The Council for Human Services on Feb. 25 approved fast-tracking an RFP for a comprehensive community needs assessment intended to inform human-services priorities and strengthen funding requests to town finance.

Town administrator Jericho Maley said the scope and evaluation rubric for the procurement have been finalized and that the town expects to release the solicitation in the coming weeks, with the goal of contracting with a consultant before the end of March or early April.

The assessment will build on recommendations from a prior consultant (Raftelis) and seeks to capture seasonality, local qualitative context and comparative benchmarks. Maley noted the last full assessment that is comparable was completed in about 2012 and that best practice is to refresh this work every five years.

Council members emphasized community engagement. The RFP will require the contractor to run stakeholder and community engagement, including surveys and in-person interviews, and to demonstrate strategies to increase participation across seasons and linguistic groups. Maley said the contract will include specific deliverables and that a preliminary report could be available in late autumn to help inform grants and budget decisions.

Members discussed outreach and incentives. Staff said municipal procurement rules limit direct monetary incentives within the contract, but the RFP will evaluate bidders on proposed engagement and incentive strategies; staff will pursue external funding or partners if needed to support community incentives.

Ending: Members said the needs assessment is a foundational step for CHS and CRC to set priorities and to make a data-driven case to Fincom and town administration for increased human-services funding.