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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-07-08 Council for Human Services July 8, 2010 2 Fairgrounds Road J Minutes of the meeting of July 8, 2010. The meeting took place at 4:00 pm in the town building at 2 Fairgrounds Road Nantucket, MA 02554. Members of the council present were: Dorothy Hertz, chair, Linda Barrett, Mary Wawro, John Belash. Absent: Linda Williams, Augie Ramos, Rachel Rosen, Susan Marques and Maria Pena. Guests: Libby Gibson, Town Manager and Michael Kopko, BOS member. Staff present: Maryanne Worth and Ann Medina. Quorum: Meeting was called to order at 4: 10; a quorum was not established. A motion to approve the agenda was made and seconded. Dorothy thanked Libby and Michael for attending this meeting. Libby is here to explain the charge that has been given to the Council for Human Services (CHS). Basically the BOS is asking the CHS for their recommendations for the scope of services for services for the community that the town will pay for in FY12. An RFP will be issued then responded to instead of the agencies asking for funds, the current process is backwards. It will be up to the BOS how many RFP's will be issued, it could be 1 or 15 +. The BOS wants the Council to look at the needs assessment survey and consult with agencies to come up with an outline format in terms of services for the community that the town will pay for. Specific services are being sought. The BOS is not asking the council to write the RFP, just an outline. The BOS wants the Council to let them know what the specific services are, categorize the services to be provided, an example would be domestic violence counseling. Scope of services can be based on the needs assessment survey, what services are needed; some may be needed more than others. How will we determine how much funds to provide since it is not known how much money will be available? One recommendation might be that more money is needed. Monitoring contracts: quarterly reports - making sure the information is there, that might be working fine for now and the same monitoring process may be used with RFP or it could be something different. Criteria: To determine if an agency qualifies for funding, comparative criteria can be used - example an agency might be Highly Qualified with 10 years + experience; Qualified with up to 5 years experience; and Not Qualified with no experience. Another methodology is the point system; allocate points for years of experience etc. Libby stated she thought the point system is not used in MA but would check on it. The point system might be a tool the council could use An RFP can be tailored specifically to get what you want. It is up to the town what comparative criteria will be used. When the RFP's are returned a spreadsheet will be set up with the comparative criteria. The Council will look broadly at what the needs are and what services that will be provided by agencies. It is for the Council to know what the human services picture is on the island and worry less about the structure of the RFP. This may become an incremental process as it is a fairly substantial project. Main recommendation is will there be one RFP or many. Town administration will work with the Council on a letter of the comparative criteria. The challenge is going to be consulting with the agencies and what their priorities are. All agencies will be asked separately. The council will meet agencies at an open meeting on July 28th. What the Council wants from the agencies is for them to provide what services are important and what are the unmet needs. It is important to have a meeting with them all together. HSWSG is more current as to what is going on. It would be helpful to us to have a picture of where the BOS wants to spend town money. The charge relates to specific services that are to be provided to residents of the town; since it is town money that is derived from property taxes that funds this, is there a definition of town resident? Residents are people who live here. There isn't a formal town designation. If it is not a major issue the council does not want to delve into it; neither does the town. Dorothy stated that the Council hopes to reach the timeline but it is a short time to get things done and the council will do its best to get things done. Michael stated that the BOS has a contract to get the RFP out; the BOS are working on a deadline and will keep the council posted. There are seven weeks to do this. The last needs assessment survey was done in 2006, things have changed drastically since then, and therefore the 2006 survey is not current. The services that will be recommended have to be based on documentation. What funding will be available? Maybe the town needs to invest more into human services, convince the tax-payers to invest more. What are the needs and what is the cost? Identify a clear need, what resources the town might invest in. The Council can make a case for these things and plan to go with the same amount as last year. Mary thought a meeting with town counsel and Diane O'Neil would be helpful for the council to see what has been written and help them understand. Libby suggested the council to focus on their questions and get them to her, it would be reasonable for one or two of the members to meet with Diane. The Council will get those questions to Libby. The BOS is not asking the council to construct the RFP, just to come up with what the needs are. An addendum to questionnaire might be needed. This is based on CRC process with quarterly reports, needs assessment for Council's purpose. Maryanne will ask Bob Martin about the point system. The Council will look at services other than what is provided. The Council will also assess what is needed instead of just what they provide. A public notice for the RFP process will be in the newspapers this week and next week (&/7 & 7/8 -7/14 & 7/15) Maryanne will send the questionnaire and RFP information out to the agencies that have received funding in the past. Questionnaires are due back in the office on July 23rd. The council will meet on Monday July 26th at 4:00 and there will be an open meeting on Wednesday July 28th. Meeting adjourned at 5: 13 pm. Next meeting will be Thursday July 15, 2010 at 4:00pm. Respectfully submitted by.Jlnn :Medina