##VIDEO ID:Z_mT9D7AGs0## to the September 25th 2024 town of Littleton Board of Health meeting in attendance are myself Matt won Dan Kane Kevin Baker G fralone Jim graffy and hopefully Francis will be joining us shortly September 25th meeting correct uh our first item on the agenda is our 7 PM public hearing on the code of conduct yeah um before we get further Kevin Davis is unable to attend this evening and he had the follow-up assignment to do a little more work on the code of conduct um so this is a public hearing but I would say that we probably want to just push it out to another meeting um for further discussion no problem and I'm thinking that perhaps the meeting on o October 23rd since we'll be dealing with some wellwater regulation at the next meeting if that makes sense October what moved October 23rd Mr chair um Francis has his hand up to be promoted got it so if anybody would like to make a motion I make a motion to postpone motion to continue I'll second the motion to continue okay we have a motion to Second roll call vote Kevin Baker Kevin Baker votes yes do you know fralone okay Dan Kane D Kane votes yes M votes yes we will therefore or follow that up on October 23rd next item up is our 705 agenda item it's a discussion on the arbovirus surveillance review it is only 7:02 so we'll give a few minutes does anybody have any update or anything else that they would like to throw out to fill some time um I give a quick update on um The Retreat perfect um so the doodle pole went out um if everybody's able to um get to that when you have a chance um I just threw out some times and some dates it's for the last week in October essentially so um if there's a strong feeling that another week will be better than that last week I can change that around um so far we gotten two responses it looks like during the week um in the earlier hours maybe 11: or maybe even earlier perhaps in the morning uh seems more desirable it's just a question of how many hours you also want it to be as well and probably in the next meeting we should talk about an agenda list of what we want to tackle at that meeting as well how do people just feel initially about a three-hour meeting is that a a yay sounds great or no we'll need some more time or I can't it'll be that long we could break it up into two parts too as well to do part A and then maybe meet for Part B a little down the road once we start getting parts moving I Devin I was just gonna say you know we could block off three hours and then you know see how far we get and if we come to a comfortable stopping point we say you know we need to do some more homework or we need to take a break and come back next week or in the next couple weeks um put some more time on the books it's up to whoever the board prefers Dan were you gonna say something go ahead I I was gonna Bas that same thing I think three hour is a good starting point and if we're we're good we can we can always add more time but three hours is plenty of working time we could always end early if we need to but no I think three hours is probably plenty for a first pass at this so um 11 o' start time was there any any preference to start earlier or later or okay I had already responded to the poll so I put all my choices in there so I guess let everybody else do theirs and yeah Quick Glance it looks like October 21st is a popular day from 11: to 2 or or October 2 third from 11: to 2 so Gina would that work for you for me yeah I guess so so that' be Monday October 21st um from 11: to 2 sorry go ahead Gina the meeting do not going start on October 23rd they're going to change it to October 2 first we're saying to have a retreat outside of our regularly scheduled board meeting which we do have one on the 23rd the Wednesday the 23rd so we're saying should we have our our Retreat our Board of Health Retreat on Monday October 21st from 11:00 a.m to 2 PM no problem okay um that works for me as well so we'll just jump start that if you want to check in with Kevin Davis and hopefully he can make that time yeah pencil that in for now okay it is now 7:06 so we will come back to our discussion on arbiv virus surveillance review Francis what's the update we still have mosquitoes um if you look at the arbit virus report that we received on Monday um it looks like there's about 96 positive mosquito samples um we did receive some more West Nile Virus cases um as well but um in terms of Triple E I mean nothing's changed um like Frank from um Central Mass mosquito said at this time of year it's unlikely that a new generation be born with the spraying we knocked it down so I don't think we're looking at an increased threat I don't think we're going to possibly hit critical at this point um so it' be up to the board whether we want to stick with the same dph recommended response which would be basically 15 minutes counting down each week um until we hit a heart Frost if you look at the calendar um in the packet that will give you an idea of what times we're looking at um parks and wreck have also been provided with this as well and they're okay with it um School sports have been able to work with it as well um we have been able also we had a really good response from staff from Parks and W as well as conservation um for getting signage out right away laminate signage um so that was really good as well just a note questions from the board I guess I was just curious about the the prev prevalence rate of you like how many how many human cases so we have four human cases at this point in the season which I mean and historically so from 2020 to 2023 um over the course of all those years all to combined total there was a four cases in Massachusetts so um looking at this data now it it's hard to gauge past years just because in one year we've already done what they did in three years previous um but again because we were proactive about spraying um it is unlikely that we Face any increased threat and at this point in the season where it's getting colder at night especially um the risk goes lower and lower potentially so I don't think we're looking at an increased threat um I think it's good to use caution um at this time of year because we're so close to the end and it seems like it is working with the activities that we do after hours in town at this point um so it seems as a precautionary measure it'd be good to stick with what dph recommends um but it's certainly up to the board if we feel like that we want to not recommend or let the schools decide or we can make a recommendation and the schools can choose to adopt that or not of course I just I just went out to walk my dog and I got bit by mosquito so I got a little nervous I wanted to make sure oh you're out yeah I'm in the cor thank you Matt you're un mute Dan you also had a question uh not much a question but just I think a followup I think we're close to the end I think leaving our precautions in place is appropriate and reasonable they've been accepted pretty easily by most of the stakeholders in town that I think it's probably appropriate to continue on with the track we've taken yeah I I agree I think whe whether things are working or not I think it's the right precautionary measures as Francis mentioned to kind of stick with the plan um I haven't heard any negative output from the guidelines on ending our activities early yes that gets earlier and earlier as we approach October um but I feel like it would make sense to kind of stick with the plan and we can read it in two weeks at our regular meeting and if we've had a good Frost and we think that the risk has dropped down then I think we could revisit at that point um the only thing I want to point out is that while Littleton has remained at um high risk for Triple E I think in the last within the last week conquered also got added as a high risk so the kind of high-risk area has expanded to include carile and Conquer now so I think at the state level it still appears that um the risk is around our community and our neighboring towns so yes conquered um they were raised because for two weeks in a row they had high mosquito counts of tripol in the area even though they had no human cases yeah yeah and remember just because they don't find any human cases doesn't mean that people aren't getting getting ill or having an asymptomatic illness it can still be transmitting not that there's personto person transmission which is great um but the mosquitoes are there the mosquitoes are carrying the disease so that means anybody could potentially still contract the disease yeah it's also important to consider although we're focusing on Triple E because it's 30% M mortality rate um westn virus is still prevalent um can still still cause illness um especially most vulnerable and there has been an escalation of cases on that in E too as even though we don't particularly look at it as seriously so um you know the advice is still prevalent for both of note Littleton is still considered low risk for West Nile um but again not far Stow mayard Sudbury are all in a moderate risk level uh Brad Lang has his hand up allow you in how you doing Brad Lang 76 New State Road thank you um yep um I'm with the soccer board and if you want I can give you guys a little bit of feedback how the Youth Sports have been doing um if that helps so realistically the time change the time changes every week and you know drawing back 15 minutes isn't a super super effect on us because we get off the field tonight at 6:30 and but you know we're losing 20 minutes realistically because now it's starting to get too dark for us to be out there anyway um the part that makes it a little more difficult is especially with soccer having all the game times for vars the varsity and the JV when they would play at night because now they've had to play in the day and that they're taking up the field space that we used to practice on and we've had to really Shuffle around um one thing it I don't know and this is up to you guys but maybe opening up for the high school teams to allow to play their night games we haven't seen a lot of bugs out in the field and I live right behind the high school and I haven't had a lot of mosquitoes coming at me and swarms of mosquitoes since you guys have sprayed which has been great but maybe allowing those players because you get some seniors out there that are going to lose those night games that they've played look forward to all you know their lives but um as for Youth Sports it's been okay uh with the time changes um I don't know if maybe opening up and allowing the high school to play at Alumni Stadium would be something and plus with it getting colder out uh most people are in long sleeves anyways so um just my thoughts what time are those games typically Brad uh the JVS usually play at five uh for soccer and the varsity would play at seven um so and then the field hockey teams they play at 6 pm and then the football teams play at seven on Friday nights right thank you y further thoughts or considerations from the board uh the schedule of uh recommended end times is 6:30 p.m. for this week and actually 6:30 p.m. for next week as well so why but there's not a 15minute break in there that's probably because we're kind of ahead of the Moon as it were um so then it jumps to 6:15 the week of the 7th I understand the impact on our youth sports I personally would feel like an exemption just for a certain age group might not make a whole lot of sense because there are still a lot of a lot of age groups that might be attending it's not just about the players on the field but everybody else um and the other question I would say is the schools had a um treatment to that that sustained on the plants nearby to reduce mosquito activity is that correct Francis it wasn't just a airspray to try to kill flying objects right yep all fields in town okay and that was the week of what uh um that was done two weeks ago okay uh the week of the nth and what's the estimated do you know what the estimated length of time that that scene is effective before they would recommend a respray um I don't in talking with the director um at Central Mass he indicated that more spraying wouldn't necessarily have any effect at this late in the season because you're killing off the generation that has already been liting and has already grown and possibly already in the field so um he found it to be unlikely to help if we did further Springs um I can follow up with him and we could follow up um with you Sports to kind of discuss it further I guess um perhaps the question would be if if it was the the barrier spray at least for the Residential Properties when that's when that's ordered by individuals that's not a killing mechanism that's a prevent the mosquitoes from Landing nearby so that they can't live nearby and thus have a place to launch from to then try to stab animals in humans so if if there's still mosquitoes alive and around in the area That Could Be an Effective repeat but I believe for the residential programs it's usually on like a five-week cycle I think um so it it might be too soon and might still be basically effective but I don't know that I can follow up with Central Mass um see what they recommend and maybe the board could go based on the recommendations of our Consultants I I I would feel comfortable with that knowing that we still have at least some activity that's in the evening time Brad would you mind reaching out to me by either email or phone um and we can connect tomorrow it' be idea Brad's back in the audience you can get in touch with them right I'll figure it out thank you trying to get a hold of me yeah there Brad do you think you could um either email or call me tomorrow we could catch up absolutely all right thank you y anything further from the board fine with me all right so we're status quo continuing to follow dph recommendations following our time calendar for activities no other changes revisiting two we two weeks okay so I'll talk to Central Mass tomorrow I'll provide an update to the board tomorrow afternoon and we'll talk to school sports as well and um two weeks sounds good uh moving on 710 the ID decision support tool is all about herbo virus initially which we just discussed at length um I have not actually reviewed the data for our covid numbers right now um vaccinations are out and available the CDC if you have seen the ads is actually recommending you get your flu shot and covid vaccine at the same time I can only assume they're recommending that in order to keep it down to one trip and make it more palatable for your schedule um I loved one ad that I saw that uh can't remember who it was it was somebody somebody famous that everybody would recognize of course might have been a football player who had two Band-Aids on one arm um I might not recommend that because you'd probably never be able to use that arm again for the next 48 hours uh but if you want some balance a shot in each arm um but last season there was some concern about getting both shots at the same time but this season as I said the CDC has recommended that that is the way to go to save your time and save your schedule so they are available they're out there and um as Francis put out earlier this week um we also have test kits available correct Francis Yep they're flying off the shelves flying off the shelves I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing I ordered more so that's how fast they're going so test kits are available come down to our department of health and get them from Francis or Brenda whoever's there and um have those at least in stock so that if you get symptoms you can um do your own self test to help you decide what steps to then take um we've also finalized um the upcoming clinic for October 22nd um it'll be held at the middle school again both covid and flu sh will be available there'll be a flyer out later this week most likely to pre-register for both okay that's Tuesday October 22nd do we have a time uh 3 p.m. to 6 PM uh Littleton Middle School 55 Russell Street um pre-registration flyer will be available through the news and announcements on the main Town homepage as well as on the board page as well the dph recommended end time for outdoor activities is 5:45 so that's going to be all indoor correct it will yeah so no no outside congregation late get inside and wait inside and then come outside and leave please um any other input on our infectious disease updates in the community nothing Dan you always have something good very well that brings us to our administrative matters we have two meeting minutes on the agenda for approval I will start by saying I have not reviewed them so I cannot vote on them have other people reviewed them July 10th we can put them on the next meeting if you'd like 22nd Kevin uh I reviewed them I don't know if Gino and Dan have had a chance to review them um you Dan have you reviewed uh July 10th I have not I'm sorry I did not get in the one drive to look it up and it wasn't in the packet so that's that one's on me not a problem let's push those let's P get the next packet out relatively early so everybody be able re R everything pretty comprehensively thank you that brings us to correspondence yes Kevin uh just want to say I did also review the July 24th meeting minutes uh and there was a note on there that we continued a hearing or discussion about room count as it relates to uh Title Five in septic ISM approval and then we said we'd push it to our next meeting and I know we never did talk about it again so I just want to maybe make sure it gets on an agenda down the road so yes we had slated it for this meeting actually um and I think we got a a little bit derailed by the Triple E response that we had to jump on okay so I believe you were absent the last time we discussed it um okay and I was going to email out after this meeting so what we were kind of discussing was if everybody had thoughts about it and anybody who was willing to draft up an idea about it because I think we're all on coming from a lot of different directions um so the kind of takeaway homework was if you have an idea of how you want this approached draft the little something up and get it to Francis so we can get it to the board members maybe in advance of the meeting um okay same kind of thing as we were talking about for the wellwater regulations which we should have on the agenda for the 9th I kind of want to not do both of them at the same meeting just because I think it could take a long time so let's pencil that back on for the 23rd of October for now uh unless that agenda gets crazy full um I hopefully we just voted to continue it not to continue to today because it is not on our agenda or we could I guess make a motion to continue it even though it's not I don't know I'll turn to Dan of course why does everybody always look at me um I'm I'm I'm torn if we if we address it for this one but we didn't put on our agenda I don't know how that works um we cannot I just wanted to make sure I would tend to say yeah we can't but I think we put it on as we continued it and it wasn't on this agenda even though we pick this date I think it's not unreasonable to say it just goes to the next agenda sounds good if it's a greatable to chair I could put an email out specifically about that CU that'll take some pretty heavy thought from a lot of members to send in stuff and I'll need stuff ahead of time as well so yeah yes please go ahead and do that um put the inquiry out there so that we can people have time to craft their thoughts and get a document together it'd be great if they also get stuff back to you well in advance of the 23rd so that we could all be doing some review by email um or Not Sorry reviewing the email and then be able to have a better discussion about it during the meeting we do thank you any other correspondents that warrants discussion no Dan um two things that kind of dovetail together a little bit uh I submitted um as a resident slbo member not just the board member um some concerns about particular matter air quality in the area of Air Road spec Pond white tail um Spartan Arrow around um dust from the Quarry uh certainly anybody who lives in this area is well aware the Quarry is there it was certainly aware when we moved in however um for many years now that for certainly many of us here on white tail and other neighborhoods most of the Year our houses cars Lawns or covered in a fine white powder inconsistent with dirt um but would be consistent with gra gravel stone dust kind of stuff um so I put in a request for air quality assessment I'm not sure the best way of doing that um certainly there's lots of options for both particulate matter size and um what it's made out of as kind of a first step is there is this just visual annoyance or is there actually enough to be considered a health risk um so and then two days later we saw that we had gotten a grant from Massachusetts from the hel Administration for 10 purple Air Station monitors it looks like that's limited to what 2.5 Micron particulates which are usually the most that size is usually the most dangerous for inhaled particulates um just because they're so small they can pass the cell membranes and all other good stuff um so it kind of Dov tailes together but even without that that looks like it's just a more a quantitative measure but not a quality of what the substances are so I'm not sure how to proceed with this but you know I'm I'm slightly torn that yes I'm a resident and it affects me so therefore it's kind of a conflict of interest on the other hand it's not just my property it's you know it's basically a a good section of town that's potentially impacted so uh bringing it forward I'm not sure what the best way to move forward with some air quality testing um Westford had a problem with their Quarry um over the last couple years they were investigated the state D issued a a fine I forget the number but not enormous but big enough but also required uh remediation consistent with standard OSHA dust remedi um you know water and crusting controls on on open piles and that kind of stuff so standard dust mitigation measures that I simply they may be doing at our quy here in town they may not I simply don't know but that's kind of part of the the process I think that we probably should be looking at so um have helpful I can provide a quick update on the first couple steps we've taken so far um so in terms of receiving it I mean regardless of who it's from it's still Public Health concern from our standpoint um so it requires investigation regardless um so I wouldn't worry about any conflict in any way um so um Jim has been very helpful and um we're kind of putting our heads together on this one um so we've reached out um to the aggregate owner um taking some preliminary steps are going to be required so we will be conducting a site visit to um record what we see um we have reached out to d as well to kind of initiate what kind of steps need to be taken um you know in terms of early steps and then what should be looking to do in later steps and how do we start that process that you described um so after our site visit we'll most likely connect back up with um D and probably get that steps going in motion and I assume probably how Westford did it as well um so the process might look fairly similar hey great thank you yeah I want to Echo that thank you you know citizen Dan Kane is well within his rights to report a health concern and you're following the process exactly reporting to our director and and he will now take care of it and apprise us of whatever might happen because we all want to know obviously um I assume it was unrelated to the 48 hour turn on on a grant reward of some air quality monitors or those two connected I did that for Dan that was very impressive and effective work I appreciate it that was awesome so what what is our next so since we talk about what is our next steps or what are our next steps so we have the grant for 10 um are there any guidances from the state as far as how we locate them where we locate them is that kind of a collaborative between us and state is it just up to us how does this work what are our next steps to uh get these in house get them in place and get them monitored yeah um so I was going to put on a future agenda once we have some more um specs on it um um so our first step I think is to talk to it which I've already started the conversation because they require um a power component and there's also a Wi-Fi component as well to be able to have real-time data um so that can present some challenges of where they can be placed there are different Avenues we can go but essentially asked it if we could kind of map out around town where the most convenient locations would be from a town perspective um D says you can also work with local residents as well but that can be complicated in certain ways as well so um I think I'm mostly at this point waiting on what it says where we can place and see what kind of spread that would be where they would be in town so essentially um at an upcoming meeting I provide somewhat of a map of where we have told would be good places to place them and then using the board's knowledge just being in town we could kind of map out areas in general that we think would be appropriate and between the two I think we could come up with locations that way um we'd also put it out there with police and fire to hear what they would have to say as well um but the board wants to move forward I was thinking it probably be best once we have everything in hand to put it on the future agenda give you all the information ahead of time so you understood what they were how they work and all that great thank you very much for getting that kick started any additional correspondence then we'll leave it now to board member updates anything additional Kevin Baker nope Gino frani no Dan Kane nothing Jim I haven't gotten to hear you say anything tonight anything else no that's okay like I say with Francis just trying to get an inspection over to aggregate so we'll uh take a look at what's happening over there and and get back to the board great great and Francis any anything else we didn't discuss yet um the only other thing is um in terms of mosquitoes we also have a new web page on the department page um for anybody looking for information about mosquitos we certainly taken a lot of feedback since the Triple E um so I have built a comprehensive page off our department where it describes almost as a Q&A type of function everything you would want to know about what surveillance is in Massachusetts what it is in Littleton what methods we use um who to talk to how would you mind just sharing it and showing it so that we have it on our video record too sure uh let's see okay is that showing or no um oh there we go okay everybody can see the page yep all right um so if you go to the department page it is the Last Link at the bottom here mosquito surveillance reporting updates um in this page this is what we're looking at it's kind of a Q&A of the most relevant information um so we have press releases everything's a pull down tab um give the information on the most upto-date mosquito information that we've set out as a board um we also have our real-time maps from the state which might not show up in the screen sharing or they will yes um so this is Triple E we also have in here as well West Nile Virus down below um so if anybody wanted to see what the risk level was in our town they'd be able to hover over it it would tell them what the risk levels would be um we'd also have numbers and where these numbers were captured as well for the season as you can see here and then we briefly talked about the basics of AR virus surveillance okay this spray thank you for getting that built out there Francis I was just trying to figure out I when we look at those maps from Mass dph on the activity I sure wish they could default to at least middle sex County but I don't think you can get I know the filters over there but I don't think you can get that to stick um that' be interesting I was I was impressed I was able to embed this yeah yeah no it's great that that was there I like I like that because that's the exact source that we use but yeah I sure wish their tools were allowed you to kind of pass that filter um the only other kind of thought and question I have is that that menu list on the left side that's just a long blue bar that's starting to kind of just a lot of it's just swimming together for me and especially for something like the mosquito surveillance which is a Hot Topic is there a way we could get that one moved up more towards the top like the covid vaccination sinor I agree is there a chance that maybe that blue bar could split into kind of two categories one which is kind of current topics like covid vaccines and mosquit information and then a separate one which is our more static apply for a health permit Board of Health that that kind of thing is there a way we could do that yeah I completely understand you're saying um that sounds like an IT solution I will have to check into that yes I'm sure there's way we're getting more and more information out there so I just want to make sure people kind of definitely can find the Hot Topic stuff nice nice and quickly so thank you thank you for that update anything else can I have something uh nothing for me all right I do not think I had any additional updates so that's all we have for this evening I'd like to make a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn a second and a second roll call vote Kevin Baker g bigger votes yes G fralone you're muted you know you're muted we can't hear you you're still muted oh you can hear me okay I'm sorry you're I'm sorry it was a sort of a like very short meeting the question is all because this bugs they they drive everybody crazy is anything that the state can go in different town and and kill those bars so we don't have we don't get sick um I mean it's something we can discuss but I would say aerial spraying is probably not an approach we want to take at this point and I think um you hear a lot of feedback from the town residents um if we went into aerial spray so um we can certainly explore it but perhaps later right because I'm very concerned about the children go to school you know I mean they they're innocent I mean me if I see a bug right away he gone you know what I me I I bury him already I mean the kids don't don't know how to do that so they go to they got to be protected well I mean luckily we were able to react right away um so spring was done within a day or so when we heard of the event um and we also had the board that was able to meet relatively quickly um apologies you know we had we had our meeting our urgent meeting I cannot recall if you were there where we discussed triple in the response um but now fortunately we have a motion in a second to adjourn and we are in a roll call vote so G fralone your vote my vote is C yes Dan Kane Dan Kane votes yes to ad journ and Matt Wason votes yes thank you very much brief meeting I'm very happy to be able to see you guys good night everyone