As plans to close the grant-funded Newtown Recovery and Resiliency Team (RRT) operation at Fairfield Hills progress, First Selectman Pat Llodra has been working to create an offset agency so those receiving support can continue to do so with little or no significant interruption.

On December 21, Mrs Llodra reported to the Board of Selectmen that she has received two $50,000 grants to help cover salaries and benefits for a licensed clinical social worker and care navigator.

Those new town employees would work alongside the Social Services Department’s two existing staffers in a newly branded Human Services Department.

Mrs Llodra told selectmen that she is also in the process of seeking an additional Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant to fund up to two additional positions in the new department, also specifically handling intake and ongoing support previously coordinated or delivered by the RRT.

During the meeting, Mrs Llodra also requested a transfer of $39,609 from the town’s contingency fund to supplement four months of salaries and benefits covering the two new staffers from an orientation period scheduled to begin March 1 through the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Earlier in the day, Social Services Director Ann Piccini told The Newtown Bee that she is planning to retire sometime shortly after the transition and new department branding occurs, but before the end of the fiscal year. Ms Piccini said she hopes to see current Social Services case manager Ann LoBosco take on the department’s leadership role.

“What we’re trying to create is sustainability of the RRT care being provided,” Mrs Llodra told her selectmen colleagues. While the combined grants underwrite more than half of the cost of the two new positions, the first selectman said she plans to carry the balance of salary and benefit costs into the townside operating budget.

The preliminary annual cost to fund the first two new Human Services positions is $174,024.

“I’m making this transfer request now to have these two positions on line by March 1 to promote a seamless transition and a safety net for the continuity of care,” she said, adding that all the current social services provided by the town will fold into the larger operations of the Human Services office.

Selectman Will Rodgers said the prospect of such a department, staffed with four positions specifically to handle mental health and other post-12/14 support services and referrals is an exciting development.

On questioning by Selectman Herb Rosenthal, Mrs Llodra further explained that the new positions are not necessarily going to be staffed by existing RRT professionals. She said as the current federal grants funding the RRT end on March 31, staffers would have to officially separate from that agency, and if desired, to apply to the town for one of the new positions in the human services office.

Mrs Llodra said the current grant funding is split evenly between private and community partners. The Praxair Foundation has committed to funding the clinical social worker grant for two years at $50,000, with the other $50,000 for the care navigator coming from the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation.

Selectmen unanimously approved both the transfer request and endorsed Mrs Llodra moving forward with the VOCA grant for the two additional human services positions.