##VIDEO ID:bRgxpEPugZ8## e e e e e hi everybody he everyone hi hello hi hi hi Annette how are you recording in progress hi am hi Carrie how are you doing well how are you doing all right I just wanted to let everybody know before we started that um I'm in Canada and they have like really bad service so I'm hoping to make it through the whole meeting so I'm on vacation but I felt like I didn't want to uh miss the first meeting obviously wouldn't be a good thing that's amazing totally understand yeah I drove a half an hour to get a signal just to just to make this so I'm in my car what part of Canada I'm in uh cap Britain oh it's actually 8 o' yeah yeah with I'm So Far East it's 8 o'clock about 13 hours away oh gee that's quite a distance yeah it is yeah so we come here every year my family's vacation so my wife has family up here but I didn't I didn't turn on my video because I'm in my car right now okay folks folks are used to seeing me in my car not that you have to on your camera but I just have to that that that that I've never been that far away but I certainly have been at meeting in my car Kevin's got the northern lights going so thought I had this on it surprised me oh there you go are we waiting yeah I make sure you know I think we probably should get started I think we have a quorum so um one two three four yes okay so why don't why don't we get started um I'll call the uh Board of Health meeting to order um and we usually do our roll call so um we can go ahead and uh do that um I'm Rick Lopez Joan Joan Wetzel Joan state I'm I'm sorry the video the audio is dropping out yeah I hear the audio dropping up too Kevin can you hear me yep I'm here okay Jerry yep Jerry Kramer here Sophie Sophie Hansen here Carrie Carrie Janelle here s s verti here great thank you and I'd like to welcome s and Sophie to their first meeting thank you I thought it would be maybe a good idea for us to just go around uh briefly um and just uh let let s and Sophie know and and then we'll hear from s and Sophie um you know what your current sort of professional background is how long you've lived in Reading how long you've been on the board of health so starting with my myself um Rick Lopez um a retired phys internist uh for the last six years um I practiced primary care and I also did some administrative executive work uh I've lived in writing for three years actually this month and um I've been on the board since 2020 um so Joan you want to give us some background hi yeah sure um I'm a Medtech a retired Medtech um I worked in labs for 40 years I was U involved primarily in in microbiology reading cultures um I've lived in reading for 44 years and uh as I think I've already said I'm currently retired great and you've been on the board two months just a couple months yep Kevin hi Kevin seon um been on the board for um that's a good question pre-co we'll call it I forget I think it's five years maybe going on six um I'm a real um being part of the selectman on this um in this town before so that's where I come in and where my qualities come from great Jerry I am Jerry Kramer I have lived in reading for 10 years um background as a nurse but I am work in health economics for a medical device company now I think I've been on the board three or four years I don't remember maybe yeah okay and um Carrie oh oh here I am sorry I I didn't realize that my camera wasn't on I I turned off selfie so I I I hadn't noticed I thought it was okay anyways hi Carrie Janelle um I have been on the board since um July of 2020 I um have lived in reading for 23 years we moved in on September 6 2001 um lots of stuff that goes with that um I have worked uh so um but I I I've worked in um I worked I worked in small business and then I worked in in mutual fund company for a while but um for the last 20 plus years I've worked in public health um working at the uh working at the local level working in forming regions to support emergency preparedness activities working in regions to form the um for Mutual Aid agreements among Public Health um and working to support the development of the um shared services Arrangements that uh reading is one of the folks that are in that um and I ALS I was a um I was a manager of the local Public Health Training Institute um for a few years um so creating Workforce trainings and I've been fortunate enough actually to to work on grants so worked nationally um on a couple of demonstration projects for for emergency communication with public health and um you know get to maintain my relationships with folks and and and keep up the with what's happening around the country in public health and bring that to my work as well so currently I am managing a uh shared service Arrangement and a training Hub the shared service Arrangement is four communities the training Hub is 43 communities and um yeah I love Public Health I fell into it by Act I love it um I haven't left yet great thank you Carrie all right so you you want to give us my name is AD sarin I'm the heal director for the town of Ren I've been the director for three years um prior to this I was a director in Danvers Oak Bluffs and I was the deputy director in Sommerville I've been in the field of Public Health for approximately 16 17 years um yeah I'm looking forward to uh working with you s do you want to just um give us a brief um couple words on your background and years and reading and so forth sure so I guess my term started July 1 in the Board of Health um I've been in reading about 35 years I have four kids one that's already through the school system three more that are in there actually two that are out sorry and two that are still school system um I have a background in food safety biot terrorism I've dealt with you know FDA usdc pass up since I've been 17 years old so approximately 30 years 33 years I've owned restaurants food processing facilities um and I guess that's about it really great welcome selfie thank you hi everybody so I'm Sophie um I'm newer to reading so my husband and I moved she'll be two years in December of this year so we're pretty new but I've been in mass of Sho since my whole life um my background is social work so I am a social worker been a social worker for about eight years um I've held a whole Litany of positions um I'm still doing clinical social work on an outpatient basis as a therapist I work in a local pediatric hospital but you can guess which one in the emergency department um and then full-time I do government relations for a nonprofit and I've also taught policy courses to graduate Social Work students so really excited to be here and look forward to working with you right thank you okay um so we're gonna proceed on the agenda so just a quick review um we'll be approving the minutes from the last uh couple meetings um we'll have some time for public comment um then we're going to review and vote on the intermunicipal agreement for the public health Excellence Grant um and I believe um we have Annette Garcia here for that and we'll introduce her let a day introduce her when we get to that point um I think there's an update on the U ongoing issue at 601 havil Street and um and then we're going to have a discussion about how to what are the next steps on our community health Improvement plan um then we have to do a reorganization per the town Charter once a year in terms of voting for chair and vice chair um a day will give his usual monthly update and we'll wrap it up um so so in terms of the minutes from May 23rd um were there any um edits or changes uh on those minutes so not seeing anybody raise hands um I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from May 23rd do I have a second second Carrie second okay roll call uh Joan yes Kevin yes Carrie yes s yes and Rick yes so the minutes are approved then we had a another set of minutes from June 13th um our last usual meeting um again any edits changes our previous um board member Paula Carin um always had some edits to do so uh but uh no matter okay so I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from June 13th again roll call Jo I seconded that motion okay okay I'm sorry didn't get a second that's right um Carrie yes Kevin yes and S yes okay now so those minutes are approved um okay in terms of public comment um I don't know if there's anybody um here who wants to make a public comment um I see Nancy McAllister I don't recognize but um you know if you're want to make a comment feel free otherwise um we'll move on that's 601 601 heyre okay okay great okay so um moving on to the intermunicipal agreement so I'm going to let a day kick this off and introduce Annette and the discussion all right so I'm just gonna give a brief overview and then um turn it over to Annette um so the the Massachusetts Department of Public Health supports and funds the development of intermunicipal shared services agreements between towns and cities across the state um the midlex SX Public Health collaborative was formed in 2023 um as a result of this and um the purpose is to increase cross jurisdictional sharing of Public Health Services to uh strengthen Services um delivery to local public health departments um Ren is part of this collaborative which is the midlex Essex Public Health collaborative um and uh we do it in conjunction with uh communities nearby um including uh nor Andover Andover nor Riden ail and lenfield so this uh program requires that each shared service agreement execut an intermunicipal agreement for continued grant funding in other words you know um we this agreement needs to be executed so that we can get the next set the next set of funding um Anette is um the shared services coordinator for our collaborative uh she oversees the Grant and the day-to-day operations of the collaborative um she's here with us today to give us a brief outline of what the NEC does and how you know the T of rating benefits from the collaborative and what the importance of the Ames all right an IT awesome thanks so much day um thank you all for having me I know I've met a few of you before but I'm excited to meet the rest of the board as well today um and like a day said just kind of give a little overview for what our um collaborative has been up to so far talk a little bit about the IMA and then I'm here to answer any questions that that you all have had um about the IMA um so I think day went over most of what I was going to go over of kind of where we started um but I want to talk a little bit about what we do as a whole so the collaborative um hosts a few different Regional positions so one is myself um while I do mostly Grant Management I've also been helping out with some inspectional services for our member communities we also employ a part-time public health nurse who started with us in January um and has been helping with disease investigation Health programming for our communities blood pressure clinics um and then actually just on Monday we hired a full-time regional health inspector um who's going to be helping out with inspectional services within our community so we're really happy to have her on board um we also provide a array of prog program management and project management for our communities so we've been working on some things related to food safety and um FDA standardization within our communities that's been a really great project and thinking about ways that we can improve our collaboration across the region to ensure that we're providing adequate public health services to our populations um so specifically in running some of the things that we've been able to help with um Leanne perau who is our public health nurse has started doing monthly blood pressure clinics along with the senior center um so she's gotten a pretty good attendance of regular folks that are coming to get blood pressure screenings once a month um we also were able to assist with summer camp permitting and pool inspections um this summer so that was really great to be able to meet some of the camp operators um and go through the the inspection and permitting process with them um just this week we had our regional inspector go out and investigate some foodborn illness some food related complaints um so she was able to go out and investigate those and work with the various establishments um to address those and then we also can help cover some training costs I know some of the board members have taken advantage of that um and we' are ascending um a day to the mhoa conference in the fall so we've been able to use the funds to help support that um and any continuing professional development um so a lot of good things going on um and then a little bit about the IMA so I know a day touched on it but um executing an intermunicipal agreement is a condition of this grant so it's required for us to continue to get funding and essentially what the IMA is doing is it's outlining what our governance structure is going to look like um establishing clear responsibilities for um the host Community who's North and over so what are their legal responsibilities in terms of liability for shared staff um the program management that they're undertaking to help make sure that we're adhering to all of the grant guidelines um and there's that internal support um from the community and then it's also talking about what our member community's responsibilities are so what's their participation responsibility in our Advisory Board um you know if there's any financial responsibility which we don't foresee but it outlines in that rare exception if there happens to be any financial responsibility for the towns um what are the procedures that we have to go through for addressing that with each Community um and then it also outlines if a community chooses to leave the collaborative what's the process for that so it really helps outline all of those legal structures so each community within the collaborative um has a clear understanding of what they're agreeing to and just sets those guidelines um so that's really like the the big quick overview um and then next in the process is we have to bring this forth to each of the communities Board of Health and select board to review and then vote to approve on and sign on to so that's what we're here today um is to see if we can get your vote for approval um to adopt this intermunicipal agreement to set that structure for a collaborative um but I'm happy to answer any questions that anybody might have about the IMA specifically um or just our collaborative in general since I'm here so um sorry do do you want us to share the IMA on the screen yeah that sounds good okay that kind of not familiar with it obviously Rick if I may I have a question clarifying question go ahead um and um I know that um because I am also a grant grant manager for um a similar Arrangement um this agreement is is not a um while IT addresses specifics to the communities that that are part of this Arrangement this agreement is is is based on a template that any shared service Arrangement needs to sign on to right it's not a a custom job it's not that someone else wrote it up and and that there are specific you know special Clauses that we would put in um it was I think if I think it was created with support from Mass Association of Health boards is that right yeah that's correct so we did use the template that mass Association of healthboards created um there were a few like minor edits that the town of North Andover has made and then we've had number of meetings with each of the individual town councils to look this over and get their approval before we put it before the Board of Health um but you're exactly right Carrie it's not Uh custom made for our collaborative a lot of the other collaboratives are using the same template as well it's a um and that's one of the things that I think is helpful when we talking about these kinds of Arrangements because um you really want the arrangements to be similar it's much like a mutual Aid agreement you it's it's not mutual if it's not the same same agreement among each community and it really um it doesn't serve well if um there are special rules of how things happen only in right a little pocket of four communities you know you really want the shared services agreements to be you know following kind of the same procedures and same requirements and um certainly receiving Grant funds from the state we have to do that anyways but the the IMA isn't a a special deal so I I really like that aspect of this thanks so it's not it's pretty standardized is what you're saying exactly got you okay were there any comments from Town Council from any of the communities that were particularly notable in it or was it you know fairly routine yeah I don't think there was one point where we had some questions over the liability um in terms of shared uh the shared staff that kind of the initial version that North Andover had presented um some of the communities had some concerns about it so they ended up actually removing that language to go back to the original language um that everybody was comfortable originally with but for the most part it was all pretty standard language nobody had any major concerns over it right that's good Miner tweaks where to put a comma that type of thing they're always that's I was going to ask what what were the changes but they would they weren't could you tell us the changes were what they asked for yeah it was it was very minor um so mostly kind of language one of the I would say one of the bigger changes that we had was in terms of our Advisory Board um the original language indicated that it was just a regular majority um we included a participation Clause to that so um you know based on the IMA each Community is required to be there once every quarter we added a clause that says if a community doesn't show up within a quarter they lose their vote until um they're no longer a voting member until they show up again so that has really helped us with participation in terms of not slowing things down um it helps us ensure that we're meeting a quorum with every meeting and then as soon as that Community shows up to another meeting they're brought back to being a voting member so it's really helped us kind of address that um and I would say that's one of the bigger that's probably the only big change that we made um to the template that makes sense um but that that was what North and you said north band over asked for some specific changes what were those uh they had asked for some changes about um in terms of sharing of liability coverage um those changes are not in this version We reverted back to the original template of how liability is taken care of um and that's just the host Community North Andover covers liability for the shared staff um we already fall under their so shared staff are all town of North Andover employees and we already fall under their insurance policy with Maya um so it wasn't really needed language so that was their major edit and we actually removed that from this final version okay thank you I if I asked the same question somebody else just asked sorry but that was happy to clarify it was the most confusing part of all this so and that and that what you're describing that that standard where the liability rests with the home host community and the the shared that that's consistent with how other um intermunicipal agreements that share staff um are arranged and it's also consistent with mutual Aid agreements so you know it's much like any Mutual if if fire were to go out from Mutual Aid to another Community they Remain the employee of the town of reading even though they might be operating in another community so we're we're consistent is what exactly okay um so I had a couple questions one is um who is our alternate uh maybe this is for a day or or an that who who is the alternate reading to the advisory committee or have we not decided that yet at this we haven't okay go ahead something we could oh I was just going to say yeah most of our communities haven't identified that yet because we haven't adopted the IMA um but once it's in place you know that's certainly out to each Community I know um some of our communities they have their admin when they're small staffs if they have an assistant director they may send them um but just to like make sure you don't feel like you're not doing something nobody yet has identified their alternate um that certainly once this is fully approved we'll make sure to do that for everybody okay great and then um B um there uh a sort of long list of potential uh positions you know shared services coordinator for administration for management um three different inspectors three different four different Public Health nurses I mean and um is this is this sort of like a Chinese menu we can pick you know um these positions because as we've talked with the day about it I think we were thinking besides the the couple administrative roles there was um an inspector that would be shared across the six communities and a public health nurse so there was only you know maybe four positions is that so am I reading exhibit B is just the options available is that right yeah exactly so they're not necessarily different positions but potential roles those positions could fill um and so it's really just to outline and it was put in as an exhibit so we can continue to expand on it as roles expand or we decide want to hire additional roles um so it's not that there's three different inspectors it's one inspector that can fill all of those different roles potentially um so you're exactly right currently we're thinking about the one Regional inspector the one Regional public health nurse and then myself um are the roles so it's it's just kind of like outlining helping further Define what exactly those shared responsibilities are um and having as as an exhibit makes it a lot easier for us to update as we kind of continue to grow and establish as a collaborative okay and um in the fut terms in the future if we make the case for additional Staffing we would have the opportunity to do that um we can get like a like an epidemiologist or somebody else to join us but at this point it's just those three um positions okay um so maybe before car I had a couple other questions in terms of the funding um is is the funding pretty flat $20 and something thousand do every year is that for three years is that the plan yeah so we just entered this this July this fiscal year into a three-year contract that is saying we're going to be level funded for the next three years um and we have actually been upped so last year um our funding was in increased and it's actually I have the number here um $532,500 um is our annual grant funding and that is over the um annually for the next three years we're kind of locked into that amount um and then you know we'll see how the the program progresses forward for the state um one of our goals this year as well is to do some strategic planning to think about what type of outs outside funding we can secure to help um ensure the longevity of our grant expand what kind of services we're able to offer um but at least for the next three years that's the amount that we're locked into okay and lastly um at some point in the past few months there was some question as to whether North Reading was going to continue to participate are they going to continue is that because obviously they're listed in the yeah so they have just decided to continue to participate um their select board actually voted a few weeks ago and signed on and they have their Board of Health meeting coming up to sign on to the IMA um I think it was just one particular project that they hadn't really bought into um and so they just decided that they weren't going to participate in that particular project but they still wanted to take advantage of some of the other resources I know um our Public Health Services our Public Health nursing Services have been really helpful in northr running um so they do plan to continue on and support and engage in the grant right yes Carrie you got a question yeah oh I don't want I don't know if others do I I don't have have to go but I did have a couple follow-ups um so if others have questions we could take the we could take the agreement down um from the screen if we could do that Cassidy I can't see everybody when the agreements up perfect um okay so any other comments questions and we'll go back to Carrie do you had a comment or question yeah I just um I I noticed one thing I wanted to ask about Annette um so I have three three questions um first is I noticed on the the term that the term of the agreement is um three years and that that is I I note is different I mean a standard IMA is typically a term of 25 years as permitted by Statute I note that our agreement is a three-year term only um but it still includes the language saying unless otherwise permitted by Statute can you um explain how maybe we arrived at that yeah so the north Handover Town Council wasn't comfortable with a 25y year agreement um I think they had when we were drafting the IMA they had some reservations about um taking on the host Community role um particularly where this grant isn't um you know promised for 25 years so they felt more comfortable having this Ima Be The Same term as the our current contract for the grant um so that at the end of that three-year Grant cycle we can kind of take a look at the collaborative see how it's been working with North Andover serving as the host community and then reassess this IMA at that point um to see if you know everybody wants to continue as is or if there need to be some restructuring or changes to it interesting we don't want to end up like um Lawrence and metan well I mean you have the opp I mean I don't want to quibble on I mean the the statute permits 25 years it you know there's advantages to that because it it keeps folks kind of locked in and and and in a long-term commitment of yes we wish to collaborate with each other and we want to support each other and that's the goal well that's one of the goals of these programs is to provide stability and enhanced Regional public health services so I was just surprised to note that um that they did I understand you you know sure you can tie it to the term of your your money if you want to that's fine um I think I think the idea is after three years we can then you know go for 25 years once everybody's fine you know got it yeah got it okay and then Annette um I know that I mean part so I I said you know one of the purposes of this is to provide stability and and enhance Regional Public Health Services um I know too that part of this is tied to achievement of performance standards can you tell me where we are as a region in terms of meeting the performance standards and and is the work plan tied to directly towards achieving Improvement on those yeah definitely so um you know to say unfortunately we don't have a great Baseline of where we are on the performance standards so we did get a capacity assessment toolkit similar to all the other ssas that kind of outlined how our communities are currently um Meeting those performance standards that were set forth due to the timing of when our collaborative joined we had a really small window of when we could submit all of our documentation um and responses for the capacity assessment so we don't have full results as to you know all of our communities providing that document mentation um I can certainly say anecdotally our communities do a really great job um especially around where uh our public health nurse is currently pulling numbers for Maven responses so responses to communicable diseases um and our community do a great job with that um within our work plan we do have a plan to um do a self assessment when it um comes to those Capac those standards so one of our goals this year is to really take a deeper dive ourselves to look at how well we're Meeting those um performance standards so we have a better Baseline understanding of where we're starting out at and so I think you know this is our first full year as um a collaborative to that's fully staffed that we're able to really kind of put our feet down and do some strategic planning um so now that we have that INF staff infrastructure in place it's certainly built in every aspect of our work plan to make sure that we're working towards those and also coming up with a great way that we can track that progress and achievement so we're able to um have some really like qualitative data to say this is how much we improved in this performance standard um and it's going to help us in future work plans as well to really hone in on what are those areas that we can improve in great that's great and I would love to um a day I would love it if we could perhaps have Anette come back at a future meeting and and and talk about what you know once those self assessments by the communities have been completed kind of talk about what is that Baseline and where where are are the focuses of of work I think that's really interesting info and then I just want to say the the the last thing is that I mean this is a three-year contract and that is um uh it's a incredible luxury actually as a uh as a grantee from the states typically our federal and state grants are annual and you have to reapply for funding every year so I think it's a wonderful thing that we're able to participate in something that has that kind of support from the state and from the legislature um that gives the stability um again stability for all of the staff working on it um I've been Grant funded for 18 of the 20 years that I've worked in public health I'm used to it but it it is difficult it's one of it makes it hard to hire folks and it makes some you know folks who are newer to it makes folks a little uncomfortable so I'm really excited that we talk about this as a three-year thing I mean this is I know we're talking a lot about this this is a really important step and the work that's going to occur under these intermunicipal agreements is a huge advance in improving Public Health Services for um all of the 5501 that are that exist and you know hopefully across the state and you know part of it is so that Kevin there won't be things like with covid when the Board of Health was having to meet um every day for a while while and then every other day and then every week um you know there'll be a a a a stronger bench and and capacity of professional staff and understanding of needs that um Boards of Health like us can rely on so I am really excited about this work and not just because I'm doing it um I'm excited myself I'm excited about because it really is the work that needs to happen um but I want to underscore not everybody understands you know grant funding and that one year thing it's a although I saw a couple head nuts it's a big deal so um thank you for the work on that thank you for the presentation thank you for the patience with my questions and happy too I I just want to say that I am extremely grateful that we are part of this collaborative because um they've been very instrumental to the survival of our department as as you all know we don't have a health inspector and we don't have a nurse and um they've been able to you know fill in the gaps for us um I really you know I appreciate them doing that for us absolutely s you had your hand up at one point do you have a question no Carrie covered most of my questions so all set yeah okay great sorry yeah no problem no was good yeah um you know from my perspective this this is sort of like motherhood and apple pie I mean how could how could one see something negative where it's furthering the vision of more collaborative Public Health Systems in the state instead of 351 separate entities it um the state is giving us money to help provide us resources that we need in particular in Reading as the day pointed out we we desperately need them at this moment and um so if there are no other questions I would um entertain a motion to to approve the IMA um you know from the Board of Health I guess I just have one other one last question was um what is the financial responsibility for reading like does a grant cover all of it or does reading have to pay something yeah so the grant covers everything um I work really closely with the state to make sure that any potential charges are covered by the grant um when I mentioned it in terms of the IMA there 's just a clause in there that says let's say if the grant funding disappears we just set forth guidelines for when we would have to approach the towns with a possible Financial um you know financial responsibility if they wanted to maintain the collaborative and that would have to go through your typical like appropriation process um so you know currently there's no financial responsibility for any of the communities it just outlines in the case that the grant doesn't exist there's that option and timeline written in there um that we could entertain local municipalities paying in to maintain the Cooperative okay so we we wouldn't be approving any finances from the town right now we'd just be approving the the IMA correct yes correct what she just mentioned is optional it's not mandatory for us to continue if the gr drives correct thank you okay uh again can I entertain a motion to um approve the IMA for read Carrie you're on you're on mute but I'm I see your hand SEC do I have a second second great okay uh roll call Joan yes Carrie yes Kevin yes s yes and rip yes so the IMA is approved um and I will sign for the board on that and I get I I don't it's going to the select board at some point in the next four weeks I believe a day right yes so tentatively it will be um before the select board on August 27th it's not finalized at this point but you know we're waiting to hear back okay great thanks Anette for your time we really appreciate it thanks thanks so much great to meet you all see you all and I look forward to joining future meetings thanks thank you thank you bye bye okay moving on to 601 hav roll um a day maybe you can for the for sale and Sophie's um say you can just give a two second background and then roduce the issue absolutely so uh 601 Hil and readen um there was a fire um last October we conducted an inspection and found multiple violations that needed to be corrected um the owner Mr mallister appeared before the board during the November Board of he help meeting to request a modification of compliance time due to um several reasons um you know including uh you know insurance issues and uh liability issues um the inability to secure uh uh reputable contractors in a timely manner um and the board granted an extension of compliance time until May 1st 2024 and then uh Mr M Mr mallister came back before the board in March to request additional time um because um you know uh they still weren't able to meet the May 1st 2024 deadline the board granted an extension a s Monon extension till December 31st and um at this point it appears that uh they they won't be able to meet the deadline for December 31st and uh Mr mallister is here to uh request additional time of compliance Mista could you go ahead and state your name and U I'm Doug mallister and uh as ad day said I've been before the board a few times and I think that more the issue the last time or the time before is not that we didn't have anybody it's just takes a long time to rebuild the whole house basically uh when I was here the talk to you the last time we had the house down to studs we had looked at all the mold issues and those were remitted and now the contractors are starting to work on things like the plumbing the electrical the insulation and while he's doing that he's keeping in touch with the building department and everybody that we need to he got his certifications and stuff and currently we're at the point where the plumbing in the electrical rough you know that's not having the appliances and stuff hooked up is all done it's been reviewed been looked over the the insulation is done that's been reviewed it's you know it's meets the code there's a lot of new code because the house go back to like 1953 55 we had to do some reinforcing which wasn't required then but was required now we've got the walls in now the walls and the ceilings in as of this week and they're starting to do skim cover the we're not looking for an extension past December we just agreed that we' take this stop and come in in August and and talk to you about where we are we're still working towards December my contractor tells me somewhere around the 12th or the 15th and we're not going to go in there obviously until we get a a uh a permit for residency residency from the town which he expects that we will get by the midp part of December and then I hope to become a non- nomad and get back to my home so that's really where we are um I would like to make a suggestion if I could I'm been sitting here thinking about it and uh you know you know they graciously you graciously EXT extended the the time frame and I don't think I need a time frame extension what I'd like to suggest is if everything goes and we'll have an occupancy permit in December and we'll move in that's great I don't think I need I don't think you really need to talk to me or I need to talk to you but if I don't have it by January 1 I promise to come back in front of the board and tell you what happened and there obviously there's nobody in there no occupancy permit so nobody lives there contractors might think they live there but could could I ask what the what the violation where sure there was a well there was a lot of mess in the house okay and there washab problem there was a problem with the tension because the fire department came in and sprayed it which they're supposed to do but then the insurance company just kind of they were very hard to get to move so it went from October 30th until I would say the beginning part of March before the insurance company finally settled or you know ponied up what they were supposed to do so they didn't we didn't even get a chance to winterize the house until January and fortunately it was a very mild December and November so that didn't not did not become an issue but the major part with the mole was just that you there was a lot of water sprayed and nobody was allowed to come in and remit the mold normally that's done right after you spray within within a week somebody comes in to remit the remit the water so it doesn't create mold but that didn't happen so I'm just jumping into this sorry sorry if my ignorance but um so is you're in you're so is it is it um is the mess gone now when you're just rebuilding the house or is the mess still in the house oh no that's been gone since uh the insurance company did clean it out I'd say the mid part of January so the house is empty well the house is empty they cleaned out all the mess and then we knocked everything down yeah know we took out all the walls we took out all the ceilings so it was just studs that's all studs so the violation was the mess so if the mess is gone what what's the what are we waiting for now the mold no the mold was remitted as soon it was that's why it was cleared out so you could see where and if there was more which there was some but not a lot so I'm just trying to understand I'm just trying to understand what what violation is still existing a day well I uh I I don't want to elaborate on the violations I sent the uh other letter U I included it in the B of help packet but I sent numbers so you can find the information in the packet okay I would like to refrain from elaborating on the violations sure sure but we're still it's still under our jurisdiction it's still under there's a Board of Health role in this still currently correct correct so the house was deemed uninhabitable and um you know for for them to move back in in the house we have to um you know uh make sure it's uh fit for human Abit habitation and um you know go from there so they have to take care of everything call us back we have to go there do our inspection everything is good so it's not simply a matter of the building permits it's also there needs to be a a public health sign off as well okay I understand yeah s part of that's just the use occy per once that's satisfied then we then we're satisfied essentially okay okay we're gonna agree we won't I you won't hear from me again unless I'm not in my house by January 1 because I have to get a certificate of doccy and I assume Department of Health signs off on that kind of thing too so you will be satisfied when I have certificate of occupancy okay correct so you won't get the certificate of occupancy without us signing off on it right so and and my contractor assures me that he'll be done in time so that we'll have that by the mid part of December that that's all I'm saying I have it in the mid part of December then you probably don't need to talk to me anymore but if I don't I come back in January and tell you why I don't have it or what I'm doing to get it because I'm I'm sure we'll have it because it's basically the house is being completely except for the outs nobody nobody in since we've ex we extended um this process through December 31st of this year and since there's no specific request to extend beyond that I don't think there's any need for a vote this is really more of an update right okay and so I want to thank thank you all for giving me a chance to tell you where we are great appreciate your time Mr mallister thank you oh by the way Nancy's my wife yeah okay kind of figured something like that yes yeah all right thank you thank you thank you I'll be in U in contact with you okay so next on the agenda is um Community Health Improvement plan next steps and um you know I think in my mind you know we've completed this lengthy 18-month process I don't know if you know Sophie and S have had a chance to read it's a pretty long document but um and basically evaluated the health needs of reading came up with several priorities and outlined a series of strategies of um how to achieve um those goals over the next uh five years and so we're at this point now where okay well what's next um and how do we do this um and so I wanted to just have a general discussion and get thoughts from the board about um how to move forward um you know I I can tell you you know I have some ideas um maybe I maybe I'll start with those and and we can kind of then open it up for discussion um number one I don't think uh this can be easily done with um with our current Staffing I.E a day um and and Cassidy uh you know if you've read the document there's a lot to be done a lot of planning a lot of organizing um and uh follow through that even in a fully staffed um Health Department I don't think uh there's typically a lot of uh room to be able to execute on these without some additional help so first of all I I'm thinking we need some kind of um uh individual whose job it may not be full-time uh whose job is to drive the agenda um of the health Improvement plan under the direction of a day and a steering committee um and also potentially as Jamie points out you know write be able to write grants for additional funds to help support this effort a second I you know I think we need to put together a steering committee as recommended in the report um and realizing that this is not just the health department but this is a lot of um town and uh Community entities that that would be important to have them participate and be involved in order to be able to achieve what we're trying to to achieve with this plan and so putting together a steering committee like that is is a piece of work and managing um that steering committee over time uh is Rick you froze if you can hear us yeah okay yeah if you can't hear us we'll wait you you you froze Rick with a nice face because I usually freeze with with bad expressions and then St manager however whatever the term is there he is you froze for a while Rick did did I blank out you fro yeah you froze for a while Sor yeah I'm not in my usual place I have my three grandchildren downstairs and if I was using my usual computer they would be in the background so sorry about that um uh raise your hand if I'm if I blank out so I I know I can pause third thirdly I think there needs to be a lot more communication um you know we've been living this uh for a long time but um you know I don't know if the community really knows what the output has been um and I'm a little concerned about communicating a lot until we have some resources and infrastructure to actually drive the process because otherwise you communicate you raise expectations and then nothing happens because we don't have the resources but I think communication some communication strategy is important um so I'll stop there and those are my thoughts of you know what we would need exactly how we would get those resources I'd be open to uh suggestions as well on that and whatever whatever else we need to to Really uh move this forward I have a question sure so I was wondering if there's any potential overlap maybe with the other towns that are part of the IMA so is there have the other surrounding towns that we're in the same contract with done AA and is there any sort of overlap like I'm thinking specifically the need for increasing Transportation where we could maybe potentially use some of those funds or we could pool together funds so it would been benefit on a more Regional basis rather than just our town that's a good that's a good point and I don't know the answer to that but that would that's something we should look into because it may be presumably they don't have the 100 you froze reick be a lot of waving going on tonight there must be some gaming going on yeah say the bandwidth little bit Yeah up all the bandwidth all right my was so good I left him speechless so I had a feeling that was going to happen all right yep so with day what is the capacity right now of your office uh we 20% and is that is that changing in the near future by any chance is there yeah it looks like it's going to change very soon oh okay well that's good and I will be sharing that during the um monthly report oh great okay well that's good that helps absolutely um Rick yeah we didn't talk while you while you were frozen or gone but um I was I was thinking what Sophie raised is is is is actually a great question to include in the in the kind of scope of of an individual if if we're talking about doing that um you know I know every every Community does Community Health needs assessments at different stages and um you know who knows where they are but I think those looking for those opportunities would be a a logical step who are the other partners that we could identify so and that's you know that alone is a fair amount of work so I think it would be if you could find a body I think uh what she raised was um uh part of the recommendations um in the chip plan so hopefully once we get a staring Community together um we can look at things like that but um we we need to get a group together to coordinate and execute uh the chip plan mhm have you enion what that group looks like sorry to cut off car no same question Kevin sorry you go have you envisioned what the group looks like and what you want to be have it consist of a day um well uh I would have to talk to Dr Lopez about that and uh you know and everybody else and then we go from there definitely somebody from the board should be on the committee um I would say um somebody from Coalition should be should be there sure somebody from the senior center should be there what about fire and police absolutely um they want to be part of it why not school system school system Recreation Department yeah absolutely yeah yeah you're getting a lot of a lot of heads in in the room now yeah good thing bad thing sometimes if is this something a day that You' had an opportunity to talk with um uh the town manager the assistant Town manager about um how this might fit with staff or are we not at that stage yet we're not at that stage yet um I I would want to uh take care of the department first talking about you know stuff in the um you know chip plan and things like that let's take care of our department first yeah no I'm sorry I was just thinking about just the formation of the steering committee not even thinking about adding the body part but like the we want a steering committee and then we need a body two separate questions yeah we're still working on it got it we'll get there you know ideally um you know jimie mentions these in in the report but ideally having some kind of um uh description a day in your in your spare time um some kind of description of the project manager roles and a description of what the steering committee like all the all the names we just mentioned you know what who might be on the steering committee and what the roles of the steering committee uh might be uh would be a good start to make concrete you know what needs to um what this might look like to because if you were explaining it for instance to the town manager he might not he might have some T hard time getting his hands around it but i' I'd ask Carrie um before she asks a question um you know I wonder with these uh chars and chips um sort of in general how you know are they um are they usually successfully implemented over time and with with a lot of outcomes because I look at our 2015 one that's been on our website for a long time uh which was A Five-Year Plan and probably would have been updated if we didn't hit with Co um but I didn't see necessarily a lot of the um results from that so I don't know sort of in the public health world you know do people usually do do towns and communities usually achieve most of of that right um so in in my experience which and I certainly have work with every community in the Commonwealth but um mean Community Health needs assessment is a big undertaking uh you know not every Community certainly has done so communities out in the western part of the state you know have not maybe there's been a Regional Community Health needs assessment um you know and that's part of the reason for the shared services work is to try and get folks to a place where they could think about conducting such a thing so that's the first part of it the second part is you know part of the success is having a part of the the ability to succeed is having a chip is having a a well constructed chip with you know reasonable kind of goals and and paths to maybe how you go about achieving them but um yeah I mean I think that that you know it's a undertaking where you your director or your board or you know if it's a commissioner they're you know they're kind of thinking H what staff do I have that I could use for this or what staff do I need to add to support this because um you know it's a long-term project that requires its own uh driver and you know what we know is that if you don't staff things things don't happen so um I think that you know to the extent that we could find you know I don't know if there are extra hours of Staff of you know available that that um there might be some alignment um if there's a project manager and another department that that we could look at I don't know if there's budget um that we can access um you know I mean I so I guess I have more questions than I have answers now um I think that the the with Staffing it's certainly achievable and if you look back to what we did with our um our own internal Department assessment and and I that's kind of a royal we because that I give lot lots of credit to to a day but you know it was focused over time how do we chip away and get these things done but those are were fundamental functions for the Department these are fundamental things for the entire Community um and I think figuring out how to collaborate with other departments and find some sort of Staffing commitment is really important to its success I don't know what the hours are you know I mean I suppose you could do maybe 10 hours a week 10 hours a month I don't know um I need to see the scope so I I just want to be honest with everybody um I'm going to try to be as diplomatic as possible but um you know we we Town employees we in so many committees and so many meetings that sometimes you just forget the identity of what exactly you're trying to achieve because you know see each other all the time we're in this group that group and then everything gets lost so my recommendation will be to staff this steering committee with dedicated um you know residents that really want to see you know a change in the community um staff are kind of burnt out you know it's the same staff whether you go to the police department or fire department qu same people you know we we're on so many different committies that you know we're just a little bit burnt out so if we can uh rally some dedicated residents I think that would be the route to go and I'm I thank you for that perspective and I I hear that and I'm also G to winse a little bit because I it's it's I worry about uh Vol you know just the capacity actually see you're nodding your head Kevin the capacity for volunteers to see it through and and some of these things are you know it's a little sensitive to be have a volunteer directing staff activities um I'm not saying you it's the wrong idea a day but but you know there are some challenges to that and I'll say it's kind of like we used to say you know people say oh we'll just get a we'll get a student and boy students are awesome but students are a lot of work and I was a student and I know I was a lot of work and I regularly go back to the folks who supported me and say thank you um but so so I don't know but but it sounds like you a day don't think there's a lot of um opportunity for additional staff positions and that you think that our best bet is to have um to find some willing volunteer who would um run run a project for the town for um a couple of years correct um they don't have the final say you know and they shouldn't have the final say but at the same time they help they're helping uh to drive you know the goals we're trying to achieve so that's the way I see it you also have to get someone who has a skill set um to be able to do this this is not um this kind of project management is uh not something someone can come off the street even if they have are energetic and good well-meaning uh can do it because I I'm been in a large organization I know how complicated these kinds of projects can be you have to be extremely organized and you have to have project management skills Kevin Kevin you had your hand raised yeah I'm just just trying to um think all the way around this um so it seems like you know the first step is to establish that steering committee and their first role really is to look at exactly the implementation part of this you know it sound it sounds like we're going to need dedicated staff which is increase um on the budget and the question would be that I would have is is that a permanent position you know if we look at it every five years by the time you you get this implemented are you right back to implementing a new one and you need that staff going on or is this more like we need someone to for the next year um to come in part-time whatever it might be a week and go after it so I I think the first part is who's done this go talk to that that uh group find out what exactly it looks like what are what are the hours what you know where's the pool that you you pull the person from I don't think you know I'm not going to speak for town meeting but obviously we can we can go before town meeting and ask for additional funding if if it's needed or we can try to make it part of um of Staff um vacancy now as part of the incoming um staff member try to you know include that as their role and responsibility you know maybe maybe you entice somebody that's interested in public health to say oh I get to come in and implement the um the plan for the town as part of my my role so I I I think I'm with Carrie I I hesitate to have volunteers do it day I get I get what you're saying though because you know we're not going to get it up and running if we don't get somebody in that position ACP and that would be a volunteer and that'd be fine for the interim but I would I would think the more prudent way is to as you're doing that proceed to go to try to either fully staff your um your department and add this on as one of those um you know that a um part of their role and responsibility that would be my first want and so I don't know you know how that how that works you can you could tell me that but that's the way I would see was be the best path forward and if you can't do that then just get somebody part-time specific for J this s did I see your hand up earlier or yeah yeah I was going on the same line as Kevin was was saying I just wanted to add one thing with the volunteers you know not to beat a dead horse but it's very hard to keep volunteers you know held accountable for any type of project there's no monetary you know compensation for what they're doing it's just you know obviously to volunteer and if they wanted to drop it at some point we have no you know recour at you know of any any of any type so I would I would more focus on the trying to get funding from town meeting for you know somebody to drive this I think having a couple uh volunteers who are energetic from the community to participate participate in the steering committee yeah but I think the steering committee has to have people who are in positions who could actually take on um um you know if if we want to do something in the schools you you want to have someone from from the schools there who actually can then go and drive that um effort has some authority to be able to move move things um right and that should be the probably the majority of the steering committee but having a couple community volunteers who are enthusiastic in her right definitely not leading the chge though right um if I may I'm just I'm kind of thinking what we've been talking about Kevin sort of the the you know is there a part-time position is it a I mean I'd be I'd be interested to to to so is there a need for in the town for cross departmental because this is you know while this is in health we you know we identified things that are priorities for the community that we need all other all sorts of other department engaged in and participating in I'm wondering is there a need for kind of some some um project management skills that would support things like this um that you know is is is worth raising with the the I guess with the town manager I'm not sure who the you know Town manager um assistant manager in terms of what are the the staffing needs um because maybe somebody else in another department has kind of a a similar thing and we could um we could have a a a com combined success um or you know do we do a a small procurement and try and get a a contract for us a agency to to run I know in in my one my one of my departments you know there there are a couple of contractors who who who do this right they would kind of run a project and and maybe take that on so if there wasn't a desire to add to is there you know small amount of money to hire to procure services that way um but that was essentially what Jamie did you know she was the project manager for the heal needs assessment and the chip plan so that was what did um we can get an uh you know independent contractor to help us out but we need funding for that right well and maybe it's not someone as it's at it's maybe it's it's not necessarily someone at at Jamie's weight because this is implementation work as opposed to you know strategy and and thought work so it's a little bit less but speculating that you know that's a thought because to some degree we don't know how much time something like this would take if we hired a consultant for six months um to get things rolling um and develop the project and develop the plans and develop the performance metrics and work the steering committee and so forth by the end of that time we might have a very good sense of you know what it's going to take for an employee to be able to do that how much time and and skills so we would we could use the experience from you know from a consultant um for six months to to understand really what we need in terms of as Kevin pointed out more long-term um resource a thought what did y'all do with the with the previous plan was that a day what you were saying there was a project director so uh the previous plan we had um when I got hired I pretty much um you know imple implemented um okay bit yeah and the 2015 assessment that was a a whole different Administration different staff different things that you know very very different circumstances so not not a lot to um replicate yeah not a lot to compare yeah yeah um the good thing about um you know uh with Jamie we had the the APPA funding and uh you know we were able to use the funding to pay for her services but now that the funding is dried up we have about $115,000 left um you know I don't see how we're GNA it's not gonna buy you very [Music] much so I hear you loud and clear a day that that you know this is not something that existing staff can take on existing staff are are are stretched are busy are full so so you know we're taking that off the table sort of what's the what is the um what are the Alternatives um I think I think we should um I mean there are a number of suggestions that came up in this discussion um I think we're gonna be uh Li I mean our priorities are getting an inspector and a um you know an active nurse and so forth um I think we need to um think more about this and um and this won't be the last discussion we'll have of this and maybe formulate some some Pro proposals that we could bring back to the board uh for more discussion in the next meeting or two um as we sort of crystallize our ideas about this um I don't think we I didn't expect that we were going to reach a conclusion but I kind of got a sense of what what people's thinking is and that's helpful so if there's no more comments I think we could we could move on on the agenda um okay uh you know for the town Charter we were supposed to um vote for a chair and vice chair um once a year in June and July where we didn't have a meeting in July um so we need to do it today um and basically what we would do is um every you know anyone can uh nominate some we can start with the chair nominate someone uh to be the chair um and once we have whatever names we have or name um we would take a roll call vote and just um vote on those individuals um and then we would do the same process for the vice chair room I nominate Richard Lopez chair second okay we have one nomination for me any else okay so I I had a nomination I heard a second uh roll call um Carrie yes but Rick you don't sound happy I'm thrilled I'm thrilled you know it keeps me busy um let's Joan yes Kevin yes s yes thank you we appreciate you yes I accept I humbly accept uh your nomination and your vote um thank you and so I can I just ask who the vice chair is the vice chair is Carrie okay and Carrie denell and and um we are now open to nominations for a vice chair I nominate K know second and okay do we have any other nominations I wish I could Nate somebody okay uh roll call vote uh I have a first and a second uh Carrie yes Joan yes Kevin yes th yes and Rick yes thank you Carrie appreciate it thank you both thank you and yeah thank you Rick thanks you do an excellent job do grateful for you thank you this is my first first meeting but I agree thanks s all right um with that piece of business we'll move on to a day's uh monthly report all right I'll try to make this uh brief um as you all know we uh you know we're not fully staffed at this point working at a I would say 30 to 40% capacity at this point so we didn't do too many uh inspections um in the month of July uh we U conducted six new sense complaint inspections and two food complaint uh inspections in terms of vacancies uh we are currently interviewing for the nurse position uh we have a few highly qualified individuals that applied um things are looking promising and I am hoping that we would have uh the position fied prior to the next Board of Health meeting right yeah same thing for the health inspector position uh we recently secured a competitive salary and uh you know I'm excellent see that coming I didn't see it coming either but um I am optimistic um that we would have the position fied um prior to the next bville meeting as well great yeah like Jerry said crossed fingers very happy about that and then we've had uh a few um highly qualified candidates that have applied as well so we will begin interviewing um next week in terms of health presentations um CID can you put up the blood pressure screening all right no the blood pressure screening oh all right well you can keep this you can keep this so um let's see on September 17th from 6:m to 6:45 p.m. there will be a community Nan training hosted by the reading Coalition for prevention and support um this event will take place at the reading public library registration is required and uh you can use the link or scan the QR code to sign up for this EV if you're watching us right now on the TV all you have to do is um move your phone closer and uh scan the QR code and you will be able to register for this event right away all right um first Wednesday of each month we go aood pressure screening event at the pleas center from 11: a.m. to 12: p.m. M and the only reason we can do this is because of the shared services brand we have our shared services nurse that comes to the uh you Center to do the screenings for the for the seniors and anybody that you know walks in it is a free event everybody's welcome to attend just walk in and um get your um blood pressure checked next why see on November 14th from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. we will be hosting a diabetes education presentation at the Pleasant Street Center and again we won't be able to do this without the shared services Grant you know so I'm very grateful and appreciative of U you know being part of the collaborative uh shared services nurse Alana would be at this event she would be the one uh presenting um it's a free event everybody's welcome to attend registration is required all you have to do is call the phone number 781 942 6794 right let's see we are working with the uh schools and also sh's Clinic set up date in September for our first clu Co Clinic of the season I will keep the board updated and I'll also um inform the residents when we're ready CID can you put up the charts theing charts all right so uh so I'm just going to go ahead and talk about the first uh box on top um so the week of July 29th to August 4th we had 8 cases of covid and one case of Lyme disease and also one case of hemophilus influenza right so pretty much what I did with with this chart was to look at the trend from December 2023 um to you know present and um if you look at the communicable diseases uh in Ren you can see that um covid-19 peaked in January and then um that's the blue line and then um you know we had another spike in July and right now we are looking at a downward Trend um also of similarly influenza picked in January and um it's trended downwards at this point um there are other communicable diseases such as group a strep and hepatitis B pusis um they remain constant we've not really seen a significant jump uh they're almost U you know negligible almost and then if we go to the um Vector disease in readen Vector Bond diseases in Rin residence um you can see that we don't have a d fever in Rin which is great one case hga and um you can see that the lime disease uh you know was trending upwards it picked around May June and now it's trending downwards um in terms of uh foodb illnesses um there's no particular Trend you know uh you know sometimes we get we get those and sometimes we don't and um you know that that's what the chat uh shows us in the food illness in Reading uh residents huh was serious Al so let's see um in preparation for The Fall season we have ordered some test kits for free from the state of Massachusetts uh they will be delivered uh sometime around the end of the month um the only issue that I have you know or that I worry about is that you know our residents get used to picking up this test kits from the library Town departments and you know they're happy about it but once they don't have them then you know they get really upset so again these are free we pick them up when they're available so um you know just putting that out there so the residents come and we don't have them you know they shouldn't be upset they can go to CVS and uh you know buy some um foral season is around the corner we urge our residents to continue taking precautions and get vaccinated if they haven't um you know wash your hands regularly cover your cuffs and sneezes keep your distance if you're around someone who is sick um wear a mask if needed um stay home when sick and uh yeah that concludes the monthly report um if a day i' like ask two questions one is um can you just remind me where we are with uh sharp disposals and we stopped doing drug or or this the police the town stopped doing drug disposals but I thought are we are we doing sharp disposals yes we yes we are so we moved the chef's container to the town hall and now you can just walk to the town hall go to the basement and drop off your shops okay great and um I'll just make a note that um uh in we the we received in our packet um uh some feedback actually a PowerPoint from uh one of the residents regarding a rap problem and in general you know that that issue still exists across the town um again we're somewhat limited obviously without even an inspector to to to do much but I do think we need to revisit it over the next couple months you you know perhaps when we have an inspector perhaps come up with uh a comprehensive plan and get that funded to be able to um you know address this uh because we are getting you know a low level of daily calls around you know rodent sightings which is disturbing I don't think it's out of control but it's it shouldn't be happening and there are ways to take care of it um so we haven't really talked about that in about six months but probably that should be on the agenda and then sometime in the fall um to look at this and we will um do something to address the particular um complaint that uh was forwarded to the board yes Joan um is there a requirement that the dumpsters be closed every night or locked every night um does that exist yet or can we do that or someone do that there is a requirement um there is it's like a stop sign you know there's a stop sign right there you have to stop but if there's nobody monitoring the stop sign exactly then you knowly there is a requirement to make sure your dumpsters are wet or tight um right they're not exposed I know in some parts of New Hampshire you know they have Bears so everybody's very motivated to keep their their locked up um well obviously we don't have Bears down here but they need some sort of motivation to uh to keep everything buttoned up correct just on that point a day um is it it is possible if a and it's it's frequently a food facility restaurant or what have you if if they don't follow that um is is it possible to to actually find them monetarily absolutely it is but I would have to look at a ticketing system because sometimes when you find people it doesn't go directly to the business it goes to the property owner the person renting the space to them oh that's okay the issue is it doesn't um achieve the goal we're trying to achieve but um I would look at how we can make sure that whoever we're sting is who gets the violation and not somebody else so we're working on that it's going to take a while but uh we'll get there okay thank you any other questions yeah car um anybody else before me um two questions um well maybe one so first so I you know worth reminding folks gr reminding businesses please secure your dumpsters in the evening um help participate in this effort to diminish the rat population do we still have though a day that contract that we put in place um we met with someone and and and shifted from a a r poison to a um to a um sorry birth control um is that still in place yes it is and um you know I'm thinking of doing that on a larger scale rather than just um you know uh the park we need to do it on a larger scale but we have to get buying from everybody because it cost a lot of money also um you know there's a lot of Bing going on in town in town and uh it will be nice for to get notified so that uh you know we can notify the residents as well so I'm I'm working on on a bunch of things on you know comprehensive plan which would include DPW and um facilities um you know so for example I know that they have a street opening permit I just found out they have a street opening permit and essentially what happens is um you know National Grid wants to dig somewhere they just go to the you know engineering department apply for a permit and they start digging so um I asked if we could be uh a reviewer of that permit and we could put some requirements prior to digging and uh you know if they don't meet those requirements then they won't be able to get the permit and then there will be no digging only be able to dig if they follow the protocols that we uh recommend or provide so uh I'm working on different aspects so so for example um we have uh the same we have a bunch of abandoned properties dilapitated buildings in town I know Ren is an affluent you know Community but we have you know places that are not so nice um so we need to create some type of a um you know abandoned property U regulation um usually the tel board does that but if we're not able to to achieve that then we can go through a b regulation so essentially what that does is you know um if you have an abundant property you register every year with the health department you pay the fee which is about in Summerville we put like a $500 fee on it um you pay the fee and then in the summertime we help maintain the premises you know we make sure the Laine is cut we make sure you know if you need to um Bo anything up all those things are done and then we don't have neighbors calling oh there's an abandoned property on the corner of uh Haven Street and Main Street it's been there for 10 years and we have raccoons and rats you know we won't we won't have to deal with all those things if we have um you know an abundant property regulation um so so there are so many things uh we can put in place um you know we can coordinate with DPW in terms of d begin um um we want to move from Poison based to I mean you can't kill the rats fast enough so what do you do you need to reduce you know the multiplication just reduce it so there are so many factors that fall into this and we need you know support from everybody we all need to come together and Tackle this problem um and and I'll just say I mean I know from my experience working in other communities um there are rats in the nicest communities and the I mean the less nice communities right it's not uh there the rats live here just like the squirrels and and everything else so you know it's not that there's some problem in our community I hope nobody's thinking that you know it's it's it it's a it's a factor kind of everywhere um and I love the things you describe a day that kind of the proactive Solutions and and S figuring out how to to bring those and fit those to reading because you know certainly um we're we're not quite we're not quite as large as Somerville we're not quite as dense you know but but see it's a great starting point of how do you do that and and what can we do to benefit the community so thank you and I just will close and say thank you to you and Cassidy because I know running short stop really hard so thank you guys for persevering and um keeping your great attitudes and and your great service for us we're lucky to have you thank you and then um just one more thing we we're going to be meeting with DPW on engineering next week and the idea is that um do you guys remember the the map the rap map we had yeah so yes so we want to Overlay the map with the construction map DPW and Engineering has by doing that we can better figure out you know what's going on are we seeing rats based on construction projects are we seeing it based on restaurant dumpsters so we need to be able to identify the source before we can mitigate if we don't know where you know the source is we're just going to be throwing money away everywhere so um we're meeting next week and hopefully we'll be able to achieve uh achieve that great other final comments or suggestions otherwise um I make a motion to adjourn do I have a second second I thought we wanted to stay all night gee there was a pause there okay I'll I'll take Kevin second um roll call Carrie yes Joan yes Kevin yes s yes great and Rick yes so thank you all for your time your service and we'll see you in September as the song goes recording stopped right bye everybody night thank you e for