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  • Town of Conway Massachusetts
  • 32 Main Street
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Board of Health Meeting

Monday, April 14, 2025, 5:00 pm until 6:00 pm
Town Hall Office Meeting Space
A meeting of the Board of Health

Meeting of Board of Health

Members: (Quorum)

  • Present: Kathy Llamas, Chair, at 5:00 PM
  • Present: Emily Sweet, Member, at 5:00 PM
  • Present: Regina McNeely, Member, at 5:00 PM
  • Remote: Daniel Sheff, Member, at 5:00 PM
  • Remote: Hanna Sherman, Member, at 5:00 PM

Also Present:

  • Kurt Schellenberg
  • Laurie Lucier

See original Agenda Final Minutes

Meeting opened: 5:00 PM

Meeting closed: 7:00 PM

  1. Meeting Preliminaries

  2. Mail and invoices

    • General Discussion...
      - Letter from Keith Morris, Environmental Consultant re the 2025 Vegetation Management Plan for the Railways
      - 6 system pumping reports

  3. FRCOG inspections / report

    • General Discussion...
      - Three persons paid for to attend the MAHB Conference 4/26
      - Battery storage facilities-coming to a town near you? Fire safety? Water? Air quality? Info session May 13th. Model regulations?

  4. Meetings / Trainings attended by board members

    • General Discussion...
      Hanna - Dementia friendly workshop / conversation with FRCOG regarding where we are on locations for Narcan boxes and future use of opioid funds

  5. CPHS Oversight Board meeting update

    • General Discussion...
      Mosquito control letter - urging the state to fund testing/membership for small towns
      We have the letter written by ?town - copy we could send to the state from Town of Conway
      Sample letter to Veronique - Daniel to send letter to Kat
      The money was apparently allocated, though Conway has not yet signed up - Kat will ask Veronique about signing up

      • Vaccine planning
      Doing home visits, clinics - developing a PR program about vaccines
      DPH mobile vaccine program - COVID and flu. Should we look into this? Provides vaccinations for MA residents at no cost. No identification or insurance is required. Useful for large groups and hard-to-reach individuals. Hosting toolkit if we proceed
      Daniel to ask Lisa W if Conway is adequately served for vaccinations or if we should look into hosting this
      Add to Festival of the Hills? - early Oct - a little early

      Measles - vaccinated adults do not need booster
      those born 1957-68 should check w MD, consider one dose MMR

      Regulations update
      • Battery Energy Storage Systems - Kurt already reported from FRCOG this meeting
      FRCOG generating reg recommendations we can use, based on Wendell’s
      Moved from being a bylaw, subject to review by AG
      to a BOH regulation - not yet challenged

      • Review of Employment of Outside Consultants existing/proposed regulations
      If we don’t have expertise, allows you to hire guidance at applicant’s cost
      • Body Art
      • Cannabis
      On hold during public comment period - then months later will generate guidelines
      • Local Septic Conway, Ashfield
      • Tobacco Conway, Erving, Northfield?

      FRCOG - some federal funding has been cut
      Maureen’s position and some other - was to end 9 mo into next year, now cut now. Can absorb that if no other cuts come through
      Diversifying funding sources - not federal
      Gov Healy, and DPH commissioner letters - we are in good hands w their leadership. Cut could be reversed, AG is filing multiple lawsuits

      MAHB conference highly recommended - Apr 26th, last Sat of the month
      We are in FRCOG PHE - FRCOG will pay for it
      Good learning - link is in email

      Possible FRCOG Annual Meeting
      None since pre-COVID, usu Sept-Oct
      Selectboards, EMDs, librarians
      45 min program, then evening program for a few hours
      Ideas? FRCOG will chose summertime

  6. Health and wellness report

    • General Discussion...
      DPH webinar 04.01.25 slides:
      Measles (slides 13-27)
      Currently in closeby states: New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont
      Sandwich board: Measles- Be prepared - Check vaccine/immunity status
      Extreme Heat (slides 28-73)
      Number of days over 90 degrees is increasing
      Increased risk of heat-related illnesses
      As of May 1, MA DPH will begin a statewide “Unhealthy Heat” alert system
      Heat equal to or greater than 85 degrees for three consecutive days
      Individual and community actions to take during Unhealthy Heat time (slides 58-72)
      Could review together and decide what to recommend or implement for Conway
      Could coordinate with Emergency Management Dept and Public Safety Officers
      Schools too - disseminate info through the schools
      Will put on agenda for a May BOH meeting

      Respiratory illnesses
      MA-DPH says:
      COVID - rates down to baseline/low - and anecdotally a friend just came down with it
      Updated COVID vaccine schedule
      Flu - nationwide, officially over, back to low/baseline
      still falling in the NE, almost at lowest levels
      25,000 deaths in US, 188 children - similar to prior years
      Flu vaccination rates have dropped steadily since the pandemic—
      and this year, they were among the lowest we’ve seen.
      RSV has been and remains low

      Norovirus - national pooled data
      Via CDC - still very interrupted - a few more weeks are uploaded - how reliable?
      Last update since Feb 27, 2025
      peaked in mid Jan, at 19x baseline levels
      Was falling then, but still well above the highest levels of recent years
      Most cases are from food outbreaks and household spread,
      Also 10 cruise ship outbreaks so far in 2025.
      Unfortunately, the new administration fired the full-time CDC cruise ship inspectors
      for norovirus. The team was in the middle of responding to two outbreaks when
      they were let go.

      EEE/WNV risk -
      Still “Remote” in Conway - but already “Low” in Ashfield, Shelburne and Buckland
      Pockets of “Moderate” risk in eastern MA
      Mosquito season about to pick up

      Lyme
      Ticks are now year-round
      Rates still low, season is picking up
      Conway Currents next topic

      Measles
      Continues to climb at the same rate - now up to 739 cases across multiple states
      One additional recent death - total of 4 now
      RFK Jr promoting Vitamin A - now ERs are seeing cases of Vit A liver toxicity
      Also an RFK Jr.-promoted doctor was reportedly treating patients while actively infected w.
      Info about measles from FRCOG

  7. Body Art regulations

    • General Discussion...
      Reviewed new draft of regulations, minor changes made. Gina will make edits and forward to Laurie for final editing so Board can vote on them at next meeting.

      Focusing on tattoo regulations now and will add in other body art/modification at a later date.

      MOTION, moved by Emily Sweet, seconded by Kathy Llamas: To add semi-permanent to regs as seen on page 3.

      Pass: Aye: Emily Sweet, Kathy Llamas, Hanna Sherman, Regina McNeely, Daniel Sheff.

  8. Tobacco regulations

    • General Discussion...
      Discussion of suggested updates/changes to regulations by FRCOG. Kathy recused herself from all discussions and voting.

      MOTION, moved by Emily Sweet, seconded by Hanna Sherman: To accept all updates/changes suggested by FRCOG.

      Pass: Aye: Emily Sweet, Hanna Sherman, Regina McNeely, Daniel Sheff. Abstain: Kathy Llamas.

  9. MDAR and geese mitigation

    • General Discussion...
      Emily will reach out to MDAR for suggestions and/or assistance in removing/deterring the geese from the Conway Swimming Pool area.

  10. Farm to School Program - community based learning

    • General Discussion...
      Can we use the raised gardens at the school as an educational tool for all residents over the Summer? Nutritional information and gardening skills?

  11. BOH at the Spring Fling on May 5th

    • General Discussion...
      The BOH will set up a table at the Spring Fling with items such as: tick twisters, tick educational brochures, tick/mosquitos pamphlets, and buggy bands with a disclosure that they are not CDC approved, the board is not backing this product, effectiveness varies, and they should not ever replace other repellant methods.

  12. Clerk update

    • General Discussion...
      Information included in member packets on littering for future discussion.

  13. Unanticipated items of concern that arises after posting

    • General Discussion...
      None

  14. Public comments

    • General Discussion...
      None

  15. Meeting Wrap-up

The listing of matters is those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.

Minutes prepared by Laurie Lucier

Minutes approved on Tuesday, Apr 29, 2025