MANSFIELD DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
AUDREY P. BECK BUILDING, CONFERENCE ROOM A
PRESENT: B. Lehmann, J. Heald,E. Passmore, J. Peters, M. Hauslaib, K. Grunwald (staff).
A. Discussion with SSD Director, Kevin Grunwald
Kevin shared some of his initial impressions with the Committee including a review of existing programs, staffing, and funding issues. He has been meeting with staff and community representatives to become oriented to departmental and program operations. He has also begun to explore potential grant opportunities to expand and subsidize some of the services that the Department is currently offering.
B. Review of Department activity and other items in packet
No minutes from other advisory committee meetings were enclosed. They will be included in subsequent packet.
The Town submitted a Statement of Continuing Interest to the Graustein Foundation, requesting $40,000 in funding for 2003 for the Discovery Grant. We received a call from Graustein indicating that the program will only be funded at the level of $10,000 for this year. There was some concern raised by members of the committee that this does not bode well for the future of what was hoped to be a seven year grant. Conversations with Graustein suggest that we are not meeting their goals of focusing on parent empowerment and building of an active coalition to focus on the educational needs of children. We have requested a meeting with representatives of the Foundation, and intend to submit an aggressive strategic plan for this program that is consistent with their priorities and expectations.
We received notification from the State Department of Education that there has been a reduction of $4132 in this grant for the balance of this fiscal year. We will review options for absorbing this reduction, including the possibility of not providing services for the final month. There is some question as to whether or not Mansfield still qualifies for this grant by having a “severe needs” school. Becky Lehmann will check with Beth Gankofskie to determine our continued eligibility.
Lori O’Connor of Windham Hospital will discontinue her services at the end of January due to financial problems that the hospital is experiencing. We will explore whether or not the VNA would like to submit an Agency Funding request in exchange for providing wellness services through the balance of the fiscal year. We are also exploring other options for staffing this service including the UCONN School of Nursing and the Eastern CT Health Care Network.
While we have not seen an immediate impact yet resulting from the anticipated closing of this office, we expect that we will see an increase in the number of residents seeking services through the Social Services Department. The office is slated to close 1/17.
The minutes of the meeting of December 9, 2002 were approved.
A. Update on SSAC collaboration with Recreation Advisory Committee on Community Center fee waiver policy/schedule
This meeting has not taken place, so there is no report at this time. Becky Lehmann will follow up and report at next meeting.
B. Review of Legislative Meeting/recommendations for next year
The meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather and the unavailability of Senator Don Williams. Becky Lehmann will follow-up with other agency representatives and the state legislators to explore whether or not these meetings are helpful. We will also explore whether or not this meeting can be held on a regional basis.
C. FY ’04 Budget update
Kevin will be meeting with the finance office on Thursday of this week to present a preliminary budget. At this time he is proposing that the department maintain all existing positions.
D. Other
A. Report on agency funding requests:
At this time not all of the agency funding requests have been received. Kevin will contact the agencies that have not responded to determine whether or not they will be submitting a request, and to let them know that they will be hearing from an advisory committee member. The Committee will look at establishing new standards for deadlines and accountability for future funding requests. We will consider using a standard evaluation format (provided by Becky Lehmann) for all agency funding requests. The request was made that all summaries of funding requests be sent to the Social Services office one week prior to our meeting for distribution and review. There was a suggestion that the Committee invite the Town Manager to the next SSAC meeting to get a sense of the budgetary situation to understand how this might impact the Town’s ability to respond to agency funding requests. It was decided that Kevin will meet with him prior to next meeting to get a sense of what the impact will be.
WAIM (reported by J. Heald): They requested $2000 last year towards the purchase of a truck, and have now requested $3000 to subsidize the salary of the truck driver. Judy provided a written analysis of the agency and their request (see attachment). Use of services of the truck by Mansfield residents has almost doubled in the past year. The recommendation is to grant their request.
Veteran’s Advisory Center/WRCC (E. Passmore): Ed distributed written analysis of the program and their request (see attachment). They offer outreach, referral, and advocacy for veterans in the greater Windham area. Mansfield is being asked to contribute a pro-rated share of the cost of the services provided. The recommendation is that we grant their request at the full amount requested.
It was decided that Committee members will review these requests and will act on them at our next meeting.
B. Review of the At Risk Program
Call lists were handed out along with program procedures to Becky, Judy, Ed and Jim. Thank you to Sheila Thompson for creating these. Callers agreed to introduce themselves by phone to any new assignments on the list as soon as possible. The Department will be responsible for activating the At Risk Program. Please call Kevin if you are going to be away for an extended period of time.
C. Discussion of mission and purpose of Social Service Advisory Committee
In the interest of time it was decided to defer this discussion to our next meeting.
· February 13: Complete agency funding requests
· March 6: Mission and Purpose of SSAC
· April 3: Assisted Living presentations
· May 1: Marilyn Gerling
· June 5: tbd
Meeting adjourned 4:56
Respectfully submitted,
Kevin Grunwald
Director of Social Services