benoit, Margaretta Andrews, Sheri Hunt, Janice Carriero, Raymond Vox, Whitey Willauer, Jenny Garneau, Kat Robinson Grieder, Peter Mackay, Glenora Kelly-Smith. Staff present: Maryanne Worth and Ann Medina. Quorum: Meeting was called to order at 1:05 when quorum was established. This meeting was called to discuss the changes in how the Town will fund Human Services agencies. Mary Wawro, chairman of this meeting, sent an email to Libby Gibson and Diane O'Neil inviting them to the discussion. The meeting will be open to the public for questions. Linda W. called a point of order; how can we take questions from the public when we have not discussed this amongst ourselves yet. RFP proposal: The current grant process, where agencies submit a request for funding, is not appropriate. The town cannot issue contracts to private agencies; Request for proposal (RFP) is the way to award funds. CHSjCRC have not had a formal charge about this. The change is that the Town of Nantucket will decide what services are needed by the town, hopefully Diane O'Neil will explain this to the committees. CHSjCRC will have agencies come in to talk about what the needs are, what new ideas or programs they want to do. We do not have enough information yet. The CHS has also been charged with assessing the needs of the community. The last Community Needs Assessment Survey was done in 2006, it had been ten years since there had been a survey done. Maryanne is in the process of trying to obtain funds for a new survey. The 2006 Needs Assessment Survey collected a lot of community based research. As a result of that survey the Council for Human Services chose to focus on oral health, housing, and substance abuse. Traditionally, before the contract review process begins, the CRC and CHS meet to discuss the needs of the community. When this issue came before the BOS, Michael Kopko volunteered to write something, provide BOS with a draft about change regarding the RFP process and an assessment of the Council for Human Services of how the town delivers its human services. These two issues should be broken apart. This document is just an outline, the town manager and the chairman of the BOS will make it a working document. The BOS feels everyone's involvement is important. Mary asked what the status of the Human Services Collaborative Work Study Group receiving the scope of services. Michael Kopko is no longer on that group, therefore he does not know. MW: Is there a directive regarding what the CHSjCRC will be charged with formally, some thoughts so that the committees will understand what they will be doing? MK: The way the current system has worked is the agencies initiated the request for funds; this process will be backed out. The BOS and the town manager see this as an opportunity to write the RFP as specifically and broadly as possible; there are contracts already existing, start there and tweek to RFP as to what services the town is contracting for. There is a way to construct an RFP to get the response you want, details of actual services provided. MW: Agencies come to the CRC, after assessment has been made, specific needs assessment; prioritize those needs, there is specific solicitation. MK:The town will ask for those services, as RFP is done matching dollars available to critical needs; however nothing has gotten to that level yet. The most common process is that there is a score - not the lowest price- you can only bid on this if you have certain qualifications. We would all be surprised if there were a lot of agencies providing these se~ices. We don't expect to get everything perfectly the first year. MW: Will Diane O'Neil be advising these committees weather CHSjCRC will have a roll in this process? MK: CHS will have a specific roll in the process, CRC is not mentioned. The BOS makes the final decision on the contracts that are done now, after the recommendations of FinCom. WW: When talking about the RFP process, you do not open price proposal until after the technical proposal. Each solicitation will be advised what the rules are, look at the highest score then look at the price. Contracts with the town now are for contracted services. MW: How is this going to work? Is it something on a case by case basis? We want to find that out too. SH: The categories of what RFP's are looking at Elder Services will be eliminated. Elder Services on the Cape has gone to the RFP process and has lost funding on the Cape because of this process. LW: Council is well aware that if the BOS charges CHS with new assessments it is going to be retreading the whole gamut. We want the BOS to be aware of what has been provided. MK: Sense is that BOS wants to use current contracts as a baseline so that when we do change we can take what we are doing now and reverse how the process works. LW: Slate of CRC recommendations: CRC goes to FinCom then BOS then contracts are voted on at town meeting. Will town meeting involvement no longer be needed? MW:In order to put out RFP you have to have funding. Town could appropriate a lump sum of money; actual services are predetermined under RFP scenario. CHSjCRC will await BOS direction and continue communication. Meeting adjourned at 2:07 Respectfully submitted by Ann .'Jvl edina