okay uh good afternoon and welcome to the Westport Board of Health meeting for July 22nd 20 24 I'm calling this uh meeting to order with the announcement that under Mass General lot chapter 30A section 20f this meeting is being recorded um please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay we'll get right down to business um we have a written report from Matt and um you have a question well I just wrote wow for 250 Wildlife issues I think that's a typo is that a typo I'm sure it's 25 um I'm sure it's 25 in a two week period I know he's busy but oh I'll have to ask him about that okay so we lot of baby we'll get that but I I was like 250 there on of hours in the day to to tackle that and that was the only question I had on written for it okay um I want me turn to your um reel report your update please sure um so just to remind the annual annual transfer station stickers are required as of July 1st or were required as of July 1st stickers are on sale at the transfer station and Board of Health office and just another reminder that transfer station only accept checks all money order on um on July 88th the mou for the scouts was approved and signed by the select board and the Board of Health the work on lot three is scheduled to begin on August 1st and should be completed by the middle of August roughly around the 15th of the month once the lot is ready the scouts will uh get the green light to move in in addition to the scouts moving into lot three the bike recycling program bur will also be moving from their current location behind the glass container to lot 3 lot 3 will provide a safer space as well as provide more space for both parties to operate the transfer station is seeing an increase in the amount of recycling that is taken in as a result we had to order an additional cardboard container plastic recycling has also picked up a great deal and right now I'm assessing to see if we need to order another container to handle the increase the Staffing situation at the transfer station continues to be a challenge we had down one person who was on extended leave right now we are working with a temp agency uh to fill the void and we have temporarily filled the void with a third person um at the moment but the Board of Health agents John Schwartz and Joel ree has have recently filled in at the transfer station so that we can keep the gates open to the public I we do have to operate with a minimum of two people um and if it wasn't for John and Joe filling in those days to cover we wouldn't be able to have open so I want to say thank you to uh Joe and John the public health nurse office weekly uh blood pressure clinic on Wednesdays from 8:30 to 11:30 clinics are held in the nurses office located on the first floor of the Town Hall Annex Building at 856 Main Road blood dries have been scheduled for the summer they will be held at Whit of Westport from 2: p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on August 29th and uh September 19th we did have a drive there last week I think it was on the uh 17th or 18th of the month um we had 31 donors which is a good turnout so uh thank you for all that came out for that animal control T and I met with the Personnel Board on the 16th um to discuss the second part-time Animal Control officer and get approval of an hourly rate of an hourly rate at $25 an hour for the position the Personnel Board voted in favor as well uh as for an increasing as well as for increasing our current ACO I 25 cents higher than the incoming parttime ACO so basically our current ACO is is being paid 234 an hour the incoming ACO would start at $25 an hour and we're proposing to raise the current ACL to 2525 based on uh a recent uh a recent a recent wage study commissioned by the town the ACO position is currently below the salary range of the comparable communities I think it's important to know that um the Personnel Board uh approved both request for the part-time and the um salary increase for unanimous and just for everybody's information uh the certificate of compliance was not issued for the new Middle High School at the time of its opening because we did not receive an ASO however we just received one in June of 2024 because it was done well after the fact when it should have been done the system was backflipped the asilt does not show the elevation and grades for the pipes in the field therefore the asilt does not meet Title 5 requirements which Title 5 States in part um prior to the issuance of the certificate of compliance the Disposal system installer and designer shall certify in writing that the system has been constructed in compliance with 310 cmr1 15 which is Title 5 the asbill plan shall be prepared in accordance with 310 CMR 15 220 and that a minimum shall reflect any changes that approved design plans and show the exact location and elevation of all system components so I do have that as doesn't show the exact location and elevation of all system components because the system was backfilled when they went out to do the as so we have to wait for um plans that show well uh um the systems backfilled so what they did was they copied the elevations exactly the way they were on the septic plan but uh there's there's no way to know if there was any changes any difference in elevations because the system's backf so we can't get that information um so unless they're going to dig up the system and get the elevations there's no way to get them so what does that mean for us [Applause] certific town decisions to move forward so um but we won't we'll stay inance with you know as far as I know it's operating fine and it operates very well and it's in compliance with I think with the planning board had set for the um milligrams per leader for the performance of the system so it we see the reports when we get them and it's well below 10 most of the time in FY 25 the South Coast Public Health collaborative will be looking to add a full-time Community Health worker to the grant staff the intent of the position is to have a person work in the collaborative communities to support uh to provide social support education and ad uh advocate for the health needs of the community of different communities individuals in groups so basically we want to hire somebody that's going to come in and identify in any in all of our communities where there may be issues with Health Equity or racial type Equity uh inequity I mean um and work with the communities to try to identify those and see what services and um what we can do to help with that how is that being received and by the other communities it's and I think it's being received okay the nurses uh in the community just want to make sure that we're not hiring a public health nurse to do the same job that they're already doing and as I explained it's this position is not a public health nurse position it's quite different it's more like an Outreach type position and um so all of is scheduled has scheduled a meeting with the nurses so they can kind of go through the proposed job description um tweak it you know talk about their concerns because the target they to hire somebody is September 1st so we'd like to get all that job description stuff out of the way you know talk with the nurses make sure that they're good and the other communities are good with this um position so we can move forward it sounds like um I want to say a nursing assistant but it's the this this physician is assisting the public health nurs N es in meeting their um uh their goals and initiatives I would say I mean all the public health nurses and I don't know them all and I don't know exactly what they do every day but I know that they're very busy with what they do and going out to the community and asking to see where somebody may not have health insurance or somebody may not um have services that they need is not Ty typically something they have time to do I'm not speaking for all of them I'm just saying it's just been my experience that just doesn't happen so this position would be kind of you know I'm going to go out because you know one uh dph is saying this is a priority we have to go out and identify these areas in our towns that aren't you know up to where they should be with um these pockets of people and um we're trying to check that box the dph is putting a such a big Focus on the health and racial inequities in the communities that we don't have a choice and we run the risk of not being able to keep the grant if we don't start checking some of these boxes yeah do the boards have anything you're asking the public health nurses um for their input but do the boards themselves have any input into how this position would help meet those um inequities or address that issue I would expect that the public health nurses would you know kind of get through this job description and get it get it nailed down and then bring it back to their boards that's would be what I would expect I'll bring it back to their director to bring to the boards to talk about and see how they feel if they you know if they had any input same thing um Westport Freetown of Lakeville have begun the digitizing of their board health files the entire process will take 3 to 5 months and and that's speaking just for Westport it's going to take three to five months we just have that many files um they had um the company had come in and and taken almost 50 boxes already out and that's going to take a good couple of months just to get those processed they'll come in bring them back and grab another box a group of boxes so just a lengthy process but um in addition to the digitizing Westport also purchased through pH Grant the the docu software the software is a cloud-based system that will store and catalog all the files and the plan is to require all submissions for septic related work be submitted digitally in the future so we can easily upload these files to the docuware system I have a big question yes what are we going to do with all those F CS sure somebody will use them any come up to the Board of Health office you see all these file cabinets with all the the the data and the information about septic systems and tone and all of that and there's there's quite a few there is and but I think uh this will be great for us we'll be more efficient and um like eventually um my goal is to have the Board of Health be electronic and packets will the one will be like this you'll have a tablet of some sort and either the packet will be uploaded to the tablet when you go up and get it or you'll have to go into a cloud and pull the packet out I would say within a 3 to four month time frame I would expect we'll be doing that which was my next point to talk about so okay uh director plan just get to all right so we have some director approved plans we have a three-b repair at 268 Sanford Road for Robert jalbert um using a Presby system this has been through concom already and it does replace a Cess pool and it will need to be deed restricted to three bedrooms because it's only a 22,000 671 square foot plot we also have a three bedroom repair at 53a Cummings Lane on a 34476 ft lot for Maran kinsky here's utilizing a quick four um it is replacing assessible been through concom um and this will also be deed restricted that much for 34,000 well for the one for them to go to four bedrooms they would need 40,000 okay oh they're going to four bedroom no no no they're at three bedrooms but I want to ask I think why it needs to be deed restricted and because it's only a 34,000 ft if they wanted to go to four bedrooms they would need a 40,000 foot okay good got I mean they could always remove the deed restriction and do dite and I believe a 34,000 ft L with d would a full bed MH okay it is right close to the river but um is what it is it's no there no Wells within 100 fet right so okay we have another three-bedroom repair for 32 alada Street for on a 21,38 ft lot for Kevin and Keith Tony this is going to be utilizing a Presby system it's still pending concom review at least at the time we typed up this list and um it will need to be deed restricted as well is this one that Joe did a better okay just confirm and we have a two-bedroom repair at 51 FAL Street on a 65,66 foot L for leis MOS um utilizing a Presby system this is been through concom and this is another one replacing the S Pool and will also need to be deed restricted okay okay so I move that we endorse um the director approved plans um with I'm going to go down the list here but with the 268 Sanford road with a three-bedroom deed restriction 53a Cummings Lane with a three-bedroom deed restriction section 32 Al Street with a three-bedroom deed rest restriction and concom um approval and 51 fauler street with a two-bedroom deed restriction second all in favor I I that's unanimous thank you I just wanted to add that um our 450 appointment was postponed to August 5th so they will no long be coming okay move on to minutes are they or July 12 one says one what's the correct date July July 8 okay let just the agenda yeah the agenda had a couple of things on it that were not accurate with numbers um um okay any questions or concerns about these um I don't think so did you do you think Mr F does uh I think we're fine all right so I move that we approve the minutes for July 8th 2024 second um all in favor hi that's thank you two nothing um okay um moving on to other business um we have a request from spinder R Beach Club uh with a sampling variance application including a sanitary survey they would like them to they would like to return to monthly testing right now they're doing weekly because they had fallen out of compliance with one tax res a couple years ago um um Matt your recommendation yes is the sanitary survey looked fine um so this was before us maybe meeting a two ago uh they were requesting a uh variant of a weekly testing um because they had an exceedence a while back dph sent it back saying they wanted the sanitary survey done and the board would have to vote to accept the survey and vote to um again put one monthly testing and then what we do after that is send it back to dph and they may they have the final decision I have a question this page four of 20m sanitary survey is is it they're only testing during the summer months yeah when the beach is open okay all right because I was looking at the number of samples and if they were supposed to do um weekly versus um monthly so okay that explains that to me all right so I don't have any other questions okay so I move that we um approve the request uh variant to test Q month instead of was it Q weekly testing uh and spindle Rock Beach Club and accept the San and accept the sanary the sanitary survey um I will second that all in favor I that's thank you recent vph okay board member updates no but I just um sent a draft of the nextra mons regarding Vector born diseases and um I hopefully we'll get that in the sh lines for the next uh this coming Friday if I can get it in for this coming Friday but more likely for the following Friday okay Thursday Friday and um and I haven't um done anything yet with organizing around the um both the items that you one you had asked me to do which was to do the um composting um looking at that so I I will start to look at that and I will start to um organize around I want to I I don't know how um I'm blocking now um I don't know how we're doing with with my spending time with olive to talk about the um because that's what I'm kind of waiting for Olive to be available so that we can problem solve and do some planning around a task force um to address the opid settlement funds so I they haven't taken action but I thought that as a board of health um we could do a not necessarily a task force but um have a um is as a focus group to ask people in the community proactive be proactive and then just say you know what are people think people have been impacted by the Oba crisis um people that are in um health Mental Health Care here in the area or healthare here in the area might have some ideas so that we can at least be thinking about presenting some of that to the select board so I mean I I want to do it with olive because she to me is the expert in this particular area um and so but I'm waiting for her to be freed up from some of the other responsibilities she has before I approach her you can definitely approach her and and ask but I would just and you know as far as uh getting stuff out to the community and asking them um we can send things out by mail some kind of Survey Monkey or something like that to get some kind of response um to whatever questions you want to ask but that's why I want to meet with her to what what questions do we specifically want to um get feedback from the community and then there are a couple of people who are interested I have names of two people when we did the um presentation in May for mental health awareness month two people approached me at the end of the presentation and said if there was any kind of task force um um any kind of organization around making decisions or making recommendations that they wanted to be involved so I have two people's names and phone numbers to contact and I'd like to be able to contact them at some point to say this is what we're working on and we will contact you a date need so yeah feel free to get one of any time and schedule something I just like you decided to allude to is I'm not sure we're going to get access to any of that those funds so no but the Board of Health can make recommendations to that's right and I and I was clear about that the last meeting that it's for us to make recommendations that they to the select board that it's not our decision um but we can certainly um address this the proper use for the most effective use of the funds that will impact the Greater Community and and um and I think that there's you know that as a board of health we can take some leadership on that especially with um uh some of the public health concerns I mean we provide in the in the nursing office we have um Nan available um that there are some initiatives Olive is trying to get these stations she'd like to have stations set up around town with a n can so so I think that there's other stuff that we can take a lead on doesn't mean that we are going to make the decision about the money that's available and what money will in the future be available but that we can at least be a leader and you know present what our concerns are the concerns of the community I will disagree so anytime you R all yeah sure was busy with the year end report no I and heard that M that you know there were other things that you wanted to focus on and um I don't know that there's a rush on this but I certainly like would like to be proactive about this and be able to present before the select board and once you're organized go to the select board get on the agenda and say here's what we presenting to you for um for you to use in your decision making process of how cons are going I'm trying to be as diplomatic and um as possible with it but I just think people in the community really need to have a say yeah I agree and thank you for taking the lead on um and thanks for that column um I think um um I'm working on the barrial project but um which may come back to the board have the but um the other thing is um probably the August column would make sense that will be on the new um layout at the transfer station to get people acclimated to um this scout bottle and can redemption center moving down to lot three and the bike recycling moving and so on so you know have some signage anyway it would be nice if we could sort of assess interest in the composting composting at the same time um because that's part of the issue is that it's a nice idea but how many people really are going to participate think that that's um good idea to add to transfer station especially with transfer station right now we're not um manned um completely the way we would like it to be right so but I think that it would be maybe a good way to introduce that as a option and get feedback from and there are other um you know we have to work on updating the regulations because there's updated standards around what's recyclable and what can on the trash and things like that that's not on our agenda for Wednesday though right cuz we have a yeah no no um I'm just saying that that's a future column that I'll work on for August um and I know go had talked about doing microplastics um I'm not sure if there was one on Pas do but um do we have something on P just been reading so much about it seen or heard um written about um okay um our next uh we uh so we our first hearing is at 4:40 p.m. 4:30 must canel out um so we have a few minutes um we have a a working meeting on Wednesday um at 9:00 a.m and then our next regular meeting is August 5th um the working meeting topics will be um the proposed tight tank regulation and um sort of working on it getting started on well regulation um we have some components on like um in existing regulations but no comprehensive regulation and water quality drinking water quality is sort of becoming a more um you know it's raising its profile as a concern and make sure that doing the best we can to protect drinking water quality and have some good standards on that so that's uh Wednesday morning and that'll be here yeah this one um do we have any topics for the next regular meeting I don't think it's for the next regular meeting so one after we go to address the Le Day holiday because it falls on the Monday of our meeting so that's I think I have that on the agenda for the 19th to this house okay um we are also planning to go I believe to the select for getting approval to post and is this an animal control officer position on their next meeting which will be the next night August 5th uh not tonight yeah no I mean um August which will be the that's the same is our meeting so we'll have to keep that meeting so on time although the last time we did that we waited about 2 hours to get to um okay and then what's Phil was working on he's he's working on that task force or it's not a task Hazard mitigation Hazard mitigation yeah anything new on the climate resilience no but I'm thinking one of the shine things was you know dis um hurricane preparedness but um no there's they did have a meeting um last week and the focus on the meeting part of the focus was on the historic areas um and uh finding ways to mitigate damage on the they really look like they focused on point but as far as for us on the health now there's really nothing there's nothing new okay um well why don't we um while we're waiting we can vote to um continue the variance hearing for Greg Nicholas for 25 Elwood app this is for an edwarda a three B Repair with an infl rate quit four on an 8,750 ft lot um that should be contined to August 5th do we have a time um uh I'll just it's not a continuance because he canel it okay so um uh so I don't have a time yet I I I don't I'll have you I'll let him know and then I'll email the board it'll be on the next agenda okay so there's no motion or anything well I mean it's noticed as a hearing for today so I think we do need to vote to continue okay he canceled it so um if you want I would say um I'll have to email the board continue to August 5th with a time to be determined somewhere between 4:30 and 5 it's just contingent on whether or not the water test come back in that amount of time and yeah um just have to wait and see okay but for is there interested parties that can check with the office um so some moved second all in favor that's all right just waiting for Mr our anything else I only have five minutes so it wouldn't be enough time no you have 10 minutes that SL um I just there you know a lot going on we're still wrapping up year end um I'm working on some reports um for the transfer station to just you know this this year I'll just say um briefly that was the best year of all the years that I've been here in terms of direct Revenue so yes uh it's just that's how busy it's getting over there and we need to start thinking of a long-term maybe even a short-term solution of expansion and how we're going to deal with that and what that might look like so I started to to think about it and you know where we would push things out and how we would set them up so it would be easy access for the public um to get to these extra containers what's our understanding of why there's such an increase curbside pick up is just well one the prices has gone through the group two I've heard today that two of the big large CS I pick up companies and no long you're accepting new customers um so that's a problem and um those I think are the biggest factors in I and I think three we you can get rid of a lot of things at the transfer station that you can't on curbside pickup and for some some of the things that you can get rid of on curbside pickup the price is like quadruple the W charge um so you know makes sense to to use trans station financially I think in a lot of situations do me do we have know what the number of people is and how it's grown like what it was last year versus last year I don't I do but I I I do but I would it's part of the report I haven't completed the report yet so you'll see that and I'll I can show the increase in dollar and Cent but I also show the number sticker uses from FY 23 to 24 just think that's information we'll set up a specific time to have you do you know sort of a su report from General Public yeah and um a lot of it I have to I'm going the stand still a little bit because the I don't I didn't have a chance to talk to the town count today but I don't think all the expenditures are posted yet um to the the year and expenditure reports because I need that report to balance out what we actually spent on Direct expenses in f 24 um I can balance it off Nancy keeps a really good uh running sheet of our expenses but I really would like to make sure it that our internal sheet uh coincides with the to account sheet okay well I was glad to also hear that the um the move of the bicy tell Scout the scouts are you know that sort of looks like that's a place to expand everything that be a place to expand composting well that's a possibility um the way it's set up in Little Compton the compost food composting is right next to the trash because people typically you have those little biodegradable bags um but if we're short on Space you were talking about possibly need container right I was thinking specifically so with a cndd dumpster is you drive down stop to go down and you throw things over the wall into the construction the bre dump Stu just very uh preliminary in my mind I'm thinking about I can probably put two or three dumpsters but turn them so they stick going out this way and you know people can get out there we can have another trash dumpster we can have another uh plastic dumpster and you know CMD dumpster all in that row it it's convenient and easy for the people to just be able to toss the whatever it is into a dumpster over a wall versus climbing up the ladder and putting it in the dumpster so um that's one possibility the composting area is is difficult to put anything in because it gets super muddy and people really when it gets really muddy you have a hard time getting it out of there so we would have to do some substantial upgrade to that area to um make it functional for people to go in and out down a daily basis a concern I would have with the the dumpsters stack the other direction is that people you know will'll put dump the plastic in the you know they they miss and they'll dump it in the m maybe it's just two dumpsters and B wall between yeah or something like that we could do that's again it's easy enough to do just MoneyWise is the issue um but anyways I need more time to think about process it and come up with a plan to present to you guys so figure out what we would do okay Mr Potter we're not going to keep you waiting because we're waiting for you here and this there are no um this right you yeah three Bs okay I have not get the green cards back on July 13 you expected anybody to come in okay okay well we'll go ahead and start if we need to Circle back because somebody get joins but we're ready to move on and um so let me call the let me call call a um 440 PM variance hearing this is um uh it's actually a local upgrade approv um this is len Potter for representing um paline Rosa at 95 Sylvia's Lane this is a two with an in infiltrator to four on 8,750 Ft blocks 10,000 okay it might be those it is okay here for this is a lot down on the lower Road at Penny's Heights and um the river is 82 feet away from the front of the house currently there's a cesspool located as you can see right off the southwest corner of the of the of the lock and in is to take and pick up the pursu pl from the house bring it across the front of the house into a 2,000g two compartment tank and then pump this effluent up the hill to the leeching area the quick FL system which is um just 20 ft from the side of the pools it has to be 10 ft from the property line property line is stti out so that was a good thing then I have three Wells I had the owners four Wells I the own as well that's proposed to be 51 ft from the proposed Beach Field I have 99 so as Lane and that's going to be 56 then I have 81 B syia Lane and that's 52 ft from theing field that one's up here a little bit the existing W 81 a so is Lane is 72 ft from the Le field those two Wells are uphill the water tests were taken and I have the results for 99 95 or and from 72 I'm sorry 81a so 81b the the lady passed away that now belongs to the Two Sisters one's in marij I believe and one's in Texas and no one's been in the house but Mrs Rosa said that if she talk to them but the house is closed so we're not using water yeah so I can't get in the house but the three well that were tested tested with L nitrates that's the key so the variances that we're asking for is the proposed subject tank is less than 10 ft from AC cross Bas and trying to keep it 10 ft from the property line um and the distance is 25 ft the proposed system is less than 100 ft from the own well and the three abing Wells which I've already mentioned and that's pretty much it system itself the virtually is probably 82 ft away from the river the the new leing field is going to be up approximately to it's going to be 46 it's probably going to be somewhere around 95 ft or so or more than that 82 toward the 70 15 ft from the road that's pretty much all I have to offer definely an improvement of course being right next to the river I would in an ideal world like d night but um you have uh with a maximum feasible compliance you um The Well test results um don't indicate any level of concern because they're all below five um so I'm sorry jump the gun I should turn first to M report is the entire the entire properties in the velocity Zone blood Zone velocity zone is let me see I can see the ve Zone down here um elevation 16 but going this way so up here and it's just within the riverfront area but it doesn't look like it's in a at least I can't see on here where it be in the foot no it's it's not it's the system itself is not there there's the flood zone be16 yeah which is right at the rear of the main portion of the so we're not in the velocity the tank's in the velocity yeah yeah so we need that wayer to leave the tank in the ground as opposed to raising it up to 16 ft other than that though everything it's the best they can be done so okay questions no I don't have any I was just um wanted to see the other notifications to make sure that the other were notified problem you have this time of year these these the summer cottages and the people I mail them to the addresses that The accessors Have and they're not there I just got two back for attic Avenue we did like meetings ago can do okay legal obligation is fulfilled that's right all right so I move that we approve the plans for 95 C Lane own by Pauline Rosa dated 6524 um with the following variances as I should say variances as written in the plan but for tank set back to the crawl space of less than 10 ft the proposed is five uh well um distance is less than 100 ft uh 99 C Lane is 56 ft 81 a is 72 ft 81b is 52 ft and 95 Sil Lane is 51 ft um and that uh to place the tank in the flood zone um and the following conditions two bedroom deep restriction hold harmless uh concom review and 3 years of water testing from for the four lots a second uh all in favor I you I set thank you Mr thank [Music] you next time ni how was the Fair very nice okay very nice I didn't get any complaints well that's a good thing well you know we live directly across the river from the fair we used to hear it all the time but I think the vegetation has grown up so much and you maybe don't go so late we don't go as late yeah so we try to put the chir tractors on we know great thank you wonder after years you hope you hope you do it's perfect okay I would take okay so being there no further business I hope that we adjourn this meeting at 4:47 p.m. second all in favor hi I unanimous thank you thank you John thank you for