good afternoon welcome to the Westport Board of Health March 18th 2024 meeting I'm calling it to order with the announcement that under Mass General Law chapter 30A section 20f this meeting is being recorded and please join us in I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you and we will Begin by welcoming back Linda Pierce who has been out um for a little while and we're happy to have her back and she will be presenting on colon cancer good afternoon I'm Linda K public healthare the Town West for this month's disease report is colon cancer colon cancer is a growth of cells that begin part of the large called the colon the colon is the first and the longest part of the digestive system digestive system breaks down the food for the body to use colon cancer typically affects older adults though it can happen at any age it usually begins as small clumps of cells called Pops that form inside the colon pops generally are not cancerous but some can turn into cancer over time hops are often cause cancer symptoms for this reason doctors recommend regular screening tests to look for poops in the colon called a colonoscopy finding and removing poops helps prevent colon cancer if colon cancer develops many treatments can help to control it treatments include surgery radiation medicines such as chemo and tarate therapy and immune therapy colon cancer is sometimes called col cancer the term combines colon cancer and rectal cancer which begins in the retin many people with colon cancer don't have symptoms at first when symptoms appear they'll likely depend on canz within the large intestines a change in B habits such as more frequent diarrhea or constipation reptile bleeding or blood in the stool which can appear black Ono discomfort in the belly area such as cramps gas or pain a feeling that the bowel doesn't empty all the way during the bowel movement weakness or tiredness losing weight without trying if you notice lasting symptoms that won't work that worry you make an appointment with a health care professional you would be going to a gastroenterologist to have a colonoscopy doctors not certain what causes most colon cancers they happens when the cells develop changes in the DNA a cell's DNA holds the instructions that tell the cell what to do the changes that tell the cell to multiply quickly the changes let the cells continue living healthy cells die as part of the natural life cycle which causes too many cancer cells the cells might form a mass called the tumor cells can invade and Destroy healthy body tissue in time cells can break away and spread to other parts of the body when cancer spreads it's called meat cancer risk factors older age colon cancer can happen at any age but most people with colon cancer are older than 50 the numbers of the people younger than 50 who have colon cancer has been growing doctors don't know why the black race have a greater risk of colon cancer than do people of other races a personal history of Co col rectal cancer or pops having had colon cancer or colon pops increases the risk of colon cancer inflammatory bowel disease conditions that cause pain and swelling of the intestines called inflammatory B disease can increase the risk of colon cancer these conditions include alcera of colitis and Crohn's disease inherited symptoms that increase colon cancer risk some DNA changes that increase the risk risk of colon cancer run in families the most common inherited syndrome that increase colon cancer are familiarity and drain mtis polyposis and Lynch syndrome family history of colon cancer having a blood relative who has colon cancer increase the risk of getting colon cancer or rectal cancer increases the risk more a low fi fiber diet high fat diet is also risked for colon cancer link to the typical Western diet this type of diet tends to be low in fiber high in fat and calories research in this area has mixed Studies have found increased risk of colon cancer and people who eat a lot of red meat and processed Meats diabetes people with diabetes or insulin resistance have increase smoking people who smoke have increased risk of colon cancer drinking alcohol drinking too much alcohol can increase the risk of colon cancer radiation therapy for colon cancer radiation therapy directed at an abdomen to treat cancer increase the risk of colon cancer screening for colon cancer they saying 40 years or 40 years old or 10 years before if there's a family history of colon cancer and I have some reminders so I still have knockan kits available and if you need any knock hand kits please call 508 6361 030 and please do not leave you syringes on the annex stairs are in front of the nurse's door it's a potential danger to the public if they were picked up by the wrong person someone could get hurt so please always when you need to dispose of your syringes please call me at 5863 61030 to make sure I'm available to accept them please please keep our community safe and our next blood drive is April 18th at St John's Church in the basement if you want to donate blood please register online with the American Red Cross and does anybody have any questions Linda do you remember how many pints of blood we collected last I know we had 32 people and I think that it's did they get they can help three people with each pint okay but yeah it you know it it was a smaller one but it went very well and nice and smooth and um we may not be able to have them there in the summer because of all the activities at the church but we can resume again in the fall father Pete said and um it it went very well um I was happy with it good thank you for organizing those I appreciate that thank you for your presentation yeah okay um we'll move on then to um the director's written report any um questions on that no we'll go to your okay well Linda just kind of went over the blood drives and um there was 32 people who went on the 14th so that was uh good there um and I'll just reiterate that um the blood drives are schedule 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 on April 18th May 16th and June 13th our covid test kits uh dwindling in the annex we have very little left and the ones that the free test that we can get from the state expire in less than 30 days there's no point in in ordering another 600 tests if you know they're going to expire in L you know less than 30 days I order more once they um come out with ones available to us that you know have a longer expiration date um I'm not sure I didn't get a chance to go check with the library today to see if they had any left over there but um I'll be there tomorrow so all right light actually sorry George Ripley is uh leaving that the librarian is leaving so then having a reception for him tonight so anyways okay sorry uh Tim Burns will be on vacation he's on transfer station worker well which driver the driver but the the official position name is transportation worker um from April 19th to May 6th we're going to use contractors to empty the containers as needed we're starting to review e spee trailer permit applications I think we uh reviewed maybe 18 dozen of them I can't in that ballpark there was no issues so far it was out there today checking out a couple of tanks for to request of some property owners and um it's just going to be um you know to try to get their stuff situated so they can get their permits um we'll be holding a rabies clinic on Saturday May 4th uh from 9:00 to noon it's free to Westport residents and for non-residents it'll be $15 fee it's going to be at the new Fire uh at the fire station on Hicks bridge in the rear it's where we usually have it on the back side of the building uh it is up on the animal control web page there are flyers on the door and I believe it's on the board Health web page as well um Gabby our um Grant health specialist has completed their system inspector training and um she took the exam on Friday I don't know the results yet she was out today um but I'll find out and then uh she scheduled to take the soil evaluated training in April and Olive um our Shar services coordinator for the pH Grant has been working with Donna amiral and the collaborative nurses on planning Health faires and events for FY 24 the dates that all of had given me are May 22nd the effects of opioids on individuals families and communities and May 29th Mental Health First Aid course at White that's going to be at Whit of Westport from 8 to 4: and there's another one on May 11th at the library on self-compassion and I'm just trying to solidify the date of um the present another presentation at the high school I'm trying to get the date um but it's going to be on communication um between parents and kids so okay great in the 103 Sodom Road housing court case that we had is uh we dismissed it um it's just um all the evidence was there but the judge wasn't by and so rather than go back and forth back and forth and waste of time resources and money um it was um the property has been 90% cleaned up it's just this one remaining uh item on the the property that's you know it is a violation of the housing code and I'm going to try to work with the homeowner individually and see if I can get him to you know do something with that um I think that's all I had for my ver and then on director approved plans there's one it's a three-bedroom repair on 17,93 Ft lot for Matthew capetto utilizing a um Stone bed it's been through cont did I give the address it's 446 Highland yes okay I'll take a motion to approve that so mood second all in favor that's unanimous thank you okay next we have um the March 4th 2024 regular meeting minutes any questions have been SED I had none I'm fine with it okay so I move that we approve the meeting minutes for March 4th 2024 second all in favor I thank you okay um we have some um other business we can start going into until our 4:30 appointment now first um I put Board of Health oversight Authority on the agenda just because there apparently have been some questions about um our Authority and and I just wanted to reiterate um I know we've gone over it ourselves but um just to um um refresh um the for or to inform the public um that under Mass General Law chapter 111 section 27 um which is uh under Public Health Organization of boards of Health appointment of of um physician or Clerk and compensation that every such board shall organize annually by the choice of one of its number as chairman it may make rules and regulations for its own government and for the government of its officers agents and assistants um and it may appoint a physician which we don't do or choose a clerk um and may employ the necessary officers agents and assistants to execute the health laws and its regulations it may fix the salary or other compensation of such agents and assistance so um that is um explicit Authority for the board of help to hire the staff that we have um and just again to reiterate the only time and this is from the mass Association of Health boards um their legal handbook Boards of Health have exclusive Authority subject to any contrary Provisions in a charter which Westport does not have um so has exclusive authority to hire fire supervis and establish contracts with officers agents and assistants as they deem necessary to execute the health laws and regulations um so just again just to reiterate um uh our authority to hire is clear um and um we have many other sources of Authority for the functions that we do um under Mass general laws it's um pretty much driven by State Statute um we do have some local regulations as well which we are given um broad authority to establish regulations to protect the public health so again I just wanted to uh restate that for the for the record um any comments or questions on that I didn't have any I mean I I appreciated the review of that um the uh you know we work together with the the town Administration and obviously need to follow Town rules around procurement um you know HR stuff and all that stuff and and Matt works closely with Jim on all of that so um just to be clear that Matt reports to the Board of Health we are the um hiring Authority um okay um the next one is uh 1175 State Road a septic issue um there's a complaint and followup action that I'm going to turn over to Matt for discussion yes sure so we on um March 5th we received the complaint for 1175 State Road um the complaint was uh septic was coming out uh the bent um and there should be pictures in there to show what was sent over with the um sent sent to us to you know initiate the complaint uh we had um we received it talked to the complaintant on the phone I went out there with with Gabby to investigate we spoke with uh one of the employees up there who let us on the property and you can see from the other pictures it wasn't spewing out when we got there anymore but there was a strong order and everything was wet and um around the bent so clearly it was coming out you know and stopped just before we get there got there it's concerning because there's vent uh water you can see it uh almost to the top of the vent which can indicate a few different things we received another complaint telephone call from an anonymous caller on 313 about the same thing we went up we were not allowed access to the property so we we just left um anyway sent the I sent the letter as I would do for anybody um asking them to pump the system and and then have a Title Five inspection perform um and the person um some individuals representing the establishment came in last Thursday and um we're going to send over the pump records I have not received them yet that doesn't mean that they didn't get here and Pat Nancy have them I just haven't gotten them yet but I'll check with them tomorrow um and they will um they yet to have the title 5 inspection done I don't know if they booked it but on the on the um order to correct is you know timelines for all that so I'm not really sure what's going to happen with that and I'll I'll say why now because as I was out in the field today doing inspections um somebody had come in to pull permit to do a small repair on that system um and um not sure entirely what they're going to do I've been I didn't have much time um to view I think it has something to do with the event um but um but still I would like to have a title 5 inspection you know even though they're can do the small repair we had asked for one because there could be bigger problems or there could be no problems but really until we get the inspection we won't know um so that's what we stand with with that now um if this is unusual we don't usually do this with with order letters but just um in the case that um we don't get what we asked for and the timelines all expire I'm going to I'm asking the board permission to engage town councel which I would do normally anyways to send send out in this case it would be a town counsil letter to them so you haven't heard anything from them since you sent the letter no they came in last Thursday uh two people representing them said they had the system pumped and they were going to provide records but they didn't have them with them at the time on Thursday when they came in and um they were not I was unclear if they were going to get a title 5 inspection they said they were going to have a consultant come in but we really need to have a title 5 inspection done to see what's going on if there's more going on there then um you know something we need to know about hopefully there's not you know could have been just inundated with all the rain and you know or it could be something else we we really don't know until we get that title 5 inspection report so that's where we're at now the title 5 inspection report technically isn't due to us until the 29th so they have until the maybe the 21st to get it done and then they have another seven days from there that says yeah to submit it to us yeah I mean just to you know point out for the record you know that the that the letter you know specifically informs the property owner that they have a right to request a hearing before us within 7 days if they want to um you know contest anything uh that's contained in the letter or you know otherwise you know make their case as to why timeline should be extended or um whatever the whatever the situation is from their perspective and that was uh due on the 13th of or maybe the 14th of March whenever the letters dated the 6th so um but from everything you're saying that that hasn't you they haven't done that so um uh so it's always frustrating when you know someone is um you know not willing to communicate at all and just puts us in a position where we're kind of left no choice but to take formal action when informal resolutions are often more productive and are designed to satisfy both parties um you know concerns so agreed um hopefully um they did in fact pump and we'll get those records so that would be the first step um that would be really helpful um and hopefully they will um you they are following up appropriately and we will comply because uh but I would suggest that given that um our next meeting is the first the first um um we um but you no you won't be here somebody won't be here so that um I won't be here okay we um we authorize that to engage Town Council if necessary and you can give us an update on April 1st yes I yeah I don't I don't think the current situation with the office is an alternative so I think that's appropriate um so I'll make that motion to authorize um use of Town Council if necessary hopefully not second David hi hi that's unanimous okay thank you for that update um the next one um is um Animal Control contr um I had received an email from um car Rouse chairman of the chair of the finance committee um proposing that the finance committee would um offer to add um 20,000 to the AC budget um from above what was approved by the select board um um in order for us to be able to hire a second person uh for for some backup hours um and but also then help eliminate overtime so ultimately um less than 20,000 um uh so that was um they were having a meeting in a few days so Matt and I um or Matt put together a proposal um that as you know um we've spent 18 months trying to hire somebody on that budget um and have been well successful for a week worth maybe um but generally unsuccessful it's very timec consuming um and labor intensive to higher and um at the salary you know we can offer it's just a huge challenge person has to be within what is it 20 minutes 30 minutes half hour half hour of Westport in order to respond to appropriately and so on so there's a lot of constraints on that um I really um appreciated that they they're willing willness to you know suggest um an increase they had mentioned at the Pres fincom presentation that they were you know that they felt this was a priority um so what we um did was present um a basically a counter proposal um saying in order to Su be I mean there's no point in giving us money if we can't successfully hire so um Matt had suggested that we increase the hourly rate by $2 um to go to the midpoint of sort of the scale he sort of surveyed the area um so from $25 to $27 an hour um and which would um increase the that line item by 23,000 um because they left five we left 5,000 in there we would you need to use a placement agency indeed is a waste of time um and um really that's the only efficient and effective way for us to get um potentially qualified candidates um struct structure the position to max out at 20 hours a week so enough to get benefits because I don't think we can attract anybody without benefits um but that would include on call time um and would fill most of the gaps when Nick's on not on duty um yeah if we go less than the minimum for um benefits then that person wouldn't have no sick or vacation time you know it's just not it's just not reasonable um then we would need to add costs for um gas training and clothing for a second person we proposed uh 2,000 for that um and we could reduce overtime by about 5,000 um but still needs some for emergencies and extended callouts so um the revised proposal is what's in your um budget um I mean in your packet um and so I think what was the net increase um would be adding $18,000 in the Personnel side because of that reduction in overtime so um a little bit less net than the 20,000 she suggested but she also suggested reducing overtime so sort of in line but um 7,000 in expenses which would cover the um um placement agency the and Associated costs with that um so the net increase um would be uh 25,000 more um than the than the currently um approved um select board approved budget um I don't know where they were thinking they would get the money from I I know our budget is townwide is very tight um but um we felt like we can't we had to give a realistic response so um that's what I wanted to run by you I see um if you agree with that um approach then we will formally submit um and recommend um for consideration for it um they did not end up uh the finc con meeting they did not end up discussing this um proposal um at that time I think they probably have another meeting tomorrow night I don't know if it's on the agenda or what I'm not exactly sure Karen suggested that um we you know we submitted this idea for her to think about and um she just suggested um uh you can bring it to a vote on a proposed change for the fincom discussions so you know she proposed 20,000 we're proposing back 25,000 I don't know um but anyways I I wanted you to um uh have a chance to weigh in and see what you think um and we can modify the proposal um we can not recommend it we can um don't worry we we'll we'll we're talking we're talking animal control anyways not specifically your issue but we're your timing is okay don't worry um um so um thoughts on on this proposal sounds good to me yeah I think you put all the I think you've you know put the right pieces together because I think the the general theme you know has to be that in order to do this it needs to actually produce results I mean if we're going to go through go through all the effort to do this I mean what to me is you know um lurking in the background is still um you know it's a recommendation to the select board through the Town Administrator and and I don't think we've received any signal that that side of the equation is amenable to yeah we did not I'm not sure where the fin as I said I tried to get more like but um so they're they've been busy doing their meetings obviously they have a lot but clearly there were some um fincom members who are um anxious for the animal control to be better staffed right and we certainly are too um but we hadn't been given any indication of support for it right yeah so I don't know I I I guess it's up to the communications between and the select board to really decide how seriously they want to how they want to take it up and you know not I just don't I want to don't have you know as Matt and yourself spending a whole lot of time dotting eyes and Crossing tees only to you know run into a brick wall so um so I think what I'm hearing is that we agree that this sort of counter proposal is a realistic you know it's still tight but it's realistic I I'm you know not shooting for the moon here um or Mars um um and that if if it's a limit of 20,000 minus 55 whatever how much overtime they want that that's um we put it in our budget we're not going to be able to hire successfully and so if they want to park it there we'll you know we'll make an effort but without the adequate um resources it's really sort of a um it's not productive um so um I guess I would ask a for a motion to uh endorse this proposed um counter proposal um of adding $25,000 net to the um Animal Control budget um with the goal of hiring a second part-time Animal control officer in those attendant costs so moved second all in favor I that's unanimous thank you just acknowledging we're doing this at the request of fin yes at the request of fin did you get that okay um so timing is uh perfect we'll roll right into our 4:30 discussion with uh Shan reach I believe as a representative chair of the beach committee to discuss the possible use of an animal control the Animal control officer we only have one at Town Beach sound like you're getting another one sound like to me meeting and pom and select board negotiations so good luck on that so the floor is yours Mr okay so I'm here tonight out uh today for obviously uh we've received a couple of complaints not numerous complaints about uh loose dogs on the beach uh but more importantly we have upcoming Beach season coming up and Autobon has contacted us uh they had a number of I don't want to call them violations I don't know what to call them uh number of uh incursions I guess so I guess so well they write up a report and they send it in that you know this has been a problem this has been a problem although they don't acknowledge that the dogs have actually destroyed nests or birds or anything along that line they just for see uh I think it's I I'm not sure what they what they see and what they don't do but I've seen you know obviously uh in the morning it's a problem uh that seems to be the problem not the evening it's not it seems to be a problem in the morning and for whatever reason that is uh because lifeguards get there at 9:00 and between 9: to 5: there usually isn't a problem because the lifeguards turn people around uh but it's usually before 9 it you seems to be uh on certain days of the week uh here and there so what I'm thinking of is because we just had to sign a contract for $111,000 to have autobond come down and look at the birrs uh that comes out of our beach budget which hopefully with the increase we can start still Break Even but uh we don't want any more uh notices of incursions I guess is a way of putting it and the only way to do that is some kind of enforcement in the morning now we do have uh an Enterprise fund that has a little Nest Egg you know available for funding I understand and I don't know what your funding is like this year but I can imagine it's similar to everyone else's so uh where we could possibly I don't want to say foot the bill for that uh time and what well that's that's a good question I had a little really brief discussion with Nick as as to what he thought he could do because you know by the time he comes in here and gets down there is not a problem because they know 8:30 all a sudden it's like Mass Exodus you know it's earlier than that and I don't know how he feels about getting there earlier or more often or even just from time to time or whatever the case may be uh we're trying to stop two th two things here one is it's it's more a problem of loose dogs and just dogs it's just loose dogs cuz you know most people are just walking on the beach if you don't like dogs obviously the dog comes tearing up to you 100 mes hour it's going to scare the heck out of you uh but also the fact that loose dogs most people aren't paying attention to what they're doing if they're talking on the phone or just walking and sometimes they're oblivious to what's going on behind them we haven't had a really bad problem with dog waste oddly enough although we have a lot of you see a lot of plastic bags people pick it up but tend to leave the bags behind which I'm not sure but it's more of an issue with the loose dogs the the Autobon is more concerned about uh any disrup in the Plover nesting area I'm not sure how that's going to affect this year because there isn't a lot of beach to Nest on this year so I'm not sure if that's going to be a big problem most of the reports that they send this an end year report every year and most of the reports I've read you know basically say now there's been a problem here with crows problem with foxing because I know there's foxes down there I know there's coyotes down there as well as dogs and they don't see dogs actually doing anything they just see loose dogs but we've been trying to make people aware you know hey great you know keep your dog on leash or keep it with you or do something you know try to do the right thing but it doesn't seem to work out very well in the summer you know is there I I thought there was a season where you weren't allowed April 16th to September 15th uh and basically it's Plover nesting season I guess that's basically the time the time frame we're really looking to do it so five months yeah give or take I mean and those are kind of arbitrary dates because if it's warmer to get here ear earlier if it and they usually fledge by August anyway and there's nobody nothing here by August we just shoot till after Labor Day which is the beach season because as much as I'm one probably one of the biggest dog people I know uh it's not a good idea to bring your dog to the beach in the summer with this food and the kids and everything going on it's just not a good idea but you know not that again not during the day lifeguards are on it uh and most it's not a problem the mornings seem to be the the big problem uh you know that I hear anyway from most people uh most of the complaints come from the morning so but I was thinking if he could get there you know and I don't know you know even randomly like obviously if you if you say I'm going to be there Monday Wednesday and Friday you're not going to see somebody Monday Wednesday and Friday you know uh and it doesn't have to be you know every day of the week it doesn't have to it's just more or less keeping people honest type thing okay and what amount of time like when well I would like him get there you know basically you know if he can get there 7 to 8 N I don't know what time do you have him start in the morning he's he's uh he's supposed to start at but often time he's here he's pulling in when I do so um so uh he can um I did talk to him a little bit about this so I suggested 7:00 um to you know 8:00 to go down Patrol the beach even if it goes to 8:30 as long as if there's something that pulls him off some other emergency he'd have to give pulled off like 7 to 8 or 8:30 that's what I mean it is what it is what it is basically obviously he's got somebody else to be he can't be there I mean and like I said doesn't have to be Monday through Friday he's got to be there at 7:00 it's more randomly probably be better than non-random so he's on you Monday through Friday and every other weekend so um on the Saturday and Sunday would you want him to go down to those are the worst days okay for sure uh but Saturday and Sunday's on call he's not in the office he's not but um I can ask him if he'd be willing to come in you know just to come in and do a quick you know and it probably wouldn't have to be a great length of time like he doesn't have to do it tomorrow more as much as May June July type thing okay and um uh what I would suggest is if the rest of the board agrees and I'll I'll let them comment first but then the followup and how much is a well well well the issue is how much you need yeah so that that that that's a different item and you don't have to do it tonight I'm just thinking I'm not I don't know if you're manable and I don't want to see him working 80 hours a week either uh you know because that's but we do have uh we do supplement like uh the town clerk's office the highway department when they do work at the beach the police uh if they need it and stuff so and we we just have to plan accordingly and now behind the plan because we have not gone to town meeting to set a budget so like next year we are planning uh some monies for recreation to have some help with the uh administration of the Lifeguard hiring and stuff like that uh so we we're just thinking and and this may be you know you have years I've seen some bad years I've seen years that Des arees no problem which is really strange but it seems to be uh being pointed out all the time by the Autobon when we get the weekly reports and then we get the end of the year report again uh I know everybody doesn't believe their dog is everybody has Lassie but uh it's a very simple thing to keep your dog on leaf and just keep it with you and stuff like that you don't it I think a lot of the problems in the summer are not necessary you know as I see most of the time uh don't even have Beach stickers they tend to be renters or somebody who is in town for a couple weeks and they you know so this is what you going you take your dog with you you're going to take it down the beach and you're going to turn it loose okay most people are very good with their dogs that I've seen uh I tend to yell at people that aren't but uh is there there still is there still signage there about yeah there still signage okay I don't know how long it will last I mean signage signs last about it doesn't matter cuz I Patrol um Allen's pwn beaches and I had to stop doing it because people were so defiant and hostile when I asked asked them put the dog on the leash um it was a very difficult process um some people are quite adamant about doing what they want to do despite the fact that there are signs and that indicate why we don't want the dogs off the leash um so it's a hard position I don't know if people respond differently if you have a dog officer my hope would be that they well I think so I think the lifeguards we we ask the lifeguards not to be confrontational because in this world you know it becomes very difficult and I don't expect an 18-year-old person working part-time as a lifeguard to start being confrontational with people and that's not what they're there for they're there to be lifeguards not policemen and the police are tight I mean yeah I know last year the EP were down there a couple of times uh they were down there patrolling a couple times I think at the request of uh otoman so I just want to you know cuz is clarify this like what he would be doing on relates to this leash question so so one scenario he's in the parking lot and anyone you know during these Prime periods however we Define it and he's just telling everyone with a dog I'm sorry you have to turn around and go home you can't walk your dog on the beach during this period and then there is the conversation okay but you have to commit to keeping your dog on the leash and then he's walking down and patrolling the beach and that's a little more diff that's a little more difficult that's the bigger problem right so it seems like the you know this is shooting myself in the foot potentially although we don't walk in in the morning but we walk our dog on the beach yeah and um but it would be a lot easier if it was just we took the leash g off the table as far as um Nick is concerned and his job is just to say po you know the rule of the town is you can't have your dog here during this period of time and I don't know if that's what we want to do or not because then the next because if we get into the leash part of it that's really more complicated for you know the problem for a bunch of reasons yeah excuse me I'm sorry no go ahead the problem with the uh you can't be on the town beach is well okay where's the town beach yeah you know so it's like there's a bunch of private properties in between and there even along what everybody believes to be the town beach there a bunch of private properties right and then there's the what they call the chering web Conservation area which is the final end of it last half mile right which was given to the town on the basis uh that it the use would not change yeah and I don't know bring their dogs on the boats and go up to Boat Beach and pull the I'm tell you realistically the CLS don't nest on the first quter Mile Beach yeah because there's too much human activity right that's where everybody goes down yeah yeah they're nesting on the boers beach Motors Beach is the bigger problem yeah and that's typically there's nobody even lifu patrolling way down the end there that's where I know all the nests that are actually have Nest they lay eggs and there's chicks fledging and whatnot are all down toward the motor's Beach yeah yeah uh typically they set the netting the fencing up the whole way but realistically once weather gets nice there's enough people walk in the beach Birds aren't that dum they move on uh so it's usually not a problem the problem you know lee law is very specific where you have to keep it on leash under your control right the dog's 400t down the beach from you it's not necessarily under control you know there are a lot of people have very good dogs that stay right and there a lot of people do the right thing and unfortunately they're going to pay the price for this yeah yeah I'm myself included I never let my dogs off leash but uh it it is something that you know that needs to be addressed because and I and I all the complaints we're listing I will tell you all the complaints I've heard in the last year have been mour right well I I just bring this up to say if uh I just think we need to be careful clear and but just be clear with Nick you know what the scope of his responsibilities are you know in this kind of situation so is he just sitting in the parking lot or is the expectation that he's going to be you know walking the beach and you know I suggest that um that the details you know of a like a prop there should be a written proposal of what he should a written scope scope um and agreement um and that we do it on a test basis to see a you know well there has to be negotiation when he's willing to do it you know because it's regular hours um and around the money a piece of it and but that that that be negotiated between the two of you and Nick possibly um and um our next meeting is April 1st um that's before the season starts yeah I mean like I said it you you don't it turns to a problem to like Memorial Day I'll say Memorial you know basically there's enough time to yeah come up with a a we just need to if we're going if we have a dollar figure we need to slide that into our bu into our budget I fig that's pretty easy you know and I don't know how many hours it would be if it's you know and it does again it doesn't have to be a very frequent thing I think the concern is as long as people know somebody you're watching because like I said at 8:30 is a ghost down put a sign saying Animal Control obser I told I said if you had if you had a a vacant van and you parked it in the parking lot and just left it there and it said Westport animal control that would be a deterrent enough I think you know uh you know we get a mannequin because you know and I don't expect Nick to be chasing people down the beach everything but the other problem we have and and I know this is horse night Beach tells people to go down the cherry and web yeah you know and they come from they come down from the campgrounds and those are I think the bigger problems than the person with beach sticker who knows okay the clovers here and I'm got to be watching what I'm doing I think it's more of an issue like if you're camping course they tells you hey you know not on this beach but keep on going you know and then there's a bunch of private owners and then you have people walking over from trips love to walk ducks on Gooseberry I walk yeah you are allowed I walk all every that's where I go every morning that way okay I just have a couple question just so CL a April 16th to September 15th no dogs at all no dogs on the town beach right and we're just talking about Char and web Beach here right yes okay um well also talking about East Beach too I'm not yeah that's right because because the the the other issue is uh the noble oh the that's going that would be near impossible the Nu is just so far away so for us to be able it's not any further away than from here than really any but the problem there is that's a big problem dog problem yeah and we have big problems at night down there we all problems cuz people camping on the that's a whole night at well maybe does the board have issue because we have people camping on the Noble at night now oh no W uh so okay so all that so I think the parking L things is great but also like you ear people cross over it kind of goes in and out of private town beach and that's where I think most of the problem comes that you know you may enter on a private on the private side but then you dog takes off 400 ft and you're on the the town side now so I think it might be best that he patrols the beach a little bit anyways but I would just had toy like what to what extent am I going to tell him to um like we're just talking hey you know put your dog on a leash or you can't be here type thing or is he actually going to write ticket no I think I think we start with warnings and saying hey Please be aware that you know especially if there's plover's nesting I mean first thing is an educational thing second thing if people if you see the same person 5 days in a row and it's like you've told them three days days in a row like then it's problem you know it's up to him I'll let him do what he wants on that most people that I've dealt with over the years and doing a long time I walked my dogs for a long time on the beach when they see me come around the corner they're grabbing their dogs putting them on we fun but the second thing is most people are very understanding who have a vested interest in the beach so MERS Beach not so much I mean it's out of control down there not just dog completely and the noble we had a lot of complaints at the nuble last year uh we only have 100 foot strip of quote unquote town beach down there and the rest of it is land trust and private properties and but you know doesn't take long for a dog to run across 100 ft when people there and you know you they had pit Pooles they had all kinds of things going on CU people are on the noble and they bring their dogs and they're there for the day and that's just the way it is and I don't know how you want to deal with that there is still leash law right you know and I think that's that's more enforceable than okay am I on the town Beach uh I don't know you know it's in the parking lot it's easy but yeah it's in the bylaws and you know if you're on if you're out with your dog and it's a public public beach or par way or whatever you have to have be on the leash yeah I mean we'll leave it up to him on that whole education SL enforcement any repeat offenses he can you know figure out how to deal with it we have a beach committee meeting this Thursday night uh you know we can discuss drafting a scope or a p i I mean I just it's the the reason the police are really busy and they're not chasing people on the beach they can't afford to get out of their car go walk down the path and look and then somebody's 3/4 miles on the beach start you know jogging I don't expect the police to be doing it they they are very good when they see somebody in the parking lot and again but I think it's just the deterrent that okay make people aware the EP are very they don't care they have no problem with another $1,000 fin they see your dog on off leash and they don't even care if there's Clover present well I think we got talk to Nick but I I would suggest anywhere between like maybe four and six hours during the busy time yeah you know it's just if he's day you know one hour a morning or that that that adds up quick yeah I don't want him to make a special I don't want him to make a you know he's got to have a life too so I don't want to make a special trip on a Saturday to just to go there you know can we coordinate something with the EP around take alternating or something so that we know that no the the environmental they really that they they go to Gooseberry a lot and do a lot of gooseb I don't think they really do anything on well they're all over hor there believe me if I know for a fact I know for a fact if they're a hor that can they see a bunch of dogs on Ching we they drive oh do they yeah oh yeah I just think maybe if we can say this is what our plan is and try to coordinate with them and maybe there's some way we can you know like um you know they're going to be there Tuesdays Thursdays and we're going to be the Monday Wednesday Friday kind of thing that that that it it may be helpful to do that sure they're down there and they're doing that technically the bylaw pertains to the town beach which is 300 ft long it's what it only pertains to the town beach and it's only 300 ft long so it's like literally they're half a mile down the beach they really technically not on the town beach so I mean there all that play into it but you know if you're in the parking lot I mean I think it's an educational thing and it just the fact they see somebody there and say hey Clover's present you know I said most people are very good that I've dealt with but there are a lot of people when I know you know just I'll see a dog and I won't see a human you know so um so reest I think what I hear is the board is supportive of working with the beach committee and figuring out a plan assuming that Nick is willing to work those extra hours or we can rejigger her schedule um and that um that uh you and M negotia yeah I mean you whatever yeah we're just going to need a dollar figure and and again if we run out of money then it stops happening so and it may be that it um you know I would suggest that we you know we re-evaluate after like two months and see you know is this working because if it's not being effective um maybe then there some other strategy as to well the the strategy is which I would not want to do is technically the peach doesn't open till 9:00 and if I open the gates at 9:00 I'll have a bunch of angry people waiting for me I've had that if I go if I miss quarter after to six I have a lot of angry people waiting for me so I mean but that we I did experiment one weekend a year ago where I didn't get down to 8:00 mhm and there were a lot of upset people and for a good reason at 6:00 I'm one of them running the beach is the best time it's the best time to run the beach where it's nice and quiet or if you're going fishing it's the best time to go fishing it's just a a good time just to walk and it's peaceful and there's a billion people there I understand that but it's on the other end it's like what do you do in between well I think we do need to um you know get a a sort of an assessment in a couple of months just see how it's going yeah right yeah I agree I don't have a problem I can talk with dick um in the next see what what he wants again I I understand you know he works fulltime and everything so I'm not trying to have him work 80 hours a week or anything crazy so talk with him and then uh maybe next week i' shoot you an email we can all three of us sit down yeah probably it's a good idea okay and then um you know something starts by you like say May 15th we have something fighting an agreement by then right by May 15th is that a reasonable time or you wanted to it it doesn't matter when it's just done truthfully because this I don't want to say it's the last minute but we just got the report from Aon and we just got please sign up for $111,000 and it and it kills us because you know everybody thinks we making a lot of money at the beach but you start all these little things start adding up and you have to now we have to pay life cards 22 $25 an hour it's like we don't have a lot of fre cash so just speak every Le we have welcome to the club yes but we live and die on an Enterprise fund so what do you need to submit that into the budget well we can we have a budget we have some dollar figures built in like the recreation has built some dollars and we have we already already pay for the the town administrator the treasurer uh the accountant who pay administrative fees and the town clerk so there's a lot of people at the trough so to speak uh we just need a dollar Piggy and we need to know that it's sustainable uh this may be a one year only depending on what happens with the revenue because we're not sure after we jack each pass this up we've gotten a lot of complaints uh complaints about what well a uh there were some elderly people who don't believe they should pay at all and then the second thing is what do we get for $50 for a beach pass you get to use the beach I said try to go somewhere else go to go to Truro and see what see what you pay down there let me know what you pay you know granted we don't have you know showering facilities and all these other things that some of these beaches have but I think that's not the point I think the point is beautiful beach yeah yeah so everything but okay well um we'll leave it in your hands and uh you know we'll we'll get a copy of whatever you the agreement is yeah I I have already joted down a couple ideas and numbers I just need to kind of clarify when we sit down about um what we're actually going to do well yeah that and you know are we going to pay him at his just hourly straight hourly rate or we going to pay him at a time and a half rate cuz he get time and a half over 40 so I'm not so um um I don't know what his rate is I don't know if so um it's in the ballpark of $25 an hour so if um yeah so it' be about $3,600 at straight time for the from April to September um but if we're going to do time in half it would be I don't know uh 36 right around 4,800 maybe somewhere in that ballp 5,000 how many hours a week are you six six okay so you know that that's something you guys negotiate what your budget is 3 hours a week whatever or we can do some on his regular time and add you know two days weeks it's extra time or the weekends it's time and a half because he's coming out and I know and I hate to bring this up and this and it wasn't why it was here but the camping thing is becoming a problem uh and not that we have jurisdiction over it there are some van campers that I walk in occasionally at the town beach that's seems to be a very popular thing get a little van you drive around you can't for free wherever you can park it with a and chering web is a very nice parking lot and they don't care they get locked in because when I go let them out in the morning they're going to drive out and you're not going to find a better place they can't for free so the issue is you know sanitary facilities we do have Port but the noble has become from my understanding and I've seen tents there but I just assumed it was just to stay out of the Sun but um as I've heard in they're staying there all night at the noble can't be Can the police do something about that they if there's no car there what do you do if they not parked there illegally what do you do so does that mean that there has to be some kind of restrictions at the beach that are posted that can be then they're on a federal property the noble belongs to the Department of Homeland Security that's news to me so you know it's like what do you do I know they they were camping on Ship Rock for a while I know they were camping you know basically in there's various locations but it seems the nuble has become a problem because it's just become like especially on Fourth hot weekends and stuff a good place just to put up a pop tent and sleep there and we had some people come into US last year complaining about that and I don't know what well Beach committee can't do anything about it's not the town beach we don't have jurisdiction over anything but the town beach we don't have anything uh but I don't know if you have any I mean I don't know if we can uh I can take a I I'll look into it and see what we what kind of jurisdiction we have and if but they're not camping in vehicles right just T mostly no no because they they know enough that they park there they're going to get tickets ticketed and you know so and most of some them get tickets what happens is they get dropped off and they stay there all day all night all day okay there's no sanitary facilities so something to think about anyway not why I came here all right thank you okay all right I'll reach out I'll reach out so we can set some up next week perfect great thanks okay I just have we're on sort of on this issue of animal control um and the beach um Nick I ran into Donna pillo yes and she said there was a goose that was dying um because of the Aven because we've got the problem with the Aven flu um and all the geese that are being impacted by it that he wasn't um he didn't go and take care of it he didn't pick it up and said he couldn't contaminate the van um so then in in that regard like what do people do when they might find a diseased animal um I went through all I went through this whole thing today because this came up on Friday or something and uh so basically we t to the state we T to mdar and um on state beaches like who very Island where the sick Goose was you got to call DCR so Nick was supposed to put on the web page today who to notify if you see a sick Goose what number to call they're the ones that are supposed to handle the the sick Birds um and they communicate and work with the Department of wild fisheries and wildlife and they work together to try to you know do what they're going to do with that sick animal the environmental police Nick told me today cuz you reached out to them as well they they tell people just to leave it and let nature take its course so that's what they're telling people okay now if it's you know if we see a cluster of like you know five or more birds then it's you know then it's more of a serious issue then um DC if it's on a State Beach will reach out and they'll bring some other people down to um deal with it a little bit differently maybe have Beach if it's on town beach um um I think I agree with if it's just one bird we can't you know we can't just be we get a lot of calls like we got one bird over here one bird over there they're not really link together different of birds they're not all in one spot we got to be careful because we can we can certainly pick it up there's a protocol for for ppes and to do this on on Town property but then we just bring it to the shelter and they euthanize it and if we did that for all the bird calls that we received our budget would just be gone you right because it cost money to euthanize the birds yeah um so uh we what we typically do if it's on a private property or to road we we'll call MD they'll say what kind of bird is it what you know is it more and we get instructions from them and if they tell us to go pick it up and have euthanized then Nick will suit up and go do that but on State Beach it's a little different okay I'm wondering if maybe Nick did a little thing about that I didn't have a chance to check I I straight but I asked him to yeah oh but he do a little speech here oh we speech here yeah yeah he can to educate yeah you know about what what who to call and what to do in case yeah maybe for the next meeting on April 1 great thank you okay um moving on to item we've completed the appoint main the appointment there a discussion we'll move back to other business um the Cesspool FAQ discussion um so um I'm going to turn it over to you um what your um the initiative and what you're trying to accomplish here so um this really came about from a conversation I had with Matt um where um in conversations that he was having I think with Jim hardnett uh of looking to have the FAQ um uh that we had generated around uh the CES phase out to be posted and um and that led me to think in light of the developments that had happened around that and now um discussions that had occurred in public meetings about the um and in other context about potential for the sewer moving forward depending on how the vote in town meeting would go that um that before we posted it should go back and just read through it again because I think that there were some issues that were worth um you know worth discussing if we were going to put it up again and it was going to be that document that would stand between now and and the votes and then in the course of uh going back and and looking at what we had put out there and then doing a little more um for me after the fact Title 5 research realized that there actually were um specific Provisions related to um the potential for a sewer line coming on for failed systems which we hadn't really addressed at all so we had just said all systems have to be termin you know must be phased out by X date um without distinguishing between um you know systems that passed inspection and systems that failed inspection um and uh so I mean we can go so so that so that was one piece that I thought needed to be addressed and then the um and then just a I think gen more general question of um what happens how how do we reconcile the timeline that we had set with this um with people kind of of talking about the next natural step once the spine is collect constructed down Route 6 which won't impact very many households but um the expectation that has been created is that will just be the first step to then expanding um down into the neighborhoods and um that that's very much more likely to take um you know trigger a whole another run round of funding because what is being presented now is just for the spine um and so that's going to push out the um you know push out the availability of the um of homeowners to connect um and also you're not going to be obliged to connect is another issue so there's a lot of issues out there and which you know legitimately people are concerned about well you know if the timing doesn't all work out between our compliance State and the availability of the Sue or what are we going to do so I tried to frame well I express my own personal feeling in here of um of just saying that um that I think that once certain commitments are made and financial commitments in particular that we should um so I'm going say it this way because I haven't really articulated quite this way so there's you have two universes the universe of the failed system the universe of the past systems we're just talking C schools right now we're talking about CEs schools now because that's a big issue with CES schools I mean that that I that hadn't really been addressed in this way Title 5 sets the standard for for failed systems and and I think we're bound to enforce Title Five unless something happens differently but I I think that what's set out in Title 5 is pretty reasonable although they have a five-year time limit but it also says if you want to go beyond that limit you have to cons we you know D can extend that limit um if the if the sewer is not availablein the 5-year period so it set out a formula or a you know not a formula but a framework as to how to deal with the situation with failed systems and I think there's a lot we can borrow from that but it it's premat I think it's premature to commit to anything about what we're going to do because we don't know what the timeline is we don't know you're going to have individual choices by people who you know so but um for the systems that have passed and so um so I tried to um address the the attitude so to speak the perspective of the current board um but was really my own personal way of expressing my feeling that it would be necessary to work out a compromise when those when that situation arose and um in a way that said which I think is you know because the sewer is going to take out 100% of the nitrogen it's going to remove the it's going to remove people's exposure to contaminated drinking water that um you know for the system for the C schools that have passed there's a lot of incentive to um let that system remain where there is an actual Financial commitment of the town to bring sewer to that area and but it would require for example an agreement of the person if we to say that they're going to that they're going to connect you know so but anyway that is a future thing right so um so that's you know besides oh and I guess there was one other one other piece on the financial assistance part of it where I thought that since that I I proposed to strike the 1% uh the reference to the 1% because that's on its own pathway now to you know to going into town meeting and how those funds might be expended but we didn't put anything into the housing authority and Loan and I confirmed today that with the Housing Authority representative that you can loan um that you can obtain a if you're a low-income person you can obtain a z% loan for a sewer connection okay which I wasn't aware of before great and um and you can also get a SE a tax credit for the and there's a what is being proposed now by the um infrastructure oversight committee if there is there's going to be a $10,000 um connection fee betterment fee betterment fee yeah betterment fee but associated with the that when you connect you have to that's when your betterment fee becomes due um and it's payable for 20 years was was separate from kind of you you get charged Char once it's in front of your property whether connect right right right yes um and and so uh but at least whatever those costs are associated with that um that that you could uh get a credit and you could borrow money for it um you can if you borrow money you can't get a credit um I think they changed that oh yeah I think they believe they changed they changed that in the legislation used to be it was an offset yeah it's not an offset anymore associated with it so anyway but so I didn't get into all those details here I might say they can you can use it for connection costs uh but um so I inserted that reference in the in the in the general availability of financial assistance and I put something in also about about financial hardship because I think we've all agreed that if there was a problem someone could come and make a case that it was there was a financial hardship cuz they could essentially be requesting a variance and under that we would listen to them as we've listened in other situations sure um so uh I think um clearly we need to revise the FAQ document um to reflect the new timeline and and um you know those other wording Chang what I'm struggling with right now or not struggling it's just I think there are some policy decisions we have to make around um as you say like how do we deal with this kind of situation how do we deal with that kind of situation that we really need to have a working mean to kind of hash out um which not going to happen before the vote definitely the timeline so um I my sense is that the FAQ document is not going to change people's vote right now so we should um schedule a working meeting as soon as we possibly can um would if if the the outcome of the vote might um would affect the timeline um so that that's another variable um so how important do we think it is I mean I know there was some sense of getting this on the website but um how well um of course it I so this probably would not have happened had not there been a request um you know through the select board's Office of the Town Administrator to to post what's there and then I felt well we shouldn't post what is not really accurate um but so that was one part of it and then the other part of it was that that there are some things that we could communicate through this format which would um contribute towards reducing the argument that the Board of Health regulation is um what's the right word an impediment to moving forward with the sewer because that is a lot of the messaging that's going on or being used by um used to say that um this is a that the sewer is a bad idea because you're going to force we're going to force people to put it to upgrade their systems and then the next week the sewer going to come and they're going to have to decommission that and connect that's a great Distortion of reality it's a distortion of reality which but in which in which I thought that and I'm not not saying this is the right way but that that in which we could reut that Distortion how you know even though nobody you know people are not going to be rushing to see what post about this that it would serve it would serve a you know a purpose and the and the other thing that um as you were saying about the timing I mean so right now there's still three more years under our current timeline you know four okay four sorry but I think