Board of Health Meeting

Monday, May 12, 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:

• Randy Crochier
• Laurie Lucier

See original Agenda Draft Minutes * * *

Meeting opened: 5:00 PM

Meeting closed: 5:40 PM

0. Meeting Preliminaries

   • Meeting Opened / Attendance Taken (see above).

   • Minutes Approved: Mon, Apr 28 - Board of Health Meeting

1. Mail and invoices

   • General Discussion...
     3 sludge transport tickets

2. FRCOG inspections / report

   • General Discussion...
     8 open applications for septic / title V
     2 title V's completed
     Randy will email the Conway Swimming Pool re their water testing lab entering results directly into the DPH portal
     
     Annual meeting for CPHS will be October 23. Local delegates to be invited as presenters. Selectboards, Animal Control Officers, Agricultural Inspectors, and Animal Inspectors will be invited along with local Boards of Health

3. Meetings / Trainings attended by board members

   • General Discussion...
     Kat - Spring Fling / Maphco meeting
     Emily - Spring Fling
     Gina - Maphco meeting
     Daniel - Maphco meeting
     Hanna - Maphco meeting
     Laurie - Spring Fling

4. CPHS Oversight Board meeting update

   • General Discussion...
     Nursing update:
     Will offer flu and COVID vax this fall, have stable funding/insurance payments
     State mobile vax clinics are federally funded - may not be active under RFK Jr
     Not clear what will happen yet
     Nurses continue to focus on reaching people who cannot otherwise get vax
     Also will offer vax’s during regular nursing hours
     
     Emergency planning considerations for Battery Energy Storage:
     Need - a good storage strategy for solar, hydro energy
     Problem - with a spark, can create thermal runaway - no one knows how to put it out
     Burns so hot - 1100F - that water evaporates before it gets to the fire
     Concerns - we don't have enough water/trucks to provide what is needed, smoke damage from the fires
     contaminated water into aquifer/well - does everyone in the area of a fire then have to sell/move?
     Towns and private landowners are already being approached about battery storage
     Questions
     Does town have the capacity to fight, mechanisms to train the fighters, enough personnel,
     equipment?
     What happens if storage facility is decommissioned, has a change of ownership,
     company may split off sections to protect
     Potential sabotage
     These are not direct pub health concerns, but adjacent concerns
     5/13 - CPHS hosting expert from Nat’l Fire Protection Assoc
     
     What we can do -
     Climate law coming into effect 2026 - Dept of Energy Resources, to create guidelines
     Time to get our concerns heard is now
     Permitting - large utility size by the state; smaller by municipalities -
     What is designed in Boston is not likely to work in small towns here
     Know if Planning Board, Zoning Board are approached for a facility,
     BOH could add safeguards -
     may be the only place for town to put up safeguards
     What water resources are within 20 min of Conway - fire chief knows
     Communicate this to the state in listening sessions - CPHS will let us know when these are
     We can regulate things under our control - noise regs
     Next spring rules will be out - we can/should go to zoning board, select board
     Health agents will go with us
     BOH will think to ask questions that other boards will not
     
     Health Agent Updates:
     Conway camp will not operate this year - unfortunate, was unique
     Each requires 23 documents re plans - reviewed by FRCOG, then site visit inspection
     Title V for towns picking up - booking early June now, typical for spring market (now booking July)
     
     CPHS Annual Meeting:
     Oct 23 evening - Avian Flu, esp as it relates to backyard chickens
     We are all invited
     Selectboards, town admin, animal control, others will be invited
     Speaker, dinner, cash bar - location TBD
     Reach out and invite them as well
     
     Foundational Public Health Services:
     Detailed national survey - standards for competencies - what a BOH should be able to do
     National test to assess how far are we from these competencies
     Designed for large metropolitan BOH, not small towns
     Gathering data from every town in the state
     Will likely show that local towns DON’T do tasks well - in MA these tasks are shared regionally
     May be useful to urge funding from the state - would need $50M - current budget is $9M
     they likely won’t fund all this
     Write state rep, thank them for assuring there is money in the budget for local BOH
     
     FY25 Budget Report:
     Anticipate underspending money we have, left for next year - preparing as not sure what may be coming
     
     To Do’s:
     Know if Planning Board, Zoning Board are approached for a battery storage facility
     What water resources are available within 20 min of Conway? Fire chief knows
     Reach out and invite Selectboard, town admin to Oct 23 annual meeting
     Write state rep, thank them for assuring there is money in the budget for local BOH to do our job
     Will add these to the next agenda

5. Health and wellness report

   • General Discussion...
     Respiratory illnesses: For the past week, respiratory illnesses were 8.6% of all ED visits in MA. Of those that were identified, 0.4% COVID, 0.4% influenza, no RSV.
     Norovirus: CDC data hasn't been updated since mid April.
     Arbovirus (EEE/WNV): MA monitors mosquitoes from June-October.
     Tick-borne diseases: Last report from March, which was still low from winter. Expect the highest disease burden to be June-August if it follows past patterns.
     Measles: Currently there are 1,001 cases in the US in 31 states. The states with known confirmed cases that are closest to MA are unchanged: VT, RI, NY, NJ. No cases have been reported in MA as of yet.

6. Tobacco hearing overview and final vote on regs

   • MOTION, moved by Emily Sweet, seconded by Hanna Sherman: to accept the tobacco regulations as written and discussed at the May 7th public hearing.

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

7. Spring Fling overview

   • General Discussion...
     Great turnout
     BOH table had information on ticks, mosquitos and measles available
     Handouts - tick twisters, buggy bands, and tick identification cards

8. Clerk update

   • General Discussion...
     Stipends for the second half of the fiscal year have been submitted
     Mileage for FY25 has been submitted

9. Unanticipated items of concern that arises after posting

   • General Discussion...
     Next topic for the Conway Currents - rabies and measles

10. Public comments

    • General Discussion...
      None

11. Meeting Wrap-up

    • Next Meetings:
      1. Mon, May 26, at 5:00 PM "Board of Health Meeting" -- CANCELLED -- Town Hall Office Meeting Space
      2. Mon, Jun 9, at 5:00 PM "Board of Health Meeting" -- Town Hall Office Meeting Space
      3. Mon, Jun 23, at 5:00 PM "Board of Health Meeting" -- Town Hall Office Meeting Space

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