Board of Health Meeting

Monday, June 9, 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: Daniel Sheff, Member, at 5:00 PM
• Present: Hanna Sherman, Member, at 5:00 PM
• Present: Regina McNeely, Member, at 5:00 PM

Also Present:

• Laurie Lucier

See original Agenda Final Minutes

Meeting opened: 5:00 PM

Meeting closed: 6:05 PM

0. Meeting Preliminaries

   • Meeting Opened / Attendance Taken (see above).

   • Minutes Approved: Mon, May 12 - Board of Health Meeting

1. Mail and invoices

   • General Discussion...
     Two Title V Inspection Reports
     16 Sludge Transport Tickets
     Magazines - Noodle Soup, Healthy Communities, and Redefining Receivership

2. FRCOG inspections / report

   • General Discussion...
     Neither Randy or Kurt present
     
     Two permits issued - one d-box replacement and one for the Conway Swimming Pool

3. Meetings / Trainings attended by board members

   • General Discussion...
     Kat - DPH meeting / CPHS meeting
     Gina - Maphco document submittals (large surveys) / Battery storage educational meeting
     Daniel - CPHS meeting
     

4. CPHS Oversight Board meeting update

   • General Discussion...
     CPHS Oversight Board report
     Tasks to follow up on the report at our last meeting
     
     Battery storage facility
     We want to know if anyone approaches the Planning Board or the Zoning Board about a battery storage facility. BOH could add safeguards. This can be an opportunity for the town to put up safeguards. If this happens, the process will require updated bylaws and town meeting - we will hear about it this way.
     We also want to know and document what water resources are available within 20 min of Conway. Given the size of Conway, we anticipate the response will depend on the site of the fire and the proximity to a river or other water source. There is no one response to this.
     Will ask CPHS for guidance.
     Also, BOH could add a reg for minimum gal/min that must be available at the site, at a specified pressure
     
     Oct 23 annual meeting
     Reach out and invite Selectboard, town admin
     Kat will invite all of them
     
     Foundational Public Health Services survey
     A detailed national survey done on how well boards of health are prepared for what they should be able to do. MA is gathering data from every town in the state. Phoebe completed this for us - huge task
     
     Will likely show that local towns DON’T do these tasks well. These standards and competencies are designed for large metropolitan BOH - Chicago, NYC - not small towns
     Also MA is organized with multiple small boards of health, so towns do not have the resources to do all the tasks and we share them regionally.
     Strategically, the survey results may be useful to us as a basis to urge the state to adequately fund our BOH and regional work. It is estimated we would need $50M to do what is asked - current budget is $9M, and state likely won’t fund all this
     Phoebe suggested we write our state rep
     I emailed her today to ask if it's both our state rep and senator we should write to and to ask if she had any suggested language. Also would we contact our reps as BOH individuals? As a Board? As a larger initiative with town residents?

5. Health and wellness report

   • General Discussion...
     Respiratory illnesses are low, 8.8% of ED visits - we’re in a sweet spot of low exposure between the cold and hot weather where people are outdoors and have windows open.
     No norovirus data updates posted.
     No tick-borne illnesses data updates posted.
     Arbovirus surveillance begins this month. No data reported yet. Conway is currently remote risk for EEE and low risk for WNE.
     
     MDPH Summer Safety Guidance (https://mailchi.mp/eabcd60b22fe/olrhbulletin-6-4-25?e=0660760251)

6. Body Art regulations - final signatures

   • General Discussion...
     Three copies of the final Body Art Regulations were signed by the Board. These will be on file in the office and available for copies upon request.

8. Clerk update

   • General Discussion...
     Only a mention to members of the board to make sure they are using the BOH email to contact me regarding BOH business. This is to avoid the Town Clerk email becoming subject to any public records request that involved electronic communications.

9. Unanticipated items of concern that arises after posting

10. Public comments

    • General Discussion...
      None

11. Meeting Wrap-up

    • Next Meetings:
      1. Mon, Jun 23, at 5:00 PM "Board of Health Meeting" -- Town Hall Office Meeting Space
      2. Mon, Jul 14, at 5:00 PM "Board of Health Meeting" -- Town Hall Office Meeting Space
      3. Mon, Jul 28, 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 approved on Monday, Jun 30, 2025