to a club. >> Okay, for the sake of the recording, this is the board of health meeting of what? September September 17th. >> Keep getting the wrong month in there. And there we have a quorum. Four members
of the board, myself, Katherine Hilton, Norian Peace, Garrett Simonson, Whim Lavine. Arlene Reed is absent and expected to stay absent and we may later have a visit. We expect to have a visit from Mike Hugo of the Massachusetts
Association of Health Boards. So, first order of business, can we can we get those minutes approved? >> I'll move meeting, didn't I? >> Yep. I'll move to approve Garrett.
>> Okay. Second. >> Go ahead. Whim seconded. >> Okay. All in favor? Norine? >> Yes. >> Garrett? >> Yes. >> Whim? >> Yes. >> Cat? Yes.
Okay. So, those are approved. Um, did we have any other other agenda items? I don't I don't think we did. >> There was an air quality thing.
>> Oh, yeah. Jeez. Um, so, so somebody who lives on Montigue Road, uh, sent us an email asking the board of health to conduct some kind of air quality study having to do with the amount of dust
that's being kicked up on Montigue Road where it's unpaved um, during the drought because he feels that it's a a health uh hazard. Now I I hasten to point out that this person has
lived there for 29 years. Um um and obviously belongs to the pave Montigue road faction and this is a new thing that he's thought up to try to
bolster that side. Do we have any interest in or power to do this? I mean, certainly we don't have the technical ability.
Whim, you're shaking your head. Go ahead. >> Yeah. I I just think um that has to be gently turned down because it's not only a bad precedent because we have unpaved roads in town,
you know. >> Yeah. They're not going to get paved ever. >> Right. >> Um so there are you could suggest a couple options. Keep your windows closed. buy an air purifier.
>> Um, and if you really want to do it, I I know people on my unpaved road who um I think they had oil sprayed on the road right in front of their house. >> Mhm. >> You know, so you can
um keep the dust down by doing that. Um, I think a paving company, that's probably the kind of thing they would do. So, >> oil oil the road. >> Yeah.
>> Um, but I think it's I I think that um on them to do it. The town should not pick up the bill for that. >> Right. I suppose I suppose not, but I also suppose that's not for us to to determine, right? I mean, they could get
the road oiled or for that matter, I suppose they could do it themselves. Um, but it's not our place to say who should pay for it. >> Um, are there other thoughts about this?
Hearing none, um I wonder if we should um also suggest that they take their complaint to the select board. >> Can't hurt. I mean, feel free. Yeah. I can't imagine they're going to get
satisfaction, but >> I can't either. >> Okay. >> Um I I know this person and he's a uh he's the kind of person who likes to kind of jab and poke and try to get try to get results and sometimes he's not
entirely serious about it. Um all right. with your approval, I will send a memo to this person or I will respond to their email saying that such a study is beyond the scope of the board of health um that we make I'll make the
suggestions that you mentioned whim and I'll also suggest that um they take their complaint to the select board if um if these measures are not sufficient. >> Sound good? >> Sounds good to me. Okay, we'll do.
>> So, do you guys have anything to tell? >> Um, I think I might, but help me team. I think we had the collaborative meeting last week, so I don't think I reported on some of the stuff from the collaborative. I can I can um update the
entire board. Cat, we talked about a few of these things. >> Go ahead. Um uh in terms of inspectors, the young man who was working for the collaborative has applied for the full-time job working for Greenfield.
His name is Corey Hartman. Uh and Greenfield was pretty certain they were going to hire him into their full-time position. >> Well, what does that mean for the collaborative? You won't have access to him. >> We will have access to him. Megan assures us that we will. will continue
to have access to her and the director. And they have backfilled two other positions. However, they're starting at the same base that Corey started at, you know, six or eight months ago. They have to get all of their uh certifications in
various areas. So, they've hired another um full-time person. His name is Jim Albert Cat >> and he has d degree in public health. He speaks four languages. So that could be helpful in some areas. He speaks Haitian
Creole, Spanish, and English. >> Wow. >> Um Yes. So um and he's about to start taking the soil evaluator course. >> And the the third person is uh I think I told you about her last time. Her name
is Anna Defor. D A F O R D. She's going to be part-time. She has a master's degree in chemistry and apparently has worked at some wind and battery storage facilities. So, might be able to enlighten us and some of the topics
we're beginning to look in now. She too needs to start from scratch and get all of her certifications. But Megan's feeling confident that both of these persons will be able to move through all of these uh courses as they are offered and get their certifications quite
quickly. So that you know it's sort of mixed news or delightful to hire the caliber of people we have and um been able to get. So um you know they'll be on the job learning with with the others
now of course with uh uh Corey and with Megan and with the the director. The other thing um I don't know we don't have any tobacco selling entities in town but just you
know should any should something happen and someone wants to sell tobacco both Leverit and Sunderland have uh developed draft tobacco regulations so we could consult them if if we needed to. >> Okay seems pretty unlikely.
>> Yeah. um flu clinics. Um Cat, did you talk to Sarah about that? We're going to have a flu clinic, but we're still not certain as of the date. I think >> she has not she has not told me the date yet and she's trying to get that from
Katie Harrington and um it's a matter of scheduling at school and I don't I don't know what the holdup in scheduling the clinic is. >> Okay. >> But we've been in touch. Oh, it's she just has not I assume that if I haven't
heard from her in the last couple of days, it's because she doesn't have the information that she >> Okay. >> is meant to give me. >> Um, and stop and shop is going to be doing that clinic for us. >> Okay. >> So, all right. The other update is a
little bit on safe funding is solid through FY27. Uh there is going to be an advocacy day on October 23. Um there is a bus going from Franklin County to Boston with groups of people
um lobbying on behalf of continuing funding for the safe program if anyone's, you know, available and interested in going. I believe there's some information on the Furkog site on that. And um Oh, Garrett, help me. Who's
the director in Monagu? >> Uh Ryan Paxton. >> Ryan Paxton um has some additional information about the bus and the um the organization. I think the association of um dire directors, town directors, town
and city directors of public health is getting the bus together. Um, and that's all the the the last thing was um I did ask the collaborative to help us get Mike um to come and they
were they've been very helpful in um you know getting this organized, you know, for us. So, I think it's been a nice team effort on that. >> Excellent. Yeah, I think we're pretty fortunate in
the collaborative group we're in. >> It does feel good and they certainly are providing the services that we need in our in our moment of need here, which uh it occurs to me that I should talk about that a little bit. I am utterly
frustrated with the district. Um we haven't had a meeting for some time. I don't know. We had a meeting. We decided on to author the position to a candidate. We scheduled an
interview. The interview was so-called postponed has not been rescheduled. I haven't heard another word. I heard basically from hearsay that there is another candidate. Um but I have not been officially informed of it. I
haven't been sent the person's um resume. uh the search committee has not met again and I'm getting really mad about it and the thing I'm getting really mad about is that we pay in advance. So at the beginning of the fiscal year we paid
for six months of services and then after that we pay for another six months of services. Now, three months have gone by and we paid for three months of services that we have not get gotten and I want it back. And um you know, I told them that we
would stay in the in the district if um if we could find somebody to to uh serve. But I'm getting so angry about it. I'm I'm getting really close to um just quitting it. I mean, obviously I
can't do that all by myself. Um but I'd like to have your thoughts about it, if any. Uh the the few meetings I've attended, Kat, I think I've attended all of them with you, but I've been mostly
underimpressed, you know. >> Yes. It's it's an underwhelming group. And now that we don't have, you know, we haven't had Charlie for a long time and we don't have Claudia now and it's it seems to me to be pretty much falling apart. >> Yeah.
>> So, I'm thinking that what I will do is I will request a meeting and uh have it out with these people. And um the what I think I understood Megan to say
is that as long as we are budgeting and appropriating funds to pay for public health, the collaborative can provide services for us whether we are
spending those funds or not. Um, and so, um, that is certainly what we're doing. And, um, >> that's my understanding too, Kat. And I think there may be something about the funds may not be comingled with the
other money that we're getting for the collaborative. So, they may have to set up a separate account if there are other times. I believe Lever, for example, has also allocated money. And so that would have to go into a separate pot, but it's certainly doable.
>> And that's something Yeah, that's something that it seems like if we're going to be putting money into this, I'd like to put it into some places where we're actually getting the services that we need. >> Right. >> Um I I have sort of a side thought
associated with that. cat, I know we do have some funding available and uh should we determine as a board and need to move forward with um something with regard to developing regulations for
lithium batteries. I'm wondering if we might need some more professional help or consulting help to uh put something together. I don't know. It just occurred to me. It seems like it's a pretty complicated subject
>> to tackle on our own, but I I may be wrong about that. I don't know. I don't know if the planning board used anyone or did it themselves. >> I don't know. Um I I have talked with the chair of the planning board and said
that we would would try to work with them as we develop regulations both for us and for them. Um they have they have an article on the special town meeting warrant um that's a a moratorum on data
centers but they don't seem to have anything there's not anything current that I know of about the battery storage systems and I don't really know understand
exactly what a data center is but uh they do define it in in their thing. >> So, I don't even know the current status of battery storage systems
in Shootsberry if they are presently um presently forbidden or there's a moratorium on them. I kind of don't know where we are on that. I was surprised actually to see that it was data centers and not and not the battery systems.
to what >> well it was just a thought that occurred to me as I was you know reading the information and you know thinking about what our next steps might be after tonight. >> That's a that's a good thought. I would assume that we can we can get assistance
from MAHB um from other towns that have adopted regulations as Wendell apparently has. um from town council. >> Yeah, I was going to Yeah, I was going to ask to what degree do we have access to Donna?
>> I'm not really sure. >> I think that we we have the right to Donna's services, but we might have to just clear that with either the select board or the town administrator or somebody. We can't just go directly to her
for for a project of this size. You know, if it's just a question, I can just send her an email, but this seems like more than that. But that is a good thing to find out and put it on my to-do list. Are there other things we should know
about? >> So related to MAFCO and the preparedness grants. Um, so I'll meet with uh FRCOG staff on Friday to look at uh proposals that were
submitted uh to FRCOG for the MAFCO projects for this budget period which include the coordination services that were previously provided by uh Randy Cardell was the name that you would see in the email. Mhm.
>> Um and his firm was RSI. >> Um >> are we not using them any longer or what? >> Um so the way that for COG had to do it this time based on procurement procedures. >> Um so when the deliverables came out for
this budget period, they were different enough that their procurement officer said we have to put it out for bid again. So we can't we can't just directly contract with RSI and uh Randy. >> I see.
>> Um so they had to put it out for bid again and based on the proposals that came in um RSI did not submit >> um for for that. Um, so it will be a new vendor for coordination services and
then there's another contract for the uh discussion based exercise that has to be done this budget period. Um, so I'm on the evaluation committee for uh both of those contracts. So I'll meet
with for COG staff on Friday uh to makeations. Let me make sure I I followed this. So there are two contracts that are being taking submissions for and one of them is for
coordination of Could you say more about that? >> Yeah. So coordination for the coalition. So MAFCO as a as a coalition. So basically managing you know the meetings and agendas and all of that. >> I see. Um,
and then there's the projectbased services around uh conducting an exercise for all of the Franklin County communities. >> So, do you expect RSI to bid for that?
>> Uh, they did not submit proposals in either of those service categories. >> I see. Okay. So, presumably we're not going to be seeing them anymore. >> Yeah. I would I would say no. >> And do you have other vendors who have bid on it, Garrett?
>> Yeah, so there were two vendors who uh submitted proposals for coordination services and I think it was yeah, four vendors for the exercise. >> Okay, good. >> Which is pretty good for it's it's small
dollar amounts for large uh firms uh to bid on. Mhm. >> Um but it's also a very competitive time just given what's happening federally. Um so I think a lot of uh firms are
bidding on as many proposals as they can. >> Good. >> Okay. One other thing. Weren't there weren't there recently some more changes to the bylaws? Garrett?
>> Yeah. So Ryan Paxton and I um Ryan Paxton and I did a pretty thorough rewrite of it. >> Yep. >> Um and that was presented at the annual meeting
in June and then there was some feedback on it. So, so basically the feedback was to move away from a steering committee and a full committee >> and just have a full committee with
co-chairs and more regular meetings of the full full coalition committee. >> Okay. And how's that defined now? Um so so basically it is that the full coalition meets monthly.
>> Okay. >> And then each community is asked to appoint a primary and a secondary representative. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And that means we need a secondary. >> So ultimately yes. Um so what what's going
to happen next is we we finalized and approved the new um principles of operation a couple of weeks ago and so for Cog's going to so right now for Cog is acting
as the coordinator. >> Okay. >> Until um we select a vendor for it. >> Right. Um, so here in the next little bit, they're going to uh send out a notification to all of the Franklin
County communities asking them to appoint a primary and a backup. >> Okay. >> And like whim would be great. >> Well, very funny. >> I I'll continue to be the sacrificial lamb and be the primary. And uh and who
might be the secondary? >> I was suggesting Whim. >> It'll be a light lift whim. I'll I'll always go. So >> y um there was something else I was going to say. Well, and and interestingly, I
learned from for COG staff that the work that Ryan and I did on the principles of operation has now been adopted by some of the other coalitions. So, they they've >> uh the revised principles um and have
utilized them as well. So, so I think that's that's a good sign that we're heading in the right direction. >> Great. That's great. >> We have only our best working on it. So um so the
coalitionwide or the the metcoide um exercise when do you expect that would happen? >> Any idea? >> So it was supposed to be by the end done by the end of October. Um in terms of
DPH requirements, >> you know, we're just we're meeting on Friday to select a vendor. So, you know, I I would say we're not looking until probably the end of January. >> Uhhuh. Okay. Is that going to get us in
trouble with DPH? >> No. >> Okay. >> No. What I always say about DPH is, you know, what are they going to do? Are they going to take away our EDS plan binder? >> Please. >> What are they gonna do?
>> What are they gonna do do to us? So, so what's the speaking of EDS plans and stuff? What's the what's the current status of that? Are we meant are we being thought of as a
single EDS or how does that >> Yeah, I I think for now I mean there was some discussion within Valley Health about how we might regionalize. Um and I I do know from
DPH staff that they're interested in updating the state guidance on EDS. Um, so I had some uh contact this week with uh the state uh strategic national stockpile coordinator who was you know
saying we're looking to update it. What do you think local boards of health and health departments want to see in that update? And you know, I I said to her, you know, basically we want to know what your
uh what your vision is for what local public health is is to do related to EDS postco. Um you know, what are your planning assumptions that you want us to operate
off of? So I so I think that they're starting to look at it. I mean the the other part of this is that basically the strategic national stockpile is saying to the states that um they need to start to think about how it is that they're
going to replicate the SNS on a state level >> and not rely on the fed federal government to do it. >> Okay. Because you know if it's just
about standing up in EDS, we can do that with our eyes closed. Seems like seems like they might give us something more to do, you know? >> Right. >> Okay. Well, I see that our guest has joined us, Mike Hugo of the Massachusetts Association of Health
Boards. Hi, Mike and welcome. Thank you for coming to our meeting. >> Thank you very much. Nice to be here. Okay. >> So, >> it's always better on Zoom, especially when I'm actually in Seattle right now. So, >> Oh, well, thank you for uh thank you for
joining us from such a distance. So, we are we are interested in hearing about the possibility of u enacting a bylaw or two from the board of health to protect ourselves from these new
technological installations. What uh what can you tell us? >> Um well, I could tell you that you're not alone in that in that venture in Massachusetts. I think that you probably are aware of several other towns. I think that we're we're working probably
with close to 10 municipalities right now on this very issue. Um I I think one of the one of the things that I find most disturbing about the whole thing is that um these companies come in and they they
meet with everybody but the board of health in the beginning. Um you are an afterthought. Public health is always the afterthought. Um and they're doing so at their own peril. There's a whole bunch of new regulations that the
Department of Energy Resources, I think it's called, DOER, >> and the D are working on. We filed comments. I think I supplied the comments. I don't know if you've seen them. >> Yes, you did. Thank you. >> Excellent. Excellent. Well, that that saves me half of my half half the time I
was going to talk because um they I I guess you know the the problem is that even even your town managers uh and and uh your select boards and in many cases your town attorneys have no idea what the role of the board of
health is in this. And um I like to think that we can save everybody a lot of time because if a board of health has their their mind on stopping one of these best facilities from being put in, uh they're going to stop it. And it's better it's better that they're at the
table from the very beginning because uh if you're if you're inclined to stop the project from happening, you can save some companies millions of dollars in sighting costs and everything else, legal costs. Uh and so the the power that you have
really is to pass either to pass a a health regulation, a rational health regulation under chapter 111 section 31, which is the the the the section that gives us the power to enact reasonable health regulations that don't go against
uh uh any of the existing law uh in Massachusetts. it. And when I say don't go against it, you can you can take something that is properly cited by the planning board, the the the the zoning board of appeals, the town manager, the select board, and
they say this belongs here. Uh you can still come in even after they've started to operate and say no, it doesn't belong here. So the idea is for you to come up with a rational health regulation uh acknowledging the dangers that that
were laid out in that memo that that you've read that in that uh set of comments. Uh and uh we would help you certainly to get the scientific evidence uh that you'd need to listen to on both sides. Uh actually we'll help you with
finding people who are more opposed to it and let the industry bring the people in that will come before you and tell you how wonderful these are and how you can walk right up to the smoke while it's burning and breathe it in and don't worry about it and all of that because those are the kinds of things that
industry likes to talk about and say. Um but I'm I'm certainly happy to to assist your board. Uh Cheryl and I both Cheryl's out here actually with me right now. Uh but we we both happy to assist your board with putting together some
regulations uh that would that would govern where in your town if at all you you would you would tolerate actually having one of these. problem is, of course, they come in and they meet with your town manager first and they talk about pilot money. And Shootsbury, I'm
sure, is no different than Shrewsbury or or Boston or any other municipality in Massachusetts where your schools uh are underfunded. Nobody knows where you're going to get the money from to meet those those budget items to make sure that you have the best schools. And so
when a company comes in and says, "We're going to give you millions of dollars. We're going to take care of all of your financial problems. All you have to do is say yes and and you know we'll we'll give you a pilot payment u of and and I've seen them go way into the millions of dollars the offers on the table and
town managers would be insane to say no. Uh the and and when you put money like that in front of a town manager or a select board that's that's really worried about economic survival, it's very difficult to to take that shiny object away from them once they're
starting to look at it. And that's what we want to avoid. So if if they know coming in that that your board of health has a regulation, uh it's rational and uh it would stand uh uh it would stand up to a legal challenge, then they may either go
elsewhere or they may come to you first and say these are the places in town that we think that we can make this happen within your regulation. if by some chance they got by it. We're working with some towns right now to do site assignments on on not just these
facilities but lots and lots of different facilities that that are up and running in towns and now turn out to be either noise and trades or nuisances. So that's that's that's it in a nutshell and I'm really glad that you read that uh that document in advance because I
don't have to teach that to you now which is wonderful. >> Right. Right. So in that document I saw that you asked for guidance and you asked for a statewide moratorum and I wondered if you had any responses on that. >> Um not really the answer would be no. I've
had no no direct responses on that. However, we've never been more at the table on something than we are right now. Um it it would appear to me that they don't inhale or exhale without permission from MAHB. uh we are part of their part of their
their whole regulatory process at this point. They have taken these these uh comments unlike anything that we've seen before. Uh DOER has has assigned people from their staff to work directly with us uh to make sure that anything any
final uh rules that they come up with will have a lot of stuff in it. especially that the board of health should probably be the first, not like not like after planning or the office of the town manager. They should come to you before they go to anybody and find out whether or not they're going to uh
succeed. You know, I I remember when I when I was on the board in Framingham, we had a real estate developer who spent $2.5 million. He um he had an option on 800 acres. He was going to build 72 five- bedroomedroom uh four bath McMansions
uh on this beautiful farm that he that he was about to purchase. Uh $2.5 million in legal fees and everything else. Uh and I went to the very first meeting of the ZBA and said, "This will never fly in front of the board of health." And the the zoning board chair told me to sit down and be quiet.
Literally, he said, "Mr. Hugo, we we we know what you're here for. We don't want to hear about it." And I said, "Suit yourselves." And so they they went through all of the whole process. They got the planning, zoning, everybody approved it. And then we brought it to the attention of the court that we had
given them a condition that they had to run a pump test during the month of August because these 72 homes were going on top of bedrock and there was no literally no water there. And uh the the people who do live in that neighborhood uh came to the board of health and said
that when my neighbor flushes his toilet, my shower slows down. That's how >> challenged the water supply is there. And we said fine, it happens mostly in August. So we told the developer, do a do a test. And after the the court came down with their ruling, I think like in
September or October, right after August, but it was a year later. And uh said, you have to do it during August. And the developers said, well, because of these people, we're not going to, you know, like like it was Mike Hugo's fault. Actually, they used my name. They said, Mike Hugo blocked this, but who cares? So
>> you were proud of that. >> I'm wear it as a badge of honor. You I'm sure you can all relate to something like that happening in your >> So um that is actually an example that I gave to DOER and said we we don't we don't want our boards to be in the
position I was in with with my board on a real estate development. We want the boards to to be at the table from from the get-go from day one. So they are really respecting that. And I'm really I'm a little surprised, Katherine, to be very honest with the reception that
they've that they've given this whole idea of including boards of health and to the point now where, you know, we've never had a good relationship with MMA. It seems like MMA has the interests of every department except public health. Uh, and now we've got people from MA MMA
that are calling Cheryl and calling me every time that anything like this pops up and and they're asking us what their position should be for which I've never seen before on on on some of the scientific stuff. So, it's really it's I don't know if it's a dawn of a new era
or if they're just finally saying, "Yeah, I guess we never thought about that." >> Either way, it's a good thing. >> It is a good thing. So, so, um, we've also seen the, um, the regulation, I think it's a draft from Wendell, um,
that, um, imposes all kinds of sighting and other kinds of, um, restrictions. Are there any um regulations or draft regulations out there that show that are
for basically um um prohibiting them from a town? >> Not by regulation. There I I'm I'm trying to think of the there is um there is a town where they the company just said no, forget it. We're not dealing
with all of this. And I don't remember if it was Westfield. I think it was a W town. And I I know it was >> there are a lot of those. >> There are I live in Welsley, so that's a W. >> There you go. >> But you know, in Welssley, very interestingly, we have a battery energy storage system in in and it was cited
>> uh on the on on municipal property where nobody lives anywhere near it and there's no no threat of sound or anything. And it's tiny. It's only got three or four batteries, but but still >> um the I I'll come up with that and I'll
and I'll I'll get you some information on that for sure. >> Okay. Um may I ask a question, Kai? >> Please do. >> Um toward the end you had a whole list of factors >> that you recommended we should take into consideration when developing a
regulation. Um, and then and I also heard you say that you and Cheryl are involved in perhaps writing some draft regulations for towns and small cities right now. So, >> correct. Correct. We're we we're we're not >> I assume those two relate.
>> Yes, they do. they well you're gonna if you've read this document you're going to see an awful lot of it in those in those regulations because we're using we're using what you've read as the rational basis for a board of health to do this because there's plenty plenty even though I didn't cite a lot of the
studies and stuff everything that I put in there I'm prepared ever you know as I was writing that that document to begin with I was prepared for somebody from D to say prove it on any one of those items and we can do that we have studies
where there's lots of science. These things are scary because they're so important to have yet they're so dangerous. >> Yeah. >> So, go ahead. >> Can I just follow up, Cat, please? >> Yes. >> What is What's your time frame for
getting a draft set of regulations developed, Mike? >> I think within the next two months I'll have something. I have I have to have it. It's Everybody needs it. It might be that I get back to Boston and Monday morning I wake up and say, "Damn it, I'm just going to do it." You know, it's
just a matter of sitting down and biting the bullet and knowing that nothing else is going to get in the way. >> Thank you. Thank you, Cat. I noticed that the the Wendle regulation does seem to have quite ownorous requirements and
I wonder if those are meant to be um to have a chilling effect on anybody that might want to come to their town. >> I'm sure they are. I'm sure they are. And and that's a question that that you know I think that that you you all need
to decide what your real feeling is about it. And not all of you, but one of you who's who has a good sense of it should let me know which way you want to go because I can I can draft something that's so ownorous that they'll say, "Not those people again. That came from
MEHP. We want nothing to do with it." Or I can draft something that says, "We really love the idea, but we need to make sure it's in the right place." And there's all kinds of different ways of making that regulation, >> right? And I'm not sure that we I mean we haven't really discussed it as a
board and so we're not I don't think we are sure where we come down on that. Wendell as you know Wendell is our next town over and uh they have they have some of the same uh conditions that we have. They have they don't have any
municipal water supply. Everything is private wells and it's heavily forested and um the thought of having um you know an uncontrolled fire out here where we're supposed to be a carbon sink for the rest of the state um those things
are really scary and I can't really imagine any place in town where there would be an appropriate site for one of these. I don't know if any other board members have a thought on that but I I can't think of a single place. It's forest everywhere and quite a lot of it
is Quaban watershed that we have to keep in mind. >> There's a lot going on in in the whole Quabin watershed area. You know, we're working right now with Hardwick and Barry um >> on on protecting the Barry wells because there's a closed I'm sure you're you
remember the landfill in Hardwick >> that was closed I think in 2007. But there's an aquifer that goes adj adjacent to that and that feeds town wells in where it goes directly to their wells. That's where it ends. >> So, we're working on on something to do
with them right now. The town of Orange is making some very rational um arguments about the fact that this is too close to their municipal wells. Uh, and if there were to be a fire and and any water, uh, which I can't remember
off the top of my head how many millions of gallons it is, but it takes about four days to get one of these things under control. Put it out >> constantly, I suppose. >> Right. It's it's it's like I can't remember. It was like hundreds of 300 million gallons. It was some ridiculous number.
>> But that would that would destroy any kind of drinking water supply >> in, you know, because it's it's right there. It's it's right at the town walls, >> right? We're we're already seeing in some places in town, we're seeing the aquifers lowering, >> right?
>> So, um so we're concerned about that and we don't want to put our water supply, especially being like a hilltop community. All water is going downhill from from here and um we're we're anxious to protect that and we don't
want it to be used to put out a fire, an enormous runaway fire. >> Right. Right. And you know, the runaway fires to me looking at it from a public health angle, aside from the the groundwater saturation of filthy water
that is washed all over lithium and carries all of those constituents with it that that you saw in that list. Uh, aside from that, I I worry well, I worry about a lot of the things that are going on there, but but the the uh just just
the the fact that you have the smoke. Mhm. >> Nobody talks about the smoke. That's why I made sure that I had that in there because >> finding finding information about what's in that smoke was was kind of difficult to do. U but >> uh and and and nowhere will you find
something that that says a lithium ion battery used in one of these facilities will generate this. And you know that it's hard to find that kind of information. So I had to go looking at lithium ion fire danger from bicycles, you know, the the electric bikes and the
skateboards and all of that. >> Yeah. We had one burn burn up a house in Amoris just a couple days ago. >> Oh, really? >> Yeah. It was from somebody's bike. >> Yeah. Yeah. They are dangerous. >> And Yeah. I mean, it scares the hell out of me. My son-in-law keeps his parked
right right in the the front hallway of their apartment in Brooklyn. I said, "How about if you put that on your back porch?" You know, just what a guy wants to hear from his father-in-law. Right. >> Right. Exactly. Do you think we need to have a
big aquifer study? I mean, we don't have a formal study of where the water is. Really, >> if you're going to base it on that, you probably should. >> If you're going to base it on something else,
>> uh, then maybe not. not so necessary. But if you're going to hang your hat on on the fact that you're protecting your aquifer, I think that you might and there might be data that you don't know and that you know I don't know because I haven't looked yet, but there might be data out there already that might be
sufficient for you to look at. Um I'm just trying to trying to envision you're are you west of Amherst? >> Norththeast. >> Northeast. Oh, so really Quabin land? >> Yes. Yeah. >> So, you're on the west west side of the
reservoir then, >> right? Right. And we're just we're just uphill of Route 202 and a bunch of the land on there on that side is owned by the state as Quaban watershed land. >> Right. Right. Okay. I know. Right where
you are then. Okay. I wonder if I wonder if there's already enough watershed data from the state that we might be able to dig up. There might be. We had a former board member who was quite interested in the water
supply and he may have some data for us. I'll I'll ask about it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Because the more of that you have the especially if you're going to pass a regulation on it because otherwise it could look arbitrary and capriccious. >> Right. >> Right. Which is why it would probably be
wise to not hang our hat on one single hook. >> Right. To to >> Well, there's plenty of hooks. >> Yeah. Right. that memo. Yes. >> Number uh Mike, we have a special town meeting later this month and on the warrant is
um an article um that I'm just want to bring it up here real quickly to make sure I'm representing it correctly. So an article on a moratorum and prohib
prohibition of data centers. And so if that warrant were to pass, would it still be advisable that we pursue a regulation >> for data centers? What are they what are they opposing them based on?
>> Yeah. So the so so basically it reads uh the town of Shootsbury shall enact a moratorum on the application for or building of new data data centers as defined in section 13.2 of the Shootsbury bylaw. The purpose of the
moratorum is to provide the Shootsbury planning board with sufficient time to research and understand this complex issue uh so that reasonable regulation can be developed for consideration at uh the
annual town meeting. >> What is it though in the data center that they're that that they're afraid of? Do you know? >> Let's see. I mean, there's something obviously driving this. And
>> so, my understanding of why this came to our attention, Kat, and correct me if I'm wrong on this, was that someone approached the planning board to ask if we had any bylaws or regulations related
to data centers, potentially a developer. Was that your understanding from Michael? I did not get a an idea about where that came from. >> Yeah, let's find Can you find that out, Garrett, and get back to me on it? Yeah,
>> shoot me an email once you >> because I'm wondering if if I don't I don't I don't see this as a data center unless they're unless they're thinking of putting a a best facility as part of the the data
center itself which could be because you want to drive the you know you want to drive the hard the machinery with it the computers and stuff. >> Yeah. Let's see if we could find that out because you might want to weigh in on
that as a board actually. >> Right. >> Right. But apparently they don't they haven't um uh put anything out about um about the battery storage unless they unless they already have that in the new
solar bylaw. I don't know if anybody has has looked into that. I haven't I haven't seen anything from that. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, we'll we'll uh we'll look into that and see what they've what they've already done as a planning board
and uh and uh I have been in touch with the chair of the planning board and said that that we would try to work together is the two boards. >> Abs. Yeah, absolutely. That's the best way to do everything. So, >> for sure. >> Yeah. Do we have other questions for Mike?
>> Well, I'm here for you guys, you know, for anything. You've got my email and you know, you all have my I think you all have my phone number. If you don't, it's right on my email. >> Okay. >> And just feel free anytime to call. >> Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate that. And I expect you'll be
hearing from us again. >> I I expect I will. All right. Great. Oh, thanks a lot for coming tonight. >> All right. Thank you. We'll see you. Bye. Bye. >> Bye. >> Bye. >> So, it seems like we've got some some
thinking to do. Um, has everybody had a chance to read the draft regulation from the Wendle Board of Health? >> No. >> No. Um, as I as I indicated, it's it's
full of restrictions and requirements and um uh it's it seems to me to be fairly ownorous for uh an applicant to um to approach it. And I
don't know if we want to if it isn't the most prudent thing to to structure a regulation from our board in the same way to basically discourage this rather than to
um out and out forbid it which might be as he said what what's that expression unreasonable and capriccious something like that. Ken, I'm sorry. I may have an ignorant question, but did you forward that to us? Where where did how did we get that
regulation? >> Um, others have it. >> I thought I did and I thought you had it and forwarded it to me actually. So, >> I think I think it's contained within what Michael sent >> was. >> That's right. Yeah, I think I think I
think if it might be within a link. It's it's sort of a click on it. It looks it looks strange. >> It looks like a um it looks like a >> document within a um within a web page.
It looks really unusual and you you wouldn't you kind of have to scroll through it to to >> Okay. because I looked at all those documents and I didn't I didn't see Wendle, but maybe I didn't look closely enough. >> So, I'll I'll >> It's a link. >> I can Yeah,
I'll see if I can find it again and push it to Cat. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah, I'll try to because uh it did it did come in one of those things from Michael and I'm pretty sure that uh that I sent it to you. But um it's it's
eight pages but most of it I mean you don't have to study it closely to see that there are are um many requirements both general and specific about every possible facet of this including
providing training for emergency um responders. Um it it um specifies how the lighting is going to be and how the sound is going to be and how the air quality is going to be and the sighting and how they have to you know the applicant has to pay the fees for all
these things and it is very um it is very detailed and very specific. So we could go that way and just be very um
very restrictive. Um and of course also in their purpose they uh you know they discuss the whole question of all different possible public health
impacts from from um you know putting out fires to the smoke as we were talking about to light pollution, noise pollution um and every other thing. >> Pat, I think I for one would like to
perhaps get a meeting together with a planning board if possible or this this is just a thought to see you know what they're thinking. they've been involved in this and for a lot longer time than we do and I'd like to see their
perspective and I also suppose when we go to the special town meeting we'll hear from other I imagine there will be some public testimony that will be taken I don't >> well but the thing is their thing is about data centers specific
>> okay >> and they don't seem at least for this meeting they are not addressing the question of of battery systems. Um, >> so you're sure there isn't? Because I wrote that down as a question. Is a best center included in this uh data?
>> I'm not I'm not sure that it isn't. I haven't I haven't read the documentation for it and I haven't read now. Michael sent us all also and I I'll make sure that you all have it the the text of the new solar bylaw and that presumably
addresses at least to some extent the question of energy storage. It has to in some way. >> So that may be already on the books whatever whatever position they've decided to take on that.
I don't know enough about data centers, but my assumption would be that any data center would have on-site energy storage, battery based energy storage. I I mean, I I could be wrong, but
>> that seems reasonable, doesn't it? >> Yeah, it also occurs to me. I think it I I must have read something about that because didn't Gail Huntress uh comment on it and I'm wondering if we should get Gail's opinion on some
of this as well. [Music] >> I don't know. I don't understand the whole >> Well, I don't either >> way of things well enough. Yeah, I feel kind of at sea about the whole the whole thing and I'm not I'm not sure how we
can go about getting um uh educated about it. Well, I guess we can start by looking at the solar bylaw and also um at any documentation that goes with the um the
warrant article from um from the planning board. And yes, I think we should try to to get a joint meeting with the planning board. Anybody know how often they meet?
No. Uh, let's see. >> Okay. Um >> the good news is that if the moratorum passes at special town meeting it gives us nine months because it'll be
effective until annual town meeting. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So little time to >> Right. On the other hand, it would be good if we had if we're going to pass a reg. Oh, we don't have to do that at
town meeting, do we? We just do it as a >> Right. >> We probably have to have a public hearing. >> We have to have a public hearing, but we don't have to. It's not like a bylaw that we have to do a town meeting. We pass it ourselves after a public hearing.
Well, it sounds like MAHB is going to be providing us some some help and some actual templates. >> Yes. Two months. So, and maybe sooner.
>> Sounds like other towns are urging him on as well. >> Right. And I would like to see which are the you know how what other what other taxs some towns are taking and we've seen
what Wendell is doing by just putting a lot of restrictions all around it and I don't know if there's any place where they're simply prohibiting it. >> I don't either. I just know from the paper that Planefield has also had a
rather large company come in and want to uh you know build an installation there. >> Uhhuh. For battery storage or >> Yeah, I think so. Yeah. >> And is there news of a response or too soon? You know, I have um I have a
friend who is on the planning board and I could contact her and I they just had a public hearing on it and it was just an article I read in the paper. That's all I really know, but I could contact her. She may even be chair. She was quite she was quoted several times in the article.
>> Yeah. And I think Mike mentioned Barry. Um, I was driving through Barry the other day and there's a bunch of yard signs out uh encouraging people to >> go against a battery storage facility there. >> Are there any places where it's
appropriate to have such a facility >> in our town? You mean >> in anywhere in the world? >> Oh, >> in our town? No, I don't think so. But I mean, what's a what's a good place for such a thing?
Well, Mike talked about the facility in Welssley in his town that was on a piece of public property that wasn't within close proximity to any homes, but he said it was he thought it was a small installation. >> Yeah. He said it was only like two or
three batteries, and I don't >> I don't know what that means in terms of the the size and the potential impact of it. >> Yeah. Um well I I talked the other night with Nate Murphy. We went to that thing
at the fire station and um and he was imagining that potentially a small a very small operation of just a few batteries might be something that we could manage to site in town. Um I'm not
convinced but I don't know. Obviously, we don't want a great big array of dangerous batteries here. I don't know if if it's possible to have a few. On the
other hand, if we have a regulation such as they seem to be getting ready to pass in Wendle or maybe they already have, this is a draft that I have. Um um I would imagine that it would be too
ownorous for such a small return. >> I'm sorry, Kat. Two owners for such a small >> such a small return on their investment. They would have to invest a lot and it would be a very small
>> Right. Okay. >> Yeah. Um, and it doesn't seem like it would be worth it. So, so this I'm not familiar with this topic at all, but it does it sounds like it has nothing to do with a domestic um
like a power wall, you know, battery storage for um for residential um solar energy production. >> No, I don't think it's that. These are
big commercial operations or like I think one of the the the purposes of them is to take and store the energy that um that they get from uh solar arrays
and why that just doesn't go into the grid and bypass batteries altogether. I don't understand. I don't I just don't know how that how that works. Got it. >> Um, I have another question. Are
how many members of the board are going to this special town meeting on the 30th or can go? >> I'm going plans, but it seems like it's kind of important that we >> I think I I think I'll be able to go. Yeah,
>> I think I would be able to go. I don't I I don't know off hand the Tuesday >> I think it's what the 30th it's 6:30 something like that cat is that right >> yeah something like some weird number like 640 or something >> say the 30th at 6:30
>> okay yeah I'll be there however um yeah I mean at the moment we just don't know how how this data center uh interest of theirs how that intersects with the battery storage.
>> Right. Right. >> We can we can try to find that out >> beforehand. >> All right. Well, let's try and meet with them as soon as we can. Cat, >> do you think that could happen before or should happen before town meeting? I mean, it's coming up. You know what, 10
days away? >> It's next week, isn't it? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. 10 days maybe. >> Right. Today's the 17th and that's it's the 30th. >> Yes. >> Yeah. So, it's it's less than two weeks. Um,
I'm thinking that maybe having they're probably quite busy with their thing and maybe have trying to meet with them after special town meeting might be more fruitful. will be able to kind of course they'll
know what's going on with their moratorum and um they won't be they won't be getting ready for that, right? We can actually work on finding common ground and seeing what what things need
to be done on both sides. >> That's fine with me. >> Okay. I'll reach out to to the planning board um and see how they feel about trying to
schedule a joint meeting. I don't know when they have their meetings. Um let me see if I can figure it out. If I go to uh >> what shoots for a.org and see when they >> Yeah, I'm looking at the calendar and trying >> Yes. Right.
>> So, there's I know I see that there's a planning board meeting on Monday, October 10th. No, it's November 10th, actually. So, they must have a regular schedule. I don't see any planned for October. So, anyway, I'm seeing a 700
p.m. meeting on the on uh on November 10th and December 8th. So, it's possible they only meet um once a month, but that would surprise me.
Anyway, it seems that they meet on Monday evenings. So, possibly we could um we could join one of their meetings or they could join one of ours, whichever whichever works better.
>> Yeah. I mean, we meet more frequently, so maybe they would come to one of ours. I'm just thinking of time frame and if that's one of our first steps, it would be >> good to meet with them probably sooner rather than later
>> following the special town meeting. That is, maybe we can meet with them in October sometime. >> Yeah. Um, I don't see any meetings scheduled for October, but that doesn't mean they're not going to have one. Um, it
>> but I'm suggesting maybe they could join us in one of our meetings since twice a month, >> right? >> Okay. All right. I'll see what um I'll see what they might be willing to do. >> Right.
So, so my tasks here are to reach out to the planning board and um to make sure everybody has all the documentation and um to read up on things and also to find out about well let's
wait and see we might not need Donna's help particularly if MAHB is going to be actually providing us with with language >> I'd like for us to at least um give her a heads up that we're talking about it
>> that's a really good idea >> so that she's aware >> yeah just uh just for her information. Okay. I'll send I'll send her an email. Okay. >> Okay. And so I guess my my short-term
task is completed, Madam Chair. >> I guess so. I'll send you I'll I'll make sure you get that Wendle uh that Wendle regulation. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. Is there anything else that we
need to to talk about or assign or suggest or >> No. No. I think we're lucky to have access to MAHB and >> Yes. >> And I think we're uh we pay membership to them as a board, don't we? >> We do.
>> Yeah. Good. >> We do. It's something like $150 a year now. >> Yeah. >> Good. >> Yeah. >> And uh >> Mike Mike is a great resource. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he seems really great. I haven't I I've I've had a few emails
with him, but I've never spoken to him before and I really liked him. He seems >> You do have his email now and Do you have his phone number? Because I have his phone number, too. If you need it, I can get it to you. >> I think I have it, but if I don't have it, I'll ask you for it. >> Okay, very good.
>> I think it's on this uh on this uh thing. Great. >> Okay, >> I move we adjourn. Do I hear a second? >> I will second. Carrot. >> All in favor? I'm in favor. Norine.
>> Yes. >> Garrett. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Well, meeting meeting is adjourned at 8:14 p.m. Thank you all very much and thank you. See you soon. Bye.
>> Good night. Bye.