to the cloud There we go This is the board of health meeting of April 2nd We are all here and I don't think I need to name us Um so so first order of business can we
approve the minutes from last time Yes I just read them over I move that we approve them Second All in favor You're Yes Yes Arlene Yes
You good Whim Yes Okay Me too All right That's that Um the other bit of business that we have real business is the well permit application for what number is it
36 Merryill Drive which which as it turns out is not the one that I thought it was It's one on the opposite side of the street a red one right Unfortunately Um I know that other one was for sale but I don't know if anybody has bought it yet Anyway we've got a well permit
application We we approved their septic system last time Um the the horribly small drawing I have on it seems to show
the well set back to be h it seems to show it to be about 78 79 ft which is a little closer than we want but but it seems seems
doable It's pretty close to the road but I don't think it's 15 ft from the road So is this also on Merryill Drive Did you say Cat Yes it's 36 Mel Drive Okay All right Yeah I think I know which one it is No so it's close to Merrill It's
within 15 feet of Mel Drive you think I I think it's probably not quite that close Okay Um it's pretty hard to read this but judging from the scale I imagine that they're good on the 15t
setback So the only there are many mysterious circles within circles here and I looked at it earlier but I want to just get another idea
And I'm sorry but did you say they we already approved a septic for them We did Yeah Okay And that's 79 feet from the well just about That's what it looks like
This is quite hard to interpret Um but that seems to be what that line is From the other wells They you know in the neighborhood they seem to have good setbacks who has um written the plan who's the engine the Alan Weiss wrote the septic
design plan and cited the well and um presumably with the help of Ezra Cushing who um applying for the the permit Sure So pretty much from what I can see and I
mean I can I can get it up on the screen if you want to see it Um but what I can see from here there isn't another good place I mean that's just the way it is So if if we approve that and it's less
than the the conventional 100 ft and then they do have a problem do they have to sign a waiver beforehand That work No Uh we can we can this would be under our
wellregs and we can grant variances and the it's a pretty standard um standard thing that we can legally permit a well and a septic
system to be as close to each other as 50 ft if there's no other way So this is kind of well within the the accepted range And in the past we have asked folks who to whom we've given that
variance we've asked them to test their wellwater annually Do I recall that correctly If they are between 50 and 100 we have asked them to do that We have asked them to do that And um but we don't enforce
it We don't enforce it It's basically not enforceable We recommend it We suggest it We can write that on the well permit that we recommend annual well testing for
um colifform bacteria and ecoli and nitr ammonia But um as far as trying to enforce these I mean some people are still doing it Most people aren't I see On the on the bright side we haven't
seen any septic system contamination yet in all this time that you and I have been on the board So so we can hope that that it all works So far so good right And it's been a long time
So shall we issue this well permit or not Yeah sure I move that we do so I hear a second Second
All in favor Garrett Yes Arlene yes Norin yes Whim yes Cat yes All right I will do that and I will I will recommend well testing on the permit form All right Um Garrett you wanted me to
remind you to talk about the drill and the survey Drill and survey So two emails were sent out by the MAFCO public health planner I think that they went to all board of health members within the
coalition but I can't tell because it's blind copied So the first is that there's going to be an announced drill tomorrow at some point that the
coalition is doing not DPH but it's going to come through the DPH notification system So it'll come through the HAN So in theory we're all going to receive a HAN alert because we're all built into
that notification system Um and do we all have to respond So I think it's basically going to ask us to update our contact information So I'm I'm available all day tomorrow so I can log on for us And I don't think our
contacts have changed Have they or Well unless unless Arlene's email mine had and I don't this may have gotten changed last time Garrett but I had to change mine in order to reaccess
Maven and I had the new email has to have my name in it So I am now a reread dshoot.org Okay So That's different from I used to be public health at shootspray.org Okay So I I think it's probable
that your email still shows up as public health Okay So do you want me to just update it tomorrow I can go in and update it tonight so that you won't have to do that Okay After this meeting I'll do that or after dinner I'll do Yep Okay
Um so that's the drill So I'll when the notification comes out tomorrow aside from Arlene going on there tonight I'll respond for us if that makes sense And then the other
thing was there was an email that went out from the coalition from the planner So Randy Cardonali um about a training needs survey or training survey
Um it may have been phrased needs assessment but it's it's basically about level of training that we have in preparedness concepts and I think the intent is for all board of health members in the
coalition to take the survey It takes about 3 to five minutes but I wasn't sure if everybody received that I did but I have not completed it Okay Same here
Yeah I did too but I wasn't sure who they wanted to complete it So but I'll do so when you have it No by right Yeah it would have been by email and it would have come from Randy Cardali
Nope Right It's it's called training needs Randy Cardell Training needs Cardell And when did you guys get it Three days ago It sent out on March 29th I'm gonna forward it to you Whim All
right Because I definitely did not And it it's a pretty quick one It's just basically have you had you know these ICS trainings And you know it's asking have you had it Yes No Do you think you
should have it [Laughter] Okay Okay Is there any that anyone on the board feels like hey let's all speak for the anything that we want to put
forward um that we should all be emphasizing that we need I I don't know of anything So so some of the trainings that are listed there are in my opinion trainings
you know like mass mass casualty right training Um that for you know I've I've had it because of my work Um do I think I need to have it as
a board of health member in Shootsbury Probably not Okay Um so a lot of things that are oriented to a more uh densely populated potentially Yeah Okay Yeah Same for me
We do mass casualty every year So but So will you guys put that you have it or will you put not needed
Uh I I put that I had it Okay Yeah Okay It looks good if we have them even if we don't have use for them Okay Anything else we should know about the coalition or I mean that's why I moved here because I didn't want to have to use that training
[Laughter] Well I hope your luck holds Anything else you want to tell us Garrett about the about MAF Anything we need to know No I think that was it I I
think Norine had something about um the emergency management team meeting because I wasn't able to go to to that one but she was able to jump on to part of it Right
Um the the emergency management team the part I was on looked at and I'm blocking on what the name of it is but we have to update every few years or maybe it's every year um the plan for if there's
any sort of disaster um that might cause damage to the dam And so the uh actually the whole select board was there and people were reading over that and taking a look at um you know I think it's pretty much the same
plan that we've always had but it just needs to be updated with people's names and date changes and things of that sort So it looked fine to me but it struck me um cat as those of us who live well whim too on the the other side you know of
the lake that there's that um there's nothing mentioned at all about what goes on upstream in terms of the three ponds that are above the lake and what might happen or what the plans are uh if one
of those jams gives way And I was a little bit concerned It didn't seem like Lenny had much knowledge at all of the upstream um ponds and uh dams that were there But he was meeting the following day with uh with the emergency folks from from
Wendell And I asked him if he would inquire and you know see what he could learn about their uh I'm sure I I felt certain they had to do a similar plan So um you know he was going to try and get a little more information Uh he
didn't seem to think if Makovo for example you know he seemed to know a little bit about that pond but there are two other ponds above that and Fisk U but he didn't seem to think the topping of Makavoy would have any significant impact on Lake Wyola But seems to me if
there's a really serious kind of incident and all those you know old privately owned dams that's the other thing They're all privately owned except for Fisk uh would go out You know there could be s some significant problems And there's also no
mention of the dam at Ames Ponds So um that's the one at Janowitz correct Right Yeah So it just uh seemed to me a little odd that you know there's there's a good
plan for for our dam but there's really no mention of the surrounding watershed So I did comment on that You did Okay Yeah Um so that's one item The other item Kat is I did bring up
just in terms of our board of health you know report um you know what's going on with the the beavers the usual problem that we have under uh co the cove cove road and uh and ask if uh Lenny when he
meets with the highway department would kindly ask them if they would clean that uh channel out on a regular basis He and he said he would Um and of course wait what what what place is this Ernie Um
Nor you know where the cove is The the lake The Lake Cove The North Cove The North Cove Yeah Yeah I thought we discussed at our last meeting that that was building up again Yes And that you had said that you that the highway department had not been responding to
your request that that be cleaned out Okay Well I have some things to tell about that Okay Good Um um at at the last Elwack meeting Howard mentioned that that was building up and it hadn't been done hadn't been nothing
had happened to it in the fall and that it was going to be a lot harder once he starts letting the water back in the lake which he should have done by now April 1st was the date Um um so I got in touch with the new highway guy Is it is
his name Dave I think and um and uh and mentioned this and pointed out that our our order last time we had that dam breached or had a dam breached there was
to keep it clear keep the waterway clear Um and you know Tim was on board at that time so everything has changed and it's not surprising that that hasn't happened Um back in the the fall when this first
became a problem Dave asked us for um you may remember this he asked us for a permit to use a Connie bear trap which is forbidden by law except in cases of an acute emergency which they just
didn't have There was no reason they couldn't have trapped with you know conventionally the the traps that they always use And it was during the trapping season and I even offered to um pay some of the difference in cost
because of your trap is is cheaper um from the water quality um budget line that Elwack uses Um but he said no he was going to work it out with the select board but nothing has happened So we are going to have a meeting with the select
board or we're going to be on the select board agenda next Tuesday the 8th Um me Beth Wilson Dave the Highway Guy um and I don't know who all else So we're going to try to get it straightened out then
Okay Well that's good news And as I mentioned I'm not sure why but the entire select board happened to be at the emergency management team So it won't be you know so it'll be more clarification for them Tuesday when they meet and additional information but um
prepping isn't I mean there there's still other be there always beers there haven't been there um so we still need to have that cleared out on a regular basis and I know how he mentioned again when I brought it up that it's it's a concern and that he used to go over there every day and do
it you know clean out that debris or every couple of days Yeah Yeah And uh he can't do that anymore And I can't imagine the highway department is going to send somebody to do it every single day or even three times a week Um No but you know if they do it once I
can't imagine how they're going to do it Yeah Right But but Beth Wilson from the Conservation Commission is going to come to that meeting and I'm hoping that between between the board of health and the conservation commission we can come up with some kind of a plan where they
have license to just keep up with it and not always be asking for permits and things because that just slows everything down Especially with Concom I mean we turn those around fast but they don't do anything fast That's just yeah it's just the nature of conservation
commission Well if you would emphasize that it you know it it can be a serious problem and especially you know we're getting more and more storms that um you know that backing up up there right It has to be the channel has to be
kept open That's all right So I'm hoping we'll get some kind of resolution on on um Tuesday Tuesday Um one thing Dave said is that he didn't want to send his guys into the water and get hypothermia
taking the thing down But um I don't know what I don't know what the other options are Um I suppose one other option is they can hire it done I mean they don't have to do it personally It's right over the embankment from the
road right Isn't it the covert that goes under the road Yes exactly Don't they have an excavator with a thumb The highway department you know those you know so you can grab stuff with the
I I don't know Yeah I mean that's the tool to use It would take him two minutes huh Well that's good information for you Cat Yeah It's a bucket with a thumb on an excavator
Um Cat when you mentioned April 1st is the date when they do the release to adjust the level of the lake Where's that water come from Did you Didn't you just say that Um I did say that I did say that they
let they they lower the lake level in the wintertime by opening the dam um to keep ice from rubbing up against the dam I see the spillway Yeah Well the the dam itself the the the stacked rocks that
are the dam itself or the you know it's an earthn dam clad in rocks and we don't want ice rubbing up against that and causing possible erosion So they open up the dam and they lower it about two feet in the winter and they start they're supposed to start on November 1st I
think and then they're supposed to close the dam up again and um let the water rise starting April 1st and this is a schedule that is imposed on us from you know above I'm not I don't remember exactly where but it's those are the
requirements I get it All right Thanks So we'll see if we can get some action on that Um um I notice I don't know if you guys get those um emails from the guy who's the
commissioner of public health in in Massachusetts Do you all get those I think so Guy calls himself Robbie something He uh he's been sending out emails if you don't get them I can send them on to you Sort of encouraging us to
uh hang in there while while the world goes to hell around us and he um he mentioned in his one today that Massachusetts is part of this um lawsuit with 22 other states and the District of Columbia um to unfreeze the funds that
have been blocked that were previously um um uh appropriated for public health That's like 11 billion or something So you know we're on it Maybe they'll maybe they'll
manage to get the money back Along those lines um I'll just remind folk that I go to the Western Mass Homeland Security Council meetings and uh I'm on I'm an alternative member of that council Anyway um Rain and I'm
blocking what her last name is from Furcog uh you know was asked what we're thinking the future might look like for these local regional homeland security councils And we have about o over a million dollars a year that usually
comes into the homeland security council which includes um Franklin Hampshire Hampton and Birkshire counties and we can use that money for training and exercises and equipment purchase And we've always
put that to really good use in developing relationships where we share trainings share equipment and that sort of thing And she was not terribly optimistic that that kind of money was going to continue to flow into into the
area but um you know she wasn't certain She hadn't heard anything Um but that's just a sort of a a heads up for what's happening with that and it's been a great source of specialized training
for fire and um you know rescue teams and uh police and that sort of thing for the whole region I don't know maybe maybe Garrett has I don't know if you've heard anything from your regions
I mean you know but like my my job is entirely different No federally funded you know you know so push comes to shove I'll go and clean out the beaver dam Excellent You have two thumbs right Yeah
Well well and Cat and I will make breakfast or lunch for you whatever you prefer No I mean I'll find you a wet suit Right I mean it's so hard to say Yeah You know the the public health preparedness
funds you know DPH hasn't said yet what CD because CDC hasn't said to them So for the next year um so you know who knows M and and basically the administration has said
all of this work needs to be driven local u but without any federal funding to do it And so the likelihood that we sustain what we have now through local or state
funds is just minimal It's not going to happen Yeah It's It's really going to affect the community health center won't it They they already got smacked the community health centers
So community health centers HIV AIDS funding Yeah Everything Hey we got to keep those billionaires earning right No Yeah
So anyway well those are sad reports but yeah that's true I'm sorry to hear that Garrett and uh we'll see what happens I remain hopeful Good
I um I I ran into Sarah the other day at um town hall and uh she's got a bunch of ideas for presentations and things to do We might as well do them now because we don't know how long we're going to be able to keep her One of the things that she wants to do is she got in touch with
John Briggs the mosquito guy and um and she has he has agreed to do um a thing about mosquitoes um basically about the work that he does right About how he goes out and how he
traps the mosquitoes and what he he tests them and and everything you know the really the scientific part about it right And uh at the moment unfortunately I was hoping we could do it in May before town meetings when people ask us what the hell we're spending that money
on Um but it's going to be on June 11th which which is a a Wednesday one of the off Wednesdays when we don't have board of health meeting and it's going to be it's going to be by Zoom The the good news is that Sarah should be safe because all of I think her funding
is all state state state oriented funding So that's Yeah Yeah Except that the state's going to be worrying about funding lots of stuff So and this is a fairly new program at least for our
area Anyway I don't want to be doom and gloom but Yeah Yeah I would I would guess that basically nobody's safe um any kind of public funding because there's only so much to go around and if they're going to take it back from Washington
um something's going to have to give Yeah There was just a big article in the paper today about um you know all the school districts that are concerned about their educational funding Of course Yeah Yeah It's pretty it's pretty grim
Um one thing that another thing that Sarah wants to do is she wants to give some kind of a orientation for for people to understand what public health nursing is and what she can do and what she can't do because
you know people think that she's she's there to do nursing right So they want her to to you know I don't know do nursing things and that's kind of not her role She can do minor things like
like you know blood pressure and stuff like that but it's more her function is more educational and cons referral Yeah Well yeah she does referrals but she can also do a sort of consulting Like if you come in with a list of you know 18
medications that you take she might go over those medications and make some some recommendations about how they could be streamlined or how some things could be changed or something's taken at a different time of day And then you could take those recommendations back to
your your primary care provider and um and ask them to to review them and and ideally to do that stuff So she wants to give some kind of a some kind of a a lecture on that a talk on that And she
also wants to work with the council on aging and with v village neighbors to try to sort of broaden all their outreach And I know that village neighbors is trying to trying to identify the people who um
have age related cognitive problems and their caregivers and try to try to kind of bring them into community and and um support them So we can expect Sarah to be doing
some things soon I think Great Good right for as long as it lasts I don't think I have anything else I don't know about you guys I um Go ahead Norine I'm sorry Arlene I I was only going to say that I'm going
to be away almost the entire month of May so I'll just give you a heads up now Okay Okay Are you going someplace wonderful Yes tell I'm going to hike the Scottish Highlands
Yes And then I'm going over to Ireland and doing a car tour of Ireland And then I'm getting on a little boat with my two new nieces who are three or two and three And uh we're going to go along a
river and handle the boat ourselves That'll right Along the river and three goodsized lakes in Northern Ireland Nice Yeah that sounds wonderful Very nice Yeah we're excited
So you won't be at either of the May meetings Probably not No No I would say no Okay I haven't looked at the Right Yeah Don't Don't zoom in from like Scotland We don't We don't expect that Are you back by the end of May for town meeting or no Yes Is that the 31st Is
that the new date Yes we will be Yes It's kind of critical to us Yes Yeah Right Right Are you going to say something Yes I received a sketchy looking email today and I just want to know if anyone else
did It was sent to my board of health email address I think it's fake Um but it is from uh I didn't click on any links but let me just switch my screens my screen and
if I can do this correctly go to my email Um it is from uh the the email address is the first thing that made me think it was sketchy is jeremybkccpa.com and it's the subject
line is 2025 employee handbook for all Shootsbury Nobody got anything like that did they So I I received it but mine read differently So it went to my spam folder Uhhuh Um it went to my personal
email and when you look at it I think I I already uh deleted it Um or I look at it but I I think it said mine said something to the effect of employee handbook Google
but then there was also a really weird attachment that had the the town symbol for Montichue Oh jeez And so I did a search for this suffix on that email address
that of the sender's email address and it brought me to a a firm of certified public accountants who serve clients in Kalamazoo and West Michigan And the
person sending this email is named Jeremy something I'm forgetting the la the last name Jeremy something And he is on the staff there But anyway it looks completely fake Is there a Shootsberry
in Michigan Oh good question Probably not So so I think ultimately what happened is that person no got attacked and right it
spread right through some you know so like the the fact that mine had an attachment with the Montigue town right symbol seems like maybe they had some sort of a connection with
somebody in Montigue and Okay And I mine has an attachment that I that has a QR code on it which I have not Yeah Don't Yeah don't click it No I'm not So okay Um so I am correct that it's junk We
don't have an employee handbook that we need to pay attention to right That that is that is true And I just looked in my SCA spam folder and I found it there Oh you did Yeah Okay All right M so we
might want to notify town ad admin that this is happening so that others aren't who may have received it other town personnel are not going and clicking on it Um and I can do that tomorrow if we
think that's important It couldn't hurt Okay All right Okay Good Good to know Thanks for bringing that up The only other thing I have is Kad I think you're aware of this because I CCD the board of health email
and that is that I did get in touch with Claudia and with Victoria Shaw from Morris Hill to clarify who's doing the camp inspection this year Claudia Um I I looks like Victoria had old contact
information last year which was the problem but that's all been the pathway for them to connect with one another is now clear So okay Um I remember last year there when Claudia was unfindable
that um who did it Megan And apparently she did it quite differently from the way Claudia does I mean I I wonder how that's been resolved Are we going to have a Megan style inspection Are we going to have a Claudia style inspection And which one are we supposed to have
Good question And I mean part of that is to discover that I think is to tell Claudia that it was a very different process that Victoria experienced last year And what's the deal you know like
get Claudia to it speak to that I guess Yeah Yeah It's pretty awkward really It is awkward but but kind of saying so what what should Victoria be expecting
Um I think Victoria needs to know Excuse me Right Yeah that's a good point Um Yeah I I'll have to think about how to how to bring this up Okay maybe I'll talk to Megan about
it Okay a good idea Just some of the things I recall that came up was um I think some of the the issues were around nursing and nursing documentation Arlene I know there was one around um having certification for
being in the the canoes and um some sort of safety training and yes and documentation of that I'm trying to think there were and I think there was a s something that needed to be signed by the medical director that hadn't been signed for a
while Yeah Yeah Just confirmation There was another thing that was the um it had to do with inspection of a building Oh correct And that hadn't been done for a while Yeah I don't I don't know what that was but I remember hearing I think it was a building inspector had to sign
off on the buildings every few years or something like that Either that or it might have been the fire chief had to sign off on that Might have been might have been Maybe first it makes sense to get details from Megan as you've said Um Cat talk with Megan first find out what the
um kind of the missing pieces were and then address that with Claudia Yeah Yeah that seems best no matter what It's
awkward to Yeah call her on that but I Right Okay Well I'll see what what we can do She um she answered uh Victoria and said "Let's let's get this scheduled now because my schedule's filling up."
So right it's pro probably time is of the essence Yeah Let let me know Cat if there's anything you want me to do on this Okay I will Thank you Okay Okay We have anything else to talk about Let's talk about Whim's knee How you doing Whim
Let's not I had I had three people I had to consult with today about my knee and I guess it's good They say it's progressing as it should It doesn't feel that way to me but I'm the guy feeling
it So I'm not surprised Yeah How's the sciatica That seems to be resolved now It's my hip really Yeah the hip joint that kind of hurts But um I don't know It's never ending it
seems But you everybody else gets over it so I'm sure I will too Sorry it's so hard Yeah for sure I mean I think feel free to call Arlene or
myself if it if it's helpful whim and uh part part of my experience was it kind of you know I had both of mine done it kind of whacks out other parts of your body for a while too Yeah that
that's what I think is going on Yeah Yep So way I'll keep at it They say don't do too much Don't be too aggressive about it Like I figure if I do a lot I'll get over it faster but I
don't think that's the way it works I I was pretty aggressive What about you Arlene Um I don't know what that means exactly but um I don't know Like I didn't hold back really Yeah I did my exercises like three times a day Oh I
didn't do that I did the aggressiveness prize Yeah Yeah you got me to the dolommites cat Yeah Well hey if that's what it takes right Yeah Yeah All right
Thank you though Yep Well good luck with that Have a um No we'll see you again before your trip Yeah Yeah we will We'll be again this month Yeah Meeting on the what 24th or something No like the 16th
two weeks from two weeks from today All right Perfect Okay All right Well hope you feel better Whim Thanks Yeah Same here Okay you guys Thank you Thank you Do we need to vote to Did we vote
I make a motion we adjourn Second All in favor Yes Yes Yeah Okay Bye Good night Bye All right Bye y'all