--------- Okay, you're recording. Thank you for coming again, Lauren. Thank you for having me. Very nice to be back. >> All right. Um, so we're moving on to our second interview with Lauren Saunders, who's one of our other candidates um for
final round interviews for the director position. Um, if you just want to tell us about your interest in the role and um I guess kind of decisions of coming back to talk about it more. >> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I definitely want to start by, you know, dressing the
elephant in the room, right? Um, so as you all know, you know, I left the job previously and I declined. Um, I in the past couple months, you know, a major reason for that was financial, right? In the past couple months, I've had just a a massive shift kind of in my priorities
and my perspective on some things. Um, while of course everyone knows compensation is important, I am choosing um to kind of put that a little lower on my priority list. Um, and just really follow my gut and my heart, which has led me back here in front of you guys
today. So, I do appreciate you, you know, having me back. Um, I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be. I've had a lot of time to kind of reflect and think and um I still question whether leaving you know 3 years ago was like the biggest mistake I
ever made you know so um I just felt like I owed myself to explore different things um but I just keep coming back to this is kind of where I feel like I want to be um for many reasons.
Um, and if you were to return to the role, I know you talked a little bit about this before, but we'll probably go through some similar questions, but you could just tell us more about, I guess, how you would approach kind of resuming the role since you've been in it in the past and what your priorities would be
at the beginning. >> Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah, I've been out of it for like three years. You know, I've been doing some similar things, you know, some things that would translate back into here, but definitely just getting back up to speed. Um, honestly, I've kept in contact with many people from the city and the department even
though I've been gone. Um, so I still I feel like I have some ties still, but yeah, just getting back to speed. I mean, obviously it's like, you know, riding a bike like you kind you might you don't really ever forget. You just get back on and kind of resume. So, bringing everything back into compliance cuz I have some licenses that are just
kind of on hold. I just need to do some CU. So, my first quarter of business would just be tackle everything, get everything back up and running. um for familiarize myself with the budget. I'm sure it's very different than it was, you know, three years ago. Um and just kind of get up to speed, talk to
everybody. Um obviously some of the team I know I know very well and some of the team I've never met. Um so just kind of introducing myself, seeing what's going on, and brushing the dust off. >> What things are you feeling excited to
get back to doing? like are there particular things projects that are your favorite? >> Definitely. Um I really miss like the food. I missed the housing. I miss I I really enjoyed I know it's going to sound weird, but I really enjoyed working with hoarders. Um like I felt
like I actually there was a case years and years ago. I want to say it was like my first year here. Um I still pledge base with him. I still check in with her. I still you know she doesn't really have anybody. Um and she's still like super important. you know, you know, she she'll call me and just say, "How are
you?" and we'll just talk and it it's nice. So, I still talk to her once every few months or so. Um, and it like means the world to her. So, like just stuff like that. Super rewarding. Um, I definitely would love to put like a hoarding task force in place. That's something I think I talked about before. Um, maybe getting, you know, getting the
different agencies involved. So somebody mental health or social services build somebody from building department someone from fire department maybe council on aging if appropriate you know if it's an elderly person um animal control is sometimes very necessary in cases like that. So I would love to kind
of have that um courting task force like kind of up and running. I think the closest one to us is like Worcester. So they they do exist in the state of Massachusetts. It's just not not any close by. Um, and it's a very real, scary thing, hoarding, and it's
something a lot of people hide very well, but when it gets brought to light, they need a lot of help. Um, so that's something I want to focus on. I've also thought too about we have the opportunity to go into these people's houses a lot, um, and see kind of where they're at and um, I think like really
beefing up like our rolodex, if you will, of like social service agencies and mental health professionals. So, when we are in that situation, people are very vulnerable sometimes. they, you know, they don't really know where to go or to turn for help. I think having that we have the ability to kind of meet them where they're at and kind of see what
they might need. You know, whether or not they want our help is is one thing, you know, but just like having, like I said, just kind of beefing up what we have to offer, I think, would be really good. And just doing more community type outreach, if you will. >> And you touched on it a little with the
initial question. I but I guess I just wanted to ask how you've been keeping up in the health field while you've been away. If you've been doing anything specific or just kind of keeping tabs on what what's been going on? >> Yeah, just kind of keeping tabs. I mean, I definitely I stayed involved with um
GCAT, so like the prevention, so Garner Community Action Team like Veronica, like I was always like when I was in the health director position, I was like in a leadership role. Um you know, I've stayed involved there. I've helped her with National Night Out, things like that. Um, so in that aspect, yes. Um,
you know, I go visit the guys at the dump and you know, I still, you know, I'm friendly with DPW and, you know, I really just kept in contact, kept a breast. I mean, I talked to Angela all the time, you know, so she would even when she was on vacation for two weeks,
uh, she asked if Eric could call me if there was any emergency just to like bounce something off of me if there was an issue. And there was an issue, of course. So, I was out at an appointment and he called. I'm like, "Oh, no, no, I can talk right now. I have a minute." And um, you know, I just kind of gave him a couple tips like, "Go, you know, make sure you check the water, make
sure, you know, the subway has water and they're washing your hands." And he's like, "Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I didn't think of that." So, you know, so we didn't have to bother Angela. I mean, free advice, right? So, >> um, and do you have any specifics, I guess, from what you have been keeping
tabs on within the department that you would be looking to sort of jump into quickly to begin tackling or trying to approve or just any, I guess, concerns that you know of or from when you were in the role previously that are still outstanding?
>> Yeah, I think that there's still always, you know, um, the landfill the cap landfill issues. Um, I know there's still spots of erosion that I think they put a band-aid on and it didn't really fix. There's like a pond down there. So, we have to come up with a permanent solution there. Um, and I know they're
working on replacing the pumps. Um, you know, things like that. But, yeah, to really dial in on those things, I'd have to like really just go down there and and put my eyes on everything and kind of see what's going on. Um, obviously like I know there's like the new safe 2.0 like Massachusetts like public
health initiative. Um, and one of the big pushes there is just like making sure everyone in the department is like up to date with CUS and continuing education. So, I think that's really important. Like I I do have my IRS. Thank god it was super challenging. But like if anyone in the department wanted to pursue that, I would want to be super
supportive of that and kind of help them with the process. Um, because it was it's not easy, you know. So, just really encouraging them to continue to if they know that this is the field um, you know, just continue to learn and grow. Um there's a great team down there, you
know. So, >> um any previous grant work or anything related, uh or budgeting that you could highlight from either your recent work experience or when you were in the position? >> Yeah, sure. Um obviously in the position, I worked on the budget for
four years. You know, I I figured it out. I managed it. I think I did well. Um nothing blew up. So, that's good. Um I in my current job, I help people. It's much smaller scale. I help people budget all the time, so I'm very comfortable with the budget. Um, grant work. Yeah,
absolutely. I used to work on drugree communities grants, so I had to help write all those. Um, and there were lots of different public health grants. I just remember drug for communities. Um, there's lots of acronyms when it comes to prevention and public health grants. So, um, I definitely have experience
with grant writing and and answering those questions and working with the team to to finish that process. For sure. the challenges. We talked about this last time, the challenges of working on weekends and and after hours sometimes
it doesn't come up often, but it could. Is that something that you >> Oh, yeah. Being on call. Yeah. I mean, um, you know, just like anyone I travel or I might be away for a night, you know, if that's the case, I make sure that the assistant is aware that I'm not
around. Um, but 95% of the time, I'm right here in Gardener. So, I mean, is it my favorite thing to be out on the weekend? No. But it happens. You know, it could happen once in a year or it could happen 10 times in a year. It's really hard to say, but it's not a problem.
>> Okay. And how does this job fit now with your overall like career trajectory? Do you see yourself staying 5 years or where you where do you see yourself going for this in 5 years? >> Yeah, I see myself staying. Yeah. So, you feel like at this point you're
pretty confident that your long-term goal is to be in this field and hopefully with the city of Gardener. >> Yeah. I'll be honest like I'm not going to I'm not the person that like I when I left here I went for a job where I was like on the road traveling all the time.
That is not for me. So like I don't want to go work in Boston. I will tell you right now that's never going to happen. Like I'm not going to like I love that this is my community. This is where I live. I it's a 5 minute commute, you know. Right now I have like a really old dog who's not doing so well. I can go home and let her out at lunchtime and
make sure she's still breathing, you know. Um it's just this is it's important. That's one of the things that I place on a top the top of my priority list is like working relatively close to home. You know, I would I don't really want to work more than 20 30 minutes from home. So this is like ideal. I
realize I miss this work. I love this work. Um I'm very comfortable here. you know, and it is a comfort zone thing, but I think there's things I can do here to still continue to push out of my comfort zone and learn, but at the end of the day, I am very comfortable here. And if I'm going to be doing public
health, I do see it here. Um, and I just keep coming back to this. Um, you know, not that I don't enjoy my current career, I just have a gut feeling that this is where I'm meant to be. But you feel like you're gravitating to the back
to the public health field that seems like a fit for you that you're >> comfortable is probably a long >> term. Absolutely. I mean, there's so much to public health. There's so many aspects of it. Like people have I have said this for years. Nobody has a clue. A lot of you guys do, but you know,
nobody has a clue what goes on public health. There's so many aspects to it. So if something's not my favorite, I there's something else that makes for up for it, you know, that I really enjoy. you know, no job is absolutely perfect, right? So, there are many things here that I enjoy. Um, and I just think about
like my quality of life and I've worked here and I just it wasn't bad, you know. Um, so I think I'd be very happy coming back. Um, and I guess any particular accomplishments that are worth
highlighting for you from your time and um, particular topics that you were really proud of. >> Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Um, well, my claim to fame is COVID 19. I was the public health director for about nine whole months when we had our first
global pandemic, which by the way was six years ago today. It was declared a global pandmic. It is now. Did you know that? Six years ago today. Isn't that a coincidence? Um, so I have to mention it, right? Um, so yeah, I think I was the director for about nine months and
you know, so green, you know, and oh yeah, there's a global pandemic. I mean, hopefully the only one I ever see. But um, that was challenging. Um, and while that was going on, I was actually in college courses getting my science credits because my undergrad was not
scienceheavy. So in order to sit for the RS, I had to do 30 semester hours of sciences. So while CO was going on, I was taking multiple classes each semester of sciences so I could get that RS. Um it was a very stressful time. There were long days. Um regulations
always changing coming down from the state, always different, something new every day, week. Um I worked very closely with like the HR department here. We were always revamping the new rules and the new regulations for staff and for you know being out of work and it was ch you know it was changing
constantly um working with other departments like different departments would call me police, fire question, you know I think I handled it well. It was I was still very new and it was very stressful but we we got through it. um the vaccine clinics, testing clinics. I
mean, I remember we had a testing like situation out here for free free testing and the traffic was backed up and everyone was complaining and I'm like, "Oh, next time we make it better, you know, it was a whole learning experience, you know." Um so, COVID 19, that was a feat, but I think I, you
know, maintained as best as possible and there was stress, but you know, I kept it kept it going. Um, and then obviously the tattoo rags was a huge feat of mine. I'll always lean on those. We were working on those during co I think they had pushed the back burner a few few
times, but revamping the tattoo rags. Um, you know, allowing people to come in and apprenticeship at the tattoo shop um, safely and appropriately. That wasn't something we really had before. Um, I think in the past we just had no apprenticeships. So, we really wanted to revamp those rigs. So, that we added
that the micro blading peas, you know, permanent makeup, those were never in there. Um, and that was something like every local health department was just on their own with, you know, there was no statemandated reg. So, that was that was a feat. Um, I remember working on
some litter regulations, which that's like near and dear to my heart. Like I'm on the board of Keep Massachusetts Beautiful. I very active with Keep Gardener Beautiful. Um, so that was something I was I really pushed is helping with the litter regulations. Um, and also in my tenure,
I was able to really advocate for that prevention position and we got the prevention coordinator hired and I think she's been like a huge asset to the department. Like she's the person primarily like out in the community um doing the social service events like working with all these agencies like
she's kind of and she represents the health department which is really nice and she's done a wonderful job at event planning and and just keeping everything going. So, I'd like to get more involved in kind of getting out there in front of the community as well. Um, cuz I enjoy that, but she's been a huge asset. So,
that was really big for the department. >> I I know you touched on it a little bit earlier when you were talking about like your return to the board and everything potentially. Um, but any big picture goals or items that you I know you need
to get reaclimated to what's going on in the city and everything, but is there anything you have a major point of concern or a a major goal or big picture item that you'd have in mind as director that you'd sort of want to go after once you're back into um
>> um no huge big massive project that's like screaming at me now. I think I would have to come back in and get acclimated and kind of see where maybe the holes are. Maybe there's where there's an opportunity for improvement. Um, no massive changes that I can think of. >> I know you talked about the landfill and
everything. >> Yeah, land's a big one. Talked about the hoarding hoarding task force. I would love to do that. Yeah. Um, >> yeah, just really getting back to speed and kind of seeing where what we need to do. Um, I know like the sledge and expansion got squashed, so that's a
relief, right? That was something that was like a big deal. Um I know like the land the the pumps all being out of order. Huge deal. Um but that's been worked on like you know the department's been done a really good job at you know doing the best and keeping it afloat in
time of turnover. So kudos to them. So I just yeah there's nothing glaring other than those couple things that I mentioned. >> And it's hard I mean you've done this exact job before. You did it well. And is there anything that you found um challenging, difficult that that you
would like to do differently or something that >> Yeah, I think um really dialing in on like SOPs, you know, like you know, standard operating procedures, having like a manual, having and I know Angela has done a lot of that, too. So, I think that's awesome. Um she's so organized
and she's so like on board like she's such like like she did all that open stuff like I that for me honestly I'm not like not a techie. I'm not going to lie. Like I can handle the basics and I can learn but she is like
beast when it comes to that stuff. Like kudos to her. So um you know fantastic fantastic. Um so open gov I know that there there's been some talks maybe switching to a different system other than open gov. So obviously if that happens we'd have to learn that and do standard operating procedures for that.
Um so just um I lost the question any particular challenging challenges or things that maybe you hope got better while >> I mean like the staff turnover is always I feel like kind of an issue and it's been really like challenging I think as
of late. Um so just really just trying to like work with the existing staff give them all the support that they they need to try to retain them. Um, you know, it it's it's not an easy job, right? So, um, just trying to keep everyone happy, keep every make sure everyone's heard, make sure we're all on
the same team. I'm a big like team person. Like, I like to do like the morning like I might institute like a morning meeting, whether it's a 15-minute check-in every day or if it's like twice a week or something. I feel like we we used to do that anyways. I'm a big processor, so I like to like if we have big problems going on, I like to
like talk about them, get the team input. Um, so maybe something like that. I think could be really helpful because everyone's like so busy doing their own stuff, but it's super important to like be on the same page. Um, you know, so I like the team input. I like getting feedback from everyone and ultimately at the end of the day, I don't like it all
falls on me, so I have no problem making like the big executive decisions, but I really do like making sure people feel heard and, you know, valued. >> And um, how would you plan to sort of start to get reconnected with some of our community resources and regional
resources and get up to I guess again in that way or is there anything you've done in the interim to stay in touch with some of those resources? >> Oh yeah, I definitely still have like really good relationships with I'm a gardener girl. You know, I've been here a bit. So I definitely have really good
relationships with a lot of those agencies. Um but basically just popping in and you know saying hi at the senior center, popping just letting people know that I'm back and here I am and you know what's going on? What what are we seeing for needs? like maybe doing some needs assessments in the community. Um, you
know, working with the Council on Aging. I think that'd be a good place to kind of get some data and maybe do needs assessments as far as like what gardener needs. Um, again, like getting, you know, becoming more active in GCAT, obviously doing, you know, getting back into the emergency preparedness. Um,
like I said, Veronica's done a really good job at like staying connected, but just, you know, she can let me know, yeah, I think this would be a really good, you know, event for you to attend or meeting. So, just kind of seeing what she's doing and tagging along. Um, but I think that would be a seamless transition to kind of get back in front
of a lot of those people. >> Anything else from you? >> Okay. >> Um, so just closing question. Uh, why do you think we should choose you? And then if you have any questions for us about the role. >> Okay. Um, why me? Oh, the million dollar
question. Um, so I've done the job. Um, you know, I was the assistant director for three years and then I got the director's position and I was there for four. Um, I think I did the job well. I am able to maintain a pretty stressfree work environment. This is a very
stressful job, but I really really I think one of my strong suits is I know how to manage that stress. Um, another strong suit of mine is my people skills. Um, you do meet people at some really, really hard times in their lives and being able to talk to people when
they're in that like these really high stress, high emotion um, times is so important. Um, you know, like I remember having to like evacuate like I condemned a building like the week before Christmas and there was like six kids and like it was so high stress and like
there was another staff person there. there was escalating and it's just you have to really meet people where they're at. You have to know how to talk to people. Um I'm really good at deescalation. Like I've been doing it my whole life. I've spent my 20s working in a prison. Like I started learning young,
you know, and I think that I have that skill. I know how to talk to people. I know how to talk to. I just, you know, you give me two minutes with a person and I know how that person needs to or wants to be spoken to. And I have that ability. I'm really like people is my gift. And in this job, you need to be
able to talk to people. Um, you need to be able to keep people calm. And that I have, I know that I have. Um, I also think that if you talk to any department head or, you know, fire, police, or whatever in the city, um, people that I've worked with, I really
do believe that they would all speak very favorably of our time working together, um, and the experiences that we had together. >> Thank you. And any questions for us at this point? >> Um, no. I mean, just what's the process
going to look like after this? Is there going to be another interview? Are you hoping to make a decision? >> Um, I would say I think we are hoping to make a decision. We're actually going to adjourn shortly into executive session to discuss more of my goals to hopefully uh have a decision from that and then
we'll have to follow up with HR. Um, but hopefully as soon as tomorrow if we're able to come to a decision today. Um, and we, you know, we interviewed you in the recent past, so I don't think we would need to do anymore, but we'll discuss that after during the executive
session and I'll try to keep you as informed as possible. >> Okay. Well, I really appreciate it. I know, you know, like I said, the elephant in the room, but here I am. I'm back. Um, hopefully my answers were more favorable um this time. You know, I
really do feel like this is where I need to be. So, thank you for considering our family. >> All right. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> No, it's stressful. >> We're eager to get this done. >> I bet you are.
>> All right. Thanks, guys. Have a good night. >> See you soon. Um, and make a motion to adjourn to session. >> So, move. >> All in favor? Part: 2
Where are we going? Okay, this is the Gardner Board of Health meeting. It is Thursday, March 12th, and it is 5:34 p.m. and we are in the Hubard conference room. Um the meeting today is to do final candidate interviews for our open
health director position um in the health department. Um we'll be meeting with two candidates today. um for interviews and then we will adjourn into executive session um at the end of the meeting. Uh before we start with Angela
um we have questions here um provided by human resources u same ones that we used in the past and then um under the agenda we have cover letter and resume. Um, does anyone want to review before we start
interviewing? >> Well, thank you for coming. Um, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the position and what made you apply again? >> So, I've been working in Health Target for the past seven years and most
recently as the acting director, but for three and a half years the assistant director. Um, I enjoy the work. I find it very fascinating. I try to learn as much as I can about everything because I'm a very curious person. Um, and over
the last few months of being acting acting director, I've just discovered that I really actually do have the skills and the knowledge and the um, just the strength to run the department because I at first I was a little intimidated by thinking about being the
top of the food chain cafe. Thank you. And um with that, uh do you have any examples of things that you've been able to work on or do during the time that you've been acting that you think are kind of worth noting uh that you would continue forward as the
director or just accomplishments I guess in the time that you've been acting? >> Yeah, I have a couple of examples. The first example would be the um public health prepar emergency preparedness tabletop exercise. We did a very in-depth review of how gardener handles
emergencies and did a mock exercise, developed all of our strategies, planning tools, did some inventory. I'm still waiting for public health emergency preparedness to send me a list of the supplies we should have from the past 5 years. I don't have that list and
I would like to inventory if I can find a list so that we know what we have, what we don't have, what we need to replace. Um, I worked with both Sue and Emma and Paul Tapowski on that project. I feel like we had a really good collaboration. Um, another example would
be that we implemented a new cash register system in the office. Um, previously we were using a very old program uh in access. If you are familiar with Microsoft Access, um it was password protected and none of us
had the password because we were not the people who initiated it. Had some bugs in it and some spelling mistakes in it. It wasn't capable of printing out receipts. So, I took our permitting and licensing software and I made a cash register out of it so that it timestamps all of the entries when customers at the
desk. Um you can print a receipt for them. It does the math for staff for adding up the different fees. Um, and it's been really useful, helpful, and it's streamlined that process, made it easier to create the reports needed to bring to the treasury, the auditor, so
that um, it's not a task that's taking like 2 hours. It's taking like 30 minutes. Um, last but not least, I'm working on the budget right now. And in the budget, I just discovered that our solid waste account hasn't been being utilized
correctly. The money is in four lines of our solid waste account was used for the right things, but they were being pulled across different budget lines. Instead of being um transferred to the right budget, they're being spent out of the wrong budget. So, it kind of made it
confusing to track actual expenses without pulling out all of the uh invoices. So, I'm I'm working on getting that reorganized and I put together an SOP for that with a graph to show the admins and the director and the mayor um where to pull the funds for which bills
so that it can be more truthful, more um accurate moving forward. >> It's kind of an interesting skill set you have to have. There's all like the sciency things about requirements and regulations and soil testing things and
then there's dealing with co-workers and and then there's dealing with the public. Which part of this have you enjoyed the most or found the most challenging? >> Um I I really enjoy doing the inspections because I enjoy mystery and
um solving the puzzle. I like getting to know people like in their um in their homes or I get to know the restaurant managers or or the store owners when I'm doing inspections and it's really nice to see what's behind the scenes in some of my inspections. Um I also enjoy the
math and the computer stuff. Um I love computers. I try to figure out what they can do when they're presented to us or what they're supposed to do when they're presented to us. and then I try to figure out what else I can do with it because if we're going to use it, we're going to spend money on it, we might as well get it to its fullest advantage. Um
I do enjoy some of the public sometimes it's challenging and that has definitely helped me improve my um conflict conflict resolution skills because I know that coming into the position I definitely had a different approach and
my approach now has been to slow down, talk softer, listen, wait, repeat and then ask if that was correct and see if I can now move the the problem board versus the
argument forward. >> Um, what would be your top priorities as director and your vision kind of for the board of health and are there any specific areas of concern that you would want to address? >> Yeah, I do have some specific goals and they actually address some of my
concerns. So, the first concern I have is we've had a large turnover administrative staff this year. Um it's been challenging to keep the office functioning um and keep the auditor, the treasurer, the clerk, everybody who needs paperwork from us and applications from us happy. So what I really want to
do is I now have hired two people who are very strong with their administrative skills and their computer skills. So, I'm going to focus on cross trainining both of them so that they can cover each other's tasks and it won't just be myself as either the director or
the assistant director having to step back from those roles to cover administrative tasks. Um, and then my next goal is to cross train Eric who is our health inspector. He primarily does housing and sanitation right now, but I'd like him to start doing more food inspections just so we have coverage for
food inspections. Also the next concern and goal I have is to um to do something with a transfer station staff accommodations call them. We have a old scale house which is like a construction
trailer which needs to be conducted. It needs to be gone. It is it's got holes. It's not weathertight. It's damp. It's moldy. It has had mice in there which have left stains and presents for the person who's using that as their office
and that's not really appropriate. I don't think it's a good working environment for a supervisor. And we have a small garden shed which has um styrofoam board insulation on the inside as it's only insulation weather proofing
and that's where the attendant stays when he is collecting tickets or in between collecting tickets and not doing tasks in bad weather. So um we've talked about a couple of different ideas. Mike had last year talked about like making a building with running water and a
bathroom and um the cost came in at about $300,000 which is kind of cost prohibitive. So I recently I've been looking at um portable office containers which come with um installed heat and air conditioning security guards over
the windows. They have the electrical wiring already in they're already kind of finished on the inside to look like an office. And um that comes in around without the cement pads. I haven't got that estimate yet and without moving the electrical supply yet off of the old scale house, but the cost of the
container is between 15 and $30,000. And I think that solves multiple problems other than the restroom problem. >> And it seems like that's relates a lot to staffing and efficiency and stuff like that, which obviously you have
skills in that area. What about anything on a broader public health scale that you >> So I have um we have Veronica working to do our public health fairs and she has three fairs coming up this spring. Veronica is really our person who we reach out to the community with the most
and she's very good at her job. Um some of the things that I was looking at are a little more smaller scale for myself at this point. Um, I really want to spend the first year or the next year working on the staff training, but I would like to implement um more public
messaging through our social media. I would like to make more clear signage for um some of our stuff downstairs in the hallway is just not super um user friendly. It's a little confusing. I also have um been
working on I finished a manual for how to get a food establishment permit from soup to nuts. It starts with planning. It goes all the way through the building department zoning like so that they have all of the steps laid out so that by the time they get to me they're not
backtracking. They have a plan. They can check it off. They have the contact phone numbers for each of the offices. I have the applications that they need to fill out outlined in there along with what they need for the documentation for their food permit and I've adapted that to a cottage kitchen model and I'm
working on adapting that to a food truck model. So helping our business owners in the public become more um familiar with make it easier process for them to run their businesses. As far as gardener in general though,
what do you see as like I mean we have issues with substance abuse, we have issues with um our way our waste management. >> What what do you see as the biggest issues outside of like the workings of the office and all that?
>> So I would definitely want to communicate with Veron who I know that she's on the suicide prevention task force. She's also on Alyssa's place board. She works with um Lach and she's on a couple of other committees and boards where she's doing a lot of
education and advocacy um to see what support she needs and to try to figure out how we can expand what she does or to help the other staff in our office help her expand what she does. Um, I don't have a lot of experience with
managing the events that Veronica does or the committees that Veronica does, but I think she does a fantastic job and it is definitely her wheelhouse and um, she has much she could probably teach me in that aspect. >> Do you um, where do you see yourself in
five years? Is there a sort of career trajectory that you're on? >> I am. Um, so I started out in health department as the secretary and then I went to the financial administrator and then I went to the assistant director and now I've been the acting director
for quite a bit. Um, it's my intention to retire with the city regardless of whether or not I become the director this time or not. Maybe next time. Um, I have about 15 years left in the workforce and I'd like to finish it out in gardener at city hall. I really enjoy
the people. I enjoy the work. I enjoy this community. I'm even though I live in Ring now, I am a gardener girl. I don't know anybody in Ring. I know everybody a gardener. I just sleep in Ring. >> It's a safe distance. >> It's a safe distance. Yeah,
>> it's great. >> But yeah, that's that's what I plan to continue to work toward. Um completing my training with I need to do my CPO, which I'm planning to do in the spring. Um, I need to finish up the tier two and three of food. I'm waiting on the
training hub to come do one inspection with me. Um, to finish my housing certification working on these >> I've been working on these things. >> Yeah. In my spare time in the last 6 months. >> Yeah. Director.
>> Yeah. >> So, obviously you have a lot of background with the board and experience everything. How do you feel your past and present experiences with the board have prepared you to take on the position as full-time permanent
director? And um do you feel that there's things that you still have to learn in order to be, you know, fully adapted to the position and everything? So from my experience
watching with the last three directors that I've worked under, it does appear to me that the board's main point of communication with the office is the chair. Um we get a lot of directives and we share a lot of information with the chair. Um I attend meetings or I have
also done the um minutes for the meetings. So I I think I'm pretty plugged into the topics and the routine and you know how you guys work together to develop the tattoo regulations or well regulations to solve problems. So I
think I have pretty good insight on that at this time. Um and I I think I could work with any one of you or any of you um very successfully. >> And can you talk a little bit more about I guess what resources in the community
and region that you would utilize uh if you were in the director role or that you've recently utilized to work either towards I know we're not working on our regulation changes right now but um just recent projects I guess or anything in the future that you'd partner with.
>> So we have the MKHM which is Manchester Public Health Network. Um it's run out of Fitsburg. I know all of the inspectors and the director for the Fitchburg Board of Health. Um, so I I've reached out to Steve Curry when I have questions about certain aspects of things that I might need clarification
on. I also am um familiar with the staff of the Lemonster Board of Health very well and when I need to bounce something off of another director, I also called Michelle Lemonster. Um other resources we have the um training hub now and I
have a training supervisor who I can reach out to when I have questions but I also know how to reach up through the chain to speak to somebody in workforce development say or reach out to new pick for wastewater questions or reach out to D for those related questions. I have
all of the phone numbers, email addresses, and I've made contact with several of those people in those positions when I have questions. And I guess what do you foresee if you were to get the an offer positionally
accepted as the biggest challenge ahead? >> I'm not sure yet. I haven't found it in the last six months. My largest challenge in the last six months was getting the staff. And once we were given the green light to hire the staff,
it was done. So now I need to train those new staff members. Um the first year, I call it my freshman year. There's always a high learning curve, but I am willing to put in the time and make the effort to figure out what I need to do or ask for help when I need
to. Um again, the staff trained because they're going to take a lot of the um administrative tasks off my plate that I've been covering since we lost an administrator a year ago. Um I've been covered license commission for over a year also on top of being the assistant
director. So I I just want to get my staff trained so that I can figure out what I need to be doing because I'm already doing a lot of other things. Um working with the mayor has been great. uh working with the buildings department uh to try to um streamline our
permitting process to make it less cumbersome, less confusing. Those are some of the the items that I see just sitting on my back burner kind of right now and I I look forward to conquering those items in the near future. Either way,
just need to do a little bit less of the admin stuff right now. Makes sense. >> Yeah, you've been wearing all the hats. So, >> yeah. So, it was it's been when Emma asked me that question or a similar question during our interview, I was like, I haven't even stopped to really
think about that yet because I'm always in the moment and figuring out what the next step is for that project. I haven't looked ahead very far. But once I um am able to relax a little bit when that we're fully staffed and kind of take a
look around and see what needs to be done next, I I'm sure I'll find many projects. >> Um and then I guess one more specific question. Is there anything related to the transfer station that you have specifically in mind in terms of goals?
I know there's new staff there as well. Um so any planning, I guess, around that that's on your mind? Yeah. So, I do have some other planning besides fixing the shed or the trailer. Um, we have some safety railings that I need to order as
soon as the spending freeze list. We are about 95% in compliance with the Massachusetts safety plan for um that particular type of business. Eric was great at getting that implemented really fast last spring when we discovered that
we didn't know that we were supposed to have one. um and he came from a different industry where he was like, "I can't believe you don't have one." I'm like, "Nobody told us. We didn't know this." So, we implemented it really quick. We got most of the um uh the supplies, most of the equipment
all straightened out. We're just waiting on one more set of railings. So, that will be a small project that I want to finish. Um I also was on the charm meeting today, which is the um state recycling for the hard to recycle items.
So, I'd like to investigate some of that more. Um, we're working toward getting a compactor at the transfer station for our uh recycling. So, that's a project that I need to be working on down at the transfer station. Y Harvey is going to
assist us with the costs of that. And that's a project that we're going to work on in the spring. So, I do have some great ideas for down at the transfer station. the capped landfill which happens to reside behind the transfer station. Um we need to work on the erosion control project. It needs to
get done because the longer we wait, the bigger the holes in the cap landfill get, the more it's going to cost, the more damage it's doing to the landfill cap. So I've been waiting for an answer from Keller Partners. I did email them last week and they have not replied. I'm going to follow up with that on Monday
to see if I can get an answer if they found any grant funding to help us. I'm working on my budget proposal and not just my numbers, but trying to put forward a request for some funds that hopefully we can get approved by council
this year because we can't keep deferring these projects. And I'm going to advocate for this project pretty heavily because I feel like the pump project got pushed off until it was at, you know, a red code red and now I want to make sure we don't get there with the
land cap. Have you done any grant writing or been involved in any of the grants that >> I work on the recycling dividends grant and the sustainable materials grant every year and I've done that since I was the admin and Lauren was the
director. We worked on it together. That's how I Lauren and I learned her job together while we were figuring it out during co we sat down and we researched. She talked things out and I helped her whenever I could because
COVID was definitely a um very heavy workload for the director and I could look up numbers and I could answer questions in the grant that I knew and then save it and she'd go back and answer whatever I didn't know or wasn't in my capacity to answer. So we we
worked together that way for a very long time. I think you touched on it a little bit, but um how important do you feel it is it will be for you as director to be able to work and effectively communicate with the different departments and the
council and the mayor's office and everything? And could you describe what your experience is so far? >> Yeah, I can. So, I've worked um with three different building commissioners, several different building inspectors, and those positions are key for our
housing inspections because just today I had to call an electrical inspector to my inspection. I walked into a closed convenience store, which they are converting into a gallery, a deli, bakery, and grill.
and they have no permits other than the food establishment plan review and they've ripped apart the ceilings and I hear the I see wires hanging everywhere and outlets kind of popping out of things and I hear the smoke detector chirping in the background. So we called our electrical inspector. He came down
and kind of explained to them the safety of what they're do what they need to do. So we work really well together. We communicate with each other very frequently. We share processes in our permit approvals. Um, so that's always been really um a great relationship. I
have a great relationship with new building and commissioner. Um, we've worked together on the computer problems that we've had with open gov our software. Uh, we're investigating a digitization project for all of our documents in city hall. Um, I've worked with the city solicitor Vinnie
Pusetaryi. Um, I've taken multiple cases to court with him. Um, he and I communicate very well. I am I act like his clerk and make sure everything is organized very well for him. Um I I draft my complaints in his template and
and send it to him for his his comments and corrections and I do it all again. So we've worked really effectively together. um purchasing I need to learn more about I've worked well with Josh for the last couple of small projects
and I do understand the um requisitions purchase order process. I need to more understand the public bidding process especially when we working on these larger projects but I'm thankful that Josh and Amy are up there to guide us through that and that's really their role. um the mayor's office. I'm excited
that he actually attended a um meeting on Govwell, which is a different brand of software for permitting and licensing and city management um on Monday and he said, "I don't want to make a decision until I talk to Angela because I'm a person who is the administrator for open
gov and I wasn't at that meeting because I was at a different meeting. So that kind of felt nice that I am thought of that way. any particular frustrations that you've had that you want to share with us? >> Um frustrations? Yeah. Um the hiring
process seems to take a really long time for administrative help for key players help. It's just I if we're necessary player in the office in in the department then how come it we go six
months without two or three of those people? It's really frustrating to see positions be vacant for 3 to 6 months before they get filled. And I know that's not your challenge. Um, and it has gotten better with the new human
resources director. Um, she is much more proactive in getting the candidates resumes to us as they come in versus holding them for 3 weeks and then dropping them on your desk. So we can start to weed out, think of who we're
going to interview, pull people in or or do phone interviews with them prior to inviting them in for formal interviews. So I feel that's a really big part of the process that's changed. Um other frustrations um we seem to have a spending freeze
every spring. Um which makes it challenging when you've already funded projects and you have things waiting. um and you have the money appropriated to your department and suddenly you don't have access to it. That's challenging. >> Government jobs are like this with
hiring difficulties, budget difficulties. It takes a special kind of patience for some of these things. >> It does. >> Yeah. >> So, those are just some of my frustrations. I don't know how to work them out. >> I just deal with them the best I can. Keep my office running smooth. do what I
can do to alleviate the stress from the other staff members in my office. >> Um, and then any improvements I guess on the front end of the office that you might envision or even just I guess the relationship with the public that the
department has that either is a strength or something you'd like to work on. So, I do feel like we do have a really good rapport with our tenants who complain about housing challenges and with their landlords. We tend to be able to get them through that process with um most
of the time not a lot of conflict. We kind of almost resolve those conflicts by stepping in the middle. And now they're not talking to each other. They're each talking to us. and we're kind of filtering out the the frustration, the impatience, the you
know, all of those things that can escalate a conversation into an argument. Um, I would like to redesign our front area again. We kind of moved some things around to make room for the second admin after we added an inspector
so the inspector could have an office, which is necessary. And I think we uh we need the reception area a little too small. It's kind of challenging for people to come in. When there's more than two people in the reception area,
it's tight. So, typically if somebody comes in, they want to have a conversation with one of the inspectors, we just pull them into our office. We don't even stand up front and talk with them anymore. Um if somebody comes in and they have questions that I can answer, I step out into the hall with them because it's just uncomfortable.
It's kind of um creates like bottleneck. So, I'm looking at ideas. I've asked my two new staff members to envision what they would like because they come in with a fresh eye and I think making them comfortable makes the front area more welcoming. >> Any additional questions?
>> That's it for me. >> Okay. My close, I guess, is um why do you think we should choose you and do you have any questions for us? Um, that's a hard one. I always, um, hate doing the
sales pitch of myself. Um, I am committed to the department, whatever it takes, whether I'm the director or the assistant director. I'm going to figure out how to get the job done. I'm going to do everything I can to support my staff so we can start retaining people
so that we have the benefit of their experience and knowledge of our city. That's it's not like changing restaurants when you leave a municipal position. When a municipal position becomes vacant, a lot of knowledge and historical information leaves with that
person. And I want that to stop. I want to retain some people so that we can build them up instead of them finding a new place to go. Um, I am a good example of that. I started at the lowest position in the office and I sit before
you today to interview. So, I feel like I was built up by Lauren, by the way. Um, I'll give her all the credit she deserves. I enjoy working with her. Um, I've learned everything anybody has ever asked me to learn for this position.
I've taken some of the hardest courses in my life and done very well with them. And I feel like I can overcome any obstacle that you or the city puts in front of me. So know that I'm very committed. I expect to be here to retirement and that I will not make you
interview for another director again if you choose me. That might be the best sales pitch I've got. Um questions for you. I just what do you envision for the department over the next 12 months from the director? >> Um I mean I think maybe we all could add
our own thoughts to this but I would say for me personally um I'm very excited to see the staffing continue to stay stable. Um so I hope that you know stays the the case as it is now and and the staff that are in here um you know want
to be here and can grow into their positions. Um, so retention to them is really important to me. Um, along the similar lines, I appreciate what you're doing to get the office space sorted out at the transfer station. I think that's really important. We have to take care
of our people. Uh, so we can do the best job we can for the community. And then I would say kind of from there, it seems like things are stabilizing. Um, again, yes, like you said, the erosion funding is extremely important, but also I think just having a director
come in and really starting to envision, you know, what are the public health projects that we can take on in terms of education with the community and starting to engage with that a little bit more and figuring out what, you know, gardener public needs, I guess, more support. And >> okay, that's great. I would love to send
you the um full page bulleted list of the projects that Verona works on because maybe you're not seeing everything that the health department is doing through Veronica um in a clear picture and I had her give me a list and it's extensive. It's for my mayor's report just so that we're justifying her
position and trying to recognize the value of that position. Yeah, I think it would be great to include that in like our meetings too so that we and the public can hear kind of more about what she's doing with the community. So, >> I will send you a copy of my report to
the mayor is my request >> and then um >> yeah, I think my perspective is always a little different because it's from like the perspective of the physician and medicine and and public health from that perspective. So, I worry about things that are happening on a larger scale,
how that's going to affect our community. Things like vaccination rates and whether we're going to see upticks in measles or anything else. Um, are people getting their CO and flu shots? There seems to be a down trend, downward trend in some of that. Um, and then just
how are communities going to handle the financial changes that may be coming if the economy kind of slumps? what does that do for people in poverty or keeping the heat on or you know all kinds of ways that we try to support the
community and um you know so so that's it sounds like a pie in the sky kind of stuff but it all trickles down the work that we do here to try to keep our community as healthy as possible >> I would tell you that I have a meeting scheduled in Victoria Seltzer next
Tuesday to discuss next steps for gardeners vaccination and epidemiology plans. Um, just so that you're aware, those things do happen. Unfortunately, in the last probably 9 months or so, it's been challenging to
expand because we've been busy taking care of the shortages, the shortfalls that we've had in the office with staffing, but we are working towards expansion of some of our programs. Great. >> Anything Jeff that you
>> Oh, well yeah just I just to follow up on what's already been said. I mean I think the biggest thing is short-term stability in the department obviously so that you know at some point >> we can start focusing on bigger picture public health issues rather than putting
out fires. you >> that that is my exit. >> Yeah, that's my number one goal is to put out the fires right now. But after we are stable, we're fully staffed, we settle in, we're fully trained with the new people, um I I really want to see
what impact we can make and what we can do out in the community. not just responding to the fires, not just responding to the cockroaches, but actually now that we'll be fully staffed, um trying to make more of a
difference on a broader spectrum versus helping individuals, which is kind of what we do now. >> There's that. Thank you so much for your time >> and I will return all the things to you. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Do you want me to pause the camera while we wait for Lauren or do you want to keep it on? >> We can pause and we're track. >> You know, we can't do this without you. >> Well, you won't have to either way.