MINUTES

Thursday, January 15, 2004; 2:30 PM

AUDREY P. BECK BUILDING, CONFERENCE ROOM A

PRESENT: K. Grunwald (staff), B. Lehmann (chair), J. Heald, E. Passmore, M. Hauslaib, J. Peters

I. MINUTES: Minutes of December 4, 2003 meeting: accepted as written.

II. OLD BUSINESS:

A. Fee waiver ordinance: update on ordinance and scholarship: J. Heald attended the Town Council meeting to speak on revisions to the fee waiver, adding the after-school program, at the public hearing. The revised ordinance was passed unanimously. The application for fee waivers is being revised and the process for awarding scholarships is being developed. B. Lehmann raised the question about how information about this will be distributed. She suggested that information be included on the Community Center membership form and for online registration of programs. K. Grunwald will forward these suggestions to Curt Vincente.

B. Status of Advisory Committee membership: June Krisch is interested in becoming a member of the committee, and she will be asked to submit a formal letter of interest to the Town Manager. She will be invited to come as a guest to the March meeting. J. Heald was elected to serve as the Chair of the Advisory committee, effective April 1.

C. Other: none.

III. NEW BUSINESS:

A. Status of annual budget process: K. Grunwald has had a preliminary meeting with the Town Manager and Director of Finance on the budget. He is proposing a new position in the Department that will be funded in part by money that was previously allocated for the counselor at E.O. Smith. He is proposing that this position be shared across programs, focused on community education and prevention. A formal request for a new position will be sent to the Town Managers.

B. Agency funding requests: There was a brief review of applications that have been received to date. M. Hauslaib distributed her review of United Services; J. Heald presented an analysis of WAIM’s application; and E. Passmore reported on the request for the Veteran’s Advisor from WRCC. All reviews of applications submitted will be completed at our February meeting.

C. At Risk Program: practices and procedures: It was suggested that we look at building this program into a larger Social Service case management system, and that Jean Kenny be included in this process, as most clients in this program are seniors.

D. Other: none.

IV. COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS:

A. Review of Department activity and other items in packet and discussion with SSD Director:

· Meeting minutes: YSB Advisory, Commission On Aging, School Readiness Council

· Draft: Fee Waiver Brochure

· Advisory Committee Mission, Purpose and Responsibilities

· Community Conversation: Summary Report

· Social Service Dept.: Annual Update

· Proposal for a Community-Campus Partnership

B. Program updates

· Graustein Foundation Discovery Grant: grant application for 2004-07 is due January 30. Staff has developed a draft, working with members of the School Readiness Council.

· LWVCT Community Conversations: follow-up conversation will be held on Saturday, 1-24.

· School Readiness Grant: currently 5 children enrolled in 3 participating centers.

· Adult Services

· Senior Services

· Youth Services

· Profiles of clients seeking services/service requests

C. Other: none.

V. PLANS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

A. February: Continue review of agency funding requests:

B. March: Welcome June Krisch; Mansfield Community Fund

VI. ADJOURNMENT: meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin Grunwald, Director of Social Services