##VIDEO ID:Q8T9-ndUTB4## progress okay thank you okay welcome to the February 3rd 2025 meeting of the yth Board of Health just one note that this is a hybrid participation meeting simple as that people can come to town hall or they can zoom in and participate that way all the instructions are on the website as usual how about attendance next Eric are you here here Mary here I'm Hillard I'm here Larry Here Charlie yeah okay let's move forward that's done um vers is public comment opportunity for anyone in the public um this would be the opportunity to speak up and questions we're open uh to them for sure um I don't see anyone on the screen I don't who's raising their hand Now's the Time anything on the agenda anyone wants to ask questions comments this is is the time I don't know if anyone's here who would like to do that or not I'm just waiting to see as you proceed well this would be your your your time um if there's some things you want to say this this would be the time to do that public comment as I understand that this has been sent to your legal no no one can no one can hear you you're going have to go to a mic introduce yourself so it could be put into the minutes and that's the kind of the formality of this there we go as public comment section here Frost k mcer and I've got the latest I believe the uh revision of the draft for the bylaws for Green Home burial and I believe this has been sent to legal counsel for the Board of Health and then they're awaiting response from your legal council well stated that's exactly what's taking place so we're sitting and waiting um and hopefully it moves along any comments there Jay um so after your last updates um I sent this over to the building department because they're referenced in there so the building department as far as setbacks things of that nature Mark RS and his team reviewed that and they gave it the thumbs up I then gave it to uh the Conservation Commission just to get their their sense is are there any concerns want to make sure it was comprehensive what I didn't want to have is the board to move forward with something and internally we have a you know a conflict or any kind of disruption um Conservation Commission they gave us some advice but said by all means again they greenlighted it as well on the 16th of January I forwarded it over to the town legal council um they said that was yeah the 16th of January and their response back was we're on it I haven't heard anything back um once that and I I put this on as an agenda item just simply so the board understands there's a progress as a Cadence this would move forward once you have the you know the approval from the uh Town Council as far as legality and liability perhaps um then you would be forward then you would be free to set a a public hearing on that you could you can then move forward and then a hearing come maybe we invite some funeral director whoever can come whoever we want to come forward but it would put some audience out there so there's a process to that and then a vote would happen and then there's a 21-day waiting period and things of that nature we're waiting right now for legal I think Ross you said it well that's I just that's the only reason it's on here is we're waiting for legal to review this Town Council well that's good news though that the other departments were okay with it great well it it is it is good and Mary you know to your point of being just being simply this that internally we don't have it actually there's another item that you have on the cranber bog we're going I'll talk to you about that when that comes uh in front of you is to make sure that we're all in agreement and and there's a cohesive piece of that we don't want to have have the board vote on something that is in conflict with another department so you didn't know that when we started out things weren't going smoothly no um looks like it's it's done nicely okay yeah so that's that's what we're at so sort of doing this during public comment as a courtesy to you any anything else I know you make a long trip here for this so it's okay it's nice to see all of you and I appreciate how hard you're working on this and I think this answers uh all my questions on this and so this basically checks off the agenda item for the Green Home burials here right yes I think unless she had something else I don't that's yeah that was exactly it I just want the board to beware cheating okay that's all we put two things together so yeah this is going to be it so if there's anything else more importantly how's your dad doing my dad is doing well um so I spent some time with him this weekend he does have some surgery coming up uh a week from today Monday it's not major but someone's 85 I think anything's kind of major on that so thanks again for helping to move this along and getting things done and next meeting will be about a month from today um holiday holiday you have a holiday on the 17th of holiday so it would be actually if I'm rolling forward it would be the beginning of March March 3rd I believe um unless something urgent comes up in town and that's probably what it will be I I don't know the date off hand so um okay it'll be posted but chances are it'll it'll be the beginning of March the first Monday probably however if the Town Council comes back and says no problems with this you would be able to go ahead and post the hearing notice and all without the board meeting correct well would post the meeting of the Board of Health you're can to have a public hearing here at your at your meeting right right oh yes I don't you don't have to vote then to say yes no we would have it and on the agenda item we would say given your how this has moved forward to say that the let's let's say the a date um that they come back and they have a without any edits that that you don't have to look at it again they they they give it a green you know a stamp of approval I would go ahead and schedule that right so it would depend on our meeting before that happen okay great I understand what you're saying that would that would get scheduled I'm just being optimistic okay but now and now let's the the other hypothetical meaning if they have some language they want added if they have some things just full disclosure if there's something you would then have to we an agreement do we want to insert that is that part of it might that lead to some other things that that's not a public hear exactly yeah okay okay so let's move on to number three here and that's it's the cranberry Bo than Call of you and the 16 Denver drive and it's only an update so let's have an update thank you uh thank you Mr chairman um we do have a court date a zoom court date set for February 24th at 9:00 a.m. with them uh the good news is the building department and the plumbing um have received permits for to do some deconstruction of the plumbing and the stuff that's in the building to to eliminate the the shower stuff like that there has not been a permit to um to abandon the septic the current pit yet though so I am waiting for that so that does look like the um the um the they are moving forward with with everything to comply with the town so it is the 24th there is a uh an on-site meeting with I just got an invite with the with Mark Rose the deputy um Building Commissioner and Tim to go out and see and let they're going to actually let them know exactly what needs to be done if I have any input I'll give it also to myself so it's moving forward and if everything gets done before the 24th we might be able to not have a court date so if they if there's nothing there to have a court date on then that'd be nice nice so I have a question um I don't understand why there's two notice of probable cause hearings the only difference I see is that um one is Steve Wilson the other is Brian Wilson their brothers one lives in off cape in Plymouth the other lives gets his mail here so you I have to send it out to both owners so Goa it's the exact same letter exact same everything it's just okay and it said that um this and I understand this is just a copy of what was sent to them that the um the um does it say the the information on what the the um hearing is about is attached but we didn't get that with ours we didn't get that I I apologize I can get that to you okay it's I I would like to see it yes okay thank you have any questions in addition to that just wanted to make sure similarly with this issue the cranberry B Buildings Department was uh reference but also cons the Conservation Commission as well to see if they had any input meaning you would move forward may say to an approve a septic system Title 5 um but they might have some disagreement or they may have some uh regulations and and in fact they do it's a notice of intent I reached out to uh Britney who oversees the conservation agent and there's a notice of intent where a a survey site plan for a septic system that is uh it's requiring a septic system within the riverfront area or a buffer zone to a wetland resource so there's some steps prior to even the title 5 work that has to be done filed with Conservation Commission um that that that's reviewed at a public hearing I'm going off her email to me voted by the Conservation Commission um it would require a variance also because it's with in the 50ft setback of the resource area and then an order of conditions uh would then be issued and then there's a 10-day appeal period so even predating any of our Title Five work Conservation Commission has to have and again there was a hypothetical here because we've heard that there is no septic system right there there is not a septic system it's a Rin station it's a it's an outdoor shower that we have on any house on Cape Cod well that's you saw the pictures that's not the case there is actually a septic system there and there's a process for that I'm not saying it can't be done but conservation has it has a process and that's called a uh they have to file a a notice of intent and then also the title five and those two go hand inand and and kind of complicating that is the whole um Waste Management program so that's the pump station no I'm not talking about that I'm not not getting into that I'm talking about the fact that there's going to be sewering along that way and and so you know there's the whole for at least I would think these owners the whole issue of putting in a septic system and then finding out they have to hook up to the sewer line anyway although I know we gave I think like a twoyear gra a two-year yeah yeah in order to comply but once that stem becomes available and abouts your property you have a two-year window to to get that done it and it's a gray water system it's not as elaborate as a for obviously for a two three four bedroom system it's a gray water system but but there needs a system in place and as you can hear from the Conservation Commission this is within the 50 Foot barrier of a cranberry bar be a problem and there's yeah a washing machine and a shower which is part of what they were talking about the pump station that the owners were in terms of other other issues that aren't ours right I I really feel this is going to run through the courthouse Loop here it's not just it's just just the health department buildings department has several issues with them as well so um this is now actually somewhat out of our hands and into a clerk Magistrate's hands but wanted the board to be aware you had them in front of you this is the next step and some Sometimes some of this is frustrating because it moves real slow right you know business moves fast government many times or at least moves faster government sometimes grinds a little slower Barry I I do have the um your explanation of um of the Criminal action have that explanation but not the specific um I'd be more happy to get that to you anyone else thank you Barry okay so number four on the agenda here is Av and flu discussion precautions I think we have Dr Brock joining us tonight Who's the marsville county health consultant welcome Dr Brock can you hear us I can I can how's that lovely perfect okay that's great welcome welcome let me just let me just cue this up a little bit do doctor um I put this on you've heard a lot of it on the news in the media right as far as Aven flu there's a lot of lot of concerns who does it apply to what are the precautions residential Animal Control businesses and other otherwise um people are concerned about this their risk to themselves their pets uh you know perhaps and so I reached out to the county and just asked and I I thought I thought we need to get some advice not only for the board to understand it but also the community listening at home and um Dr Brock was gracious enough to say just to give an overview you're certainly she's here to ask you know to answer any questions that you might have and maybe steps moving forward uh I've I've reached out to DPW they have not picked up any uh any birds DNR natural resources where animal control sits they have picked up some and they also I just asking do they have uh PPE personal protection and and they do but I I really and by no means any kind of a subject matter even expert or have the knowledge that Dr Brock has so I really want to turn this over to her great timing okay we're listening all right um I um teach at Mass Mara time in the Emergency Management and um environmental health and safety department and I did work for barville County for about 25 years before I got my PhD and went over to teach fulltime at the maritime but I still work under contract with barille County specifically with uh BCR which is the bartville county Roundtable uh public utilities and dpws um so when we got alerted that um that bird flu had been detected I think the first one was Plymouth um and it was about 60 to 80 swans and geese in a pond located in Plymouth uh but then when we did further digging about it they basically said uh that there had been numerous cases and reports on the cape also some backyard farms uh you know chickens things of that nature as well as other like uh Aven I guess you want to say uh seabirds kind of thing um and so the communication is not forthcoming which is disturbing to me as a public health person and emergency manager um but we did talk to mass dph um and in response to that they helped us and sent um probably all of your departments got it or your dpw's got it if not um just let me know and I can send it to Jay um so why are we concerned um I have been following bird flu for about for a long time probably over 20 years um it emerged in Southeast Asia as h5n1 and um and actually it's highly pathogenic to humans and so uh when it first spilled over it's a spillover which means it came from a m milon Source over to humans and that's kind of important um it had a a high case fatality rate of like over 90% kill rate um which is you know breathtaking considering Co I think was 0.1 um so uh but the good thing about that if there was any good thing is that it it did it locked the ability to transmit directly to human to human so the only way you could catch it is Direct in in contact with a bird like by butchering a bird or aerosols or excrement things of that nature to a sick bird um so we've been following it for decades surveillance um CDC and World Health Organization and over the last I want to say maybe five years certainly over the last three years it's really been moving in the wrong direction um and what's been happening is wild birds migrate and they spill over to other mammal sources so for example if you've been looking at this uh like harbor seals in Norway and chinchillas and uh you know muskrats and you know all of these different Maman species um all over the world and what's concerning about that is every time it spills over to Mamon species it has an opportunity to Resort um it has it's very close to being able to efficiently spread human to human and if that happens then any spill over to a human being if that Resort takes place that can begin to transmit it to other humans and it will become more easily transmissible I don't want to bore you but we've been watching um a case in Canada and a case in Louisiana uh over the last several months and in both those cases um it was it was the high pathogenicity Avan influenza um the Canadian teenager they don't know how that person contracted it um he was comos for months and they haven't disclosed whether or not he's died um and then the the case in Louisiana U it was a backyard farm did have intimate known transmission to sick Birds uh did have coexisting um P you know he she he whatever they don't actually tell these things for privacy did have coexisting um Co morality so it was he was he it was imuno compromised they were in new compromise and they did die and so they were in coma for quite a while so but in both of those individuals it had mutated within those individuals to to become closer if not capable of transmitting human to human so it was resorting that's the fear is the more sick Birds sick animals um even though that's tragic in of itself the more they come in contact with humans the more possibility of of a spillover or transmission um and and so you know it's almost if I could say as an epidemiologist that it's it is probably going to happen it's just a matter of time um so that's why we jumped on that because a lot of the dpws that I work with which is certainly your DPW to um they are usually the likely ones to be called to handle uh dead animals on the road or just dead animals on public spaces um and they usually do it and most of them have an sop DED operating procedure for Safe Handling of of dead animals because rabies is also uh problematic for workers too the problem that we have for example in the Town of Barnstable um the the animal officer um will only handle five and over dead animal uh Dead Birds um then there really wasn't a policy even for sick but still alive Birds um so there's a lot of of uh I guess there's a lot of open-ended policies within towns uh that it doesn't make it very specific who should be handling the birds uh you know five and less how about big birds how about little birds you know um these were swans and geese they hold more possibility of transmission because there's just more dander and there's more there's forgive me there's more excrement there's more secretions things of that nature um so that was why we did that policy so we sent that out and uh and the dpws are hopefully following it as as much as possible but in addition to that and if you haven't gotten the packet which I'm sure Jay probably gave you the packet um we also suggest Ed even maybe posting in town hall or libraries uh you know for the general public um just some basic information and a fact sheet that dph did provide um about being careful not to uh find you even if you find one or two birds um again the the closer it comes to human contact UM and the closer for example the closer proximity we are uh to sick or injured or dying Birds uh the more chance there is for this spillover Resort um so I don't know if you have any questions I certainly can speak a little bit more to you about it but I applaud you for having actually caring about it and becoming here asking me to come here to educate you yeah Dr Brock I had a little bit of an input I'm a Wildlife rehabilitator veterinarian and I work with um wild care and I did a little research research on this and in since uh just to check because whenever we get um uh wild birds and we run um you know we screen them for um Aven flu and um I can give you our numbers from December um so as of uh December from December 9th to uh January 27th um we had 59 birds that we tested uh 10 tested positive there was so that's uh comes out to 16.9% of um the birds that were tested um so that was at Wild care and we handle migratory birds and any other wild birds that are brought into the uh uh facility um the other thing is um I I went ahead on to mass.gov and downloaded the two forms that are there for the public to fill out and the the disconcerting problem I found with it is they're looking for if you find five or more sick or deceased wild birds it's pretty unlikely for U for the public to to find I think U it doesn't uh show show any interest in a single bird or um two birds or whatever um and so I wondered what your input on that was and also I found it hard for for someone who's really you know somebody in the general public that did pick up a bird like that to find guidance um for what to do with uh uh one of these sick birds so at currently um you know we take them at Wild care and then there is a wildlife facility in Barnstable um but um I just wanted to uh give you my experience so far with that uh that disease I and I agree with you I think it's just a matter of time before that uh virus mutates to uh affect uh you know become highly pathogenic to humans um so do do you have any um the other question I had was there was a lot of um um news media coverage of um a large flock of birds that were found in Plymouth that were suspected of Aven flu um could you tell us if that they were positive we never heard any followup on that and I I had trouble trying to get some followup on on whether or not that uh group of birds were actually in fact infected with bird flu uh do you have any input on that yes it was positive they were positive um and you know com I want to commend you too I love wild care I actually have brought birds that I have found to Wild care the surveillance that you're providing there should be some outlet for you to provide directly to uh Department of Wildlife or to uh mdph um because that that surveillance data I'm with you I think it would be rare for us to find five Birds you know and and it would be rare but yet and many of the birds Don't travel in flocks like that in fact many birds crows for example will segregate themselves once they're sick they won't fly with the flock um so birds have very distinctive behaviors and different birds have very distinctive behaviors so I'm with you uh I found a robin I mean I'm sorry I found a a blue jay um in my area where my neighborhood is and it clearly had died in in seizure and of course uh some of the some of the mechanisms where this affects Birds is neurological and this bird had died in seizure it actually was in a a head tilted back back arch position and it had died that way um so you know that could be poisoning it could have been but it did not have any overt trauma to it so you know I did call uh the three numbers that were on the the the internet none of them answered um no one called me back you know finally you know know I persisted and they basically said we don't care about one bird just throw it in the trash and double bag it and um I I don't agree with that because I believe in surveillance and surveillance in any way even if it's you know Bird Rehab you would be an obvious person that they should be reaching out to and surveilling or having some kind of communication with you because you're seeing this if I can help you with your staff your staff probably has excellent protocols because they are medical but if I can help you with protocols I'm happy to do that my pH is in occupational health and safety and Emergency Management and so we're doing OSHA compliance to the cities and towns here on the cape um what what else did you say you said a number of really good things um public education is huge one of the things um that I want to relieve you in some ways um this the I have been again following this with uh actually Google Alerts if you know how to set a Google alert for bird flu or Hy pathogenicity or emerging infections you can get summaries of AR every day and you can screen them for information if you are very motivated um but ever since uh 2019 the United States has been contracting with pharmaceutical corporations to develop Avan flu vaccines so there is some preparedness activities on a national level to create a a vaccine for Aven flu or high pathogenicity and I do want to point out to you that that highpath this this particular uh h5n1 hypath genicity Aven flu I I want to like sober you guys to think that the the kill rate or the fatality rate of this uh is anywhere from 30 to 60% so that's that soers you right away you know like 30 to 60% um and again um the other thing that I want to caution you is is that it's also coincided with seasonal flu right now and so my concern is somebody who could not be educated be interacting with backyard birds or you know even wild birds and the secretions and kind of having no personal protection equipment could come down with flu like symptoms and not even know or not even suspect that it could be you know that it could be something bad and that's what happened to the first two patients the Canadian and Louisiana uh they thought it was seasonal flu uh they finally went into the ER and they were turned away because they thought it was seasonal flu too only to return in a coma State and and so if you can get to the now I do know H um dph is providing surveillance in ERS but you have to mention and the doctor should be asking you if you have been exposed to any wild birds or sick Birds if if you answer yes they will actually pull a test for the Avan influenza there I don't know if it's happening at Cape Cod I'm I'm reassured by dph that it is happening at all the emergency rooms I'm not confident uh that it is uh but if that happens and you start Tamiflu or antiviral medications early within the first 48 Hours your likelihood of severe illness will be mitigated tremendously but no one's getting the information or very few people are getting the information out there and that's the other thing I wanted to share with you is this kind of information is invaluable um it's invaluable for anyone who might be the other thing about the seasonal flu coincident with bird flu is that's I don't know how much you probably know a lot about viral interaction but viruses are very peculiar and if animals or people are co-infected with two influenzas like seasonal flu and Aven flu or any other flu they Resort very easily and that creates like the perfect storm for um the potentiality of variant that could transmit humans to humans uh or not you know it's all random with viruses so I hope that helps a little bit yeah I agree with you about the single bird it's much more likely that uh the general Public's going to encounter a single bird and not five certainly um and I think that's a major uh uh issue at this point that the the general public is is uh you know they're it's pretty likely they're going to find a sick or dead bird if the bird dies um they a lot of these people will handle these birds and and uh it does present a a danger I've I've done it myself I've rescued owls I've rescued Pros I've rescued and I've brought them up to Orleans to wildare and so yeah it's a it's a reflexive things for people that are in interested in that um what I do want to stress to you guys in the Emergency Management world this is on a risk Matrix this type of spillover is is relatively low probability not possibility low probability so it's very probable or it's it's on the lower scale of probability but the risk and Associated collateral damage is catastrophic do you know what I mean it's like a Black Swan event and so I think that's why most people tend not they tend to ignore it until it actually occurs and so that's why you know mitigating situational awareness um being aware um and what I'm finding now because of the shutdown with World Health Organization and CDC is even masty pH isn't getting updates and getting alerts um so it's kind of like a a weird Perfect Storm situation that hopefully will become resolved very quickly so we can get a lot of these agencies back on board doing surveillance and doing communication there was a lot of criticism of I guess of lack of transparency and a passivity about addressing the problem that predates uh the issue with uh the World Health Organization uh people you know what I was reading about is didn't we learn anything from 2019 um just like to hear your thoughts on that um as an emergency manager following this and understanding like the the federal action the pandemic preparedness act it was wasn't even reinstated uh last year because of Congress so yeah am I concerned yeah we don't seem to learn well but again it's one of those things where you have low likelihood but High catastrophic like a Black Swan event people generally don't want to put a lot of resources and energy and money into something that might not happen but if it did it will be catastrophic and that was we knew Co was going to we knew a covid like disease X was going to happen for 30 years and you know scientists have been saying hey let's be prepared let's do this let's do that and you can't really drum up people being excited about that stuff until it happens because so much goes on every day that occupies the brain the money the attention but I agree with you and you know it's like watching a slow motion train wreck you just you know you just be prepared yourself is the best you can do and and convey information that's why I commend Jay for even having me talk to you guys you're the only Board of Health that has reached out and you know kudos to you because that's the kind of public servant you kind of need uh in this kind of scenario hopefully it never happens but I'll guarantee you it it is going to happen eventually whether it's going to be next month or 10 years from now uh it's going in the totally wrong direction so hopefully will'll be prepared there will be a vaccine available um they're also in some other countries they're vaccinating the birds and I just read that uh they called in I think New York or Connecticut they called a duck flock of 10,000 uh Ducks um who came down with H1 um h5n1 and then also so I believe it was H H6 and N uh out in California and and so um it's horrendous you know it's like it is coming all around us and uh there's a lot of economic damage and collateral damage and Wildlife damage so um like I said if you ever want more information Jay has my email you can reach out I can show you a few um websites for um the Google alert is great for surveillance because every day it sends you an alert of all the Articles uh and and everything going on in the world relative to it so you can keep up to date can you share with us your thoughts on uh the issues of consumption of food and any risk involved with that that uh people should be thinking about absolutely um cats seem to be much more prone to dying from uh their encounters with wild Burns so for example if um cats are allowed to go out and of course they do get wild birds you know they they hunt birds and and or they find dead birds that are ill those single Birds again that no one's even surveiling um they can die from it and also communication with humans it's not really known if transmission can occur between cat to humans but I got to tell you um there's also a brand of this Aven flu as You' probably read with cows and milk out in well actually out in the midwest to the West Coast and um that doesn't seem to be affecting cows they don't know the mode of transmission how cows are getting it they don't know whether uh milk is going to be very affected anything cooked like chicken or eggs or things of that nature or milk that's that's uh pasteurized uh will be safe because it allegedly kills the virus but raw milk not so much and people that are getting sick with contact from cows with this with a lesser veilance strain of this virus are getting much less severe diseases but they are like pink eye and they're they're not dying those so we've had 70 cases uh listed in the United States from that particular variant two from the high pathogenicity variant and I think both of those cases died um so and the other thing that really frightens everybody is it may be already circulating out there with people who think they have seasonal flu or elderly people that may pass away expectedly from seasonal flu or uh eveno compromis people that might be passing away and so it would make me feel so much much better if they were doing surveillance in emergency rooms and in hospitals um there's a saying in diagnostic medicine that um viruses are generally P they're basically diagnosed with a symptom complex if we have a PCR test we'll do it but the symptom complex during SE Blu season will probably uh they say um in diagnostic medicine if you have the symptom complex they're going to be more likely to diagnose a horse than a zebra um and that's basically you know these people can be coming in hospitals all over the United States with this flu complex you know symptom complex and they're being diagnosed as a horse when in fact they may actually be a zebra and in which case it could probably even already be out there similar to covid which was probably out there for months and months before we actually had a handle on it um which is just you know interesting until it reached that threshold where it like flashed over and all of a sudden became you know epidemic pandemic so I wish I could be not so Debbie Downer uh but you know I would rather be prepared um than takeen off guard because you can do mitigation efforts at this point even if it's just an individual family or the the the town or you can send out just information bulletins or fact sheets and post them in public places the um the Department of Public Health Massachusetts did Issue a clinical advisory today for enhancing surveillance for human infections with hpai and h5n1 and prior for screening love it and that's what they should have done probably three weeks ago um when we started when they started getting cases but again they're running into problems associated with Federal uh you know the the epidemiologist at dph said they're not getting any info this was last week uh late last week they weren't getting any info from Washington and CDC and so it's this is it yeah but I'm so glad to hear that yay and you know the more people that you can tell if they have flu like symptoms and they they feel like they've been exposed they can go to the ER and say I have been exposed likely to sick or injured Birds you know and just get that out there so that they can be surveilled or they can be even if post post explosure prophylaxis like antivirals can be started then that would be good thank you you're welcome uh Dr Brock this Jay um thank you for the kind words on for the residents listening at home um the song bird that flies into the the back the back slider and things of that nature what you know what the level of concern things of that nature because you can if you listen to the news you you you really need to get this has been very helpful to get some good information as to what's the level of precaution that is necessary what birds is a can a song bird be infected by Aven flu or what what birds what category of species we are we looking at that are that are carriers here it's interesting Jay actually song birds because I have a backyard feeder myself and so I research that um you know information can changeed because there's basically not a lot of research and data but from what I've heard from dph song birds aren't generally they generally don't succumb uh Raptors it's highly it's highly pathogenic to Raptors Shorebirds uh geese swans but they also flock you know they they hang in flocks and in groups and um song birds generally don't uh but I still keep my my backyard for example I flush out the uh bird bath right um frequently and keep it clean but song birds according to dph this could change of course uh generally they don't see it as um as virent or as deadly uh as in other species so and I can send you some information on that you that you can share with the board too yeah I I would appreciate that and also you mentioned earlier in your comments that there's say you call it a community advisory something a posting things of that nature I don't know that I have that in in and I've given the board uh some information that came through the county but a lot of it quite frankly was for uh animal control and precautionary measures for uh someone who might be handling that but but not on a general sense that we could maybe put up on the website uh and maybe even post at at our libraries or the senior center and things of that nature so any of that information would be would be really welcomed I'll do that I will do that tonight and send it out to you and and whatever else I can scavenge tomorrow from dph I did not know that they I knew they were testing because one of my friends is a nurse for dph and they were doing uh screening for HP uh I'm sorry H pathogenicity aming influenza in Plymouth because of the recent kill um and so they were doing it there but when I asked about like cap cot hospital or they didn't really respond unless they were they just were told that they were to ask each individual if they knew they had contact with sicker uh sicker dying Birds but that might not happen continually you know so I will send that J and and thank you like I said reach out to me if the board wants anything else or any other I think communication is our best friend do I think we're going to it's going to happen tomorrow no but I wish I could say it was high improbable or unlikely or impossible but uh again it's moving it's been moving in the bad direction for months and months and months now as you watch the surveillance it's just getting closer and closer and spilling over to more different just different species so yep anyone else yeah that's been uh our experience at Wild care um as far as the song birds uh it's mostly the migratory Birds the um Raptors uh uh waterfall right uh that that we're seeing that are coming up positive the song birds don't seem to be affected right because because that does happen it's happened at our house where song bird flies into the the sliding glass door and you you come and you gee they've seen something on the news is this is this Aven flu in my backyard that kind of thing just just so the community listening home has has an understanding sure Dr Brook thanks thank you thank you very much that was really informative appreciate it so anytime and just give Jay some questions and he can email me and I can provide information for you I I welcome knowledge that's such a good thing to have so thank you so much for having me tonight teric I'll forward the your emails onto the onto the board as well so thanks a million so appreciate your time not at all okay yeah definitely take care yeah it be great to have her email thanks okay I I would like to have something drafted that we can send out to the libraries and yeah Community Center the the cultural center and things that where really simple 10 things or whatever just good information I'll get that easy to read and remember tremendous resource I didn't realize the wealth of information that she had yeah that's great okay number five here sorry um I see this safe operating procedure is this came from the county okay Y is this something that we have in in place and in practice here in our DPW well I had asked DPW do you have things in place procedures for that and they said we do have them in place but we haven't even been called DNR has been called so Animal Control has and I I I spoke with Bill benetti today and he mentioned exactly the same frustration that Larry uh Hill and youve talked about the five the five bird minimum he said it doesn't that doesn't make sense to him at all he said but they do have procedures in place good yep so where did the zavian flu discussion come from this so this one here I didn't know if she was referring to that this these all this information came from barnville County so this is part of our Excellence Grant where we get information from the county forward this so then did you put this on the so I sent this over to DPW uh DNR and to it and to say is there a place that we could be putting this for for the community to be aware because this is probably not really written like she said for the general communities yeah yeah I get a lot of phone calls when people got it as an alert on their phone about this that was all that's why I had asked about so that connects the dots of why you would ask was this I sent it on to E uh to it rather to Simply say let's get some Community messaging it sounds like Mary thank you I didn't see that that came out today there's a uh information that came out from dph yes okay yep it's a clinical advisory I'll I'll give it to you here thank you that's probably better suited for the website as well um well I mean it's really directed toward um people who encounter patients who have a respiratory disease and say they have also had contact with um dead or or sick Birds well let me it's for the clinical for providers of of care it's clinical what Dr Brock she she kind of referenced maybe a community messaging information it sounds like that might be would be would be better oh yes absolutely and better than this too I mean I'd like to have something that we develop that's more tailored to the general public what they would be needing to know what they're asking agenda for next meeting yep least yeah this is the the best ear have a list of 10 things or whatever we can well and Dr Brock I think she said she would go ahead and work on something so that may not take very long so right she seems incredibly WR she sounds like she's really going to get on it so I mean I'd be happy to work on something between then you know the next meeting if if something comes in from her and she yeah send it to us that's all we can make it happen I'm going to for to all of you and her you'll have her email this is the the best and the earliest that I had and that's why I lifted it on out yep it's not something we need to vote on we can just exactly this isor Senator wherever else but her point of community messaging is critical to ease some concerns and precautions in place yeah and and just make people aware yeah and and perhaps also to the over to to the school department the far as far and wide as we can with our messaging be helpful y okay good anyone else not we'll move on um a lot of this is just updates here for this meeting um so plastic reduction bylaw public forums is it's listed number five yeah so I put in the so I put in the pack um so the so you have the information may want to hang on to this we're as we're going to move forward I've given the Town Administrator um a working list uh for a uh a group that possibly come together a cross-section of Industry um recycling uh Chamber of Commerce Public Health a select board a Board of Health to come together to um see if they can can craft a uh regulation it's said a bylaw but it may morph into a a regulation but from that to get input from the community from the industry leaders I didn't know if the board wanted to at least start looking at a schedule as to do do you want to have a on your agenda to have a a hearing to invite you know a public hearing to say what are your thoughts what are you you know I I think of Might there be an incentive if we reached out to uh you know some of the um legislators and said listen if a if a restaurant went green like there be a tax incentive that how do we incentivize this how do we move that just some some thoughts and some things and bringing people there invite invite legislators invite um the the business community in to say listen we want to move in this direction for environmental reasons what are your thoughts what are the challenges and and where can you know where can we make make progress on reducing uh plastic in the environmental stream I didn't know if you said well is that the direction I just want to get a sense from the board is what are you waiting for this board the group to come together do you want to start looking at at an upcoming meeting uh maybe uh well here we are sometime in March or to April to say a couple public hearings invite people in to get get get their best thinking good and bad let's hear from it so this is the select board's responsibility though it it it really is the select board I I was just taking the lead because you know I stood up at I stood up at a meeting and said we're going to move forward on this but I'm just trying to make sure I understand the politics of this and because we've already kind of had a you know a false start on this um full um regulation I I would almost rather have I mean the process we've usually used we've we've come up with something and then we've had a hearing so you know it I have no problem with asking for people for input but I'd like to have it I'd rather have something in hand hand and say this is what we're thinking about this is what we have in mind and then ask for the Public's response to it um in terms of legislators and incentives for restaurants going green I'm not sure what you mean by that uh you know sometimes you have to incentivize you know making sure reducing that is there something it was just it's just a thought that doesn't exist anywhere to say how do we incentivized for the community for the business Community to say you know if you do this per perhaps we there's all all kinds of environmental you know things that can be done might there be an incentive for that I I don't know well I think the main incentive is people um doing business with the with the establishment especially in a town where they've voted on this um reduction of plastic um you know to me that's one of the biggest incentives is that these people are are doing their best to eliminate plastic in their businesses um I I I did include in your pack and it's it's just simply it's a it's a template it's what the town of Falmouth has I I think that's a great start I've I've read that I I read that previously and it's complicated but but it has to be because it's not a simple answer like our our original you know ruling was citizens petition is one it was a Citizens petition that was put forward yeah um it could have been interpreted a number of different ways quite frankly um I only put that in as a suggestion that's not something the group hasn't come together i' I've put the a working group together that I think makes sense for the uh Town Administrator to uh to think about I think it would be authorized Mary to your point by the select man I'm waiting for that while I while you were coming together just to get your sense of well okay we're going to wait for that group to come together and may or do you want to have it at an upcoming meeting near or you know somewhat future that you might want to have a public hearing on it be nice if it's on their agenda um is the select board's agenda I I I asked exactly that I said and I think with budget and some other things it it hasn't gone I'm not making excuse I'm just simply saying it I'm hoping and a matter of fact I asked last week has it has it made cuz I don't want to jump ahead I have hav actually even provided to to you folks who it isn't a public document yet it's to the Town Administrator and I'm hoping the select men will say give it the green light that we move forward then you'll know then it's then then we have a working group because uh there there was some you're right it was there was a difficult meeting that the town where there was just say no the the community the they voted to say we want to move forward with this and said well this is just a way to kick this down the road and I can tell you it's it's not and but we want to make sure we have something that is achievable that's solvable uh works for the business Community works for the customers works for the environment um I'm committed to make sure we we do move this forward and I I just want to try to expedite this as soon as we can so hang on to those in your pack so I don't have to keep giving those hang on to those this plastic reduction you have the sample of the citizens petition what happened at that special meeting uh they're just calling that but the fouth and there'll be others there'll be others but I just trying to get a sense of the board of how did you want to how do you envision moving forward with this because you will play a role yeah I agree with you I mean the model we used for a lot of years now is having something for or written a regulation draft for the public to address otherwise it often doesn't get very focused people have ideas that are totally irrelevant I mean they not meaningfully and if we have this hearing and the group The board decides to have this committee but they haven't commissioned it yet then it could be confusing to the public okay well what are you doing now the select board's got a meeting and so what has all of this been about and how are you going to use that I mean obviously we can use it because you're represented on the board so you would be able to say well we've had some hearings I just think it would be complicating things but I also agree that we are the clock is ticking again that that's exactly that's and now you know we're just saying you know it's going to it's going to be in place next year and yet um you know we're in this year now and Mary I I would say I would build into that time frame that you just talked about three months of just Community Education I think that Community this this this is going to have to be built sometime summer maybe late summer and then the fall for J for January start um would be Community messaging this as out to the community in a number of different ways so so you can take three months off of that in my opinion just is just having that document crafted and now you're just letting the community know Phil our inspectors uh Barry when he's out any interchange with applications and otherwise have you seen this do you know this document how can we help you the chamber them holding some meetings so I I I just don't it sounds like a long time we we push this down the road for a year it's not that long right yeah so so the sense I have is that the board would like to uh let's get the get the working group in place um to come to some kind several meetings to have some sense of of shaping that right and then come back to the board the Board of Health sure I don't know if it's going to be the fouth you know I keep calling that just it's just a a template that you can a format that you can look at you really don't idea what the final product will be when you got a table of 12 people around it you don't know where it's going yeah no no yeah okay yeah committees can be interesting anyone else I just keep thinking about this seems like a real contrarian green agenda that starts at the federal level at this point that I wonder if our timing is is okay um what do you mean well I mean it it just seems contrary to what we're hearing from Washington as far as any kind of we're Public Health yeah we have our our mission as long as we we want to remain relevant yeah um climate change is absolutely I agree totally agree but it's seems to be totally disregarded at the federal level at this point well yes but but my intention is not to have it disregarded at the local I I just think about the timing at this point would would would we get the would could we make it relevant at this point the way things are right now with you know as far far as federal government goes relevant to whom to the general public well I think I I would hope that the general public that spoke about this reduction of plastic was doing it apolitically they were doing it because they're concerned about the environment to agree whether or not um the federal government at the time considers it important or not you know I mean well certainly at the time just like tobacco you know we we lowered the age limit before the state did it you know and before there was more of a national movement so a lot of times things start at the local level right I I just think we've done a 180 uh in the last six months as far as a green agenda public health is very threatened right now I I'm very disappointed because after Co there was a pretty a pretty good movement toward um bolstering the public health system to to building it up more because people realized how important it was during the pandemic and now you know now we're just seeing it being taken down um and so these are not these are not good times for public health and I'm speaking as a public health professional um but um it doesn't mean that I want to stop doing things that will um protect the public health um at I just don't want you to join um Anthony fouchy in losing your um prot protection I intend to buy a pit Bowl maybe two thank you I appreciate your concern thought I think I am not high on anybody's list yet you're not a i risk a Target yet no that's so well I mean there are some US Marshals are retiring and they are looking for [Laughter] work all right plastic done uh permits licenses and update I'm not sure what this will bring what's up uh thank you Mr chairman I got some great numbers for us um overall the for food establishments so far we have a total of 155 annual 115 um seven are not received those are I think they're in construction doing some limbo stuff right now that's why we haven't realized of got them yet the seasonals out the 40 20 have not received which is very normal they're not even here right now so that's that's good um the annual licenses for the five nonprofits we're good with that and we have two residential kitchens which are good retail food of the 44 um we're good with that three have not done the the retail they're those three are um doing some revamps of their kitchens and restaurants right now all all 27 tobacco licenses have been renewed uh motels ends and lodges a total of of 59 the annual is 19 um one of them is closed for renovation and we have not received that one and the seasonals of the 40 28 not received once again the seasonals are not they'll they'll be coming long down the pipes pretty soon uh swimming pools kind of same thing with seasonals most of those have not been done but um of the annuals all 18 that have have annual licenses for pools indoors with pools and hot tubs they have all been received so fills up on date with that um Hazmat all 172 permits have been issued as of today which is great rentals we have as of today 582 certifications have been issued um so far for 2025 119 inspections have been completed just so far for the 2025 season they have almost 175 um inspections on the books to today so which is really good um what else do we have we have 1,687 rental registrations that have been applied that's about 53% of what um we're going for so which is really good there the housing department is working on that really hard right now um and that 53% is up from last year at the same time so the new program with open gov and the two housing agents are working very hard on that so um last year 2024 there was a total of almost 3200 rental certificates all together so we're on great par U moving forward with this new program um it's easy to share information amongst the department and other departments just with clicks of buttons for us to know where we're at and how we're doing um one of the big hurdles is when people renew like for new people things a lot of our population isn't computer savvy so once we get them in there next year the second time year around the other information's in there and it's just a click of the button so that's what's making it a lot easier for every for our team to work on these so we're very proud of them they're working hard and doing all their inspections and a lot of work yeah so how do you know when there are new people renting I mean new rentals it's that's a honor System honestly it's um every year we have people sell people buy so um we send out um renewals to the addresses and say you purchase a home and you're like well I'm not Renning so there's an affidavit you can fill out to say you're not Renning or you buy a house that's never been rented before and you want to rent you come down and we can start the process there so so for every new home purchase they receive um no no it's no it's we're not that Pro there's that's a lot of houses that are bought and sold on yarma so not it's uh it it's through previous rental history is who we stick with okay so additionally I would say this Mary this great point it's different you know to have this kind of Catch Me If You Can kind of program is difficult right we're never going to C get everyone what are we missing we don't know but we also check the Department of Revenue they have their so people are paying taxes on that and we cross reference that and do we have them in our system as well um Barry just mentioned about little north of 3200 uh short and long term we don't know I I would have to imagine what we don't have all of them I'd like to think that that Delta is fairly small the other part too is um we go uh inspectors that are out even across the hall buildings wirings if they see if they see ads of or lawn sign or something of that nature uh social media we look at that we look at verb Airbnb and things of that that gets cross referenced U we have internships interns over the summer that are looking at that for us they're they're scanning that th those websites but my point being is inspectors will look to say and send back an address that might not look familiar so we have some surveillance to say can we catch we can't do we have everyone no I I don't I don't think we do I think I think they're doing a very good job of um catching and then or identifying we'll call it identifying them but more than anything the numbers you just heard could where were you little over 30 days into the into the calendar year and that's just a the business Community is helping working with us cuz a lot of time and effort that can be spent second notices you know Carl's group um Phil's group time and visits and stops and you know we dropped off the application the manager wasn't there the owners we need those returned back in again because then we have to then set up an appointment and scheduling and a lot of time and effort they're helping us tremendous so the message is getting through and really like to appla the business community and I think some of this is even our relationship that we built with the Chamber of Commerce the messaging is getting out to work with us we have limited resources here we want to help don't how you not how you help yourself is to get involved with the health department so that we can help you whether it's your customers your property right we're a third objective party to come in and say on such and such a date we looked at your property and it's in substantial compliance with the state sanitary code or uh chapter 2 the you know minimum standards for human habitation that's that's an insurance policy for that for that property owner and these are business there's a lot of money at stake here we come in and we guide them and it helps also for us to monitor the housing stock in Yarmouth so those numbers are compliance is on the upswing we're up and to the right on compliance that's say compliance meaning renewing applications we'll call it that they're coming in and that's saves tremendous amount of time for us may I add to that what talking about numbers Jay um some of our bigger um clientele davenports some of the other larger ones we're in the process of getting those started right now also so those those numbers don't reflect these numbers I got right now so that's 56700 right there just waiting to be processed through it takes takes up Mo a little bit to do it but she's working hard Adam so a Barry um do these short-term residential um vacation rentals do they are they do they have to be permitted oh yes 100% And now with the new building code short-term rentals anything under 31 days they have to be inspected yearly not just by the health department by the building department also so there's special regulations that are going in right now that's one of our new agents at J and Mark hired that he will be crossed um certified to be able to do both those certifications for both the building and the health department so so most of these or a lot of them are owned by corporations no it's they're individual yeah we got a lot of both so it's a lot of people have second homes that want to you see these signs that say um I need a vacation for example on a sign on the Laine so they're the management company like vob uh DAV not Davenport um delmare there there's a lot of big Management Properties out there so you don't have to do it your do all the leg work yourself they take a percentage of the weekly rental do they communicate with you or do you have to communicate directly with the good thing is they know that they're supposed to have the rental um certificates and all that stuff so they're good about the new people coming in as Mary's asking Say Hey I want to rent my house all right well do you have this and this and this they're like no well all right you need to that so they're good about being our secondary education and eyes out there so they're they're great about that and we have re out I know my our housing department has reach out to all a lot of the bigger rental companies VR I would need a vacation delar stuff like that and let them know the new policies and regulations that are coming down the line see Larry just so you're aware and the board is aware we spend our vast majority of our time if we divide labor it's with annuals the the seasonals are in very good shape right they're they're this is a business right they're they so they come in and um quite frankly luxurious many of them as we as we look at the time spent by our inspectors vast majority is over here in the in the annuals and and those are the ones we were we trying to make sure that property owners maybe absentee landlords that they're taking care of those properties the others just the market takes care of themselves where they are in very good shape and the owners be because of the rents that and the and the business opportunity that's available to them they make sure it's a showcase so y okay uh thank you you're welcome Mass Association of Health boards guidance document we all had something in our packet anything yeah you know this was just actually quite frankly this this illustrates what you did last year I think as far as putting in a food safety consultant you before this was even before this was even published you followed this you you kind of were ahead of the the curve on this I guess it's just to Simply say it's another tool for the board to know that if we're having difficulty and you might there this happens where food establishments aren't coming on board not to be punitive but to be a guide and to be helping them to Simply say here's something that to bring in a food safety consultant which you have done in my time my short time here you've you've actually done that um but this is a documentation explaining as guidance for a lot of boards of Health aren't as aren't as proactive as as as your group or don't have the maybe the the knowledge based of the the wide birth of uh background that you have in in public health or the experience we'll call it this this is just another another piece of you that that you know can guide you in if if the scenario presents itself for a struggling food establishment to say that we're going to to bring in a food a food consultant is another Avenue and not to put them out not not to close them but to Simply say we want to work with you for the next X amount of 3 months 6 months I forget exactly the time frame that you worked with um and I know the restaurant but you brought them back on board I asked Phil that as I as I put this in your pack and he said you know it's it's turned around completely they're doing wonderfully so look at that exactly right it worked so this was just simply a point of information um and uh just so you're aware that in the future you may use that again I need a copy I I got a lot of stuff here but anyway okay it it outlines what what the board used uh okay in the past hiring a food safety consultant for uh because otherwise our inspector our inspector Phil is there a lot of time a lot of handholding and more than anything the top priori is is the public at risk that's that's the concern would you want to eat there is the bottom line there you go uh number e to accept the minutes from January 6 meeting uh everyone get a chance to read it I didn't have in my packet I didn't notice that until this morning when I read the packet so I I didn't have it anyone else I didn't have it I didn't have lry did you have the minutes Charlie your packet were the minutes there from the the meeting do I have them yeah was it in your reive them the minutes no January 16 not okay so we'll have can we hold you the yeah just next meeting that's all yep yep okay New or Old business all right don't get unlined too quickly here okay let's move on um nothing new and nothing old great number 10 anybody it's called Jour thank you anyone want a second such your thing that's Eric all right the minutes Eric okay that's okay all all in favor going out of the door at this time want ra your hand oh no you have something next meeting just set the date I think it's the third of thir week in March the third of March I just didn't know if everyone heard that the third the third March okay just make sure third of March Monday uh next meeting Monday in March we we have President say we're you know we not meeting on the 17th so sneak that in is the uh new business now Jour we still uh we just have the vote guys okay all in favor of leave Le okay we're all leaving thank you everyone