Welcome everybody to the Tuesday, July 7th meeting of the board of health at 6:00 pm. This is a hybrid meeting. It's in person at Southwick Town Hall on College Highway in Southwick and it's also open for participation via Zoom for
Chapter 2 Acts of 2023. Um, and I would ask is there anyone that's going to record the meeting? >> Cliff Clark with Westfield News. >> Thank you. Cliff, is anybody else on?
Okay. Well, we're going to go ahead and get started. Um, let me call the meeting to order. I would like to for for purposes of the minutes have our board um uh just announce their presence. >> Uh, Eric, >> Terry Putnham, chair,
>> Trish Leiniac, vice chair. >> Okay. And we also have our guest of honor, Mike Hugo, that we'll do an introduction on. And Kaen, you want to introd Okay. Kayleen Simons, interim health director.
>> Okay. Um, do we'll devote the first 10 minutes to public comment. I would ask anybody if you're public to the the um the the um topic of our education that we save that until after the
presentation. But is there anyone who has public comment for the first 10 minutes? Anybody raising a hand? Anybody in the audience? >> Okay,
we're gonna We're deferring. >> Hold on a second. Having a little technical difficulty. >> No, that's that's her computer. Mine's off. >> Yeah.
>> So, it's coming out of here. Well, I would suggest you exit the meeting and then rejoin it and do not audience. Oh, >> join the volume. >> Okay. >> Uh, I was saying that we're going to uh uh dispense with the review of minutes.
We're deferring the last month's minutes until next month um when we get a chance to um review those. So I'll go ahead and get started as we are with a little a little preamble um as to why we have
invited Mike Hugo here um and then I will give >> a can you join >> Can you join from yours? >> Yes. There's some reason I don't know what's going on, you know. >> Okay,
>> I've completely lost access to >> Who's that guy? Look at the lunatic. It always happens when you freeze. It's never like a good moment. >> Also means your remote folks are gone. So, close the program. Oops. >> So, I should go off too.
>> I don't know. But you might have to reboot because that's stuck. or here is too old cuz delete >> every time I click on it to get that. >> I promise this is going to get better. >> Yeah. I don't know what I've done here.
>> I brought that energy from east of 495. >> Well, there you go. That's what does it >> that's your audience is gone too. Hello. How are you? We're having a few technical difficulties. Do you know any good jokes? >> Try us.
I'm here if you want to use you. I'm I'm I'm here. >> Okay. You're on limiting. >> Yes, >> I can try. Yeah. If those of you on the phone can hear, we are still uh uh trying to manage some
technical difficulties on this end. Can I hear some? Will someone raise their hand? Okay, they can hear me on here. Kaen, >> she's on my >> You're switch to the control being on this one then.
>> Okay. Another thumbs up if you can hear on on the official computer. Deb, you're always good at doing a thumbs up. >> We can hear you now. >> Thank you. Thank you, Diane.
Okay. Um, has anyone joined us? Probably not since our program was down in the interim that is besides Cliff Clark who is going to be recording the meeting. If so, please please announce yourself now. Okay. And just to review, since we've
been kind of disjointed here for a little bit, um I I I we're almost to the end of public comment, unless anybody has just joined us in both in the room and um online that wants to make a a brief public comment.
Okay, seeing none and hearing none, we'll go ahead and uh I've deferred the minutes until next week, I mean next meeting. So, I just want to go ahead uh and and uh uh read something for you to to kind of give a little background as
to why we have our guest speaker here. Um we're we're being involved we're becoming involved in the process a little later uh in the process uh than some of the other boards. So, we thought it would be helpful to us as a board of health to better understand solar and
battery energy storage systems um and the public health role in those. Um and and what I would like to say is the board of health stance is we are neither pro solar and best or against solar and
best but we are pro for um ensuring that ensuring the safety of the community's health. Um, so I'd now like to introduce our speaker. This is Mike Hugo. For those of you who can see us, you may not be able to because well, we haven't
started mirroring yet. Mike is currently the director of strategy and government relations for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards. He's a Boston College graduate with his BS in economics. He received his JD degree degree magna cumlude from New England
Law in Boston. He also did post-graduate studies at Boston University and Harvard University. He no longer practiced as an attorney as an attorney, but his law practice is quite impressive. Uh it consisted of representing many plaintiffs in high-profile toxic
environmental and pharmaceutical cases, including groundwater cancer litigation in Wbert Wubert. I I'm you know, I don't pronounce the the towns real well. and as lead counsel in cancer cases at Camp Lleune, North Carolina and Fort
Dietrich, Maryland. His pharmaceutical cases involved the uh dipthe protruses and tetanas vaccine, breast implants, bio, finfin, opioid addiction and/marketing,
pelvic mesh cases, IUDs, the New England compounding center, and many, many more. He was also lead counsel in several South American human rights cases against a terrorist organization in Colombia, the US CIA in Ecuador for
personal injuries, and an American-based lead smelting company in Peru. He served for 14 years on the Framingham Board of Health, eight as the chairperson. As chair, his board closed down a chemical transfer company after over 33 hours of
site assessment hearings, initiated environmental remediation of several EJ sites, stopped Mass General from opening a facility that would have put his town's community hospital out of business, and pioneered many novel regulations, including raw milk, body
works in PN's, human trafficking, and cannabis. He served on the MAHB executive board for eight years and was vice president of MAHB for five years before coming becoming a staff member after his 35 years as a trial lawyer.
Currently in his role with the MAHB, he's a legal educator, technical assistant assistance provider to the state's 351 boards and is extensively involved in several major environmental issues for our boards, including
landfill sighting, battery energy storage systems, water quality, nuisance claims, and nitrogen and coastal pond water quality, and in assisting DPH with our next general steps in local public health. So, please join me in welcoming
Mike Hugo to be with us tonight. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mike. >> Thank you. All right. So, I think of any kind of luck. >> There we go. Okay. And is that really presenter? because
guess that's what I'm going to have. So, >> we're going to hit uh from that because they can they can see. So, that's good. >> Okay, that's good news. I'm glad I glad I did a little separate sheet with my notes on it because I'm not seeing what I thought I'd see here. So, uh we're
here today to talk about legal authority of boards of health, particularly when it comes to uh your solar and best project that is about to be proposed from what I understand. Uh and before I get started, I want to say that you may be this may be a
logical place uh for clean energy uh infrastructure because uh you have a lot of land, you have a lot of uh unused farmland, you have a relatively small population. Uh and this
may be what the state looks at as an ideal sighting location for solar. And um uh the purpose of your of this uh uh board conversation tonight is not to go over any town political issues or
declare best projects to be unaccessible. The purpose is to make sure that that the specific project is reviewed with the right public health questions in front of the right decision makers. And with that, we'll get started. Um uh for anybody I know that
there are people here who uh who have seen our presentations. This is our standard disclaimer. We do not have any attorney client relationships. Your town has a very good town council uh who knows municipal law and that's the person who you should be getting all of
your legal advice from. This is basically for education purposes only. Okay. A little bit about MHB. Uh we are a nonprofit membership organization. Uh we get our uh funding from the department of public health uh with a uh
a series of grants. We also uh charge dues to our members all all 351 boards of health in Massachusetts are members of MAHB. Uh and we came from the conser uh the conservation law foundation. uh back in the 1980s they were getting a lot of
calls about board of health authority and they said gee we don't know much about this we better spin off and start an organization and that's where this organization was born uh and we are here to provide legal education technical assistance and training to board members
health directors agents inspectors nurses and other municipal officials and I'll tell you that uh a couple of your members of the of this board uh were at a recent training that we did um you were at probably the one out >> in Danverse. >> Oh, you went all the way to Danverse.
That's right. Yeah, there she went to Danver because there was one in Holio and that would have made too much sense to go to that. So, she didn't. Uh so, u let's let's start out with the really with the basic legal foundation of boards of health. Uh and um uh one of
the things that I want to keep in mind is that that no matter what happens in this upcoming project, the board of health needs to be at the table from day one because you're about to see all of the things that the board has has
responsibility for. But these are the these are the three statutes actually. uh it's all under chapter 111 and section 122 is the nuisance statute. Uh and the law says that the board of health shall it doesn't mean that they
can think about well do we want to or not. It means that if there is a nuisance going on, a public health nuisance in the town, the board of health shall look into whether or not there really is a nuisance. And uh if the board in in their opinion thinks
that whatever they're looking at may constitute, not that it does, but that it may constitute a public health nuisance. Then the board at that point has an obligation to either destroy uh
remove or uh whatever it takes to prevent that nuisance from spreading through the town. And that could be everything from COVID and you remember uh every one of us remembers vividly wearing masks and things of that sort. it was the board of health that said you
have to uh and um uh so if they if it's their opinion that then that's a very low bar to set because it it doesn't have to be a scientific certainty. It just has to be do we think it is and we'll talk a little bit more about that
in a second. Uh section 143 is noisome trade and it's a funny sounding term noisome. It sounds like it means something to do with noise and it does, but that's not all. And it really is any any kind of trade in the town uh that
takes place that may create a a nuisance is considered a noisome trade. and the power of the board of health. You heard in in my introduction that we had uh 33 hours of a hearing on a chemical plant in Framingham and that was a noisome trade action against a chemical uh
transfer station that was just dumping stuff on the ground whenever they felt like it creating a 5 acre plume of tce benzene perk tuine all of the horrible things that you read about were going under a playground on the next door
property to to where this was. And after 33 hours of hearings, we shut them down. And um uh that was done under the noisy trade statute. When Mass General came to B came to Framingham uh and said we're going to open a day surgical center, uh
we said no because the the Framingham Union Hospital at the time, which is now Metro West Medical Center, which is part of Tufts, they were they were not making any money. They were about to go out of business. They couldn't make ends meet. And if Mass General opened up that center, the only place they were making
money was in day surgical center uh activities at that hospital. It would have put the hospital out of business. We deemed that to be a public health uh crisis and a public health nuisance. And in order to remove that from happening, we said no to Mass General. They
appealed to the state and the state said the board of health said no. The answer is no. So, as long as the board of health uses evidence, scientific evidence uh and uh is is reasonably healthbased uh then it won't be overturned. There's
never been a case in the appeals court or this SJC where a board of health order or regulation has ever been overturned. I didn't say superior court because it happens all the time in superior court. The judges think, well, I don't agree with the way they did
that. They substitute their own judgment because that's what they do when the planning board comes in front of them, when the select board comes in front of them, when uh the zoning board of appeals, when the council on aging, whatever board it is in a town, when they go in front of the the the courts,
the courts automatically will say, "Did that does that make sense to me?" The judge will say, "If it doesn't make sense to me, I'm not going to let that stand." The difference is in the law, a board of health, no judge can substitute their judgment for that of the board of
health. So if these folks have a hearing, they they take in any kind of evidence whatsoever and they form the opinion that this may be a public health nuisance and issue an order, that order ultimately will not be overturned as
long as they have have given due process and as long as it's not arbitrary and capriccious. And that means that that wasn't a situation where they gave due process if it's arbitrary and capriccious. So these are a couple of of couple of
cases that talk about uh the fact that uh the legislature has has delegated to boards of health the authority to make reasonable health regulations. That happened uh way back in the 1700s. And the first chair of a board of health was
this guy by the name of Paul Rivere who I think you've heard of especially this weekend. Uh and Paul Rivere uh in 1789 issued the first public health order in the United States ever. Uh and ever since then uh the courts have said that
it's up to the cities and towns to decide how they want to do public health. So um uh it's considered a police power just like your fire department and your police department have police powers. The board of health has police powers also in the uh in the
enforcement of its regulations. And um an interesting twist is this this uh this case in the Drewus case that that the site is there for uh a board of health can sub it can can can impose uh
its its own will even at the expense of individual liberties. And we saw that during CO every time there was a mask challenge that went to court against a board of health and there were many of them that we were dealing with back back in 2020 2021.
Uh uh the courts 100% of the time said we we can't touch that because we can't substitute our judgment for that. Uh and uh the right to engage in business. This is the reason I put that in red on this presentation is that if you're going to
be regulating something with a uh with a best operator, that is business. Uh and there's very strong case law that says that business has to yield to public health. And we're going to be talking about uh the the best regulations a
little bit later on in this presentation. And remember that business has to yield. And uh we're going to hear about I'm going to be telling you how uh public health got written into the statutes or or into into the regulations
that are now uh coming out in the in the past couple weeks. They became effective July 1st actually. So, uh, excuse me. Um, okay. So, the SJC I I already said this. Uh, and the reason though, the reason
that that the, uh, uh, regulations are consistently upheld is that when the legislature said, "We're not going to legislate public health. We're going to leave that to the cities and towns." They said that because they didn't know
anything about public health. And historically, if they didn't know something and they didn't want to admit it in public, they would say, "Let the cities and towns work it out." And that's exactly how it happened. So now, when a health regulation goes in front of the court, it's looked at the same
way that the state statute would be because the state legislature said, "We're not going to do statutes on public health. All we're going to do is we're going to say that if there's a nuisance, public health, the board of health has to deal with it. If there is a noise in trade, the board of health has to deal with it. And we're going to
take our hands out of out of any other matters that have to do with public health across the state for all time. And that's what that's what's happened up to today. Now, delegating authority um uh the state I just I speaking one
one slide ahead of myself right now, but that's okay. Uh the thing to know is that federal law, even though you think federal law is up here, federal law is really here. Federal law is the basic minimum. And any state can take any
federal law that they want unless the federal government says nobody can touch this except us. And there's not very many laws that are like that. But federal law is the floor. And states can make something more restrictive. They can't make it easier than the than the
federal law, but they can make things more restrictive. And so the state law is here, but local law, which would be your uh select board uh dealing with a a a bylaw or or or an ordinance for for a
city council or your town meeting passing a a law in your town or your board of health passing a health regulation. those can be more restrictive than the state. So you have federal law, state's more restrictive than that and locally you can be more
restrictive than than than the state law and uh that's that becomes very important on lots of levels that we'll be talking about in a couple of minutes. So this is your board of health. What do they do? This slide here shows
I have a I have a way more detailed slide but you can't even make out any words on it. But these are the things that when my when my phone rings or when I look at my email on a daily basis, I will tell you that in the past six months, I have either dealt with in some
way either writing a regulation for a town, coming out to see a board of health and talking to the people in the town about about an issue on all of these issues that you're looking at in front of you. This is kind of a catalog of what MAHB has done over the past six months. and and your board has even more
powers than that, but these are the ones that come up most regularly. So, let's talk about BES. We're going to shift shift gears. We're going to get into battery energy storage systems. And um when I first found out about BES, it
was it it it was I believe I believe it was probably the Tuksbury uh BES facility that I got a call from their board of health and um uh I I started to study the issue and I looked at the at the draft regulations that were coming
out of the Energy Facility Sighting Board, EFSB. That's the allseeing board that will cite all of these projects and when they make rulings, they actually preempt a lot of things that the board of health has powers to do to a certain
point. And and uh what I saw when I looked at those draft regulations was a complete lack of mention of public health and a complete lack of concern for public health. And I decided, well, you know, I called my executive
director. I said, 'We need to file comments on on this pending rule that they have because it does not take into account anything that has to do with public health. So, we filed a seven or eight page, I don't remember, uh, comment with with the EFSB and with the
Department of Energy Resources, DOER. They do the smaller projects. EFSB does all of the projects. uh and um uh I filed comments with both of them and the first section of these comments was what I've just talked to you about noise and
trade and nuisance and how a board of health under the law has the right to come in even after everyone else has ruled on something and say no. So I filed these comments and the the box on the right uh with number two and three
those actually represent around five pages of text and all I did for purposes of this slide was I actually shiftcopied that the headings and the subheadings from the actual body. This document is available if anybody wants it and I know that your your board has it. Is that
correct? >> Okay, >> I think so. I'll I'll Yes. and and if not, I'll make sure you have it because what I did was I talked about the noise from the cooling fans and the noise from the inverters and transformers because that to me was the lowest hanging fruit.
Noise is sound is an exclusive board of health jurisdiction. People other people in town can say in fact we heard this from the town manager in Tukbury. Well, the board of health, you know, they're welcome to comment if I get a complaint about noise. That's
that was his stand. If I get a complaint about noise, the board of health can comment on it and I'll consider it until I went out and lectured in and gave this very similar speech in Tuksbury telling the town manager in front of everybody
that you don't have any authority over over sound. That's the board of health percent the D and the board of health. So the D on the state level has a certain regulation. boards of health can take that regulation and make them tougher. But when somebody has a sound
of a fan or somebody has uh headlights uh case we worked on uh where where there was a loading there was a a shipping facility. The trucks were backing in at 3:00 in the morning with the headlights on people's front windows of their houses waking them up with a
backup alarms. The board of health went out there and said shut it down or go by these conditions. and they went by the conditions, they'd no longer do it at 3 in the morning. Maybe two, but not three. So, noise is easy because nobody
else gets a piece of that. >> What does that say? >> Quit. >> Quit unexpectedly. Uh >> oh, that's not good. >> And Doug left. >> I see it. I have it here. >> Are you still on yet? >> We were having the same issue last. >> Maybe someone can give us a thumbs up.
>> Yeah. Can we get a thumbs up from the Zoom folks if you see us? Yep, they see us. So, I'm gonna I'm just gonna keep going. Thank you very much, Deb. Appreciate that. You >> didn't know there was going to be this much audience participation, did you?
>> The town is expecting a bill for your services, Deb. >> All right. So, um, we went after noise because that's what you do. You go after your easiest thing. But then we brought up the toxic contents of the smoke, which I'm going to talk about in a in a
couple of slides. And then the we we gave them a couple of questions and respectfully submitted and I hit it literally at 4:55 it was due at 5. That's the way I live. You know I I like to make everybody around me say
ask my wife. She'll tell you that that's that's my way of life. But five minutes before the deadline, and I worked on this for three weeks, and five minutes before the deadline, I pushed the send. And by noon time, the next day, if you've ever I don't know if if you've ever filed comments in anything with the
state. But when you do, you you you file them and you go like this because you want to hear them go thud on the other end because that's the only thing that's ever going to happen. No one's ever going to read it. No one is ever going to care about it, but you're going to feel better because you sent it. But the next morning I get a phone call from
general counsel for EFSB and later that morning from DOER and they the question was the same from both of them. It was Mr. Hugo we hadn't even thought about the board of health in this thing. This boards of health we never thought you
had a role in anything to do with energy. Isn't that you know that's usually we think planning and we think that's conservation commission because these things can screw up the environment real badly and nobody at at EFSB even thought about public health
and I said well you have my comments and general counsel said to me are you telling me what I think you're telling me which is that people could spend two $300 million they could clearcut hundreds of acres
bring 400 of these battery systems onto a piece of property, all the fans, all everything else, all the lighting, all the walls, all of the public hearings, everything else, and the board of health can come in and go boom and just blow it away. And I said, exactly what I'm telling you. Well, we're going to review
that. And they reviewed it. And they found that MAHB was 100% correct. These things, they can be built, they can be cited. We have nothing to say about that, but we can shut it down 20 seconds after it that after they throw the
switch after spending hundreds of millions of dollars. And they didn't think about that at the time. So we were able to to to to actually get some some traction and this is in the guidance document from EFSB. And here
they talk about how we we heard comments from uh about the importance of considering public health in the review from MAHB and another organization alternatives for community and environment. I don't know them but I adore them. I love them like my children because they said exactly what I said.
Uh and my kids always do. Yeah. The sighting board notes that the 2024 uh climate act expressly addresses public health and energy infrastructure review. Uh and the sighting board's new mandate under the climate act includes explicit res uh uh reference to
compliance with public health and safety procedures. See now they're saying well we we put it in there that says public health and safety. But then what they did was they actually they added the commissioner of public health as a voting member of the EFSB which he
wasn't before that. Uh and uh in addition to that they've they've said that the local local boards of health are likely included in the definition of key stakeholder. Key stakeholders would be any elected or appointed boards. They
are considered key stakeholders. So just like the select board and just like the planning board and just like the ZBA and just like the conservation commission will be taking these matters up, the board of health has equal footing with them in the planning portion of it. And
I'm not again I'm not talking about the ability that I mentioned a second ago to shut it down after everybody goes through all of these exercises which that portion of it never goes away. But by putting these boards together in partnership from day one, you'll cover
all of the public health aspects and you'll cover all of the the the uh planning aspects, the conservation. There's a lot of overlap. One of my slides in a minute I'm going to show you u uh has a lot of overlap between the board of health and conservation
commission because everybody's out to make sure the environment is safe. So before uh the regulation went their first draft regulation had that the first black and white sentence in it and then they they literally crossed out the entire rest of the thing on social and
environmental benefits. Crossed out everything and then added provisions basically saying that there's a scoring system that I just showed you the red line but this is what what they came up with. There's a scoring system and there are four considerations for the scoring
system as to whether or not something will make it through the EFSB and the first one is environmental justice and equity and of course you look at the very last part of that and it says and public health protections. So the board of health is there on on number one and
the board of health is there on number four on the implementation of environmental and public health protections specifically mentioned in the rules. the board of health and I know that there's been I'm going to confront the elephant in the room. I know that there's been some talk about the board of health has no jurisdiction
here. And in the conversation that I had with the chair the other day after after hearing what was said, I said, "I'm coming out there. I'm coming out there. When's your next meeting?" She said, "Tuesday." And I went, "Okay, maybe I spoke too quickly." I looked at my
calendar. I said, "I'm going to clear clear Tuesday night." And I came out here because of that email. That's why I'm here because it it has to be indelibly clear to everybody here that the board of health is is a crucial part of this because why waste your time and
money and energy if the board of health can shut it down. Now, let's talk about why they might shut it down. This is a lithium ion battery. It just looks like a regular battery. Looks almost like a bullet shot to me, which is kind of appropriate. Uh, but it it looks like a
it looks like just a regular flashlight battery. Um, the ones on the bottom, the the the square ones, those are a special type of lithium ion battery. But the Tesla batteries that that that power these units, this is what they look like. And I'm going to go to my outline
to make sure that I cover this correctly. And so that's one battery. This is what a what a best unit looks like. And there are 300 to 320 of those one batteries in a
module. There are there are 12 battery modules per rack. There are eight battery racks per container. To do the math, it's 30,144 of those little batteries in one spot.
And um so I guess the question is what could go wrong? This is one of those little batteries like you saw in the guy's hand. This is one of them catching fire. Now when you watch this, think about 30,144
times what you're about to watch. This is one battery. You think it's out, right? Nope. Watch. Now, you've heard you've heard the term thermal runaway, I think, when you hear when you hear about best. Thermal
runaway is when one of these batteries does this and the one next to it decides that looks cool. I'm going to do the same thing. And then 30,000 of them do do that. I'm showing you this not to scare you and not to and not to to to to be overly
dramatic. I want you to see what it is that the board of health is thinking about when they look at the safety of a bestess and fire chief over here. I I I think that you've probably seen these these these films before
>> and and uh I know that that I I don't know anything about your fire department, but I promise you if if you had one of these thermal runaways, all you could do is watch at this point. You know, >> this is not the form to comment on the procedure. >> Right. Right. But I just want to address
that. And I'm not going to I'm not going to sugarcoat and I'm not going to be overly dramatic because the chances of this happening are extremely slim, but boards of health have to plan for the worst and
hope for the best. That's that's what we do. That's the nature of the board. So in addition to that, the smoke that you saw come out of that contains these chemicals. hydrogen fluoride which is highly toxic and corrosive. when water
mixes with it or when it gets into the atmosphere if it's raining it comes down as hydrofuloric acid which can burn uh skin when I say burn uh carbon monoxide hydrogen cyanide sulfur dioxide and then there's VOCC's volatile or organic
compounds in it particulate matters and heavy metals that's what the board of health has to think about when they think about the safety of this they they should not be boards of health should not be saying no because of this
because there are ways to deal with this. It's not insurmountable and a lot of it has to do with proper sightings, proper location. Uh this is why I think that that you are plausibly suitable for uh u getting not
just best but a lot of I know you have a solar array already in town and I think that there's a a proposal for much much larger solar array. Um and uh I think that that that as long as the nuisance
issues, the health hazards and the emergency response problem is dealt with upfront and clearly defined that exponentially uh uh decreases the the potential for having some kind of a catastrophe in
town. Um >> suppression systems they claim they have. Yes, they have they have fire suppression systems in them. Uh, and interestingly, some of the fire suppression systems that are in them contain some plastics which going back
to this slide here, if you look at the hydrogen cyanide uh release, that actually happens with the flame retardants. They're they're part of that fly the fire suppression. But they are they are what what we all I don't know if you remember seeing in the news, but
Moss Landing I took the slide out. I don't I show a slide on Moss Landing, which is California, because I I think that it's I think it it's more scary than it is probative. Um and it may be prejuditial to show uh as as part of one of these presentations, but um that was
a fire that went on for 4 days. And uh for the first two days, you couldn't you couldn't see any slowing down of the fire. It was just day and night. And then on day three, it finally calmed down. And on day four it was just a smoldering mess at that point. Um
but this is um uh really uh let me check my All right. So um I think that we can acknowledge the fact that that clean energy storage is part of the big plan right now for the
Commonwealth and it makes sense. Uh but Southwick can participate in this and can do so with eyes wide open and with proper protections put in place and uh I have on this slide the thing about board
of health participation belongs in the middle because it's really up to the board of health to identify any hazards early on. So during the meetings with Concom, they're worried about uh about you know things that are going on in the swamp lands and in the wet marshlands,
the wetlands and things of that sort and the natural resources. During those those discussions, uh the board of health would be there to talk about uh credible hazards that that that may happen over and above what Concom is
looking at. Uh and the the ideal would be and and actually I was going to OKAM um it was about a week or two ago and uh I had scheduled something with their board of health a couple of weeks in advance to go out there and talk to them
because they they have one that was going through the process at EFSB and the morning or I'm sorry two days before I went out there uh the EFSB handed down its ruling and changed my speech completely because my speech speech went
from how to prevent this to now that you've got it, let's see what we can do to make it as safe as possible for the people of the town. And u uh I think that that um the board of health did not participate in the EFSB hearings at all
uh in OKAM. Uh and uh there were one or two public health concessions made by EFSB at the time of their final ruling. Uh the Tukbury Board of Health was there, was very very vocal, was present
throughout uh filed comments. Every time somebody said something, they they responded to it. Uh and the board of health had a great presence and there were 108 conditions imposed by EFSB in the Tukesbury where there were only maybe three or four or five conditions
in Okam and of those 108, the majority of them affected public health. Uh so the idea is that we want to see the board of health create a record that would be protective of the people living in Southwick. Uh so that when the the
EFSB hands down its ruling and says this is a a place where we're going to site a solar farm and a best facility. Uh they will say the board of health participated throughout. We heard the board of health's concerns about this that and the other thing and these
conditions are going to be imposed on the facility because the board of health and that's the that's the only thing I can draw the line right now because they didn't participate in OKAM and they did participate in in Tukbury and that was the difference I think between having such a huge number of conditions being
imposed because OKAM didn't ask for them because the board of health wasn't part of it. Uh so obviously we're you know we're looking at at at the sighting and and uh uh what the benefits are. Of course the benefits
are climate uh uh and the the state is looking at more infrastructure, faster permitting and uh and we're looking at a local record a complete local record. Uh so when it gets to the the sighting board and they're looking at the
infrastructure and the faster permitting, they they take into account your record that the that this board of health uh is is bringing them. Now this is what the developer sees versus what the people in the neighborhood see. The developer on the right hand side sees uh
a solar array that's there right now. uh and they see certain infrastructure uh capabilities attaching to the grid uh being able to uh make this facility a battery facility uh worthwhile
uh because the battery facility will be tied into the grid and it it won't just benefit your town, it'll benefit the towns in this area, all of the other towns around you. And that's what they're looking at. And they're looking at at a lot of it that they're looking
at is the location of an existing solar field which is very very nearby. What the neighbors are seeing is on the left hand side and there are homes there. And you know when I I just drove through the neighborhood actually on my way here. I I I got here a little earlier and drove
around and uh there are homes. They're are very very nice homes and uh very very close to where this facility is and uh they can't be forgotten and it's the board of health's role to protect the people uh who are living in those homes
and if if it is inevitable that the facility is being put there then uh it's up to the board of health to make sure that the conditions are there to make it as safe as possible. So um
this is u uh uh the the CAO with all due respect and the select board do not control the board's statutory powers. they can come to the board and they can talk to the board about we think this is good and we think
that this is not good and and and can you help us because really it should be the CEO, the planning board, the ZBA conservation commission and the select board should all be coming to the board of health saying help us with with a
regulation to cover this concern that we have. We're concerned with whatever it is. Uh the board of health regulation, you now know from the earlier part of this, will be reviewed differently than any of the other board's regulations,
which makes it stronger because if the board of health has a hearing and madam CEO, if if you have something that you want protected and the board of health has issued an order on it, it's going to be it's going to be upheld by the
courts. So everybody should be working as one. It's going to be one organism. Southwick is one unit. And you know, you have lots like any cell. Cells have lots of parts to them, but it's a cell when it's done. And this is a town when all
is said and done. And you have very capable people on all of your boards. And in fact, I'm very excited about this board because there's not many boards of health in Massachusetts that I get to go to and talk to that are all medical professionals. And this is kind of fun to do that because they're very
science-based. Um so anyway so um uh the the uh chapter 122 which is the nuisance statute means that the board should look into the nuisances and should should make regulations or conditions as they may be in this case but it doesn't mean
that the board of health should be exercising a political veto over clean energy. Uh the board of health is not here in place of the zoning board at all. Uh and has looks at different things although the same project but through a totally different lens. And
this is also not an invitation for the public to come in and make unsupported claims because the the the hearing process needs to be as straightforward as possible because the stronger the record uh the stronger the regulation. Uh and under chapter 143, the noise and
trade site assignment, uh the board of health should be should uh uh investigate credible health hazards and should be building a public health record because that's what the court's going to look at. They're going to say, was there a record? And uh uh if so then
the regulation stands and the the board of health can impose enforcable mitigation uh strategies in case there is a safety issue. And the and if the fire department has uh issues that they want to make sure are rock solid for for
mitigation for for for their uh safety mitigation plan. If the board of health is is at the table, it gives them a little bit little bit more strength than what they may be looking at all by themselves for the reasons we've talked about.
So, um, uh, take a look at my notes here. Again, I'm not sure it's the right parts here. Um, so, all right. So, the board of health should not be a project opponent. A capable board can reduce the conflict by
identifying exactly what must be demonstrated. Technology, hazards, fire response, runoff, noise, decommissioning, and operations. Decommissioning and operations are very important because what we saw in Framingham was that this company,
General Chemical, uh they said, "All right, well, you're shutting us down. Goodbye. leaving us with five acres of some of the most polluted land that the state senate had to give us uh $12 million just to be able to evaluate to see how bad it was. Uh because they up
and left. Uh and when it comes time to negotiate the the uh the the community agreement with with uh the developer of this uh it it's important that the that the uh
and this is a select board and and town administrator uh role. It's important that all of these contingencies be considered and that money be put into escrow right up front. And it's not uncommon to see uh seven figures,
multiple seven figures being put into escrow accounts for this that and the other uh and the other reason. Uh one of which is of course uh sound mitigation. If if it gets up and running and people say, "I can't sleep at night because I
hear this thing all night long. My kids are having tough time in school because they're not doing well because they can't concentrate. I can't sleep. I can't think straight in my house anymore. Uh the board of health can come in and impose conditions. They can say,
you know, you cannot run the fans any higher than, you know, 27%. Even though they want to run them at 40%. Uh you that whatever the board of health finds as a reasonable condition, they can impose. And one of those
reasonable conditions, which EFSB and DOER woke up so suddenly to the morning that they read my comments, was one of those conditions can be you're closed. And there is a case in Massachusetts. Uh it's uh it's it's PJ Keating and Company
versus the town of Aushnet. I know it off the top of my head because it stands for a board of health. PJ Keating is a humongous asphalt company and they have this humongous facility in of Kushnik and they were running 247 and the
neighbors went to the board of health and said we can't live like this and the board of health called them in and they said well too bad those neighbors came in we've been here a lot longer than any of those neighbors they bought houses or they built houses around our thing tough
and the SJC said the public health is paramount ount to the interests of business. Remember that red part of that slide. That's where I'm coming back to. And they said if the board of health says you're shut down, you're shut down. If you want to work
something out with the board of health and and come up with reasonable conditions, like maybe you won't operate from 11:00 p.m. until uh 6:00 a.m. That's a reasonable condition. If that's what the board of health says, you can and they can live with it, then you can
stay in business. the same exact that's the case that is the case that your town council if the if push comes to shove and this thing has to be shut down that's the case that the SJC will say we've already ruled on that in the in the Keading case so that's important to
know important precedent uh okay and these are the uh the the inherent risk categories uh and it's not really that and I put on the slide the right question is not whether risks exist, it
is whether they are understood and controlled. And controlled is through conditions. And uh these are the ones that that the board of health will be looking at through time on on any kind of a project like this. Any kind of an industrial project would be a fire risk.
Uh that is your fire chief's role. Uh but the board of health uh has a voice in making sure that that the public health portion of what the fire chief does is covered and and and is safe. Uh
water and runoff the fire if there's if there's a fire the fire suppression water. Is this far enough away from your your town? Well, I guess you don't have town walls, do you? >> Town walls. >> Wells. >> Wells. I don't think we do. >> Some do. >> Okay. Okay. So, I don't even I I'm
sitting here not knowing anything about where your wells are, but if your wells are near there, that becomes that becomes relevant because if there were a fire and the water uh from that fire got into the ground, uh then there may be some issues. Uh your conservation
commission is going to be looking at wetlands uh and the board of health is going to be looking at the private wells around there. Uh traffic and access, that's something that everybody in town that all of the all of the board should be worried about. Uh, and can two firet trucks pass each other? That's an issue
in in Tuksbury? You know, there there's a uh there's a residential uh facility for uh assisted living that's 1100 ft from from the wall and there are corners there that the
fire department doesn't think that they can make two trucks go in two opposite directions around these corners. Uh and that's something that even though that's one of the 108 conditions is that they have to do something about the road for the fire department. Uh noise and operations. This is all board of health.
Uh in fact, it's probably the only one that is all board of health. And then the uh the end of life of the enterprise. Who's how's it going to be decommissioned? Is there going to be money in an escrow account? Um what if what if there's a fire in a small part
of it? Um what what if there is a fire in the field where you have the the uh solar arrays? The real danger of the solar arrays comes from decomposition of the solar array. And usually that's because they either get very old or
there there's been a fire, something has compromised the the solar panel itself. We'll talk about that very briefly to at the very end which we're coming to pretty soon. Um all right. So, uh, this is where the board of health, this is where you all
really should be should be concentrating, um, your efforts. And you're going, you have these slides and, uh, I'm going to be getting to some slides in a minute that I'm going to fly through and I'll, I'll explain why in a minute. But, um, these are these are the
areas that you should just kind of keep this always, you know, print this slide out and this should be your your outline for where you go through the whole thing. Uh and then um these are reasonable health oriented conditions and these are conditions that we've
heard about during the hearings of OKAM and uh uh and Tukbury and the the uh EFSB has taken a favorable view of all of these reasonable health oriented conditions and these are all covered by
those 108 conditions in the Tukbury because the board of health was there. These are not covered in the in the uh Oakland. Uh although I think that some of them are certainly implied, but they're not covered the same way. And um
the emergency response plan uh you should be working handinand glove with the fire department uh on and the police department and your uh CEO and and your select board on that. Uh and the others I think I've beaten to death. I'm not
going to continue. Uh, and this is really where each board um should be keeping its lane. Town council and the select board and your CAO. Uh, they are going to be the ones that are going to negotiate the host community agreement.
Uh, your town council is going to draft all the orders. Uh, they're not part of the data collection like planning, zoning, fire, conservation, and board of health is, but they're really the they're really the lynch pin. They control the budget. They control the
purse purse strings and they make sure that the provisions are are in there to make sure that everything we've talked about will be paid for if the stuff hits the fan someday. Um, and uh the best practice would be to have one shared
project file. I don't know. I after after seeing what happened with the computer system here today, I'm I'm not I'm not sure whether or not you you you're all working with Google drives and things of that sort, but you should have one file that is maintained by your CEO as as the as the keeper of that
file. Uh and everybody should be working in the same file so everybody can see what everyone else is working on. And it might be that there's something coming up before planning that they don't even think to tell the board of health. Uh, it might be that you're thinking of something to do with fire and the fire chief says, "I no, I want to come and
talk to you about that before you before you do anything on it." That's that's your way of of communicating. Um, and no board should go outside of its own legal role because if you do, it's it's stepping on one another's toes and it leads to bad times on the playground,
which we don't want. So, um, this was what I was thinking in terms of a public message for your town. Uh, I think the that the board of health should live by this that Southwick may be a suitable location for clean energy storage. That
does not eliminate the board of health's responsibility to examine public health risks and seek reasonable mitigation, one of which would be conditions. Uh, our goal is not to stop a well-designed project. It is to make sure that any approved project is safe, enforcable,
and prepared for foreseeable hazards. I'll caution the board that anytime that you say something that favors either having it or not having it. Uh the people who hear you, everybody hears you differently. I know that I have three kids and I know that that that
they they don't they don't even listen to what I'm saying or they didn't growing up listen to what I was saying. They watched my face because my face didn't lie. I might be saying, "No, you shouldn't do that." And I might be telling myself, "Yes, they should." and they and they they'd know that and they'd read it and they'd do it. So
that's what kids are all about. So I would I would say that sight sight specific evidence-based mitigation, public health and emergency planning are your role. Uh I would not say that all bests are bad. The board of health controls everything and this is uh this
is a select board fight. I wouldn't say that at all. Uh and I I would ask what risks what documents prove control and what conditions are enforceable. Those are very important questions. And then I would this is this is kind of a road
map. Um and this is more for your a after after this speech for you to just kind of have as as part of your road map. Um and then uh again do not overreach. Uh you've got enough work to do without trying to to to take the role of one of
the other boards. They've they've they've got their areas. Uh and the board of health should be saying this is not an energy question. Energy policy is for the state. That's EFSB. But the risks land locally. So even though
uh we we know that this is we're not part of the energy question itself. We are all about the risks and it's not a zoning question because zoning deals with land use permits uh that don't address chemical hazard or toxic toxic
toxic exposure uh risk and uh but it is a public health protection question and the safety of residents vulnerable populations I I stuck that in because of Tukbury uh and local environments is what's at stake
and this is where here. Uh, is this where I'm going to start to fly? I think it is. Let me see. Yes. Um, I think I'm at the point where I'm going to fly through. Um,
yes. Okay. So, the next the next series of slides are also for your use later on, but I want to put them into the record here. Uh and uh where your board of health authority is strongest is dealing with complaints and documenting
documenting health impacts. Tracking noise and odors and smoke, vapors, dust, anything of that sort. These are all nuisance issues and leading to noise and trade. reviewing the emergency notification and resident protection protocols, which if there was if if you
heard like an air raid siren tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 in the afternoon in your town, you wouldn't know what to do with it because you you don't know what it's about. You don't even know what it is. Um, but if everybody was told that we're putting in an air raid siren, and
if you hear that, it means that there's a fire and you need to evacuate this particular area, uh, or to go online real quickly and see what the fire chief is is advising you to do, people will know. So, if you don't communicate your emergency
notification, and it might be a reverse 911 call that that's initiated, people should know what to expect if there's an issue. And that's that just that brings the level of apprehension down a lot. And that's something that we have to be
very cautious of because people living with constant apprehension. Uh we we came across this in in Great Barington where they have you turn on the the tap water and it looks like diarrhea. It's dark brown comes out of the faucet and
the water company says you can drink it. I don't think I don't think anybody would, but they said you can. And we went out there and we did a whole border of health presentation on on on that. And um one of the members of the of the
board is a retired pediatrician and she talked about something called weathering which I had never heard the term weathering before but it's actually in the DSM and weathering is when the dripping faucet when you have something that's just going on in the background
and you hear it doesn't really bother you. It doesn't really it's there but after a little while it starts to bother you a little bit and then it starts to really bother you and you weather it and then finally you've had enough and that's that that's what you want to
avoid from happening. Yeah. The best you can. Um coordination with fire police conservation the D is the D is your brother and sister in this in this whole
thing. uh DPH is there and now is there because DPH commissioner is member of EFSB which he wasn't before and I don't think that he's figured out his role yet here with this because they've only attended I think two meetings so far
since since they were appointed but the D is part of this and uh the commissioner of the D commissioner Hypel is she's terrific and she's she's very concerned uh I watched her face during during the the the the two hearings at
Okam and Tukspbury and she she voted yes but her face just like my kids her face was saying no but she was saying yes because I think she had no reason not to vote yes or or no reason on the record
not to uh and uh just keep keep things very very simple noise this is your your area and you should own the complaint record if anybody has a noise complaint, they need to be told by uh the by the
the front office in town, by any of the other boards, by the fire department, by the police department, because those are the people that people will call the fire department. They'll dial 911 because it's noisy and they need to be told you must log this complaint with
the board of health. or maybe you work out something during this period of cooperation between the boards where if 911 gets a call having to do with noise, it's that that that is logged and sent to your health director. So, your health
director is keeping because that's again that's that's yours. Emergency planning, you have to be at the table. Uh and um uh there's there's some some of the rules are in here uh about the emergency response plan. Uh and uh you should be
handinand glove with your fire department, your fire chief uh on all of this. Uh and again, this is back on the resident notification thing that a failure of notification can become can become a health failure because people won't know what to do and they won't
know how to react. And if the fire chief wants to to have people shelter in place, they need to know that and they need they need to know that that's their safest place wherever they are. Uh if the fire chief wants people to get up and move, it's up to him. uh and uh uh
but the notification system, the board of health should take a role in preparing the messaging uh with the fire chief uh and um uh should be present during any tabletop drills that that that happen. Uh the fire water and
contamination u there has to be a reporting mechanism for that which you'll work into into the the health regulation on this if it if it comes to that. Uh and then incident and complaint reports. Uh again, um this is all self-explanatory and this is
really more of a of a slide just for you. Uh and then this is the final step, the augmentation. What we will see over time is that one of these battery units will fail uh and the uh the fire chief will go do an
examination and we'll say uh it's not a fire risk but I think we need to to to replace this whole unit. Uh and um when that happens uh it should be treated the the new unit coming in should be treated just like the hundreds or or I don't
know how many they're going to be putting in here but it should be treated just like all of the other ones. and it should go through the same reviews for safety and all of that. You'll defer a lot of that to the fire chief, but you should also uh be looking at whether or not this means we're coming into a
problem. If one failed, we're going to see multiple failures. Um and then what about solar panels? We didn't see this until today because I I was asked by the chair to to just stick something in about solar panels. Uh and um these are
your top 10 issues. uh uh they are way safer than than what the rumors out there in the community are. Um there is talk about the fact that storm water and drainage uh runs across the top of it and they degrade after
time and some of the chemicals that are in the plastic get into the ground. That's minuscule amounts, but it's I'm not saying that it's insignificant. I'm just saying it's minuscule amounts. more pressing are what happens when you have these these units that are are directing
water in one direction and under them isn't getting the the natural flow of the rain. And these arrays, as you've seen in the one that you have already in town, they they cover a lot of territory. Uh and literally they cover the territory. And although the
rainwater comes off of them and the same amount of rain goes into the ground, it comes in in different patterns. That's something that you'll work handin glove with the conservation commission to talk about whether or not there are any uh potential effects with uh the aquifer
that may feed nearby wells uh because it may it may create some weird surges that you don't see in in in the aquifer. >> So some of it >> I'm two slides from the end. So go ahead. Um, >> no. Janice, >> see, you waited till you saw one final
point before you, right, Jenny? Um, so this is something and and um uh madam CEO, this is something that that when when you do your negotiation of the of the host agreement, make sure that there is a provision in
that host agreement for decommissioning. Uh and also make sure that that if something goes wrong and if this thing is up and running and it becomes not fixable for some reason from a public health standpoint, the board of health
will then convene a site assignment hearing under 143 know some trade uh which was what we did which our 33 hours were a sight assignment hearing. It's very very expensive because you need to be able to pay for uh groundwater
engineers. Uh you'll need to to pay for air quality engineering. Uh you'll need to pay for hydrogeeology. Uh and you'll need a licensed site professional to direct whatever the operation is going to be. Uh, and then
you're going to need to hire an attorney other than your town council to represent the board of health because your town council will be there representing the town itself. Uh, but the board of health will need its own. Actually, it can be your town council. I stand corrected on that. Your town
council can represent the board of health. Uh, but it's going to be expensive because there's a lot of hours. You're going to need to hire another attorney that's going to act as as a uh hearing officer. Uh, and there's going to be probably the Conservation
Law Foundation will bring in three attorneys to that. Uh, and the company's going to have to have attorneys. Uh, you're going to have to rent space maybe from a school or work out something with the school uh, to be able to house the these these hearings become very large.
Uh, and um, it gets very expensive. So, anticipate, like I said before, that we that we plan for the worst and hope for the best. Plan for the worst. And when you're negotiating the the the host community agreement, make sure that there is a provision in there uh that
allows the board of health uh if the neighbors can't sleep anymore and if they have to have a hearing, that should not come out of your town dollars. That should come out of the company's dollars. Uh and companies are anticipating that this is going to happen when they when they do these
negotiations. And uh it should not cost the town money to protect its people from somebody coming in if they have all of the money in the world, which they do to to to protect themselves. These are some of the sources that I used. Uh and
now we're at questions and answers. >> James, well, I understand that there are that there is a solar installation farming. They're doing it so far the land underneath >> so it doesn't sound like that's a very
good idea. >> Yeah, that was my question. Are you killing animals and vegetables? >> Because we see a lot of that. >> I'm sorry, kid. >> We see a lot of that where the panels are in a field and then they're farming underneath or growing vegetables. Does that make it all toxic?
>> I I'm I'm not going to say one way or another because I don't know the answer to that. I I know that there is there is runoff from the panels. Um, I I had listened to some advocy advocacy groups on that and was very moved by what they had to say. And then when I did my own
research, I was a little less moved and I and I tend to be u overly protective of the environment. You know, I practiced environmental law for 35 years, you know, so that means something to me, you know, but but I don't know. I
don't know the answer to that. And that's something that the board of health will be able to have a hearing and determine. Right. >> Thank you. Any more questions? >> Any from the board? >> No, but we had some comments on the Oh, okay. Do you want to read those comments
out, Kaylee? >> I'm glad somebody from the That's not a question. Sorry. Sounds like lake management should be involved depending on where the solar array/ batteries are being located. >> I think that's right. I I I one of the things I noticed on the map, in fact, I
saw a photograph of a beautiful lake here >> and then I'm but when I looked at the aerial photograph, it was all white. I was wondering maybe it was frozen when I took that picture from the sky. It looked like it was terribly polluted, but it looks >> it's a system of three lakes
>> and it it's absolutely beautiful and it's going to be in that part of town. So that's that's one of the things that that uh the company should be paying as part of its uh money that that it that it pays for its uh the the host agreement. Uh the company should be
putting that money for studies of the groundwater. Uh and there are some great hydrogeeologists that are very very familiar with how to determine whether or not anything could flow from that into your lakes. And so it sounds as though you've
presented us with almost checklists. Yes. From a board perspective to begin to work with our peers. >> Yes. And you know from talking to me in the last week or so that I'm always available to help out in any way I assume. >> Thank you. Any other comments or questions from the audience
either here or in internet land? >> Okay. >> Okay. Well, I'm sure we'll have them as we as we go forward. If we get forward with this project, I'm sure we will. So, so I'll give you speed dial.
>> Yes. Yes, you you will. You do. And you will. And it's fine. It's fine. And >> thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you for your time. That was an excellent presentation. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> A little less glitzy than the one that you saw.
>> It was plenty glitzy. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. show someone to show you someone need to show you. I know you're gonna pack up and because you're heading back. >> Yeah, >> I'm good. >> You sure?
>> Yes, I'm totally fine. Thank you. >> All right. We're going to move on. >> Yeah, you got you've got an agenda to do and I don't want to impose on >> Sure. >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay.
We're going to try to abbreviate the rest of the meeting as much as we can while still um covering what we need to cover. So, I'm going to turn it over to Kaine to highlight things in for in the the nurses report because Maryanne is
not here tonight, but has has has done a yman's job. I don't know if most of you know we have a vacancy. So, Maryanne Deming has has picked up all of our towns. So, she is covering all the mandatory stuff for the town as well as
is still able to offer nursing hours in pretty much all of the towns. >> Um, so I I will I will let Kaen uh talk about that for briefly. >> Um, so first Marian just wanted to apologize for not being here tonight. Um, and then was wondering if anyone had
any questions just to email her about her report. But two main things she wanted to talk about was that June was food safety education month. So she had a lot of great conversations with residents about food poisoning. We are seeing a case of a parasite throughout
the US right now which is probably most likely linked to unwashed fruits and vegetables. That's what we're seeing the most linkage to. So ensuring residents are thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables that they're going to eat raw. Um luckily right now we have not had any cases. I cannot pronounce that
parasite to save the life of me. So >> thank you. Um so hopefully we do not see that in Massachusetts, but just ensuring that we keep food safety on the mind for the next couple of months as well as the extreme heat and uh this month's focus
is going to be sun safety. So, like you said, she's doing a lot of open nurse hours, a lot of blood pressure clinics, um, and working in most mostly all of the CEOs, COAs, excuse me, um, to work on just independent relationships with the elderly, making sure that they're
all hydrated and staying safe in this extreme heat. And then something that I sent out to board members was our idea about the fall. Uh, we are seeing some low vaccination rates. We are seeing some increase in Vericella cases of unvaccinated children specifically. So
we're trying to target school-aged children before the start of the new school year. We're hoping to do a myth verse fact event on vaccines. So we're trying to get a panel together. We have our Westfield stop and shop pharmacist who we work with who does our flu clinics. Uh she is willing to come and
kind of try to help. We also have our public health consultant physician. He is a OBG OBGYn by trade. Uh so he is willing to come as well to help us with that. But just wanted to see if you all were interested in joining us for that
fifth me myth verse fact event. >> When is that true? >> We're hoping to have it before school starts. So mid to late August depending um when we can get it scheduled. I'm not sure if it'll be I think ideally we'd want it to be a night meeting just so
residents could come after work >> and Erica's a pharmacist as well. >> I know >> so we could Yeah. So really want to get that together. Marian's kind of leading the way on that but hoping we can get something together especially before the start of school. Uh we've had the school nurse tell us they are having a hard
time getting the vaccination rates we want to see um and compliance with that. So, any questions on Maryanne's report though that I can send to her? >> Very good. >> Great. So, then my report, any questions on
that? Um, it's been a busy month mostly with um mobile food. We've been doing Brian and I have been doing a lot of inspections on mobile food establishments, temporary food establishments, a lot of events happening in Southwick. Um, for the most
part, those have all been very clean, doing a great job. Any followup for anything outstanding that we've been talking? >> Yes, New Main Moon. So, um that is a food establishment that we had ordered then to get a food safety consultant. I had spoken with about six food safety
consultants before I found a good one for them. His name is Danny Lee. Uh he has gone out to the establishment. They have approved. They're working on a contract together, but Mr. Lee wanted to get approval from us tonight to go forward with his action plan. So, his
plan is to do three over the next month, three random inspections, all during different times of operation during different days. Um, and try to get some adherence to the state sanitary code. Since our last meeting, I've been to New Main Moon,
three or four times. Uh, they're doing better. Um, they're really working on the date marking, the proper management of uh thawing products, cleanliness, removing the cardboard. It's it's it's doing much better. Um, but Mr. Lee wanted to get approval before starting
that action plan with you all for safety consultant work. >> Okay. Do I hear a motion or do we need any discussion? >> So, um, this is the first I'm hearing of him. So, what are his conditions and whatnot? Do we have any? >> He's a food safety specialist, so he has
years of experience. I can get his full resume for you all. Um but he is kind of known throughout the state for doing work. He also speaks Mandarin which I think has definitely helped us that and he does come from a family who he he told me on a personal level he grew up
in food this food establishment kind of um experience with the Chinese restaurants and immigrants. So he feels as if he could really help this establishment which I think is a good personal connection um to making sure that they get some adherence to the food code as well as he brought up the
cultural component of we kind of have to there's a little bit of a shifting of the cultural situation from a food establishment um to where they are currently. So uh I think he's a great option for them. We've gone the other consultants I talked to didn't think
that they could take on this job. Um, so that's mostly what happened with the other food safety consultants. >> Okay. >> So he was the only he he was the last one that you >> He's the only one willing to take the job offer right now. >> So
>> So I guess yeah, then that's the option. I I really do think he'll help he'll be able to help them um with the con conditions and the issues that we have um and that this is kind of the last stitch effort before we would unfortunately not be able to keep their correct food permit there in good
standing. I guess my only comment would be um would we necessarily wait for all three food inspections? So with with each food inspection if there is a continued >> yes >> issue then we would >> he would notify I I would build that in
to whatever we vote on that we need to know. >> Yes. >> We need to see the results of the of the and and does he have a space of time that he's going to do those three? >> Is that over the course of a month? So, um, depending on our approval tonight, he said he could start early as next week. Um, and then three random
inspections throughout the the month giving us reports to ensure that those are, you know, >> and will we So, we're going to look at after hours. We're going to look at on a weekend, correct? >> Um, some traditionally busy. >> I'm going to also try to get there on the weekends as well. So, they'll
they'll be a combination of both myself and the food safety console. >> All right. and then they're allowed to continue functioning with violations or what do we how are we >> I think we have to look at the violations >> right so it's I don't want to say how
egregious the violation is but yeah kind of looking at a scale of the violations that we're seeing >> if they're continuously getting worse or are we staying the same you know >> that's all going to be built into that >> yes so we won't let that we won't continue operation if the violations are
egregious and continuous >> so I I guess what I would request is before he does his first one, you identify based upon your findings, your the pattern of findings, what would be the ones that you would need to be notified
>> ASAP for for for action. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> So that and and as long as he understands to submit them as he's doing them to you and then you can notify us if if we need to take action. So do I have a motion with those conditions built in? And I feel like we've used the
word condition. We've heard condition for so many for so many things, but but um do I hear a motion? >> Sure. Um I'll make a motion for this consultant to be in place for a new main moon um with the conditions that are established. >> Do I hear a second?
>> A second. >> All in favor? Let's do a roll call. Terry Putnham, yes. >> Trisha Leven, yes. >> Pardon? Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Perfect. So that was the outstanding food establishment that we had been discussing. Septic um Thomas Fitzgerald
has hoped that his last day would be July 1st. Uh we do not have the consultant job posted yet. So hoping that will happen in the next couple of weeks so that we can let Tom Fitzgerald retire. Um he's done a lot of work for us and I feel bad. Um but he's still
going to continue to do the work for us. He's not leaving us hanging which I appreciate. Um, so the two outstanding things happening with septic is to Hummel Lane. I did get a septic design submitted to us, but the design submitted was based on the old original
30-year old system. He now wants to do another percolation test to determine if he can remove the old septic system to replace with the new design. Um, so that's happening this Thursday. So, he wants to
replace he wants to remove and replace a new system in the same location. >> Yes. So, he's trying to get the approval from us so that we can go forward with the building permit um to then hopefully determine that he can still use his 30-year-old system was what he conditionally said to the building
inspector and I. >> Okay. So, >> so you're just waiting on a plan now? >> Yes, I'm waiting on a plan and another percolation test. >> Okay. Um, and then 199 Hillside Road was a a particularly interesting story. So, I had a complaint come in during a
routine pump um from the septic installer and hauler who was doing the pump. He did not have record of when the pump occurred or where the sewage was disposed of. Um, I did not have a formal pump record submitted to the t.
Um, but he was concerned and had a video of the septic tank leaking. Uh so when I called the homeowner and you know discussed my concerns and the potential contamination to groundwater um he was told conflicting stories. It seems to be
a company issue. Uh but the homeowner was obviously very concerned so got a title 5 inspection done from a separate party and thankfully that did pass title 5 so there's no concern of groundwater contamination. Um, but it's something in the future probably for us to discuss if
this problem keeps happening and we we're seeing some it we're not getting the pump records that we should be getting in a timely manner and that the sewage is not being disposed of properly. Uh, potentially exploring the septic installer and hauler's license with the town of Southwick. Okay. It was a very interesting situation that I felt
sorry for the homeowner in that situation who had to spend a lot of extra money uh for a title 5 inspection but obviously wanted to make sure that their septic tank was not leaking. Um, but just something uh going on that was just an odd situation. Um, housing,
couple of our routine things still ongoing. 403 College Highway is doing a pretty good job u moving some stuff to the transfer station to Aaron Circle is my routine uh complaint about sick trees. Um 85 Granville Road. The condemnation order was lifted with a
temporary CO given out for 90 days. the inspe I will go back out with the building inspector and probably fire again uh to ensure everything is still looking good and all the progress is there. Uh seven Coyote Glenn, the neighbor is complaining of noise, so a
nuisance complaint. This is a property that actually has long had an issue with the building department regarding um unregistered vehicles. He's now saying that the owner is becoming increasingly louder and has a buildup of basically operating kind of a some sort of motor
vehicle. I don't know what to call it right at this time, but has a lot of cars and has a lot of tires. So, the building inspector and I are going out tomorrow to the neighbor's house. He would like to file some formal complaints with them and and have those corrected as soon as
possible. Obviously, the concern on RN is the nuisance complaint and also the risk of rodents um just with accumulated refues in the backyard. I haven't seen it with I haven't seen it so far, so I can't really confirm or deny that at this time. >> So, more information to come from you. Okay.
>> Yes, that's been a pretty ongoing uh situation. And then seven sheep pasture, um a second notice of violation was sent out. Uh I'm seeing more mattresses there. There's about 40 plus at this time. They're operating a transfer dumping station at the facility. So, the
building inspector sent out a notice of violation because it's not zoned to do that either. Um, so he has 30 days to correct that. The building inspector is pretty wants to see that cleaned up as do I, but they are able to give the $300 fines per item per day.
>> So, this could become >> The 30 days is from 6:15. So, we're coming up on 30 days. >> Yeah. Uh, that one was 615 was my violation. the 30 days. I'm not >> I can't confirm what day Joe sent that out, but okay. >> Um I know that's it's also coming up.
>> Okay. >> Um we've seen some progress, but there's a large amount of mattresses uh that need to be resolved. >> And then um that's about it for housing. Any questions on >> No, pretty ongoing.
>> Question. >> Yes. So, uh, a while back I had sent Kaen the job description for the, uh, field surveyor, the septic hauler, uh, >> the title five. >> Title five. Um, was that approved? Is
that being so? >> Yes, you edited that. I submitted it to Naen for review and that was a couple weeks ago. So, I I don't know. >> I know. We looked at it. >> Yeah. So, it's based on the one you had sent with with a few added things.
>> Great. So, anything you can do to to help that would be helpful. Thank you. Thank you. >> Nine is very busy, but her and I talked about it as she's helping helping us out. Um, home and burial home/green burials. So, we have a resident who came to the town clerk asking to be buried at
their residence. So, in Massachusetts, this is a two-step process of board of health and select board approval. So, a site plan is required for us um on where the deceased would be buried. Uh it's also important to note that we would need to know on a on a plan where the
wetlands are, the sewer lines, private wells, pretty much everything, property lines, everything. Um along with what the deceased will be buried in slash if they'll be cremated. So that is why it's either going to be a home burial or a green burial depending on if they'll be >> and imbalmed.
A lot of lot of stuff goes into that. Um, but first and foremost, they need to determine where seasonal high ground water is because they need to the deceased needs to be buried above seasonal high groundwater, but low enough where an animal or something could not bring you out of the ground
again is the word I want to use. Can't dig you up. Um, so it's a very fine very interesting fine line of seasonal high groundwater and you have to have a deed notification. So, is she want she I'm
automatically saying she is are they going to begin step one and get you a a site plan? >> The town clerk and I were kind of talking about this. She we've never had one before formally that I know of. So, we kind of have
asked of other towns what their process looks like. So, we're still waiting on response from that, but I wanted to bring it to your attention just to see if there's anything else that we are concerned about and would want on a site plan. >> I think that's a lot. I think that's
>> No, I think you're on the right track referencing other towns to see what their processes are. >> Right. I've never I never heard of Tom doing this >> town to it probably happened. I I asked Tom uh Fitzgerald and he didn't have any recollection of it, but you never know. So, uh,
>> yeah, you know, you hear that people are wanting the the the compostable suits and and the the the the different caskets and all that stuff. So, there's got to be something out there. >> And I think it will be good to have something formal for the town, especially for the board of health and and for all entities because I think
with the prices of funerals, we may see this more often >> because we, you know, it looks like the select board has to be involved with that. So we could craft something to bring to you, Joe, and your and your other select board people. >> Yeah, I have a question on that. Would
it be appropriate to consider the patients um medical conditions? What if they had like some type of, you know, pacemaker or different types of metal components within their body or they had, you know, recent chemo or recent
radiation because it's all things. I'm hoping that's covered in these other towns policies. >> I know, >> but we're going to find out. >> That's a good point. What does speak, >> but those are excellent points. >> Yes. >> So, we'll table this till next. Well,
maybe not next meeting. You might not have a lot, but that on the old on the >> So, is this person asking because they need a response? >> Fairly soon. >> Yeah, >> we we have to get something going fairly
soon. Yeah. have a deadline on that. >> Um I don't know about a formal deadline, but uh he is looking to get a yes or no as >> Yeah, because it sounds like it's more pressing. >> Probably going to build it into a a last will and testament or something. So yeah, any anything we can help you if
you >> So it's not like a current situation. This is like a future >> future. Yes. I just Nothing right now. Nothing right now. No, >> we made sure of that. That was the first one. >> Be good to have >> that was the first question. Yes. say be good to have something for popularity as
much good. >> Sorry, I'm bouncing around this report a little bit, but I know we're we're figuring it out. >> Beach beach water quality. So, I've begun testing of the town beach uh water quality so far has been pretty good. Uh I did make a note to the chairperson of
a issue that occurred. The town beach uh prior to receiving water quality tests back opened without my knowledge on June 24th. Thankfully, we got the results the next day. Um, but just reiterating probably for next year the importance of
we need to get a test back before the beach can open. Um, especially if that was a level too high to open. Um, so that was a bit of a concern. Similarly, going with the beach, uh we went for our routine inspection on the 24th. Um the
fire inspector and I um where we did observe observe George Foreman grills being used to cook hamburgers and hot dogs um and paninis. The fire chief did issue a seat and desist order. Um as well as that was written in my report that greasel laden accumulating foods
cannot have that type of system. You can't use that type of equipment due to the fire risk. um as well as the state sanitary code does not allow it. So um we'll report back on that next month if I see anything, but um the new coordinator is great. So I I don't
foresee any issues there. Um so they're mostly sticking with commercially prepackaged foods. >> Okay. >> Um that is it for me. Just my typical um meetings that I've attended. Our budget and work plan were due for the public
health excellence grant at the end of this month. Um, so waiting for approval and to hear back on any edits they have on that. I'm hopeful for next year that we'll be able to continue the public health excellence grant, but as I keep saying in every single meeting, we will have to keep in the back of our minds
that we will need to set money aside to keep Maryanne and the public health nurse if we were to lose this grant because the work she does is incredible and the residents love her and I can't lose her. >> She she's very impressive. >> Yeah. Did we uh uh did we post the
Trish's job, not yours? >> The nurse the nurse is posted. Um so the only two job postings that's an agenda. The only two job openings that we have to post is the title 5 consultant and then the board of health secretary. Um I don't know what the board of health
secretary position is going to look like. I know HR was kind of talking about maybe doing it as a 10-hour board of health position as well as a 10-hour floating because that position has notoriously been a little hard to hire. So that maybe increasing the hours would
allow for more applicants. I think that's the hope, but I do think that needs approval first. So, um, we're waiting on that. >> And we do have Karen who is picking up some extra hours. >> Yes. And please please please express
our appreciation for her doing that to help you with tail cute in the interim because we don't want to lose you or Karen. >> Absolutely. >> So, anything else from your perspective? >> Um, one last thing to note is we are seeing an uptick in potential algo
blooms. So, a few calls this month working through the um flowchart with Dr. Wagner and Dr. Mueller. Um, so it's very early in the season to be seeing a lot of potentially dangerous algo blooms. Nothing yet, thankfully. Hoping
that continues, but um, odd to see it in June. So, we'll see. Um, >> and didn't you see some different colors? >> There's some wacky colors. So, something that I think all residents should know is do not jump into the lake if you see a blue, green, teal color. Um, we're not
in the Caribbean, so it should not look like that ever. So, if it does, don't jump into it and don't let your dog drink water um until we know what it is and can test it. >> So, I think the last thing on Trish, I'm
going to turn this over to you. We are um going to pilot a board of health Facebook page to start. We we feel like you we have so many um when when we go out into food
establishments or we go out into housing, you know, uh complaints, people don't always know why why they're they're getting citations. um we feel as though we ought to do use have a vehicle to use as an education uh
uh tool and you know to to share some information based upon based upon what uh uh my Hugo talked about you know in little tidbits so that it's not so scary um to >> yeah and what kind of precipitated it
was the permits and people bypassing those >> deadlines um and maybe that would sort of involve the community in a sense so that they are not so late on getting those permits in. But I do think it's a great way to um collaborate with the
community and keep them informed. It's just navigating because I was trying to see what other towns and what they have. Um this most similar I guess was Westfield, but they have a health department versus uh a board of health. The way they word
it is worded a little differently. And so it's just doing a little research. Um, but we do as a board have to vote on it. >> Okay. >> To have it in effect. >> So, do you are you making a motion? >> Sure. I would love to make a motion so that we can have some social presence um
as a board of health. >> Okay. Do I hear a second? >> Uh, just a quick question. Just to confirm no identifying factor. >> Correct. >> Oh, yeah. And so what's really important about this is not giving opinions and engaging in this is strictly informative >> and being constructive.
>> Constructive. This is not meant to engage in banter with you know what I mean. It's more just to kind of keep the community aware of what's going on. >> And who would be the author on it? >> Um that's a great question. I figured all three of us would be there and we can pick up the pieces for each other.
>> Okay. >> Unless you had a different idea. Um, I'm gonna need some education. >> Are you not on Facebook? >> I am, but I don't do anything with it. I'll repost stuff about, oh, this dog like, you know, got adopted.
>> If you say that to Trish, she'll make you an administrator on all kinds of things. >> Yeah. And I mean, even we could uh potentially involve Kaen as well with title fives and educating people on that and septics. So I think it could be a very good, you know, educational tool for everybody.
>> Well, and some of the common findings when when you're out in restaurants are date marking things like that. So So maybe explaining why that's so important, taking a topic and doing that. So you make the motion. Are you comfortable with making a second or shall I second it?
>> Um I'm comfortable um making a second. >> Let's do a roll call vote then. Terry Putnham, yes. >> Erica Prowy, yes. >> Trish Leiniac, yes. >> Okay. So we'll start working on this. will have more more information. So, is there anything else uh that we I think
we covered this agenda in in like record time. >> Okay. Yes. >> All righty. Well, do I hear a motion to adjourn at 7:46? >> Yes. A motion to adjourn at 7:46. >> All in favor? Yes. Carrie P.
>> Yes. Trish Leiac. >> Hi. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Thank you all. Thank you on the on the uh Zoom for being so patient. >> We're always so patient.
>> Thank you, Claire. >> The the beach is tested once a week. I apologize. I didn't see that that um comment prior, but every Monday. >> Thanks very much. That's always important for the residents to know. We get a lot of chatter. I used to be on
lake I used to be on lake management and that was a constant question >> closed for high levels of ecoli. It is closed and posted on the front of the public beach um as well as we would report it out to on the town website and make sure that residents know.
>> Perfect. Thank you. >> Yeah, of course. Have a lovely day. >> You too. I'm glad somebody from the current select board is attending and then the food pantry which um >> I agree with. >> We can't see or hear you. That was a 60
nothing. So I think that changed and also seemed like everybody could hear us.