e e e e e I'd like to call recording in progress call the meeting to order um roll call Carrie present paa I'm here Kevin here johe here great uh before we get started um I'd like to welcome our newest uh board member Joan wetel Jo hi Paula hi Joan hi hi Jo so I thought what we might what we might do is um maybe ask Joan just to um give us a sentence or two on um you know your professional background and how long you've lived in reading and and then maybe we can go around and and similarly do the same just to introduce ourselves uh to Joan So Joan go ahead hi I'm Joan wetel uh my husband and I have lived in reading for 44 years now our sons went through all the reading schools and graduated in 01 and 03 I have a degree from Northeastern in medical laboratory Sciences I worked in um labs for 40 years primarily in microbiology I worked at a hospital for 12 years and then um for 27 years I worked at a Lo local very large pediatric practice in their Laboratory um primarily in microbiology again great well again welcome thank you so um I will uh I'll start the round robin I'm Rick Lopez and um I'm a retired primary care physician and physician executive I've lived in reading for 30 years and um I've Been On The Board of Health uh for about four years now okay um Carrie hi Joan uh my name's Carrie denell I hi I have lived in Reading since 2001 uh we have one child who went through the reading schools and um actually went on and had a really great academic career at tus and a biocham major um yay yay reading schools they did well by him um and let's see I um have worked in public health since 2002 I um prior to that I worked in I worked in a small business uh for a seven store small business for 10 years um worked in the mutual fund industry for 10 years um went back to school uh found public health and municipal government kind of fell in love um came up in the time in emergency preparedness and spent a lot of time in that but I also have a um uh also did a lot of work uh coalition development and training development um there's a local public health Workforce training initiative that I managed for a few years and currently I am managing a shared service arrangement for for communities uh and a training hub for 40 communities so um I have my hands deep in public health I I love it um and I joined the board in uh June of 2020 um my experience with public health emergency preparedness and all my Hospital work um said I can't I can't sit by so and I'm really very impressive thank you Carrie Paula hi um I am a I've lived in reading for most of my life went through the reading school systems myself married my high school sweet hard and all three of my kids went through the writing school system uh I became a nurse uh uh and worked at Mass General for 37 years the last 15 of which I worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner I also taught at the mghihp but I'm retired from all that now but I've been on the board since uh the same time as Carrie to right through Co wow thank you very good Kevin hi Joan I'm Kevin seon uh been resident here since 2009 now so I've been here for a little bit uh been on the board I believe since 2018 I'm I think it's this is going to be my sixth year if I'm correcting that um somewhere in there I'm don't have a medical background but I do have a governmental background um being a selectman here in town a former selectman here in town so I'm kind of that corner of this board okay and Kevin did yman service during covid um the other folks that he worked with had stepped down have moved on from the board since then but Kevin don't hide Your Hide Your Hide Your Light there you were on the board in a uh important time and you guys you guys went through it it was interesting put your head down and keep moving right I can't imagine Kevin our par parliamentarian yes I do it keeps us honest yes he does and um I would ask a day do you want to just um introduce yourself to to Joan hi Joan my name is hi my name is AD salarin I'm the health director for the town of Rin I've been in this position for about two and a half years now little two and a half years I have a master's of public health degree and I also have have uh an undergrad in Premed biology um I've been in the field of Public Health since 2008 okay welcome aboard thank you very much nice to meet everyone can I ask a question clarifying question Mr chair does this mean that we are officially a a a board of of five now yes is Jerry our fifth uh no Joan Joan is our fifth Kevin was reappointed okay Jerry's Jerry's continuing to be an associate as far as I know oh so Kevin is now you're a full-fledge correct yes this all happened at Tuesday night um so it's been kind of warp speed to get John here uh in 48 hours but fantastic that's wonderful I would like to ask if um you know everybody got swan in you know okay and I would also like to uh introduce uh Jen she is a health inspector and she's been here for almost two years now um where's this time gone go ahead and introduce yourself Jen can't believe it no I've been here over two years now and we have Cassidy she's a el uh administrator hey all right thank you health administrator P excellance yes sure organized very fortunate yeah okay so in terms of uh tonight's agenda we're going to review the minutes for March 14th public comments if there is any and then we have um sort of introductory uh brief discussions um around the 2022 food code um nicotine free generation kind of where that's at as well as the community health Improvement plan hearing um I wanted to share a little bit um around the op settlement funds and I attended that conference a couple weeks ago and uh I was asked for feedback on the town Charter as it relates to the Board of Health and I had a couple questions for the board uh in terms of how I should respond and then we'll wrap it up with um a day's monthly report and so forth um so in terms of the minutes of March 14th any um comments uh or edits I'm looking to Paula yes Paula couple of little ones under the paragraph with um that says starts with Randy fiori yes yep okay yes lefor not fiori um it says um Moren Busby St s oh no sorry not next one that after the youth left the store the evidence was no back again Morin Busby steps in and states she used should be a d to have a protocol yep and under 166 High yes the word premisis needs to have an s on the end of it I think unless I'm mistaken Birds on the premises yes right right that's it you got that CWI it was great good okay with those edits I make a motion to approve the minutes from uh March 14th uh roll call uh Carri wait I'll second your motion oh yes almost blew that one second my motion roll call now uh Carrie yes Paula yes Kevin yes Joan yes you know it's it's actually a lot of times people abstain when they weren't present but I've actually read Roberts Wes of order you can actually approve yes the minutes as long as okay so that's good well yeah I was I was wondering about that so I'm glad to know that is good um terms of public comment uh do we have any anyone who wants to make a public comment I see um one resident Nisa Lions I don't know if she's just listening or would like to make a a brief comment um not hearing can anything um now say if you'd like to make a oh okay if you'd like to make a comment go ahead otherwise we'll we'll move on oh she okay you're unmuted now now you're unmuted um yeah I'm sorry I had my on I was just wanted to say I don't have any questions I'm just here to listen and learn okay okay great great welcome welcome yes um okay so I'm G to hand uh agenda item five over to a day and um and take it from there all right thank you Dr LZ so um basically item five is just a review and consideration of the 2022 food code for future adoption by the Board of Health um I'll start by explaining what the retail food code is and talk about why the board uh should consider adopting the 2022 food code I'll then hand it over to Jen to discuss the significant changes moving from the current food code to the 2022 food code so what is the Massachusetts retail food code um it's a 105 CMR 590 it is the state regulation that provides sanitation standards for all food establishments it incorporates the 2013 FDA retail food code and its 2015 supplement um Massachusetts General Law chapter 111 section 127a requires local Boards of Health to enforce the retail food code within their municipalities all operations that meet the definition of food establishment in the retail food code must comply with the regulation generally a food establishment is any operation that serves food directly to the consumer examples of food establishments include restaurants satellite or catered feeding locations catering operations and residential kitchens in bed and breakfast or Cottage food operations the Massachusetts retail food code which contains the 2013 FDA retail food code is a set of minimum standards um to the extent that a municipality's regulation or ordinance Falls below those standards the state the state standard prevails so in other words municipalities are allowed to adopt a new version of the FDA retail food code as long as they are more stringent than the 2013 FDA Food Code so you know we've been thinking about this for over a year now um you know and I and uh we believe that um this is the right time for the board to consider you know reviewing and um possibly adopting the 2022 foood code in the near future um first of all it is the most current food code and uh we will be working with the most current laws governing food sanitation and um that would you know keep keep us up to date with current food safety protocols and also you know uh the most important reason is that all the municipalities in our collaborative are moving to adopt the 2022 food code so that we can standardize food inspection protocols across the board which will make sharing resources such as inspectors uh you know food inspection software equipment and things like that it's just going to make it easy across the board um so with that being said I'll hand it over to Jen for a quick presentation regarding the significant changes moving from the current food code to the 2022 food code all right thanks day all right so what you're going to see in front of us is I'm going to go through um about eight different um updates that were just important to the change in the food code right now we operate on 2013 just so the board knows I did study for my cpfs with it with a 2017 food code so I am quite familiar with it um so you'll see some things you might look at them and say do we do that in Reading there are some things that are very important that restaurants yet are not doing in reading but restaurants are ever advancing so it's good for us to know them uh I think the most important one I'm going to go through is the first one so the 2017 FDA Food Code specifies that the person in charge um must be a food protection manager and this requires one person in the restaurant per shift so that being said right now you could own Bob's Burgers and you can have a food safety manager protection but no one else in your restaurant needs to have it and if the owner is not there or the food protection manager is not there that education of food safety is not being passed down to other persons in charge or staff so with the 2017 food code change all restaurants would require to to have one food protection manager on per shift which is super important um next will be the raw um animal Foods the 2017 FDA Food Code changed the cook time um and temperatures for ratites uh non- intact Meats the common Ned um fish meat and game to have an internal temperature cooked to 155 for at least 17 seconds um there's not much of that in reading so um but it's definitely good to know um cook chill and soused we do not have any locations in reading that do cook chill or soused but that was a huge um update with the food code because so many restaurants are starting to do those type of things which you know this Roop packaging that incl that's involved in this so you'll see that um the FTA the 2017 code out of that establishment that packaged time temperature control for safety food using the cook chill or sued process must ensure that the food is cooled to 41 degrees in sealed package and then it must be cooled to 34 degrees and if it's not chilled to 34 degrees within that 48 hours it's only good for seven days but if they do the minimum or the what they're supposed to do with the 34 degrees within that 48 hours that food can be held for another for 30 days instead of the 7 days again we don't have any of that in reading right now but it's super important um TCS our time and temperature control um so this is going to be a clarification that food may have an initial temperature of 70 degrees if there is an indication of when it must be decard discarded so um I guess the easiest example I can have is you can walk into a pizza shop and you'll see that they'll have just pizza sitting in their holders not maybe a warmer um they need to be marked for 4 hours if there's no indication of it being marked for 4 hours and the temperature is under 70° it must be discarded um but if it is within that four hours it is okay um so this does happen in Reading we do have um some locations with TCS items um that you can hold for the 4our time and temperature um we'll go to allergens which are super important we know we added a ninth allergen um this January 1st 2024 which is Sesame so now nine major allergens so the the 2022 food code um requires that all major allergens food allergens be labeled on any bulk or unpackaged food item available for customer service I don't I I don't enforce it I've recommended it um so I've always put the recommendation out there to establishments even the grocery stores um to make sure that their allergens are visible um on on anything even grab and go stuff make sure the labels are correct um we haven't been able to force it but it's definitely um they know that I I I highly recommend it uh the next one hand washing sink installation was a shock to me hand washing temperatures uh the water needed to be 100 degrees um Now it only needs to be 85 degrees so there's scientific studies that you don't need 100 degree water to wash your hands it only needs to be 85 uh that's hope you're working your soap in properly and getting all the crevices um the next one is something that we see commonly especially with temporary food events um the code removed the ability for some food establishments such as low-risk mobile food to use chemically treated towelettes in place of handwashing sinks um that's really important like bit I would say bake sales um things that you're not doing food prep on site um if you're just serving food like even a hot dog cart that's very simple minimal it's okay to use a towet versus having to have a hand SN um the last one will eventually be um up to the health department but it allows for pet dogs and outdoor dining areas with the approval of the reading Health Department um it may allow the pet dogs into outdoor dining areas as long as you have a separate outdoor entrance so the pet dog never enters the dining room I believe in Reading I would say it would be like a bunratty um and maybe a public kitchen so those are the major updates between 13 uh 17 to 22 Jennifer um can I ask a question or and anybody else uh I should feel free um what what is a food protection manager and what do you have to do to get that title is there a a lot of Education involved or how does that work so it's not difficult to get um it is a nationwide certification it is a proctor exam um there are different courses of study you could do a six- hour course an eight hour course you can divide the um the days up there is a book I'm actually certified to um teach it and Proctor it so it definitely is something to study for people will say that it's difficult if they're not used to being in in the restaurant industry but it's actually not not but it is a proctored um exam Nationwide and it is good for 5 years once it's complete but you do need to renew every five years as food safety is updated every year okay thank you and um it is pretty much transferable like you can if you stop working at establishment a you can take your certification with you and work for a different establishment you know and it still applies so and I also want to mention um Cassidy can you go to the bottom page the last page um if the public wants to uh review the code they can go to www.tinyurl.com sl22 fot code and view the full 2022 FDA fot code um I if this is the direction the board you know wants to go in um I believe that we need to have a public hearing so that we can get input from food establishment owners within the town of reading um and since we are already going to be having those other two public hearings in the future we can just include this hearing as well and have you know three consecutive hearings and just have everything uh the same day makes sense to so day there's no reason we for today um this was an introduction to the highlights of this new code um and we would have a public Hearing in the next few weeks and then uh come back to it uh to either formally adopt it or adopt it in part or or whatever correct okay any other thoughts questions or anything else um on this and um I'm I'm curious how long the if I went to this um link how long is the code um that's published code is absolutely very long very long okay it's huge yes but I mean it's going to be posted on our website um if anybody wants to read it you know they're welcome to do that it's going to be posted for weeks prior to the hearing so people can you know be prepared to have a conversation about it at the heent and a day I think you you also mentioned that before that um would we send out notifications to our 100 odd food establishments that about specifically that this hearing so that because I think they're they're the most um involved and obviously affected is that right cor yes okay okay well thank you Jen thank you thanks Jen you're welcome to stay but uh if you want to leave that's fine thanks Jen you're welcome bye thank Youk you bye okay a day um nicotine free Generation Um so uh I would like to reiterate that this is not a public hearing um you know it is about scheduling a public hearing for the nicotin free generation consideration and the community health Improvement plan input from Reading residents and possibly the 2022 food code consideration and uh future adoption it is not a public hearing okay the board is just picking a date and a format for the hearing notice the public will have opportunity to discuss these topics you know during the public hearing let see can you please put up the notice okay okay also I will post uh draft copies of the considerations on our website for the public to review in preparation for the hearing once the board approves the date time and the format of the hearing notice tonight um again tonight the board will pick a date time for the hearing and review or approve the format for the hearing notice it is not a public hearing okay so my proposal is to have three consecutive hearings for the review and consideration of the nicotin 3 generation policy the review and consideration of the community health Improvement plan and the review and consideration of the 2022 food code all right so let us start with the review and consideration of the nicotine free generation policy all right um the tobacco free generation proposal Advocates legislation precluding the sale and supply of tobacco products to individuals born after a setting year this proposal will essentially end the legal provision of tobacco products to to the generations that have not yet commenced consumption so looking at um this hearing notice on the screen what date and time does the board want to hold this hearing um looks like you're proposing May 13th is that right correct proposing May 13th um um 700 p.m. just for the you know nicotine free generation policy and then depending on the turnout I'm thinking maybe 7:30 or 8:00 we can go to the next one which is the review and consideration of the community health Improvement plan and then um maybe 8:30 we can go to the review and consideration of the 2022 food code so May 13th a day is that our that's our next scheduled regularly scheduled board meeting time yes that's a Monday isn't it no that's that's a Monday yeah so the Nextel Maiden is May 10th hi no May 9th sorry May night I believe that the um hearing for the nicotine free generation policy would probably draw a huge crowd um I'm thinking we should give it at least an hour maybe if Monday's a good day for everyone else that's fine by me but I I do have something else that I do on Mondays but I can cancel it if it if it's a good day for everybody else or the the other option is um we can propose some dates tonight and then we'll send out a uh poll um you know for everybody to uh choose from and go from there but we can have some dates picked up tonight okay Kevin did I see your hand up yeah I would just say you know from a turnout standpoint I'm thinking the 13th is probably not going to be the best night to pick um not that it matters to this board um or affect this board in any way but there's going to be a lot of people I'm sure um helping out campaigns for the election that is going to be the day after so if you really want to drw the most amount of folks out you may want to get it on the 20th if you want like Monday I think you get a better turnout yep it's a good point Kevin I didn't so the election is is on May 14th okay right yeah so um so I'm you know I would be fine with that or the 21st which was a Tuesday um I know a day you were a little concerned that with respect to the Community Health needs assessment uh component um I think Jamie wanted to kind of wrap things up sooner rather than later but perhaps a week isn't a big necessarily a big deal correct um the only the the only thing and maybe I don't um maybe we ask our parliamentarian uh you know if we if we schedule times and we either run over or run short because there's less you know people how does that affect um our the legitimacy of our posting in terms of you know we said that uh the community health Improvement plan is at 7:30 turns out that um you know it turned out that it it's going to be8 15 and does that mean that we weren't following protocol as long as we me the minimum requirement so if we say 7 to 7:30 and it goes over I don't think there's an issue um but if we say that oh nobody's showing up and then we're just going to wrap this up at 710 then that's that's the problem so we'd have to we'd have to be sure that we a sat there in a lot of time you know that we had stated and publicly stated right the other thing I just mentioned to the board members I the idea was this is a um would be a in-person hearing um and so just just in terms of logistics day um should I just put something out for that entire week of May 20th let's say you know 20 21 22 23 at 7 pm yeah why don't you why don't we and and then people can the board members can respond and uh see which ones work okay and do we think an hour would be okay for the tobacco free generation policy hearing or do we want to do less than that or more I know that you ER I'm concerned that if we're going to have establishments people from the establishments selling tobacco products there that it's going to take up more time than we anticipate I I don't know I don't know I'm just concerned about it all you really need to get through on these nights technically is the public comment part of it um you can always continue um these as well if if it comes down to it so you can close the public comment or the public hearing part of it and continue it um to the next board meeting the next week the next few days you know whatever posting is needed um too but so as long as you get through the public comment that's the big part of it and like they said you can't technically go on to the next aspect until the time alloted so you can't move on to uh until um from one to the next you have to kind of sit there and wait so if you go under you know maybe it's not a bad idea where you wait or you take a 15 minutes break and come back or something like that but just a couple different ways to look at it right because the hearing is a airing of what the issue is and opportunity for feedback we're not we close the hearing we don't have to deliberate at that point we can move to deliberate later we vote later and so on it's the window for hearing feedback from stakeholders right right and um you know what a day one thing you might do is in terms of the timing would be ask Moren because you know Wakefield um stonum Malden um they've all had these hearings and she she might have a good sense of how long this particular topic uh would go that's a good idea so I we in consensus that the week of the 19th May 19th is yeah is a good week yes I think so all right we just pick a have to find a day okay perfect I would um talk to Marin about it and we'll figure it out um okay with regards to uh the um birth date um we know that more than 80% of smokers start by the age of 18 and virtually all by the age of 26 um the primary initiators of teen consumption are based mainly on peer influence and the desire to appear grownup or look cool uh therefore preventing youth initiation may be the key to ending you know the tobacco epidemic so essentially the tobacco free generation proposal will prevent the supply of tobacco products to those born after a a specified date date and year so pretty much um The Board needs to pick what birth date will be the cut of date Cassidy can you please um yes and I'll I'll hand this part over to Dr Lopez yeah so the question is um as a day said uh we in in option number one on this table um if we if we say that um effective in January th this this would probably be if we if we ultimately approve it it would probably be effective six months later in in January of 2025 um if we pick a birth date after which uh nicotine products cannot be sold to an individual if we picked January 1 2004 we're basically um providing no buffer um you know people who turn um you know as of January when the law goes into effect if if we were to proceed with it um it would it would immediately uh be effective uh for people um who are about to turn 21 if we if we move the birth dates down we're to 2005 or six or seven um and I think January 1st is just a convenient um way to keep people on the same page if we move the birth dates down we're actually delaying the implementation we're providing a buffer so that people who turn 21 come January you know could still buy because we we picked a date of Jan you know January 1st 2006 for instance so the question is um do we want any um delay essentially delay in the implementation um you know a little further down I mean I this table runs for eight eight years that that's pretty long but um you know I in my mind you know Pros would be um it it wouldn't impact right away uh if you delayed the date you you know it' be a year or two or three um the downside is you know nicotine's certainly not a good thing and if we felt this was a good approach we you know we'd want to do it sooner rather than later um I think that uh I think the other towns stonum Wakefield and correct me if I'm wrong a day I I think they picked one one 2024 um as their uh I'm sorry January 1st 2004 as their um the birth date after which you can't purchase so that's what those towns have done um you know I I think it's uh in my mind i' I'd probably uh pick that date just because if we were going to go there it's important for us to put a date down uh so that it's correct on the public notice or the hearing uh we can always change it um come uh when we hear the feedback and we have a meeting where we decide to take a vote um so one option could be just to go with the 11 2004 because all the towns are doing it hear the feedback from the public and then make a decision uh when we vote on this any thoughts comments oh Paula yes am I wrong but um I thought I saw somewhere that Moren had suggested that we might want to do the one uh2 2005 because we've we're so far behind the other people that have gotten further along in the process correct it was in one of the mid minutes that we turned into the board okay good point yes Kevin that's funny Paul that you remember that I didn't remember her saying that um I thought that so for me it was always uh if you look at this well you know one I always look at implementation things um in that nature this is be is much more effective done on the state level um which most likely if enough towns do it will get adopted um in that direction would be my guess um so the way I see it somebody doesn't turn 21 and jump for joy that they can go down and buy cigarettes um down at the store right they've already been smoking at that point um or they're just not even going to take it up so where we don't allow um anyone on the 21 to purchase tobacco products it would be consistent to go with to 2004 because you're not allowing it anyway so it's not as if you're taking it away from somebody if you do it in the 2005 a bracket right you'll be you're delaying it a year so you right so then there there that ability for them to purchase in town you are going to take it away from them they haven't had the ability to purchase in town in uh how how many what a year now two years three years wait how long has been longer than that um so to me it makes sense to just keep it simple that way right they haven't had the ability and this will not give them the ability right okay um f to sorry Paul I'm cutting you off go ahead um I this doesn't apply to things like Zen correct it will be any product that contains uh nicotine ni okay good Rick if I I'm inclined yeah I'm inclined to agree um with Kevin that that that um I like the idea of not conferring of not altering the right and just sort of set setting the line saying you haven't been able to to date and you're you're just going to continue that um so I mean I think I do remember Moren talking about the the cleanliness of the um the line and I'm not I I I just don't have quite the recall that Paula has on the the details of it um so I would say that we want to be um we want to eror on the side of not um taking away you know not taking away right and just say we're this is it you you you can't and you're not going to and then I think you're right Kevin I think that you know as the com the um as the interest in this grows across the Commonwealth this will become something that the legislature will start to consider and figuring out what the year of implementation will be uh will be one of the pieces that they'll have to consider as well so we can be in line with our folks our our neighbors makes it easier for inspectors um I'm glad we're going forward with this thanks for raising all the the details on it so so I would thank you Carrie I you know so I think we should just leave the 11204 um as a placeholder and we'll hear the public feedback and we'll have a month to think about it and um I guess it would be the earliest would be in our June meeting we can have a discussion and um you know decide to stick with that or or make a change but uh for now I don't we just leave it as as is you know consistent with the other towns um in terms of the if we can go back to um Cassidy the uh legal notice uh right so um ad day you you have any comments about the Community Health needs assessment in that part of the hearing we just need to um figure out uh a [Music] time you know and how long is the hearing going to be for okay uh so we're not we sorry go ahead go ahead no I'm I'm never mind I I kind we don't necessarily have to have a consecutive hearing if we want to break it apart and have one hearing per per day we can do that as well it doesn't have to be consecutive I was just under the impression that we could save some time and just have a consecutive hearing and get this over with but we can break everything aph right I mean the question is is making sure we provide adequate time for to hear from stakeholders so that we have a clear you know set of of feedback that inform our own deliberations and decisions about how we'll um vote at a future meeting so um I mean maybe we do two hearings on one night and one on a one on another um but what we could do as as Adan mentioned oh no Kevin I think mentioned we we could I I mean you know anyone's guess um the nicotine-free policy probably Moren could could help us with how long that needs to be the other the other two is anybody's guess as to how long or how many people will show up and want to comment and so forth so I would just put a placeholder in there after the nicotine free generation I do you know perhaps 45 minutes each uh for this the second two and as Kevin mentioned you know if we're running over um we will just end the public comment and we'll have to either schedule another hearing or have it at our next board meeting and do it that way I think that would that would be probably the most efficient and can I ask another sort of process question so when the notice for hearing is posted it will include the detailed information of the the rights and Authority under which this uh issue is being considered and you know citations of Mass General law and the reg the the federal and state requirements and opportunities right it's not just a hey there's going to be a hearing to talk about cigarettes come is that correct yes so uh on the notice we would give um people um the link you know on our website to actually go and read the documents okay great thank you so the so with respect to that um there's clearly the draft document for the Comm Community Health Improvement plan will um so that draft will be posted is that correct today so what I'm understanding right now is we want to do the nicotin free generation separately and then the chip and the food code together on a separate day is that correct uh no I think we were saying we would we would give enough time for nicotine free whatever Marine thinks would be reasonable and then book the other two at 45 minute intervals and if they run over um we can end that period and and resume it at at another date okay but getting back to my question would the draft document be available then on the health department website yes it will for the CH yes I wouldn't post this notice if those documents are not available right right and do you know if Jamie will have something written with respect to our initial uh Community Health Improvement plan ideas or yes she should have something to us by next week and that's what will be posted that the community you know read read upon on our website okay and you'll H and for the food code you will have that link that uh Jennifer talked about correct and we'll also have the link to the full 2022 FDA Food Code and people can go in there you know read a good bedtime story um and so at the it uh Cassidy if you scroll down a bit there was one item I was down down there um it says to the the very bottom yeah in bold to the chronicle please publish on May 13 but we want to publish it two weeks before isn't that correct yes so this is just like a draft um all those okay you know we're going to fix all those prior to posting okay so we'll we'll determine a date and then when we post it it'll it'll be at least two weeks before correct okay great okay I think I think we covered what we needed to in terms of the dates and the logistics and what will be available to the public anything we're missing or we can move [Music] on okay okay so let's let's move on to um agenda number eight just in terms of the opioid settlement funds and um Cassidy if you can put that PowerPoint up um so uh this is just an informational thing that I I put together uh which was kind of striking to me as I'll I'll point out so a couple weeks ago there the state had a um I think it was was it a two-day I think it was a two two half day um session on uh the opioid settlement funds um and if you go to the second slide Cassidy um basically as you know these funds were generated by lawsuits against um you know opioid produces and sellers and distributed by the states Massachusetts decided to distribute 40% of the funds to cities and towns and they they specifically list um listed here the kinds of things they're looking for cities and towns to um that they might do uh being closer to their communities um if you go to the next slide uh what was striking to me was that um if you look at the funds that were distributed as of last June it's like a million dollars in funds and only 21,000 was in fact um utilized and that was by the town of reading which was done by the Coalition um they had the memorial service um at the center of town they've done Aran training they've done some educational things in in the schools um and that's what that funding went to I also found um from uh kaisa Permanente health news they um had a table that you could look up of what future funds um would likely be coming to the towns so um that you know the the funds are not just a a one-time thing it's a large amount and it's over a period period of I don't know how long two three four years and so I listed here um you know what the funds were uh anticipated for all these towns going forward another four million um and so the reason I just wanted to highlight this um and we can go to the last slide is that um you know the the burden of this crisis is significant in these towns and over the last five years you can see the number of deaths and ail clearly has a major problem um and the number of Ed visits and so um it's something that I think we should be thinking about I'm not proposing anything right now but as we we should think be thinking about with respect to our first priority uh around Behavioral Health mental health and substance abuse or substance abuse disorder um that these funds are out there um and that if we did it um collaboratively um you know there's a million dollars uh to be spent uh just amongst the the six towns or if we did something in Reading there's still a lot of money to to do um Carrie you have your hand raised yep thank you for for um thank you for attending the conference for us all that I appreciate that time commitment thanks for the the information I um I I am eager to kind of learn more about how reading is proposing to use the funds I know that there is um you know there are requirements for or maybe requirements just too strong work but strongly suggested ways in which you know communities ought to be uh uh identifying what is the best way to use the funds right there's a there's a expectation that you'll be soliciting Community input and that you'll be making sure and draw on folks with lived experience there's an expectation that you'll be considering whether there are um service inequities whether there's some kind of um if whether perhaps the availability of harm reduction is is less in our area and so that's something that we ought to be considering putting dollars towards and and and those things all require like a a a more deep understanding of of the nature of the the impact and the nature of the problem here locally so I'm curious to hear what the Coalition is is thinking about this and I I think of them because they are the Coalition um I know the the funds are are are delivered to the Town they're not delivered to the Coalition they're delivered to the town for um for um for then going through that process and identifying what the best ways to do it and and then I think I'm just going to put in a little plug for it's not it you know the spending of the dollars particularly if you know there are going to be additional dollars coming in um procurement rules are complex and for good reason and and wanted to make sure that we're spending our money um you know perhaps there's something that if we wait so we've got the 108 um but knowing that the additional dollars come in is do we build a multi-year strategy that says yes we could set up some kind of program of assistance over multiple years knowing there are further dollars coming in um so I'm I mean I think it's great timing I love that it coincides so nicely with our you know the another indication of how good our process was for our own Community Health assessment and um and I'd like I'd like to know from the Coalition and I guess from the town manager you know what what the plans are for um process in terms of of stakeholder meetings and I think this would be a good a good topic to have Erica come back come back we haven't seen her in a while and a day yeah yes so uh I spoke with Erica and she's um you know willing to attend one of the meetings um she's willing to attend the May 9th meeting um she has some details she would like to share with the board so um okay yeah oh that's good and you can feel free to share this PowerPoint with her as well yes I did I did um she made some comments to me that I would like to keep private can imagine all right so so this is uh to be continued can I ask one one question quick sure I'm I'm trying to get up to speed here um is there a date that this money has to be spent bying requirements but the money doesn't is it the money doesn't expire like like other Grant funds might um yeah have that same yeah that's that that was my understanding so there's no time pressure to spend the dollars correct no excellent yeah yes but Erica will be in the position to give us a detailed information I believe there's um something about a fouryear limit I'm not 100% sure but she has more details and uh we would hear from her at the next go of help made okay good that's good um then the next the next item is um the town Charter um and so I got and I don't know if everyone got it or just I got it but um everyone got it yeah uh every X number of years I think it's every five years or something like that the town needs to go through a process to update its Charter and um and so the CH the revised proposed revised Charter and there's a committee working on this chaired by Chris Haley um sent it out to uh boards and commissions and committees in the town to get their input in terms of whether any of the changes um they had any suggestions other than what was being proposed and so I got this and uh Cassidy if we can go to page 18 okay so we have 4.4 here is the Board of Health this is the only part we're you know asked to give comment on and um it updates uh it uh really has the five members um and it says for three-year term arranged so that one term shall expire each year and then the second paragraph simply says you know the board has all the powers and duties granted uh by the Commonwealth general laws so um I had two questions that I wanted to get feedback on one is um there is no mention here of um two associate members it's just the five members and you know should we ask that there be two associate members put in there and you know um how do people I mean they're I guess they're pros and cons you know um uh more members more input more diverse opinions um but more members potentially um um can logistically you know slow things down perhaps I don't know I mean I mean I can I can see both sides of that so that's one issue should we have should we recommend that two associate members be literally written into the charter and then second um with five members and if each has three-year terms uh the math doesn't work with having um one term expire each year um you know that was fine when you had three members and you know threeyear terms and the terms that was that was great mathematically but this doesn't work so you know a couple options that um I've heard one is we could make it fiveyear terms and arrange so that one term shall be expired each year or we could say um you know three-year terms so arranged that a minimum of one um or or one to two shall expire each year and that would um allow for this odd number of five and and keep the term at three years so those were the two two questions I had and I would be interested if there's any um thoughts about either one yes Paula my only concern would be about a vote say if someone were absent who was a voting member and there was a tie it was a tie vote we need we just need one associate member to step up and oh that's an interesting thought so if there were so if we have five members one is absent is four and there's a TI vote then if we had associate members we could ask one of them to be elevated to membership to vote on it that's a situational thing yes Kevin I think Carrie had hers up first oh okay it's hard to follow all these car you're on mute so I'll just say good the the um the charter seems to be silent about associate members on other boards as well so I I'm not sure if there's a a Del right and that's what Kevin has the answer um and and um and but it also seems like the terms are and I'm sure Kevin has the answered this too the terms seem to consistently be three years so I'm I've set you up Kevin and now I'm going to lower my hand and and ask Rick what he if he wants to call on Kevin I guess yeah go ahead Kevin yeah so it does say it um somewhere else in the chat I forget where um it says it specifically that boards can decide to have associate members they just can't have so many associate members as to make a um um not a quorum but to have more than what your Quorum would be right so we could only have two we can't have three three is being you know three people being here making a quum um so it is specified somewhere else in the chart allowing us to have that's why you see none of the other boards have them really written in there either and as far as the terms go I think it's already set up even though it's an odd number so for example I was given a two-year term Joan was given a one-year term on Tuesday night so Jones Joan will come up again next year for reappointment I'll come up in two years for reappointment the normal and then at that point it'll be a three-year give for that for that okay that make sense so what you're saying is the the volunteer committee can can arrange the term so that there's always someone who is up for reappointment regardless of whether we have five and and we can continue with the three-year term and they would just manage that yeah essentially okay okay well that's good so it sounds like then unless there are any other comments we don't need to give specific uh feedback with respect to associate members we have two we will continue to have two and um and leave it at that and then it sounds like also the the term issue can be managed um and we don't necessarily have to to change things which is a good way of doing it okay so uh any other comments carry no who who is our other associate Jerry is our associate and we have a vacant position for a second yeah um okay so that's good that's very helpful in terms of feedback on that and I turn it over to a day for the monthly report all right all right Cassidy um so the blood pressure screenings are back they're going to be held every first Wednesday of the month at the Pleasant Street Center Coury of middle sex Essex Public Health collaborative so uh you all know about the Grant um we have uh nurse lean lean from the shed um for the from the collaborative and she's going to be here um first Wednesday of every month from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Pleasant Street Center um pretty much performing blood pressure screenings on um the elderly so um we specifically chose the Pleasant Street Center because she's going to have access to you know the senior citizens um which you know they're the they're the population that need it the most so um yeah we're happy you know to bring that back that's great and then uh April 18th we're going to have uh the mamography van d a mamography b band um they're going to be back in Reading they're going to be stationed at the Town Hall from 7:30 a.m. to 400 p.m. now pre-registration is required and uh they accept pretty much all forms of uh Insurance um yeah all you have to do is just you know go to the website and register pre-register for the for your mamogram all right um in the month of March we uh conducted 14 food inspections and two food reinspection we issued uh one food order conducted two housing inspections and one solid waste inspection City can you put up disease surveillance and this is from March 15th to April 11th um we had uh three confirmed cases of tuberculosis um the patients were isolated and they are currently non infectious we had nine confirmed cases of influenza and 11 confirmed cases of Corona virus covid-19 again uh we urge our residents to continue taking precautions and get vaccinated if they haven't you know simple precautions like washing your hands regularly You Know cover your cffs and sneezes um wear a mask if needed keep your distance if you're around some and sick and um you know stay home when you're sick and uh that concludes the monthly report yeah Carrie surprise um um just wanted to clarify about the blood pressure clinics um so they they're held at the Pleasant Street Center and you said there their target audience is is the elderly and folks who are it's everybody but so you could they're right where they need to be so yes right so it's it's prime location for the primary audience but that doesn't does not mean that other folks like me who isn't quite there yet I could go in and get my blood pressure check absolutely awesome thanks I think that's great what a great use of the shared services nurse I think you know that's a that's such a such a useful and and simple thing and hard for for you know a dedicated Town nurse to to fit in regularly so great great use to see yes and I I would also like to uh thank Jenna for allowing us to do that um you know we've been collaborating on things and uh I'm just happy that uh you know she's here yeah that's great any other updates on the collaborative a day um I know that uh not readen um decided to opt out of the collaborative I don't know how that's going to affect uh the funding for next year but obviously if we don't find a replacement then um they will probably cut the funds um but you know hopefully we'll get somebody else to join us can I ask if there was any any feedback on on on why North Reading chose not to participate um we didn't really get any feedback we just got a well typed email that sounds like it's from an attorney not from the director you know so yeah okay all right thanks okay no other updates any other final comments or anybody no just welcome Joan and I'm so excited that we are we are we we we are a body of five now so yes we don't have to we don't have to avoid each other and when we we see oh man yeah i' I've gotta catch up on that open meeting law yeah I've got some reading to do yeah it's a little easier easier now because you can see one of us and talk to us exactly yeah yeah handicap having three oh okay yeah and just a question for John please how do how do how do I reach you is it bya email what email or my cell phone did you get my cell phone um not yet but I'll get it okay and uh congratulations to Kevin as well nobody's congratulating him I don't know why just another day just another day been W this for like years you're real again Kevin you were always real you know me my opinion got out there oh 100% and it was valued for sure I mean actually I'll just I mean Joan I think that's the thing is while we had associate members we didn't really make distinction right Rick it was really just in the matter of voting you know it wasn't just the voting yeah yeah it's actually having Associates is a great um you know you call it like your your bench on on a team right you have you have your start your starters that are out there and then you have the bench players that you know can come in and supplement and eventually they become the starters and it's kind of it's a good inroad to learn about the boards committees and commissions we have is to go in as a as an associate you have a non voting role but it's a great you know learning mechanism for that person and then naturally you know we it was always the um the thing that you'd want to promote from within was always kind of the way it was looked at So eventually they do be full voting members and then they're really they're knowledgeable when they do so and they're well crafted when they do so so that's the way it's it's work before also find another associate member yeah another Viewpoint actually I know a girl is a mph uh retired um I'll mention it to her good yeah perfect vacy there would you like to just um let Jo Joan know why you went from three member board to five have you already talked to her about it uh no I no I haven't um you know it's it's primarily there were there were a number of reasons but you know one of the biggest issues was that um uh was that as as I think Carrie mentioned it didn't allow for any conversation or communication um offline between you know two board members because two board members wasn't was a quorum oh sure when you read the material on the open meeting law that I sent you Joan um yes you realize I Tred through it yeah you do have to be careful because um a two-way conversation that suddenly adds a third person now becomes a quorum and so we have to be very particular about that in both verbal Communications and emails um and uh that that was that was sort of the major thing and then I think as as I mentioned you know more members more input more um and a lot of cities and towns have five member uh boards uh yes Carrie surprise um Ju Just so so just on that open meeting piece it's the it's like we can create a forum even if we're not all together so if Paula and I were to have a conversation about a topic and then one of us were to speak later with Kevin um we' we've had it's serial communication and that still counts as a quorum so we have to be cautious about that right or if you if you exchanged emails with Paula and then there was a reply and then you for the email to Kevin to say what do you think about this now we have three people involved and it's a quum and we have deliberated without the opportunity for public eyes on us and and so great but if you want to call me you know three of us about the Celtics that's fine only about matters that come before this this board so before another board so just this board okay it's okay it'll be okay yeah we don't want you to run away don't run away don't run away no I'm not going anywhere I'm fine I just need to read up on it and it seems a little vague to me so uh I think it's a big to quite a few people so yeah it's very easy to fall into the Trap yeah yeah there's a learning curve but you'll get there yeah yeah it's just like working at a dark office they don't talk to anybody about anything so outside of the office so that was my policy you know with a hip of violation so I just right right so okay so uh with that piece of Education behind us um I'll make a motion to adjourn do I have a second second all a second Kevin you can vote now yeah sorry call Kevin yes Paula yes Carrie yes Joan yes and reck yes we are adjourned thank you all thank you everybody have a good night recording St have a good good night happy happy Marathon weekend bye e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for