The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My Public Portal AboutBoard of Health -- 2022-05-18 MinutesO to p' j$ij DER 6 �� v,�JtSI'1LK%f�'"�p FER-R191`11P, � Town of Brewster 2198 MAIN STREET BREWSTER, MASSACHUSETTS 026314898 PHONE: 508.896.3701 EXT. 1120 FAX: 508.896.4538 brhealth(�brewster-rna.gov W W W.BREW STER-MA. GOV Board of Health Meeting Wednesday, May 18, 2022, at 7:OOPM Hybrid Meeting Health Department Amy I.,, von Hone, Director Sherrie McCullough, R.S. Assistant Director Tammi Mason Senior Department Assistant Board members attending: Penny Holeman, MPH, MA, MS, Chair; Joe Ford and Kimberley Crocker Pearson, MS, MD, MPH Board members attending remotely: Annette Graczewski, MT (ASCP) and Jeannie Kampas, Vice Chair Others attending: Amy von Hone, R.S., C.H.O., Health Director Others attending remotely: Erika Woods, Barnstable County Department of Health &Environment Anyone wishing to listen to the meeting can do so via Live Broadcast (Brewster Government TV Channel 18) or by Livestream at www livestream brewster-ma.gov or by video recording (www tv brewster-ma.gov) 1. Call to Order Meeting was called to order at 7:OOPM 2. Chairman's announcements Seven years ago, Joe Ford was described in the Cape Cod Times as being "an excellent candidate for Brewster's Board of Health. He is intelligent, young, energetic, and committed to his native Brewster. Joe has a bachelor's degree in environmental science from the University of Massachusetts. He has experience working with town health agents in the testing of water quality, percolation and performing housing inspections involving mold and water damage" Tonight is Joe Ford's last meeting as an elected member of the Board of Health. On behalf of the Board of Health and the Health Department, I'd like to extend our sincere thanks for all Joe has done to serve our town, and to wish him well in his future endeavors. 3. Citizen's Forum None, 4. Public Health Excellence Grant presentation —Barnstable County Health —Erika Woods Erika Woods, Deputy Director of Barnstable County Health was present to give an overview of the grant. In 2016, the State put together a commission to assess the effectiveness and efficiencies of municipal and regional public health systems. In 2019, a report came out and these were some of the findings: N:\Health\from Shari\MSWORK FOLDERS\MEETINGS\BOH\May1822m.doc BOH 5/18/22 Minutes Page 2 • Many MA towns & cities are unable to meet statutory requirements and even more of them lack the capacity to meet the rigorous national public health standards • MA has more local public health jurisdictions than any other state, with 351 cities & towns • Cross jurisdictional of sharing of services is very limited despite the evidence that approves the effectiveness and efficiency of these services • While other states have county & regional systems, most MA municipalities operate in a stand along system • Because MA lacks a comprehensive system to collect local public health data, there is limited capacity to measure local public health system performance and to use local data to plan public health improvements • MA local public health system does not adequately support the local public health workforce with standards and credentialing • Funding for local public health is inconsistent and inequitable, especially to address the needs and mandates of the 21St century public health system A summary of their recommendations is: • It is suggested that we elevate the standards for, and improve the performance of local public health departments • Increase cross jurisdictional sharing of public health services to strengthen the service delivery capabilities of local public health departments and take advantage of the economies & scale of coordinated planning Improve state and local health departments planning and system accountability • Set education and training standards for public health officials and staff • Commit appropriate resources for the local public health system to address these proposed changes They have developed some programs and one of them is the Public Health Excellence grant program. Barnstable applied on the third round. What the goal ideally would be is to involve all the towns in Barnstable County in the grant program. The program is getting money to access our own region and to develop our own programs over and above what our local health departments are already able to provide. Most of the health departments in our region have experienced staff, but the County does hear quite often that things differ from town to town. Barnstable County will get $300,000 annually. Most of it will go to staffing but there are other expenses the money can be used for (which participating towns can use). The goal is to initially hire a cross jurisdictional coordinator (program coordinator) who will work with each of the towns to "drive the bus". The State is going to put out a needs assessment survey which will advise the Governance Committee on where to go from here. The County wants the towns involved in decision making processes. Barnstable County will facilitate the project by doing the hiring and the organizing, then, from that point on, it would be on the participating towns as to what they would like to see done. There is no direct cost to the towns, It would require staff time and attendance at the Governance Committee meetings. There would need to be a commitment to data collection and a commitment to work force standards (currently there are no real standards for health agents). The State is developing "training hubs". Barnstable County has applied to be one of them. Each municipality will maintain its local authority. A couple of other key components are: • High focus on health equity and meeting those standards • Can research other funding sources There will be a presentation about this program at the Health Agents Coalition next week. N:\Health\from Shari\MSWORK FOLDERS\MEETINGS\BOH\May1822m.doc BOH 5/18/22 Minutes Page 3 Mrs. von Hone stated that even though the County is looking to be one of the "hubs", the cost of the training will still fall on the towns. Ms. Woods stated that the goal of the "hub" is to lower costs and travel time for people to obtain training. s. Continued discussion on the Bedroom Definition and possibly vote Mrs. von Hone did another revision of the definition, which was included in the packet. Changes included: removal of room over garage and changing where the privacy definition went. She noted that she did send out the draft to septic engineers and inspectors and only heard back from one. The one comment was to keep finished basements in mind while working on this definition. She also noted that currently, staff policy when reviewing floor plans was that if it was an underground basement with only "hopper° windows, it would not be considered bedroom space. Mrs. Kampas asked about the privacy section. Mr. Ford thinks that it should be looked at by the Board on a case-by-case basis. Motion: Leave Bedroom Definition as written Motion: Joe Ford Second: Kimberley Crocker Pearson (for discussion purposes) ing Mrs. Graczewski stated that she doesn't think the changes are goto be any different than what is being used currently. Ms. Holeman stated that the rational for doing this was to put some consistency in writing based on decisions that were already being made. Vote: Jeannie Kampas — no Joe Ford — yes Annette Graczewski — no Kimberley Crocker Pearson — no Penny Holeman - no Action: Motion denied Mrs, von Hone will re do the draft again and bring it back before the Board. 6. Discussion on the Coastal Resource Management Plan, Phase 1 —Kimberley Crocker Pearson Dr. Pearson is the Chair of the Natural Resources Advisory Commission and she stated that one of the charges of that Commission is the implementation of the Coastal Resource Management Plan, Phase 1 that was finalized by the prior committee back in 2019. Within this management plan, there is a line -item title "Protecting vulnerable underground infrastructure'. The recommendation is to A hether changes in the work with the Board of Health to evaluate whether the required separation to ground water is sufficient anw regulation are needed to prevent groundwater intrusion to wells and wastewater treatment systems. This was brought before the Board for deliberation as to whether the BOH wants to do anything differently with regards to the separation of groundwater that currently exists. Mrs, von Hone asked if there were any recommendations on what the BOH can propose. Dr. Pearson said there were not. Mrs. Kampas stated that she thought it would be helpful to hear from someone with more expertise. Dr. Pearson suggested that maybe someone from Horsley Witten could come in to a BOH meeting. This will be brought back to the Board at a future meeting to start working on it. N:\Health\from Shari\MSWORK FOLDERS\MEETINGS\BOH\May1822m.doc BOH 5/18/22 Minutes Page 4 7. Liaison Reports Dr. Pearson stated that the WQRC had not met since the last meeting Mrs. Graczewski stated that additional education on new policies will be taking place at the Recycling Center for the summer population and that they are trying to bring recycling back to the Stony Brook field during White Caps baseball games. 8. Matters not reasonably anticipated by the Chair None. 9. Items for next agenda Bedroom definition. 10. Next meeting: June 1, 2022 Mrs, von Hone and Ms. Holeman stated that they wouldn't be able to attend this meeting. There is nothing pending for the meeting. The Board agreed to cancel the June 1, 2022, meeting. Informational items were noted. The Board thanked Jeannie Kampas for her years of service on the Board. This will be her last meeting. Meeting adjourned at 8:15PM *Accompanying documents in packet: Agenda, Covid update information, Public Health Excellence Grant information, informational items