MINUTES

Thursday, June 5, 2003; 2:30 PM

AUDREY P. BECK BUILDING, CONFERENCE ROOM A

I. MINUTES:

The Minutes of the May 1, 2003 meeting were accepted as written.

II. COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS:

A. Discussion with SSD Director:

Kevin Grunwald reported that a new job description has been written for the position of Senior Services Coordinator, and recruitment and interviewing will begin soon. He also reported that the youth counselor position at E.O. Smith High School will be jointly funded by the Town and the Region for one more year in its present format, and will be totally taken over by the Region in 2004. Over the course of the next year the Department will explore how the Town’s portion of this funding can be best utilized to support staffing for departmental needs.

B. Review of Department activity and other items in packet: minutes of other advisory committees were included.

C. Program funding updates

· Graustein Foundation: revised budget and action plan submitted.

· School Readiness Grant: still awaiting State decision on eligibility.

· Senior Services Nurse/Wellness Center: continues to be funded by Senior Services through the McSweeney Center.

· General impact of State budget cuts/closure of Willimantic DSS office: staff are reporting increased demand for services at a local level.

D. Other

III. OLD BUSINESS:

A. Complete discussion of mission and purpose of SSAC, and act on the proposed document:

There was some discussion re: issues raised by M. Hauslaib and B. Lehman relative to the proposed number of members and the term limits. B. Lehman had suggested expanding membership to 7, and both agreed that the membership should be as representative of the community as possible (clergy, businesses, etc.). It was decided that the membership of the committee will remain at 5 and that term limit requirements will be utilized as guidelines for membership. K. Grunwald will incorporate language from the Town Ordinance into this document. A motion was made and approved to accept the document with revisions.

B. Report on status of adoption of a mission statement for the Mansfield Department of Social Service: no progress on this to date.

C. Update on SSAC collaboration with Recreation Advisory Committee on Community Center fee reduction policy/schedule:

A memo has gone to the Town Manager for his review, and the proposed changes to the ordinance need to be rewritten. The committee requested that it should be pointed out to C. Vincente that the Community Center membership form does not have a check-off for the scholarship fund. K. Grunwald will do this.

D. Review of draft proposal to establish the Mansfield Community Fund:

It was suggested that we look at tying the needs assessment process into a larger initiative of identifying unmet needs and resources of Mansfield residents. This will help us to prioritize the way in which these funds will be utilized by identifying gaps in services. It was decided that a group of volunteers will initiate this process over the summer and come back to the committee with recommendations in September. It was also recommended that the first thing that needs to be done is to find out if there are any parameters around how this money can be disbursed, particularly if it is used to subsidize non-profit programs and other organizations.

E. Other

IV. NEW BUSINESS:

A. Marilyn Gerling, retiring Senior Center Coordinator, presented her reflections on meeting the needs of seniors and was recognized by the SSAC.

B. After a discussion of a proposal to expand membership of the SSAC by adding two members at the September 4 meeting, it was decided to maintain the membership at 5 members.

C. Other

V. PLANS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

September 4: Agency funding review process
October 2: Orientation to Social Services’ Programs and Advisory Committees
November 6: Agency funding requests
December 4: Legislative meeting