New Business: 1. Future Planning and Transition of Agency – First Selectman referred back to 2006 at which time he stated he started looking at the delivery system for youth initiatives when he asked all employees to write a dissertation on what they do and how it is funded, etc with a goal of decreasing duplication of services. He stated he would use the opportunity of 2 people retiring to streamline and that he felt the biggest hole was in Social Services. He said he would direct efforts at direct services, not coordination. To
drive more dollars towards counseling he proposed combining the position of Director of Counseling with Social Services Coordinator. To this end First Selectman reported he had met with the 2 unions involved and asked Attorney McHale to draft a job posting. On the program side, First Selectman announced he was looking to move oversight to the Police Department. He also announced he would be putting Counselor Kathy Ferrantelli in a supervisory position for case management and put on the next Youth and Family Services Commission meeting agenda increasing Ferrantelli’s hours to 30 hours per week to allow her time for this and to attend the High School Student Assistance Team meetings. First Selectman reported that the transformation of the Agency will be worked on in the next 45 – 60 days. An Interim Director will be coming in. That job will be posted in the Supervisors Union. First Selectman then asked Police Chief Spera to talk. Chief spoke about returning the Agency to a
“true family counseling agency”. He also spoke about adding duties of a local victim advocate to the social services position and that programs would reside for administrative purposes under the Police Department. Chairman Barnes recapped: plan is to increase counseling and move other positions but there would be no job loss. Discussion then ensued. Welsh: said she appreciated comments that resources would be put on the front end rather than the back end and hoped that Selectmen see programs such as After School Clubs, etc. as the front end; asked what role the Commission will have in the process; expressed
desire that program employees be involved in discussions and to identify gaps. Viggiano: said discussions with Board of Education and others would be more productive in the future. Recording Secretary (Administrative Assistant): noted that the state statute-defined Administrative Core Unit functions of Youth Service Bureaus need to be looked at during these discussions. Will re-distribute that information to the Commission at the next meeting along with the current organizational chart. First Selectman: in response to question said for the time being Chairman Barnes and he will oversee the day to day activities and Ferrantelli will take over the counseling coordination as of Monday. Chief Spera: The Police Department is currently in the process of reorganizing the Youth Division. First Selectman requested that the next regular meeting of the Youth and Family Services Commission scheduled for Tuesday December 1, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. take place in the first floor conference room at Town Hall instead of at Youth and Family Services.
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