Amended and Adopted June 8, 2004

HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
May 11, 2004
7:35 – 9:25 PM
32 Courthouse Square

Members Present:  

Members Absent: Darrell Butler
           
Staff Present: Sarah Gicale  Mary Lou Jacobs

Re: Call Meeting to Order /Introductions

Ann Reiss called the meeting to order and introduced Mary Caroline Colletti, a Rockville resident who has submitted an Expression of Interest form.  Ms. Colletti said that she has participated in many different volunteer activities in the City including the Holiday Drive and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program.  In her professional life she said that she has worked in health and human service areas.  Commission members introduced themselves and welcomed her.

Re: Approve April 13 Meeting Minutes

Bill Goodwin moved that the minutes for April 13, 2004 be approved as written.  Deborah Hopson seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously.

Re: Follow-up Discussion re:  Implications of CMR Health Initiative on Commission’s Workplan

Ann asked Agnes Saenz to update the Commission on CMR’s progress with its health initiative.  Agnes said that the new MobileMedical van is scheduled to begin operating May 19th at Crusader Lutheran Church from 3-7 p.m.  CMR will be using the Interpreters Program which CASA makes available for translation purposes.  Forty people have already signed up and Agnes expects that 90% of the clients will be Spanish-speaking.  The van will have a nurse practitioner and one other staff member.  Volunteer physicians will also be available.

Ann asked how this new health initiative would affect the work of the Commission, in particular the health subcommittee that had been formed to consider a new health clinic for Rockville.  Bill said that the Commission could contribute to the new initiative by expanding the health needs assessment, which had been completed by the focus groups.  He asked Agnes if CMR would be putting together a project plan.  Agnes said that CMR is currently exploring different options including:

• CMR met with a representative from the County Health Department and learned that currently operating clinics serve 13,000 of 80 – 100,000 uninsured county residents.  The County is preparing a report on that topic in partnership with the Primary Care Coalition. 
  
• CMR could partner with the Latino Health Initiative which is working on a concept paper for county integration of health services with other support services (one of the health needs identified by the CMR focus groups).
  
• CMR also wants to learn more about the clinic in Tacoma Park that opened in conjunction with Montgomery College.  An option for CMR is to determine if that model could be pursued for the Rockville campus of Montgomery College.

Bill asked if CMR was forming an advisory group.  Agnes said that had not yet begun although it is on their list of things to do.  David L’Heureux reminded Agnes to contact Shady Grove Hospital.  Bill said that the Commission could do some surveys and other kinds of data collection in order to expand the health assessment.  He then asked how CMR would approach the City for funding and what kind of partnership would they have.  Agnes said that CMR had already applied for funding for the health initiative.  Mary Lou Jacobs said that the City is supporting the second Moby van through a CDBG grant of $20,000.  Bill said there are several levels of partnership; just one is financial. Ann asked if there are implications with respect to the fact that the other Moby van at Twinbrook and Lincoln Park is not being well used.  Mary Lou responded that there is a question as to need.  She said the Commission might want to look at outreach strategies to increase usage.  She, Guerdon Stuckey and Sarah Gicale met recently with representatives from Mobile Medical Care.  They learned that MobileMed looks to its partners to recruit patients.  This year MobileMed applied saying they are serving Rockville residents at all their locations—not just those in the city.  Tim Stranges asked if Crusader Lutheran couldn’t refer patients to Twinbrook.

Ann asked David L’Heureux if he wanted his subcommittee to continue.  David said that it has been overtaken by the work done by CMR.  Ann told Agnes to let the Commission know if they can help.  David said that he would like Agnes to continue to update the Commission on CMR’s progress.  Tim suggested that this would be especially helpful three months down the road when there is a track record on the new MobileMed van.  Bill offered to draft a letter to Reverend Mansfield Kaseman on behalf of the Commission commending him for the work that CMR has done on this issue.  There was general agreement that a letter should be sent.

Re: Review Draft Letter re: Presidential Awards for Volunteer Service

Tim said he was concerned about having an age restriction.  Bill said that he had inserted the age limit in case the project seemed too ambitious without one.  He agreed that it would be best to have no restrictions.  Ann agreed saying that if the City is going to become a certifying organization, she thinks all ages should be considered for awards.  There was general agreement that the age limit should be removed.  Allison Bunge said she thought that the language in the letter should be altered to include the phrase “recommend to the Mayor and Council” because she doesn’t think the Commission has the authority to pass a motion that the City should become a certifying organization.  Bill said that this language was used in the motion that the Commission approved.  Tim said that the tone of the letter was one of recommendation.  Tom Lawrey agreed.  Ann said that the consensus was that the letter should remain as written.  However, she sees a problem with the idea of asking recipients to pay for their own award.  Members agreed that this concept should be eliminated.  After considerable discussion and two votes it was further decided to eliminate the bulleted phrase “service area” on page two so that any volunteer in any activity and program located within the city would be considered for an award.

Re: New Business

• Hometown Holidays Booth:  Members decided that they did not want to staff their own table this year.  Instead Tom suggested that Commission brochures be dropped off at Manna Food Center and he would make sure that they are displayed at the Manna booth.
  
• Rockville Corporate Volunteer Initiative:  Tim said that he represented the Chamber of Commerce as part of the team that visited EU Services to learn more about their philanthropy.  Everyone on the team was very impressed.  EU Services has its own 501(c)3 within its corporate structure.  The company has 375 employees who raise $100,000 per year, which is $133 per employee.  Sixty-seven percent of all employees give money; many also give time.  Activities include a scholarship program, volunteering at Manna, and sponsoring families in the community.  The founder of EU Caring was interested in setting an example in the community.  The Rockville Corporate Volunteer Initiative is a small group whose members represent the Chamber, the City of Rockville, and Rockville Economic Development, Inc.  They hope to identify about ten local businesses that might be interested in becoming more involved in philanthropy.  David asked if EU had any written material.  Tim said there was and Sally Sternbach had copies of everything.  EU also offered to go with the team to talk with other companies.

Re: Affordable Housing Issues in Rockville

• Gardens of Traville:  David said he had gone to visit this new complex and was very impressed.  He thought it had good community services and there was shopping across the street.  Tim said it was built by a private developer.  Commission members commented that when Town Center expands, it would be wonderful to interest a developer like this.  David suggested inviting the Chair of the Planning Commission to the June meeting to speak about affordable housing in Rockville.
  
• Funding for Section 8 Housing Choice Program: Ann explained that one reason this topic was placed on the agenda was so members could become more informed on different housing programs.  Mary Lou has spoken with Sue Walsh from Rockville Housing Enterprises about speaking to the Commission.  Members agreed that they would like to invite her to the July meeting.

Re: Living Wage/Health Insurance Requirement for City Contractors

Ann introduced this topic by explaining that the County passed legislation and now has a living wage.  She asked Commission members if they wanted to consider recommending something similar.  Agnes said that the legislation applies to nonprofits as well.  CMR has to pay $10.50 or $9/hour plus health insurance.  David asked if the Commission should recommend that the City look into adopting the same legislation as the County.  Bill asked if Commission members know enough to make a recommendation—for example, the number of companies and employees that would be affected.  Agnes said that no one Caregiver program receives more than $100,000.  That is the amount of a contract wherein the legislation mandates a living wage. Tim said that because of this $100,000 minimum, the impact on the City would be less than the County. Tom said the highest amount given to an individual program by the City is less than $100,000 so, if the law were interpreted in this way, few nonprofits would be affected.  David moved that the Commission write a letter to the Mayor and Council recommending that they explore the possibility of passing legislation mandating that City contractors pay a living wage and health insurance similar to the legislation passed by the County.  Agnes seconded the motion.  The motion passed with Ann and Tom abstaining.

Re: Identify Topics to Research at Future Meetings

A memo from Mary Lou identifying possible topics for Commission study and/or action was passed out to Commission members.  Members expressed interest in looking into the reasons as to why usage of the MobileMed van by Rockville residents is low.  Relating this to the larger issue of human service needs of immigrant communities in Rockville, Tim said that there had been a countywide study completed recently by Montgomery College on ESOL classes in the county.  Ann said that the United Way had done a similar study last year and found that existing classes were woefully inadequate.  Tim said that the College is now charged with taking the lead in this area.  Agnes suggested that a future speaker for the Commission, possibly in September, might be Tom Perez from the Montgomery County English as a Second Language Task Force.

Tim said that another topic of interest to him is the fact that the City spends less than 1% of its budget on human services, which amounts to less than $10 per citizen.  He would like the Commission to visit this issue.  Ann said that she believes that Gaithersburg is more generous than Rockville and would look into their human services budget.

Commission members also agreed that they would like to review the year-end reports on outcome measures submitted before July 30 by the Caregiver Agencies.

Re: Ideas for June Meeting Agenda

• Invite the Chair of the Planning Commission or a member to speak on the topic of what development is being planned in the next five years and the potential for senior housing.
  
• Update from Agnes on the CMR Health Initiative
  
• Discuss strategies on increasing the usage of the MobileMed van at Twinbrook and Lincoln Park (members would like to re-circulate the Immigrant Subcommittee report).

Re: Adjourn

Deborah moved to adjourn the meeting.  Tom seconded the motion.  The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 9:25 PM.

The next meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, June 8, 2004, from 7:30 - 9:30 p.m., at 32 Courthouse Square.