in the meeting and hear everything that we're saying discussing in the meeting not just on TV that would be my interpretation of it again I'm not legal counsel but I would I would advise us to heed their um advice on that um subject
matter if that makes sense i mean we can check with them but we can definitely check to see whether viewing it on RCTV is adequate for them to public meetings are very specifically protected that's the only Is there anybody in the waiting
room right now no okay but we can we can certainly let people in and um Heather you have the ability to stop them from being able to um share anything or even turn the camera on i know you have the ability to turn keep their mic off you have the ability camera off as well uh I
think so i'll double check in the settings but I'm pretty I would say that would be a good policy until we figure out what's going on is keep their camera off keep their mic off and um allow the admittance because again public meetings are very protected right but I don't
think there's a whole lot of difference between being on the meeting with your video and audio turned off and being in a waiting room where your audio and video is turned off well you have to go to a television to see what's going on with the meeting you're not seeing the
meeting that's the problem yeah if they're in the waiting room they can't see what's happening in the meeting right right someone's going to have to tell me offline what the what the heck happened so what I do in I log in and then I walk away because there's always updates that need
to happen and this and that so you know well it looks like I'm there i'm not there until you see me um so someone's gonna have to tell me what the heck happened okay um okay so let me uh call the meeting to
order and um I I don't know we lost Jerry she was there but um so Kevin here Kevin Ston Joan here and Rick Lopez here um so our
agenda tonight is um relatively light um going to review the minutes and then uh public comment if anyone uh comes back and then uh the items you know five six seven eight and nine are
really all updates andformational uh there's no votes or um other things that are planned [Music] um I and then final comments I think that
um you know we we're going to revisit the wildlife feeding but that's still being reviewed by town council so we'll do that you know maybe the next meeting um I think that was the only outstanding item from the last meeting that we
expected to have so uh with that um people got the minutes from our last meeting on February 13th um looked okay
to me any comments suggestions edits no good to me and it was um just as a comment I will say it definitely read a lot better than I think the previous ones um it didn't read as as so jagged
AI as the ones before that so I think whatever whatever changes were made it was a really good really good change and maybe no changes were made i don't know okay then I'll make a motion to approve the minutes do I have a second second
okay uh roll call kevin yes joan yes henrik yes so the minutes are approved um and Haley there's no I don't see anybody any public um on and there's no
one in the waiting room no there's nobody in the waiting room okay so we can move on from that [Music] um a day uh MBTA turnaround update all
right i'm trying to compose myself trying to recover from everything that happened yeah i'm just going to give um you know some background information about the MBTA turn back tracks and um give an
update um so as you all know um we've had uh we've received multiple complaints um you know about potential health concerns regarding the MBTA comeback tracks um as a result we reached out to
the MBTA to inform them about the um complaints and the concerns and uh we also um asked them to uh conduct a health impact assessment and uh an environmental impact assessment prior to commencement
um MBTA stated that they're not required to provide either of those assessments and they um also told us that um they will address the health concerns at the February 25th meeting so I was at the meeting
um they talked about it but they didn't really address the health concerns um at the end of the day they you know they pretty much uh withdrew their notice of intent and
um the reason was that they wanted to gather more information and listen to the concerns of the residents so um the um NOI has been rescended and they plan to you know
refile it at a future date i don't have any update in terms of when they plan to refile but as of today I'm not aware of um any new um filings
and um you know as a result of this new development uh we paused the request for quotes until further notice uh we're hoping that the new notice of intent will include a health impact assessment
proposal but uh if we don't get that we will resume the RFQ soliciting process um immediately so that's where we are at the moment and it could be that either the MBTA
doesn't come back with that proposal or they adopt an alternate proposal um and so we just have to kind of I think wait and see what they're going to what they're going to do right so
um my concern is timing a day do we have any sense of um I know we don't have any sense of cost um but do we have any sense of timing for what an RFQ would um
produce from contract to report i would say well to execute a contract will be between two to three weeks okay and then a report do we have any I know it's such
a like not not usual um report with the report um based on similar situations that I've witnessed in the past I would say not more than six weeks all right
so the only thing that concerns me is again I brought this up at the last meeting they're on the no um they're under no authority to just even let us know they're doing it and I'd almost rather heir on the side of having a report in the back
pocket rather than needing to go out to do it um I I'd keep it if we put out an RFQ do we need to um execute it in other words can we rescend it after we see what the costs associated with it are
yes we can yes i'd rather do that i I'd rather see if you know to use a a term I love to use if the juice is worth the squeeze um you know is it going to be cost effective or is it going to be through the roof where it's like well no maybe we should pause it since this may
not be a good thing to have in hand because they may change their their tune down the road and we just wasted a ton of money but I'd like to have that option i'd like to see what it is we're getting um because ideally in a in a bubble I'd like to have the report in the back
pocket i would have to discuss that with um town management okay go from there again I'm just looking to see what does it come in at what what are the what cost are we talking about but but from my perspective they may not come back with
the number one they may not come back with the exact proposal number two they clearly were impacted by public comment and push back and so I rather doubt that they would not give notice um in fact
not actually plan a better public relations plan than they did the first time around and my guess is that given how things work with the MBTA and even in this recent uh event I mean
it took them from the time they announced it to the time they were planning to do it was several months um so you you I think we were talking about $67,000 but um it could be you know
just either not relevant to what they come back with if they come back with anything at all so I don't know i'm not I mean I a day you should talk to to Matt about it and see what he thinks i'm
not entirely convinced that you know necessarily just going ahead with even if it's not that expensive it may just be wasted if um you know what they decide is not compatible with the charge
we've given the consultant to evaluate correct i believe the consensus was to wait and see what happens um regard regardless of what happens um you know between the time we execute a contract
and you know get the report we would have everything done before they get approved and before they get started so well I mean I I hope that's going to be the case um certainly because they've already done some due
diligence are already kind of um to pun pun intended they're already down the tracks a little bit here with uh with what they're doing so I just again it's just a concern of mine um you know I'm willing to put boulders on the tracks uh to to prevent it from happening at the
time when it comes to get our report in so it's fine with me either way okay we can check on that uh so Dave wrote an update you see my screen yes
okay so um at the last meeting uh we went over the road and control program talked about the procurement of the 15 smart boxes using the remainder of the app funding uh we also talked about you know going to town meeting to ask for
additional funding to purchase 35 additional smart boxes we talked about how the smart boxes work and how the heat map is generated uh we talked about how to navigate the heat map and we also talked about creating a rodent specific
page solely dedicated to rodent control um that is uh you know readily available and easily accessible by the residents and whoever wants the information tonight I am pleased to announce that we
now have a rodent page dedicated to an activity in the town of Braden um there are multiple ways to access this page let's see so if you go to the
health department uh homepage all you have to do is click on this icon right here this beautiful icon and it takes you directly our rodent summary report summary
page another way to access this would be um the tabs on the side um just click on s Scroll down to rodent activity and then click on rodent data summary
page so there are two ways to access this information all right so um here's the heat map we talked about the last time you know we went into details about it um as of right now we have 38 total
rodent captures so the breakdown of that we had uh 11 in January we had 22 in February and we have five so far in March see you can also click on the individual monthly
tabs to get you know some more details about you know how many catches or captures we we had within that month and you know what days so for example if we
go to the January tab we had a total of 11 captures um and we can just you know quickly count so in on January 18th we had three captures january 19th three captures that's a total of six january
28th we had one total of seven january 2 we had one total of eight 26 1 total of 9 27 1 total of 10 and 28 1 total of
11 captures also we have uh roadhead sightings um you know complaints from the residents we only received one complaint in January and one in February and then if you scroll up the
residents can click on report rodent sightings and then it takes them to a different page where they can report the sightings and we get that information directly that's a nice improvement um I think one of the Pineville residents commented on
that that they that there wasn't a rodent specific way to report you had to kind of go into this general complaint fix it thing and so this is a it's a nice improvement correct also you can click on the rodent action data uh it
just gives us more details about you know the quantity of captures and the individual smart boxes that captured each um product so yeah it is um looking great
i'm happy we were able to get it done you know here we are that's great in uh April I'll be at the town meeting i'll you know try my best to advocate for this program and see if we can get additional funding in the
meantime I am in talks with DPW um you know that time of the year is around the corner you're going to start seeing excavators and you know road pavs and things like that so um we want to make sure we're ready this time around so I
am in uh direct talks with DPW to see how we can uh mitigate any uh you know rodent issues during the um paving process and excavation process so uh we'll keep the
board uh updated as we move along so that's about it thank you looks great come a long way any comments edit any suggestions or um just one quick suggestion i don't
know if we have um the folks on Pineville's email addresses or contact information there just to send them the page so they they have it it's a good thing yeah we can but I'm sure they're watching but yes absolutely we can thank you
thank you all right please schedule update all right I'll try to make this uh as brief as [Music] possible dave for the viewers at home can you u blow that up a little bit
please let's see don't believe I can yeah I don't believe I can actually the plus the plus sign at the top of the page oh yeah yeah let's see yep just there this is good enough one more one
let's see please perfect all right thank you you're welcome okay so [Music] um we uh pretty much looked at fee schedules from neighboring
towns and we took an average to determine what our fees will be um Amelia played a crucial role with um getting the information and the data set needed so I really want to thank uh Amelia for helping
out we looked at uh not reading his schedule we also looked at Andover schedule we looked at Winchester Lynfield uh North Andover Beverly and Stoner and here is our proposal here's
what it looks like um you know the board has this information you guys can review it and vote on it at a subsequent meeting so I'm just going to go over it quickly tonight and uh you know if you have any comments we can always um go
back and make changes all right so if we look at the uh food section we have the um new establishment uh plan review and the extensive renovations currently it's at 150 we're
bumping it up to $200 the minor renovations and uh residential kitchens currently at $50 we're bumping it up to $100 the initial application for a residential kitchen is at 50 we're going
up to 100 and uh residential kitchens including B&B and continental breakfast we're going from 25 to $50 so food services in terms of like your regular restaurants out there from zero to 50 seats we're going from we're keeping it
at $100 from 51 seats to 100 we're going from 150 to 200 from 100 seats and up we're going from 200 to 300 we don't have any shared kitchens in
Readen at the moment but we had an inquiry so we're trying to be proactive we know that eventually we're going to get money in rating so uh at this moment we don't have a fee for it but we we're proposing a
$300 application fee for that um if you have a food service establishment and it fits into one of these categories over here you pay that fee but if you're also a caterer you pay the additional $100 so it used to be 25
we're bumping it up to $100 uh if you're just a catering establishment alone um you're going from 100 to 200 frozen dessert license is going from $40 to 75 and the temporary event license which is valid for 14 days uh is going from $25
to $50 mobile food trucks we currently have them at um $75 and then 25 for additional mobile units but we're proposing $100 and 50 for additional
mobile units retail food services you know like the market baskets and you know gas stations stuff and shops um so if you're like 0 to 900 square ft we're going from $100 to $200 um and 900 91
to,500 we're going from $100 to $300 1,500 to 4,000 ft² we're going from $800 to $400 and $4,000 and up we're going up to 750 from $100 so as you can
see you know anything related to like retail food services is at $100 regardless of the size of your establishment um it takes more work to inspect a 9,000 square foot you know retail food services service compared to
a you know 900 square ft retail food service so um let's see reinspection fee reinspection fees for food and retail services um typically the first reinspection is free so if we go out and
perform a comprehensive inspection and we identify violations and then we tell them hey fix these violations we're going to be back in 24 hours we're going to be back in a week we're going to be back in 30 days um whatever it is um the
first reinspection is usually free now some establishments you have to remind them you have to go back the second time uh we've been doing it for free but now we think um bumping you know having a $50 fee associated with that would help
um pretty much uh prevent us having to go out multiple times if we have to go out the third reinspection used to be free we we you know we're associating a $100 fee uh fourth time used to be free we're going up to 150 and then if we
have to go after that we're just going to refer them to the board for possible revocation or suspension of their license in terms of um animals hitting of animals
permit currently the initial permit is $10 we're proposing $75 um for renewals is still $10 we're proposing $30 um additional chickens so the maximum is
six if you request a variance that you want to keep more than six then you have to pay for additional chickens we're not going to you know continue to charge you you know the same $10 if you're keeping six compared to if you're keeping 20 you
know that's not fair you know for our inspectors so we think you know we should pay something at least and for stables we're charging $40 we're trying to bump that up to 50 and
then additional $25 per store for body establishments um the plan review is currently at 500 we're keeping it at five 500 the establishment permit application is at 200 we're bumping it up to 300 for the
practitioners license we're going from 100 to 200 and for the apprentice uh license it is 125 um we're keeping it that way but based on our current fee
schedule we don't have any amount associated with it because it's a new it's a new program that we started like two two three years ago and this fee schedule has not been reviewed for I'll say at least a decade if not
more for ice rinks uh we're going from $50 to $100 that's for the ones indoor outdoor uh we don't have any fees associated but we're proposing $150 for recreational camps like YMCA
ymca they're currently paying $10 for their permit so we're proposing to bump you know them up to like 50 and it's not just YMCA it's just for all camps and I'm just saying YMCA because you
know YMCA is big and the permit is $10 um and then if you have a twoe session we're proposing a $100 application fee and then a 3 week session or more we're proposing
$150 for the swimming pools currently we don't have any fees associated with the client views uh we're proposing a $200 fee for swimming pools and um special purpose pools indoor we're bumping it up matter of
fact we're keeping the same same amount we're keeping it at [Music] 150 and then for the outdoor pools we're bumping it up from 75 to 100 for the tanning establishments we're going
from let's see $25 per bed to $50 per bed or both um we're keeping the initial fee of $100 and then for the for the annual fee
we're going to $50 per bit of boot as well it used to be 25 per bit a book for tobacco establishments sale of tobacco we're keeping it at 200 for the smoke shops we're keeping it at 200 well
construction is staying the same 100 lodging we don't really have any hotels or motel uh you know in Reading whatsoever it's currently at $8 per room minimum of 24 maximum of 160 we're just
going to do hotels for $100 motel and um you know roaming shed roaming and BMBBS for 50 and $10 additional per row and then disposal
uh you know construction permits for septic systems we're going from 50 to 150 um installers installers um license fee we're going from 50 to 150
to do a repair we're not charging anything at the moment but we're proposing $100 for septic abandonments we're charging $50 at the moment but we're proposing to go up to $100 portable toilets we're going from 25 to
50 um let's see [Music] dumpsters currently if it's less than two yards we're not charging anything which is ridiculous because a lot of people just get dumpsters that are less
than 2 yards and just not pay a fee and then if it's greater than two yards it's $40 so right now we want to eliminate the less than two yards if you have a dumpster you have a dumpster doesn't matter if it's less than two yards or greater than two yards um and we're
proposing a $100 fee for that if you're getting it temporary um dumpster we're proposing um you know $10 additional to the $40 making $50
um so for all our permits first re inspection it's going to be free $0 if we have to go out the second time it's going to be $50 if we have to go out the third time $100 for time $150 and if you're still not in
compliance we're going to refer you to the board of health for a possible revocation or suspension of your license all right in terms of weights and measures of balances and scales uh we're going from if it's over£10,000
we're going from 150 to 250 uh if it's between 5,000 and 10,000 we're going from 100 to 150 if it's 1,000 to £5,000 we're going from $75 to 100 it's between£100 to 1,000
we're going from We're going to keep it at 50 greater than 10 lb less than 100 we're going from 30 to 35 uh 10 or less we're going from 15 to 20 um let's see in terms of retail scanners uh you know
for price verification if you have one to three registers we're going from 75 to 100 if you have 4 to 11 registers we're going we're keeping it at 200 and if you have 12 plus registers you know like a stop and shop or market basket
you know something similar we're going from 350 to 500 let's see and we want to keep our minimum charge at [Music] $25 so um yeah that's pretty much it um
you know you guys uh the board has the document you can review it and um if you have any proposals or changes you would like to make we're open to to doing that and um once it's um finalized I can send
it to town council to uh look over and then go from there any questions i just have a few questions okay um so in regards to the reinspections my questions are just are really more structural i don't have a
problem I don't think necessarily with the dollar figures although I I you know reserve the right to change my mind on that um but when we do a reinspection what's the time limit that we give before we'll come back out for that in other words you go out you inspect
there's an issue we're going to come back in X is it like a set date X amount of days it depends on what the code tells us to do so if it's something that's critical um we always encourage them to correct it on site if it's
something um that cannot be corrected on site uh you know it's a 24-hour violation um they have to fix it within 24 hours um you know if it's if it's critical but it's not detrimental to health then yes
so for example if we go in and they have a um cooling unit that's not keeping temperature even though they can't fix it right away we ask them to remove the food and put it in a different unit that's meeting um the required
temperature so that's that's one of an example of fixing it on site and then they can have the technician come in and fix that particular unit and you know we we work with them to get it done so it just depends if it's um a missing tile
um the code allows us to give them up to 30 days so it just depends on what the violation is okay so this isn't you know you must fix your refrigerator in 24 hours you must just refrigerate this food properly within 24 hours is that I have that right the food you must
refrigerate this food properly like right away it's been out there if it's been uh uh below temp for a long time then we have them discard the food sure yeah the only reason I asked the
question a day is um my only concern with something like that would be that we're not giving them sufficient time to fix the issue and we're just going to start finding them as a result of it which I I know is not the intent of your department yeah we are very reasonable
over here i know you are i know you are so here's here's what I always say you know in regards to things like that you are very reasonable uh Amelia I don't know that well but I'm assuming she's very reasonable as well too because she seems Absolutely absolutely um what
happens when we put things like this in place though is then you know 30 40 years down the line when there's when there's new folks in charge and I'm I'm saying that as a a pretty far-fetched out out there from a date standpoint but um I always want to make sure that we have something in
place that is understood for um future um staff to be able to use correctly does that make sense so I like you know in this regard as long as we're giving them the option to fix it in the
time frame so we don't have to find them I' I'd hate to have people working hard to fix the issue and then we're finding them is really the bottom line does that make sense yes it is okay are you trying to say something uh yes
so the per the way I look at it is the reinspection fees obviously I don't want to hand those out but I I look at it as a template for food establishments to understand that food safety is the number one priority so that is for them
to view food safety that we take it very seriously and trust me I don't want to go reinspect something three or four times because obviously we have every you know we have a million moving parts at the same time so the reinspection fees are kind of I don't know how to
word this but it's a way for us a deterrence a deterrence but deterrence yes i'm so sorry yes a deterrence of them to also wanting a reinspection so I look at it as a way for them and us to know like
hey we take food safety very seriously we could go down this avenue obviously we don't want to go down this avenue they don't want to go down that avenue so it just kind of puts in place like almost like a check and balance of food safety and proper food safety um y and I worked in the last town I worked in we
actually had reinspection fees and did we hand out like a $50 ticket absolutely but it really did never get to a point where we had to go back three or four times and hand out like a hundred $150 and the establishments knowing that that was in place they also didn't want
to pay a fine ticket like that so we saw food safety being taken more seriously at a a higher level than you know without having that it's just again that check and balance of are you doing food safety properly and if you're not you know there are repercussions for it but
again we're very reasonable um I love working you know with the restaurants and giving them the ability to correct things on site i'm like very for that so if I see things that are a quick like correct on site I love putting those on reports so but I understand your concern as well like in the future like 40 50
years from the line if we're not here are people going to abuse that reinspection fee fingers crossed that they won't um but maybe if there's a way that we can like educate people better on the purpose of a reinspection fee we can definitely we can definitely do that
just to ensure that that doesn't happen no thank thank you for that Amelia and I'm I'm with you i have no problem um quite frankly with the fees at all um and especially if they're you know if they're warranted then absolutely um that that's like you said it's both a
deterrent and a slap on the wrist um so to speak to for future deterrence right um from that establishment so I am definitely um in favor of the fees um you know my only point in case would be we recently just went through this and not on food inspection but on even the
general inspection um permits that we have where things could not be satisfied in the time and you know it's it's a long way of saying their recourse um for that matter was to come before us to try
to get extensions to those um the timelines of which they had to have it um done by right and so I'm just it's there's a mechanism I I I acknowledge that there's a mechanism for um the individual to be able to come before us and and get those fees um not waved but
um the timelines for them to be reinspection done um extended um I just want to make sure that you know um that we are that we are working um to not have to have those fees um imposed on folks and we're giving proper time um to
you know I I'd rather not have a ton of people coming before the board every month you know looking for waiverss looking in regards to these okay no that's not going to happen yeah no way now this is just going to serve
as a form of deterrence to people um again we don't want to have to go out three or four times the time we're spending to go out to the same establishment three or four times we could be doing something else at a different establishment yep get it 100% with that part yep
any additional questions i had a couple um actually the first the first one um you you kind of already answered which was um the context for the amounts in
the proposed fees um now I have no clue as to how these you know generally work in health departments across the Commonwealth and um I was going to suggest but you've already done it which
is to look at surrounding communities and you know compare their fees with ours and then come up with new fees that are comparable um so my I guess um couple questions on that line is the
commonwealth the state doesn't provide any guidance around this is that true correct is not u like a standardized fee okay every municipality and um is it and maybe I don't know if
Amelia did this or what at a high level um what was your approach to looking at five other towns and coming up with a proposed fee here did you
like did you use your judgment did you take an arithmetic average um how did what was your your thought process in coming up with these fees so it was pretty much an arithmetic average so the way these fees are structured you won't
find any of our proposals lower than anybody else's you know fee schedule and you find it higher than anybody else's fee schedule so we took an average uh we looked at each um towns did an average and then we um made our proposal uh we
looked at communities in our shared collaborative and then we looked at other communities that are similar in size to our town to come up with these um figures okay so we're not lower we're not higher but we're somewhere in the middle for all the proposed fees correct
okay um the the second set of questions was uh I I remember I can't remember the context but um maybe the more direct question is what is the process for getting these approved does the board of
health have total control over this or is the select board the final arbiter or are there is there a town bylaw that rules what these fees how does that work all right so in terms of the details I
will get that information for you at the next meeting um okay this would definitely go to town council for town council review and you know everything town council needs to do right then I'll come back with that information at the next u meeting okay
okay um and at and at the next meeting you'll let us know whether we actually have a say in this other than I mean do we need to vote on this or or not the board probably needs to vote on it and I believe uh the board has a say because
this is a board of health per Sure sure um and then lastly I'm curious um what how much income is raised for the town like currently
uh and the fees we charge and does that go to the uh health department's revenue line or does that go to the general town bottom line it goes to the general fund for the time and so when I first started
I did the um the math and it was around 70 something 75,000 75,000 and I remember you know like when I first started I told the board that you know we needed to like increase these fees right away but you know I I
wanted to um take my time to do that i didn't want to like come in and then impose fees on people but I've been here now for 4 years and we've been charging the same amount uh I think it's time to do it okay and things are getting expensive there's inflation everywhere
and you know if an inspector goes out to do an inspection you know it costs money to do that it's not $10 you know like if you do a camp inspection you know you're spending hours if you go to YMCA to do the inspection you're spending hours and
the permit is $10 like I mean right no I agree i mean it's I mean they haven't been revised in quite a long time so it's correct makes makes a lot of sense i was just curious this this would probably at least double that 75,000
absolutely yeah um Okay so you're going to come back to us after town council has had a chance to review it and elaborate on the process and I think board members in the interim if you when you look over this if you have any you
know comments or suggestions um you know should get those to a day absolutely okay just one just one suggestion on it if I may um a day when you're proposing um to get more money from town meeting
in April this would be a great document to provide as justification absolutely if we're gonna bring more in it's nice of us to ask for a little bit of it sounds good to me kevin you're a natural
[Music] okay uh community health improvement plan update all right so I will um give uh a small intro and then hand it over to Lee
yeah she's here smiling i'm happy she's here all right so um a brief background about this we partnered with Peer Associates which is a public health consulting firm to uh conduct a community health
needs assessment and also provide a community health improvement plan um the entire process started in February of 2023 and concluded in July of 2024 about a year and a half um worth of
work by the board of health peer associates uh municipal departments and some of our community partners um the needs assessment and improvement plan document provides data about
reading's health status using a wide range of data sources and findings from interviews focus groups and surveys performed in the summer and fall of 2023 and uh based on the outcome of this
uh needs assessment uh care associates was able to identify health priorities for improvement as well as provide an improvement plan um the health priorities identified uh as follows uh
number one to prevent uh prevent health screenings and treatment services number two health environment healthy environments and inclusive programs and number three healthy eating and active living i will now hand it over to Le our
public health nurse to go over what we're doing as a town to address and improve upon these health priorities identified leave take it away as Le is doing that I just want to let the board know that um she's going to
transition into the monthly report as well and talk about the nursing updates first and then Amelia will go after that and then I'll go after that can anyone hear me yes yes yes okay perfect can you see my screen yes
beautiful awesome so as a day said we have three major priorities with um goals in between and I've categorize the PowerPoint to show our three pri priorities um with the goals underneath so without further ado we have our
community health needs assessment and improvement update with our health priorities all right so health priority agenda those are our three um priorities that a day had said preventative health screenings healthy environments and healthy
eating all right health priority number one goal one our goal um improve awareness and access to preventative health screenings and service for those in need of support and through this we would increase promotion and availability of pre preventative health
screenings and health services in the community for residents of all ages and address the leading barriers to health care and services among reading residents so in the last year and upcoming we have done this through some of our wonderful events um in the past
years and this winter we've had hearing screenings and we have promoted that through the reading public library with the helps of our um health librarian Susan Borugard as well as our health I'm sorry library administrator Megan
Clement the YMCA with John Fudo and the town of Reading with our communications executive assistant Josh Delane we have the mimography van that has come in past years and coming um this year as well actually next month
end of next month um this is preventative for breast cancer and we're collaborating that with the town as well as the Dana Farber mimography van um I don't know if anyone's heard of MVP 2.0 O municipal vulnerability preparedness program highlighting v
vulnerabilities in infrastructure society and envir sorry vulnerabilities in societal environmental and infrastructure vulnerabilities and this is through the planning department um uh specifically Olivia Knightly who
has been coordinating that and we also have the DEI implementation team that is being led by the office of equity and social justice um headed by Albert Plus we are going to be starting listening sessions to sh um for sharing strategies
to center marginalized voices and gaps identified during the reading equity audit um this PowerPoint was sent out to all of you i believe um each of these down here are hyperl so you can click and get to the MVP for reading as
well as the reading equity audit furthering on priority one goal one we have our vision screening van which um it has come in last year as well as this year we are already full um on places for for people to sign up for
our renting van this year so that's amazing um helping with ocular screening to see if individuals need glasses or prescription fixes and then lastly I do regular blood pressure screenings around town um in association with the town of
Reading the library and the Frank Tanner Housing Authority okay moving on to health priority one goal two supportive linkages to mental health and behavioral health services for those in need of support and we do this through increased
local capacity for triaging and bridging care to mental health and behavioral health services and decreasing community stigma surrounding mental health issues and to promote the importance of health and well-being for all this has been a huge collaborative
um and really taking on by the writing coalition pre for prevention and support um also known as ARASA or previously known as ARCASa um this is headed by Erica Malle as well as Justennia Cruz and our social worker Tanya uh Jarzen
Neki and they do a wonderful job um with mental health uh in the community um as well as education on um substance for our youth um and our community members uh these are a lot of things that I didn't know that reading did um and I
think it's really wonderful that we do so we do have matchmaking for mental health this is this is an interface that will um pair you with a therapist that may be available um via teleaalth or maybe in your area um we have used it
for 131 of our residents um given them access to outpatient mental health providers it's a wonderful service we also have our um critical incident management system or CIMS that captures the most critical information about incidents referrals and follow-up visits
and this gets sent directly to Tanya and she's able to do an immediate um action on residents that are in need of help um crisis intervention team officer training uh this is headed also by the coalition and they do different
trainings throughout the community um to help with communication and engagement skills navigating community resources risk assessment tools and collabor collaborating with mental health providers and then we also have our mental health first aid classes that are
taught by our wonderful coalition um practitioners and this is training offered for adults for adult and teen first aid this is part This is actually part of the 11th grade curriculum at Reading Memorial High um already and the
uh Reading Coalition offers it to the public um and they are in the middle of a class right now actually and adults mental health first aid for adults and it's a series it lasts a couple weeks it's it's a wonderful program all right moving on to health priority
number two healthy environments and inclusive programs with goal one being to support the creation and promotion of healthy places spaces and programs for people of all ages and abilities identify new options and create plans and policies to support physical
infrastructure for recreation and social engagement as well as implement policy and environmental change strategies to improve code and ADA compliance in older buildings ensuring accessibility for all so we are doing this in two very
specific ways um as I I think we may all know we've heard of Recal the Reading Center for Active Living um it's been in talks for quite some time now since 2015 um and that will foster health and wellness for promoting social interactions strengthening the community
and providing a point of access to programs and services for all ages i work very directly with um our elder population and the Reading Senior Center so I'm very excited for um this specific uh goal to come to life um yeah a lot of
lot of good things that I think could happen with the recal and then I just want to also bring us back to the MVP 2.0 which is specifically focusing on infrastructure societal and environmental vulnerabilities so they can really take the lead um with our uh
ADA compliance um in our buildings and that is through the planning department all right moving on to goal two in priority two increase opportunities for community connections and supportive services for those in need of support so secure resources to
expand the hours of operation for key town assets to increase accessibility for all increase the availability of adaptive programming to ensure inclusivity and accessibility so we do this in a few ways um our wonderful
recreational department has some amazing programs that they do um for our kiddos so our special skates program learn to skate program for children ages four and up with functional needs it's an 8week long program with volunteer instructors from the women and men's hockey teams at
Reading Memorial it's such a wonderful program and I think it's it's really cool that um all these different ages can come together um and different talents and then we also have our wreck trips the reading recreational team was able to host four trips last year with
different events these trips were for individuals 15 to 25 years old with functional and cognitive needs um again this was our wonderful recreation department um and as you can see here they went to a Red Sox game and um from the reports that I received they had a
great time all right moving on to goal number three in priority 2 that is to build resilience among youth and young adults to foster well-being and belonging decrease youth screen time while increasing opportunities for youth
engagement and enrichment programming so again kind of um going back to the recreational department here as well as the senior center and the library three wonderful resources that are really trying hard to um bridge that gap between generations as well as getting
kids out and about um and doing activities so we've got our intergenerational programs that are hosted by the senior center um with the department of community service they do great uh things over there they recently had a jigsaw competition um jigsaw
puzzling competition which is just so fun to watch if you guys ever get a chance to head over there they're really cool um and then they had a bingo night with a DJ which I heard was just it it was a huge hit and I think that's definitely going to be coming back um we
have our Reading Recreation Division which hosts um some wonderful uh vacations throughout the year um in for kids of all ages um and I do believe I also hyperl this and it'll take you
directly to the program pages um and then lastly our library has some wonderful events that they do monthly coordinating um for children and teens and that is coordinated by our teen librarian Megan McCabe and our reference
and community health librarian Susan Bogard two wonderful resources over there all right moving on to health priority number three healthy eating and active living so goal one for this increase healthy behaviors across the lifespan by making the healthy choice
the easy choice create and disseminate prevention and health education messages to promote healthy eating and active living within the community increase access to healthy food sources within the community and increase community walkability and bike ability to key destinations in reading such as schools
recreation and facilities promote and embed healthy eating and active living as a core priority for policy and systems change in reading so this is definitely something I have a passion for um and I want to expand upon this in my years to come
here in Reading i was able to um start a little wellness series this is going to end up being a four-part wellness series and we did our last talk um in January and I had two sessions at the library and then one at the senior center talking about healthy eating exercise
and rest with a focus on diabetic nutrition um it went over really well and the residents that I talked to um said they really appreciated it and then I just also wanted to bring attention to the Reading Food Pantry is a nonprofit or nonprofit reading food pantry
established in 1983 providing food assistance to families who live in Reading we currently serve 400 plus households across town operating out of the Old South United Methodist Church and then they gave a nice little description the big white church facing Readingtown Common at 6 Salem
Street all right and that is actually the end of that assessment um which you should all have a copy for uh of sorry um are there any questions before I move on to my nursing update
all right I have a comment so we thought this would uh never happen because in most towns when they provide a community health health improvement plan um most towns just they don't have the resources to uh uh execute the recommendations in
the plan but it appears that we have that in writing so I'm I'm really happy about that and I'm also happy that um you put everything together you know um initially we were kind of confused we wanted to get a steering committee to
help us get all the information and put it together but um you made it possible so I really want to thank you for doing that a thank you i appreciate that um thanks guys i'm blushing um all right
wonderful can I um and I I would second what a day said i mean I think you you've done a great job um and I think it's important for us um to as a board as a health department to continue to
kind of track how we're doing around these goals and objectives and I had talked to a day about you know maybe quarterly or at on some regular basis to kind of have an update to the board so we know we're we're moving in in that
direction um do you do you have a sense that a number of these organizations that you pointed out have um knowledge and understanding of what our community
health improvement plan is and how they fit into it i know they're all doing their own thing but do they sort of understand that that this is actually from our perspective part of a bigger plan um to improve the health of the
community so I think that's a that's a wonderful point Dr lopez um I definitely think that in the conversations that I've been having the I basically what I've been trying to do is find these different resources throughout the town and see if
we are already doing that in some way and then when I do I'm just trying to bring that information together with those people and be like we are collaborating together we should work together we want the same goal um and that is usually well very wellreceived but a lot of people don't realize that
we have a whole chip out there already with these goals in mind and I'm trying to bring that attention to the forefront of their mind um I'm trying to bring that to their attention um and establish these relationships that um or or
reconnect these relationships so that we can do this together because I don't think one department alone can execute this whole plan i think it needs to be a townwide collaborative between pretty much every department right so I I I
definitely I think that's the the right approach i think it's important to educate all these other entities about what we're trying to do and also to encourage them um if they want to do um or we're thinking about
um other activities or initiatives that are consistent with our CHIP goals that you would want to you know be part of it and help yeah towards it so it it encourages them as well and um to your
point I actually just got an email this week asking the library asking me if I wanted to host something that would be a community engagement program so I do think that these relationships are um benefiting us and will continue to
benefit us okay let me just pull up my notes here and my other PowerPoint i love PowerPoints in case you haven't noticed okay
oh no hold on i have to stop sharing again i'm not 100% sure how to put this in presenter view but it shouldn't matter is everyone able to visualize this okay if I was to just scroll through it sure
okay click on the plus side uh sign to see if it gets bigger like it's n O yeah i think that's just to add uh people access to access the It's actually down at the bottom it's a
little slide bar yes right one yeah right there one to eight one eight to the left to the left this one no one8 there yep there you go okay let's go a little smaller
that's fine that's fine all right okay march 25 2025 nursing updates okay so for the month of February we did not do too great with the flu um we had 173 cases of the flu in the town of
Reading and that was just reported um through primary cares and hospitals we were we are down for the month of February and um 2025 in comparison to 2024 when it comes to COVID cases um but
definitely not with flu um I do want to say that flu shots are still available for individuals 65 plus um if if you feel like you would still want them um you can just go ahead and give me a call and they are
available and moving on I still do my blood pressure screenings throughout the month we have one at Frank Tanner on the 20th and that one is at 11:00 a.m um I'm sorry 10:00 a.m and then um for April
Pleasant Street Senior Center um on the 2nd of April and that will be at 11:00 a.m and then at Frank Tanner Drive on April 17th um at at 10:00 a.m we have our very very pleased to say
that our 2020 on-site van is coming back for vision screenings um all slots have been filled at this time which is amazing and we really look forward to partnering with them again in the future um because we filled those slots up I think almost within a week a day it was
it was fast they went like that um and on that same thread we have the mimography van coming back to reading on Tuesday April 29th this is in conjunction with Dana Farber this went live earlier this week um the Mamovan
will be serving 40 plus community as well as individuals with referrals for a scan the number on screen um will take you to the registration link uh sorry will will take you to the registration um voicemail line or you can send an
email um this will also be posted to our website and I'm also happy to provide that registration link via email if anybody wants to just have it in their email um I will be hosting some handsonly CPR classes uh we have one
coming up next Thursday uh March 20th i think I have 11 out of 15 of those slots filled so if you'd like to come please go ahead and sign up use the QR code right there or you can go ahead and give me a call or send me an email um we have
another session on April 17th which I believe has three more slots left so feel free to sign up a lot of families are signing up which is great um the Pleasant Street Senior Center and Health will be holding
a I'm sorry Health will be holding a health fair at the Pleasant Street Senior Center on Tuesday May 20th uh it's going to be from 10 to 12 i am currently um getting my vendor lists all
uh all satisfied so that will it should be a great event i want to draw back attention to our takeback supplies um programs we have our diabetic supplies program as well as our medical supplies
program um these have both been booming i have gotten um I think about five five or six different individuals who have brought in boxes weighing 10 to 20 pounds with medical supplies that
I've been able to donate to different humane societies um in the reading area which has really been wonderful um and then diabetic supplies that are being sent back for um insulin for life um for America and they've been uh really appreciative of that i've I've gotten
some letters back from them um okay we are also going to be for individuals who um are unable to access um localarmacies such as the CVS and North Reading that need to dispose of medications um we are going to be
looking into getting some med disposal bags uh that we can give out to residents that have accessibility um uh barriers um so stay in tuned we are looking into getting those and that
should be great um and that is the end of my presentation thank you great excellent thank you very much thank you yeah it's great a lot going on good job
all right should I transition into mine next day absolutely all right let's do it let me just grab my There we go okay um I don't know if everyone can see my screen
yes we can okay perfect um let me just blow this up a little bit just so people can see it better um I color coded it this time so to reflect current month and year to date i just felt it broke up the numbers a little better it was just more visually um better on the eyes so
February we got a little busy with inspections which has been fun and I love going out in the fields um we issued two uh food permits uh reoccurring food permits they just kind of got lost uh when I was doing renewals i was kind of solo just because we
didn't have an admin so it was a lot so having Haley has been a huge help it's taken a lot of relief off my shoulders when it comes to open gov so we've kind of been able to go through issue out permits that have just been lingering um so that is why you might see some of those so they're nothing new they're
just they've been there so uh we've been able to get through those um I did 19 total routine inspections last month uh totaling for 23 for the year so far uh I had one single reinspection that I conducted which as we kind of mentioned
earlier couple things that popped up um I gave the establishment a week just so they could get you know plumbers in uh technicians in there was an issue with the wearashing machine and also a flip top unit so kind of like how a day explained you know I had them take all
the food out of that flip top unit store it in reachin fridges and other flip- top units and then for the wearashing machine um unfortunately they weren't able to use that so they had to resort to their three-bay sink to wash rinse and sanitize all of their equipment um
which is not fun when you're busy but had to happen and they were able to luckily get a plumber in within a day or two so that was rather resolved quickly um and then when I went out to reinspection everything checked out great looked great got all the service reports and everything looked good so
hopefully they won't run into that issue um again or if they catch it in time um if it does pop up in the future we got three general complaints for some food establishments nothing major um I went out to all of those establishments spoke
with managers owners um just reinstated some basic food safety uh talked a little bit about maybe some sightings that people were seeing and just general complaints again um all which were resolved um and you know handled very um
appropriately by the establishments uh I issued three temporary permits um those being for Winterfest that just happened last week uh which I went out and inspected all of those temporary events and missed the rain by maybe two minutes um it did unfortunately start
downpouring which was so sad because it was really fun it looked really fun um I wish I stayed um but at the same time was happy I did miss the rain a little bit um I did two uh routine body art inspections so that counted all of
our routine inspections for our body art establishments uh so far this year I plan on going back in six months uh which brings me out to I want to say July or a no uh maybe August September um Mina Day talked about doing them
twice a year instead of once a year um and I mentioned that to the establishments and they were very receptive to that uh told me I can come by anytime so that was you know really nice to see that they were rather excited to see me and you know not excited to see me um we received one
general complaint regarding I guess a resident had an issue with birds um defecating around her property a lot and she was obviously concerned with the bird flu going around and whatnot so um as a department we all kind of talked
about it hypothesized you know what direction we could send her in um we don't really have an animal control officer i know we utilize weak fields so you know that can be a little challenging when it comes to just you know standard complaints we get about wildlife um but you know we all talked
about it as a group we figured the best thing to do was to send her to the state health department um and maybe they could further assist her so Haley very kindly called the resident back and guided her in that direction of addressing that issue with the state health department and we haven't heard
from her since so you know fingers crossed that maybe the birds left her and her property alone um very strange that that had happened but that did pop up um I went out with fire and building to a complaint we received regarding an
older gentleman um a plumber went in to fix the heating on the house and just observe the house in some disarray was concerned for their well-being so I did go out with fire prevention uh the building commissioner and myself we went out we checked on the resident talked to the resident um we are currently working
with him and still are working with him along with the coalition as well and our hoarding task force um and that is just our hoarding task force is where building fire police the coalition we all come together and we just talk about situations that you know residents are
living in that might be dangerous or unsafe and we just work around ways to providing them with a safe um and healthy living environment so that was that and that that sums up my monthly report for the month of February so
getting busy um which I enjoy i love being in the field so yeah I think next month those numbers will be higher so that's exciting um and yeah that's pretty much it for the month of February i don't know if anyone has any questions for me
well thank you excellent presentation thank you very much all right um so from my side um the department is looking great um good is an understatement um you know we're fully staffed uh we have a great team we
work well together and uh we are looking forward to a great uh public health future so I'll hand it over to Dr lopez for the final comments um great
so any any final comments from board members or I would just say that uh one is a day you know if you can share the first m couple minutes of our
meeting that clip with um the uh police and they there may not be anything to do But it was you know very upsetting and um I think they ought to look into it particularly if it's happening at other
remote meetings um you know there may be some linkages or or something so I think it they ought to be aware of of this um and perhaps investigate if there was a name attached to that the only other uh
comment I have is um that I'm on the state board of pharmacy and they uh last week announced that um I didn't realize this but basically uh during the COVID
pandemic Governor Baker um created the uh the sort of emergency uh allowance for state municipal uh meetings um to be
able to be done remotely and that um sort of exception um has kind of continued to be uh reaffirmed and reaffirmed since then apparently it is due to expire March 31st
um of this month and there is uh some discussion we were told in the legislature about um and maybe in the governor's office about um furthering that uh you know exception to the open
meeting uh law and so uh it is a little bit up in the air um hopefully they will kind of reconfirm the exception for another period of time but I just wanted to give everybody a heads up that you
know uh we might hear something different uh by the end of the month and actually if we don't um or if it's allowed to lapse then our meeting in April I would think would need to be in
person of course we will check with town council and and our legislative people and and see where that sits before we do that we would have to make name tags for the board members that would make it official
yeah okay great good job everyone some really good presentations i appreciate it i think the board appreciates it as well great thank you so I make a a motion to adjourn the
meeting do I have a second second okay roll call joan yes kevin yes yes um let the let the minute say that Kevin has audio problems and he
says yes okay so we can leave and Rick yes so thank you everyone and we will see you next month bye good night good night