Board of Health: October 12, 2021

Transcript machine-generated with Whisper speech recognition (the source video has no caption track). No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:01 Let’s call the meeting to order, it’s 7.30, October 12th, and this meeting is being recorded by MHTV. And we’ll go right to our agenda. Let’s approve the meeting minutes of August 30th. First, is there any discussion or a motion to approve? I move to approve, so… I second. Motion to approve. Andrew, full vote. Ms. Hazlett? In favor. Ms. Miller? In favor. Dr. Belfbacher? In favor. So then the second minutes are September 14th. We’re in the next decision. Thank you. I move to approve the minutes. Second. Second. Second. Yes, second. Ms. Miller? In favor. Ms. Hazlett? In favor. Dr. Belfbacher? In favor. All right. The COVID update please, Andrew. All right. So as of October 18th, we have a total of 1,580 cases in town. At that time, we have 35 active cases. And luckily at this point, we are staying with 31 confirmed deaths. For the last two weeks, so it should be 9-24 to October 8th. There’s a total of 58 cases. And at this time, I’m actually able to break it down a little bit further. So, and I’m able to do this because the school now has a dashboard that shows the breakout of COVID cases in the school system.

1:38 So I can go down and break it down to zero to 11, 12 to 19. And obviously that’s relevant because that zero to 11 is unvaccinated individuals. And the 12 and up are all vaccinated individuals. So that’s important to mention that. So zero to 11 years old, we’ve had a total of 23 cases over the last two weeks. 12 to 19, we’ve had a total of 11 cases. From 20 to 29, we’ve only had one case. 30 to 39 years, two cases. 40 to 49 years, eight cases. 50 to 59 years, four cases. 60 to 69 years, four cases. 70 to 79, three cases. And 80 plus two. At this time, we are seeing what we consider breakthrough cases. So a breakthrough case is somebody that has been fully vaccinated and is still able to test positive for COVID. Now, please remember that the whole idea with the vaccine is to prevent serious illness and hospitalization. And we are seeing that the COVID vaccines are working well. So please don’t think if you get full, you know, if you’re fully vaccinated, it’s still possible for you guys to become positive. The average daily incident rate for the last 14 days was 22.1. That is up slightly bit. And what we’re doing now with the graphs is I’m showing you, trying to show you a whole year of an event rather than kind of a shorter period of time.

3:17 And this way you’re able to see that our very high periods back in January and February, you know, we had a high case of 60 at that time. So that is slightly higher than the weeks previous. We’ve had a total test completed, 74,073. The number of total tests for the last 14 days is 2,700. The percent positive for the last 14 days is 2.59%. And that hasn’t changed for the last two weeks. So for the percent positive, we’re also showing you a larger range. So you’ll see those great highs that we had back in January 21 and February 21 at that time. Really between Christmas and February, those were our high peaks. We had another kind of peak back in the middle of August, and we’re kind of inching our way back up there right now. As far as fully vaccinated individuals, from 12 to 15-year-olds, 69% are fully vaccinated. From 16 to 19-years-old, greater than 95% are fully vaccinated. 20 to 29-years-old, 88% are fully vaccinated. 30 to 49, 93% vaccinated. 50 to 64 years, 91% fully vaccinated. 65 to 74, 90%.

4:48 And 75 plus is greater than 95%. This comes right from the state website. So we’re not generating these numbers. And yes, that’s how they break them out for age groups. So partially vaccinated individuals per capita, 12 to 15 is 8%. 16 to 19 is 6%. 20 to 29 is 9%. 30 to 49, 6%. 50 to 64 is 5%. 65 to 74 is 7%. 75 plus is 12%. Obviously, you know, I always have a little bit of questions with some of that stuff. When I’m looking at that 75 plus, how can I have 95% fully vaccinated and then 12% partially vaccinated? But like I said, those numbers are coming directly from the state. Those are not numbers that I’m putting together. The other important information that is available to the community is that the school now has that dashboard that I talked about. And so if you go to Marblehead schools, it’s the COVID-19 dashboard. And this is giving case counts in the different schools for the different weeks. So for Marblehead High School, for the week of October 4th, they had four cases, student cases in the high school. They had zero staff cases. And the total cumulative positive cases since September 1 is 15. Marblehead Veterans Middle School is doing very well.

6:21 They’ve only had zero cases the week of 10-4. And they’ve only had one positive case since September 1. Village Elementary schools, the week of 10-4, they’ve had 11 cases. Now, please remember, with the Village School, that’s a very active age group. And obviously, the sixth graders in particular, they’re the closest to get vaccinated. So you might have some sixth graders vaccinated, but the majority of the sixth graders are not vaccinated. Total cumulative positive since September 1 is 26. Glover Elementary School, zero students for the week of 10-4, and one positive case since September 1, 2021. Papan Elementary School, one case for the week of 10-4, and two cases since September 1, 2021. In the Eveless School, zero cases, but we’ve had two cases since September 1. So when we’re talking about cases, obviously, when you start to see cases in the schools, you really need to be paying attention to these numbers. Obviously, we put out this case count every week. You really should be paying attention to these case counts. Just because you’re vaccinated doesn’t mean you cannot become positive. So you can become positive. You should be paying attention to your symptoms. If you think you have symptoms, you should go and get tested. So testing surveillance.

7:53 So vaccination surveillance through testing, and then other information, stuff like that. We want to make sure everybody’s still checking in on all that information. Questions? Just a statement. We see that the vaccine is working because that’s zero to 11, you’ve got 23 cases. And that’s your greatest number. That’s correct. We can’t get that soon enough so those kiddos can be vaccinated. Yeah, so at this point, we are starting to having conversations with the state about vaccinating that 5 to 11 age group. Obviously, we need to wait until the CDC approves all the vaccine. It is going to be a slightly different, I’m going to say formula. It’s not just going to be a lesser amount of the vaccine given to each individual. So yes, we’re excited to start to be able to vaccinate the 5 to 11 age group. We’re not sure that we will actually be vaccinating that age group. We like to see that age group vaccinated actually in the doctor’s office. But we will work that out and see where that goes. We are obviously still working with the CTC, but so the contact team tracing collaborative. And that will be coming to a close on Tuesday, November 30th.

9:27 And then they will officially close on Friday, December 31st. So Tuesday, November 30th, 2021, they will stop. We will be unable to push cases to them. And so they will continue to work on cases that they received up until that time. But on Friday, December 31st, the CTC will be closing. So it is going to be the town’s responsibility to follow up with all these cases. And we will be working with our surrounding communities. Dont’s dot Salem, Danvers, Beverly Peabody to work together to do contact tracing. We have received a grant from the state of Massachusetts that will allow us to hire three contact tracers, essentially two contact tracers and one person to oversee everything. So obviously all nurses will be able to help with that too. So any questions regarding COVID? Yes, Elaine, just if everybody could mute yourselves, please. There’s a lot of background noise that we’re hearing from the audience. Thank you. Can you go on? I probably should let somebody else ask first. Because I just, it’s more that I went to the, you know, this reopening meeting, which is now called, it’s a call, wait a minute. Help me, Andrea. I forgive what it’s called. It’s a acronym. It sucks.

10:58 The lieutenants, what’s the list of it? Wait a minute, wait a minute. I have it somewhere. Superintendents Advisory Leadership Team. Good. And I remembered it before because I gave it to you. But just saying. It’s all the way. I got stage fright. Can you believe that one? No. Can you go over what does happen when a student, because I have that as part of my notes and maybe you could save me from repeating that. What does happen when a student is identified in the schools? So obviously if a student is, you know, if a student is positive, the student is required to isolate. So we use two different terms, isolation and quarantine. Isolations for a positive individual, quarantine for is for a contact of a positive case. So obviously if you’re a positive case, you must isolate yourself. But a lot of confusion because of the words quarantine. So we just want to make sure that happens. Obviously we do contact tracing. The nurses look at the school. If there are any contacts in the classroom, the schools actually have a different definition of a contact compared to outside the school system. So a lot of times the school nurses will take care of everything that’s in the school and then we’ll do contact tracing outside the school as well.

12:32 So if you’re identified as a contact, if you’re part of the test and stay program, you can continue to test and stay. If you’re not part of that program, you would need to be sent home and you need to go into quarantine. Now that’s a big piece because our buy-in or the percentage of people that are participating in the test and stay program in the village school is only about 50%. And we would love to see that over, at least over 80%. So we’re trying to capture everybody. That allows people when they’re quarantined to stay in school. And if they become positive, then they would have to isolate outside of school. That’s the big piece to it. Thank you. You said it much better than I would have said it. That was kind of the salt meaning. Thank you. But, you know, parents should really be paying attention to our weekly COVID report and that dashboard that’s on the school department’s website. That’s really going to give you a lot of information. Obviously, anybody that’s not vaccinated should still be wearing masks inside. And without, you know, especially when they’re in a car with other non-family members, any of this indoor contact can be a quick shift, especially with this new Delta variant. Okay. Thank you. Joy, is there anything you wanted to ask her about COVID?

14:04 No, I appreciate that update. Thank you so much. And Helene? No, I’m glad that he explained that because I know Deanna, the head nurse at the school department, says that she works with him daily. So I knew that he had much more information than I did. Andrew, should there be new variants or overwhelming cases? Would the state, the CTC reinstate itself after the new year? Or is that just done? It’s hard to say, Todd. At this point, they’re saying it’s done. But obviously, if there’s a drastic need, we’re going to, you know, scream to have them reinstate it. We’ll need the help. Yeah, the burden would be too great for the town. I mean, obviously, you know, people need to remember that COVID is here to stay. This is not going to go away. So this is something that will be tracking forever at this point. But, you know, we’re needing to shift over where people are kind of being responsible for themselves. There are vaccinations for these, obviously, you know, there are variants. So we’re looking at booster shots in the near future for a lot of us. So we need to be paying attention to that. But we’re kind of shifting into flu where, you know, people need to be taking care of themselves, checking temperatures, getting tested. And there’s not going to be a lot of, you know, if with the number of cases in town currently, if it was just myself and the public health nurse who were responsible for all the contact tracing, we’d never be able to keep up

15:36 with it. So, you know, we really do appreciate when people have been identified, you know, that you are a positive case, that you begin to work out, you know, who your contacts are, reach out to those individuals right away and say, hey, I have just tested positive. I believe you’re a contact. You need, you know, depending on your vaccination status, you can go and get tested or you can choose not to if you’re not showing any symptoms. Do you, as far as the contract right now that I do have a question when you bring up about the contact tracing, do you find that people that have become COVID positive, that they don’t remember all the people that they’ve been in contact with? It seems that, like when we were writing our names down at a restaurant, that that was something that was, we were there and they were able to contact us. I mean, I never got contact in it, but if that were the case, and I’m wondering if that’s happening in other places at the work site or anything, because it seems that I’ve heard that people that I know have not been told that they were in contact with someone. No, for the most part, people are really able to remember who their contact was. I mean, I have to spend 15 minutes in a total of 24 hours with somebody six feet or less for them to be a contact.

17:09 I can generally, I mean, I can really name all those people in the last 24 hours. So, you know, every day I’m kind of like, you know, what I say is I always try not to be a contact. I know I get 15 minutes with this person for 24 hours to be a contact. At 10 minutes, five minutes, yeah. All right, it’s time, sir, you know, all back up. We don’t have to speak close to each other. But I always will remember that I don’t want to become a contact. Now, obviously, with the Delta variant, we are seeing transmission occur probably less than 15 minutes at times, especially in car settings where you’re really close and locked in. You’re in this bubble. So that’s why we are recommending that, you know, you’re really supposed to be, if you’re sharing a car with people outside of your family and you’re unvaccinated, you should be masked. Good advice. Okay. I think that does it this week for the COVID-19 update. Yep. Do you have a mental health task force update? Yes, thank you so much. We had a really successful meeting on October 4th where we were able to pull together our plans for the speaker series to initiate the mental health speaker series that was one of our two biggest initiatives. And we’ve been really struggling to find an outside speaker that

18:40 would meet our needs and our budget and instead decided on November 8th, Monday evening, Dan Bauer was able to provide us with an open auditorium at the high school. We’ll be in the auditorium there. And we’re going to have a mental health panel talking about different issues and inviting the community to come in and get firsthand knowledge from a very extensive list of mental health experts that reside in our community, including Kim Howard and Kim Leventhal, Mark Libin, Adam Circeo, Gina Hart from the high school and our own Melissa Kalplewitsch. So each of these professionals have agreed to sit on the panel and we’re putting together questions that are most relevant to the most broad segment of our audience that we’re anticipating. So I just think this is a really wonderful way to launch the speaker series. We’re going to be doing a social media blitz and the gentleman, Peter, who did the website, he’s the one that’s designed and built out the website for our Marblehead Mental Health Task Force and all the resources are being implemented there. He was able to, you know, use the branding that he had built for the website and were able to use that to brand the speaker series as well.

20:11 So lots of great effort going into this and we’re looking forward to it at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 8th. We are putting together flyers and gathering sponsors. In fact, we’d like the Board of Health to be one of the sponsors of this speaker series as well, just building credibility, letting people know that we’re looking at the Council on Aging, the Marblehead Counseling Center reaching out to these different organizations to build credibility and then we’re also going to be doing working with the Marblehead, all the PCOs to get this invitation out to all of the parents of school children and we’re partnering with the Council on Aging in their newsletter and hoping to have wide attendance and we’re going to be targeting different demographic groups, including children, parents, adults, and our elderly population as well to join us and listen. So that is going very well. The other thing is an update on our website, which is coming together, working with Peter. He’s fine-tuning it and Moses and I are meeting with him to make sure we’re, we have stocked all of the resources that we’ve gathered into the website and then it says user friendly as possible. So that will be forthcoming very soon. I have a question. If you are asking us to sponsor that evening, is there

21:43 a financial implication or is it just putting our name on it that you’re asking? No, just putting the name on. Because we’re having a flyer that we’re putting together and the decision at the meeting was it might lend more credibility to generate interest and confidence in the panel discussion. If we have some of these thoughtful organizations backing it. I think that that sounds like a great idea. And I think we need a motion to lend our name to sponsor this event. May I? Yes. I’d like to make a motion to ask the Board of Health to sponsor this event. So moved. Second bill. Let’s start that over again because that got a little confusing. So Joy, do you want to make the motion not to ask us but to actually do it? Yes, I’d like to make a motion. Thank you. I re-misworded it. I’d like to make a motion to have the Board of Health sponsor this speaker series. Second. I’m going to pass it. Ms. Miller? In favor. Ms. Aisley? In favor. Dr. Belswecker? In favor. This should be a great event. So thank you for all the work you and your committee have been doing. Thank you, Tom. Okay. The transfer station update is our next agenda item.

23:16 All right. So at one of our last meetings, you asked for me to go out to Winter Street Architects and come up with cost estimates for projects. So we have two paths. Path one is relocate the existing scale house, add a new scale house, staff structure, ancillary storage structures, improve circulation around the pit area. Circulation will be redesigned to improve safety between pit traffic and traffic entering the rear portion of the site, recycling, composting, and the swap shed. Provides a queuing area for the pit traffic. Short-term parking adjacent to the scale house will be included. Steadying of existing pit steel structure, repair and reclab with translucent fiberglass panels, the original, and so in the original August 6, 2018 swap shop design to be included under that contract. So that’s path one. Path two is to construct the most recent August 6, 2018 design of the new transfer station building and the swap shop under this contract. So with that, deliverables to include path one would be design and cost estimates, site circulation drawings, scale house drawings, swap shed drawings, staff structure, schematic designs, drawings, either site built or prefab, ancillary storage structures,

24:48 SD and layout, either site built or prefab, pit structural steel repairs based on structural study, pit recladding drawings, rendering and flyby cost estimate, and path two cost estimate, which is a cost estimate. So for civil engineering, site tech engineering is the design team for the civil engineer. The cost of that is $4,400. The scope of the work, task one, site design changes. This contract modifications for conducting as requested services to revise and supplement the existing site plans by preparing revised design plans for the area of the vehicle scale and site access area. SEI will be provided existing Asville information in CAD form of grading and utilities in the vicinity of the proposed scale and access area. Revisions will include updating site plans, profiles and detailed drawings. These drawings, revisions do not take into account any other site design changes by others that we are not aware of at this time. So that’s for just the civil engineering, it’s $4,400. For the structural engineering, $6,600. So Goldstein Milano Structural Engineering Incorporated is the design team for the structural engineer’s scope of work. Task one is pit structural steel review, site visit to observe and document the structural conditions of the existing transfer

26:20 station structure. The cost is $3,300. Task two, pit cladding design, structural engineering service for design of required and recommended repairs to the existing building framing to support new fiberglass siding. The cost of that is $2,200. And task three, pit cladding drawings, preparation of schematic drawing, outlining the required recommended repairs cost $1,100. So for structural engineering, that’s a total of $6,600. The estimator, Ryder Levitt Bucknell Design Team estimator’s scope of work. Path one, schematic design cost estimate, provide cost estimate based on path one, assuming spring 2022 construction. And task two, path two, cost estimate, provide cost estimate based on path two, using our previous cost estimate with escalation in the assuming spring 2022 construction. That’s a total of $2,500. Architect, $21,800. This is going to be done by Winter Street Architects Inc. Scope of work, task one, site design coordination. Winter Street Architects will coordinate with SciTech to incorporate the site circulation design as discussed with myself and Mr. Smith and Mr. Wieder on June 3rd, 2021, but adjust this initial layout of 521 with straighter drive aisles off the ramp.

27:55 Winter Street Architects will continue coordination with SciTech to confirm turning radii and incorporate locate signaling, utility trenching, parking, queuing areas, signage, striping, etc. Cost of that is, for the task one, is $6,400. Task two, pit steel structure, repairs and recladding. Winter Street Architects will engage a structural review of the pit, steel framing by the project’s structural engineer, Goldstein Milano’s structural engineers based on structural input. Winter Street Architects will provide a new cladding design using translucent fiberglass panels for improved natural lighting. This effort will include a structural review of the existing steel frame, roof removal of the existing metal cladding, repairs, modifications, painting the frame, and the design of a new translucent fiberglass panel. Cost, $7,600. Task three, ancillary structures, Winter Street Architects will incorporate the ancillary structures required adjacent to the pit. These structures include a small staff structure and structures for electrical recycling, oil, paint, chemical storage, etc. Winter Street Architects will explore prefabricated structures in addition to site built. Cost for task three is $3,600. Estimated cost for task four, Winter Street Architects will coordinate with our estimator to determine the estimated cost of path one and path two

29:27 based on the August 6, 2018 design assuming spring 2022 construction. Winter Street Architects will respond to questions throughout the estimating process and review final costs prior to submitting. Cost, $1,600. Task five, Winter Street Architects will provide renderings and video flyby of both path one and path two options. Cost, $1,800. Task six, Winter Street will compile, submit final deliverables and present the time at cost, $800. So the total of the additional services is called additional services. Additional services, number 11, is $35,300. Questions? Just to determine which path we should take. Yeah, so these will give us estimates for which path is the best for us. So I need a motion to approve additional service, number 11, request fee of $35,300, if that’s the direction that you would like to go in. So to clarify that, if we decide to go to path one, we can eliminate a lot of the… You can only eliminate some. So I’d have to go back to them and just make sure that they’re pulling out path two. But I can definitely do that. So I’ll probably only point out 1,600…

31:00 So task four under Winter Street Architects has path one and path two costs in there, and as well as task four. And then the estimator, writer Levitt Bucknell, also has a task two path cost estimate. So I’d have to go back to them and just have a revision on that too. But their fee is only $2,500 for the whole thing, and there’s only one portion on the architect that… That’s correct. So in other words, it wouldn’t save us much money and would probably be $30,000 above to… Yeah, I think you really want to understand the full cost at this time, yeah. We want to go every option. I wanted to go through that. Yep. I would think this is kind of something we have to do to find out where we’re going. We need to know what it’s going to cost, and I think that’s exactly right. Have everything in front of us. Okay, so you need a motion to accept this fee. Yeah, additional service number 11 request fee of $35,300. All right, so still moved. Is there a second? Second. Okay, Ms. Hazley? Yes, and I think so. Ms. Miller? In favor. Dr. Belspecker? In favor. All right, so I will get back to the architects tomorrow and let them know that this has been approved. Great. This is nice to have this step going forward.

32:33 The last piece of information regarding the transfer station update, I have received a letter from Jimmy Zizin of Two Mound Road, and I guess I’d like to read the letter into the record. Dear Mr. Petty, in 2015, three articles relative to the transfer station were passed at town meeting. Article 32, Landfill Pike, 1.25 million. Article 33, cleanup of adjacent property, 1.1 million. Article 34, 5.75 million for the transfer station building. We’re specifically proposed as separate articles, and a 2017 bond funded them as a separate line items. While article 32 and 33 have been completed, the transfer station building has not begun, let alone completed. At a recent board of health meeting, the town has been told the 1.25 million remains in a new building is not in the cards. As I have asked at a prior board of health meeting and emails, the board needs to supply a complete accounting of where the money was spent and under what authority were this fund spent on anything but the transfer station building. The voters specifically voted on the building at the 2015 town meeting and a subsequent override vote. At this point, the voters and taxpayers are owed a complete explanation as to why the will of the people was not followed. Delaying further will undermine the very foundation of democracy the town has built on.

34:03 Open meeting, respectfully, Jimmy Zizan, Two Mountain Road. Todd, do you want me to reply to this, or do you want to? Yeah, if you don’t mind setting the record straight, that would be great. So, Jim, yes, at town meeting, it was split out in articles, but at the actual vote, the vote that passed the override, everything was combined. You need to understand that we couldn’t move forward with the transfer station if we couldn’t complete the landfill closure. We’re under a mass DEP mandate to close the landfill. We’re not under a mass DEP mandate to have a transfer station. So, during that vote, everything gets pooled together. And you no longer… So, it’s one pot of money to complete the projects. We also… We never said a new building is not in the cards. As you can see from tonight, we are exploring all options still. So, we have never ruled out a new building. We are just figuring out the best path to go forward. So, we’ll move on then. Could I just go back to one thing? Because when I was… If you’re moving on, because I was still thinking about our vote to sponsor the mental health program

35:36 on November 8th, that I wanted to know if we are involved with the mental health panel at the counseling center, because there’s another program they’re having. Could Joanne answer that for us? Yes. We had been working with Ben Day, who was on our mental health task force, but he has left the counseling center, and they hadn’t sent a replacement to join our mental health task force yet. We’re hoping, reaching out to their new executive director to get a member of the Marblehead Counseling Center, hopefully the executive director, to join our task force. But this flyer that just went out, they have a program coming up, a mental health speaker series with a professional speaker that’s coming to speak on a Zoom in Marblehead and to support the needs of the community. And that is not something that we’ve been involved with. It seems to be something that, with the change in leadership over there, that was not handed to afford me with our task force yet. But we’re reaching out to make sure that we’re aligned going forward, because we’re having a speaker series, and they’re developing a speaker series as well. So we absolutely intend to collaborate and make sure we don’t do redundant programming that may be in conflict with one another. Well, I’m glad you’re reaching out to them.

37:09 I think more is better, but we don’t want it to be repetitious. And I read an article in Sunday’s Globe that said, it’s time to declare a mental health emergency. I don’t know if anybody else saw that, but I’m sure you can find it online. It was the October 10th article, it was a very short article. But there is a mental health emergency, so I’m sure that as long as they don’t have similar topics, that it certainly is helpful. I agree. I agree. I’m showing you. Do you need help reaching the new director at the Counseling Center? Yes, because my emails are heard bounced back. So can I call you and get that? Yeah, we’ll work on that together. But yeah, please give me a call tomorrow or whenever you’re available. And we can reach out to them and make sure we pull everybody in for this. Perfect. I agree. Thank you so much. I’m sorry I’ve chipped to done that, but I was still… Oh, no, that’s fine. I was back at the vote. Your Director’s Report, Andrew? All right, Director’s Report. Currently, we have… I have a breakdown in my transfer station at the compactor at the transfer station. So there are two dogs that attach the compactor to the trailer. We had ordered some dogs from a large vending company several months ago.

38:40 Approximately three months ago, we received those about a month ago. They were the wrong size. Obviously, with COVID, we’re seeing a lot of delays with shipping and products. So we were not able to install those. One of our dogs broke yesterday and caused some issues with our trailer. So actually, what happened was that with the dogs, so they’re big clamps that connect the trailer to the compactor. It pushed the trailer forward and broke the landing gear on the trailer. And actually, it happened actually two days in a row. So I currently have two trailers that are down. We’re working with both waste management, CWT, who does all the work on the trailers, a local welder to try to resolve the issues as quickly as possible. But we are having some issues currently at the main compactor at the transfer station. We are down today to commercial trash. Obviously, I have to make sure I take the trash of the curbside. But so we’ll probably have some issues going forward for the next couple of days. Switching over to budget season. I’m not so sure how many people watched the Selectments meeting the other night, but we are going to have a new budget process this year. So beginning October 15th, the departments will receive budget sheets, and we’re supposed to complete our budget sheets and have them back into the town by November 6th.

40:11 A very quick turnaround. We’ll see how we do with that. Obviously, I’ve expressed a little bit of concern about having to prepare a budget so early in my fiscal year, is that I’m not able to see all my trends going forward like I usually would in February or March. So I will have to make the best estimates. I will be using past budgets to look where my issues were before. There are often very trends, but I will have to just make best-case judgments and estimates to get these budgets done. So the budget season usually is a kickoff of the state of the town. That’s not the situation that we’re going forward with. So I don’t have all the information to share with everybody about the budget. The best place to do is to try to look at that budget presentation that was at the Selectment meeting the other night. And obviously, once our budget is given over to the town, that’s usually when we meet with the liaisons, and then we’ll set up finance meetings. But I don’t have a complete schedule of the budget season this year at this point. Okay. So we’ll know more within the next couple weeks. Yep. And that’s really it for the Director’s Report. Could I do a SALT report?

41:41 Yep. We don’t have it on the agenda. No. Do you want to just – it’s brief because most of – and recover – most of it would be contact tracing the various – the dashboard and the Test and Stay. So they would like people – more people to be – accept the Test and Stay. And the faculty and students and parents have to sign for that for underage students. Very exciting. The Brown School’s opening tomorrow. So there’s been a lot of work through the group that I’ve been sitting on. It hasn’t just been COVID-related because – well, I shouldn’t say just COVID-related because it is COVID-related because everything they’re doing to get air quality and the tables in the right place and tents and things like that were so that they can open tomorrow. So it’s a very exciting day. And it certainly is very – because of COVID, there’s much more involvement. But it’s been a lot of work and the committees that have worked on it have been terrific. And they have – they’re opening on their second deadline. There’s no delay. It’s almost just a little more than a month when school opened to get this building open. So the one thing that I would like to say and give the nurses a shout-out because we were told that the nurses are going above and beyond.

43:19 They’re using all their professional knowledge to determine who can stay in school, who’s quarantined, who’s – you know, who’s in close contact. So they’re working diligently on that. And there is a new nurse called Joe Griffin who’s just doing after-school testing. I don’t know if he’s just doing it, but he’s doing that specifically. The masks, I don’t know if we talked about that, but they’ve been extended in school for another 30 days. And that still holds, doesn’t it, Andrew? Because that’s pretty good. I believe actually October 15th, they’ll begin to look at vaccination rates in the schools and they can start to back off the mask mandates depending on the vaccination rates. So it says October 15th, if we meet 80 percent staff and students. So otherwise we have to go for the full 30 days to the end of the month. That obviously wouldn’t apply to the elementary schools then. No. Well, I think it’s everybody altogether, so I don’t know how it’s done. No, I – well, if it was up to me, you’d have to do it school by school. But maybe – I might be incorrect on that. All I have on my notes is that it’s 80 percent staff and students, October 15th. Otherwise it’s been extended for 30 days. So I – that’s it.

44:50 Okay. Thank you. How often do you meet? Is it once a week or – We meet once a week, but last week – we didn’t meet the week of – last week when we had a short week. So it’s been two weeks since we met. We will add the SALT report to the agenda. Thank you. Well, it has been, but I guess we just didn’t have it this week. Correct. So we have a policy to discuss for public comment. Andrew and I drafted this statement kind of mirroring what the selectmen have adopted but making it our own. And I think it would be good for us to – we can discuss it, of course, but I think it would be good for us to vote on it and make this our official policy for our meetings, both remote and in person, going forward on how we deal with public comment. So we have the draft, and it was – we should have it already. And is there any discussion, or do you like it? Is there anything you want to change or tweak? Could you just have, I think, one through six, six minutes? Because I don’t read every single word, but maybe it would just go to the audience. Sure. I can just read the whole document if it’s – just to have it out there. So it’s called the Board of Health’s Policy on Public Comment at Regular Board of Health Meetings.

46:25 Meetings of the Board of Health are conducted in accordance with Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, General Law, CE 30S18. The Board of Health believes that the public should have an opportunity to comment on issues that affect the town. Therefore, the Board of Health generally sets aside a period of time at each regular Board of Health meeting to hear from the public, which shall be referred to as public comment. Public comment is not intended to be discussion, debate, or dialogue between or among citizens and the Board of Health. Rather, it is intended to offer citizens an opportunity to express their opinion on issues of Board of Health business. While the Board and or administrators will not always respond to citizen comments or questions posed at public comment, the Chair, as Presiding Officer of the Meeting, may answer or request an answer to a question if he or she deems it appropriate. Further, should the Chair believe that an issue or question falls outside the purview of the Board of Health, he or she may request that citizens direct it to the appropriate person or body so the matter is given proper consideration. The following process will govern public comment periods at regular Board of Health meetings. Public comment. The Board of Health will schedule a public comment period at the end of each regular Board of Health meeting according to the following guidelines. 1. Speakers may sign up by contacting the Health Department’s office no earlier than the Friday preceding the meeting. A sign-up sheet will also be available as people enter the meeting when meeting in person. People will speak in the order in which they sign up, unless more than one person wishes to speak on a single topic, in which case the Chair may call on them together. When meeting remotely, people should raise a virtual hand during the public comment period of the meeting, and the Chair will recognize people in an orderly manner at the discretion of the Chair.

47:59 2. Any person wishing to speak must identify themselves in a specific topic that they are wishing to speak about. The Chair will favor, in no particular order, those speakers who are Marblehead residents. 3. There will be a time limit of up to 3 minutes per person, which will be enforced by the Chair of the meeting. 4. If the Board of Health believes that an issue requires more time, the Board may schedule a separate public discussion on that issue. 5. Discussion of individual personnel issues will be prohibited. 6. Boats by the Board of Health will not be taken during public comment. 7. Responses to concerns only by the Chair of the meeting or other members of this Chair’s discretion. 8. The Chair will advise the citizen of steps to take on those issues that can be resolved by directing citizens to the appropriate staff or department. 9. The Chair of the meeting may terminate any individual’s privilege of address for inappropriate conduct or statement. That is the draft that we have of the public comment policy. Any changes, thoughts? I think it is excellent. We went over it when we took the training. It is very similar to the training that we took. Yes. I think it is a great document. I think so too. I think it is comprehensive and helpful and valuable to go over and review.

49:33 Thank you for pulling that together. Great. Before we go on, there was one type where I don’t even know where I saw it. Type 2. So it is number 2. Any person wishing to speak must identify themselves. The specific topic for that they are wishing to speak about. The Chair will favor in no particular order those speakers who are Marblehead residents. So the specific topics that they are wishing to speak about. The specific topic. What about specific topics they wish to speak and wish to speak. You don’t want to end it with a vote with a… We don’t want to end it with a position. No. So just wish to speak. Sure. That is just a specific topic they wish to speak. I don’t see. You don’t need the that or the wishing. About which they wish to speak. Okay. Good. Okay. The map is here. You know, I also, I suggest before we vote that maybe this be read at the beginning of the meeting, the first meeting in the fall or something like that. It would be helpful to review this every year. Is there a ton of places we could do that? Maybe just have a copy of it available. I think it would be…

51:04 It’s more for the nitty-gritty of how the meeting runs than… I don’t know. I think we could have it on our website. We can do that at a nitty. We can determine that at the time. But it’s important that people understand why we don’t want to respond. It’s not that we’re being unfriendly. It’s because we’ve made a policy. And the policy based on recommendations by town council. Yes. I think it should be put on the website, you know, where people access public meetings for the Board of Health. Perhaps just… It is helpful background knowledge. Great idea. Okay. Do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Second. To adopt. Second. Ms. Miller? In favor. Ms. Tazlitt? In favor. Dr. Belspecker? In favor. So now that we’ve got a new policy about this public comment period, if you do have a public comment, please put your hand up in the thing and I will recognize you in the order that I see you. So go ahead, Jimmy Zissen. You’re muted. Thank you, too, Monroe.

52:35 And thank you, Andrew, for reading my letter and the response. I appreciate the response. I do have a copy of that ballot in front of me, as well as the bond funding. I respectfully do disagree because the ballot calls out each one of the articles separately in the content of them. And so does the bond funding. The bond funds specific line items for the items. But I’m sure we could disagree and go back all night. Two questions remain. We came out of a town meeting in 2015, and up until 2018, there was talk of the transfer station being built. It disappeared. It disappeared from the radar. And who authorized the change in course is one. And if there’s some state law that authorizes, that’s fine. Let us know. And when were the decisions made? If these decisions were made in public meeting, just let me know. Point me to the meeting minutes. And where was the 5.75 million spent? Did the pipe, instead of being 1.25 million, cost 6 million? Did the cleanup on the adjacent sites cost more? Were there lawsuits and settlements? We just need to know, because I don’t think you understand that when we go into town meeting,

54:07 a town meeting, we have difficulty getting people to attend. And difficulty getting voters out there, is you undermine the credibility. And if this was discussed in public meeting, just let me know and I’ll stop. But people are expecting a transfer of station building. It was never built. And if Will Dow was on here, or Chris Stevens, they will tell you, the press has asked time and time again, there’s people on this call that asked time and time again. And we want an accounting for this. Because what would happen if the library said they had $9 million, which we voted for them, and there were great groups down there, and I have no doubt, if five years from now, nothing ever happened there. What would happen to the credibility of the library trustees? You have to explain what happened. If there’s a path, explain it. And telling me, right here, ballot one, that Mr. Waller, who was on this call, had to chase the town council around for months and years, was the intention of when we all voted, that it was going to be one bucket of money. Okay, explain what the money was. Very frustrating. And again, you’re undermining voters to what town meeting, our form of government. This has not been an explanation at all. You’re making a mockery out of things. Thank you very much.

55:38 Thank you. Okay, so nobody else has a hand raised. We have our next meeting set on November 15th, a Monday night, right? That was the date that you made? Yeah, that was the date we all settled. Do you want to go into December? So we have December 14th as a second Tuesday. Yes. Would we maybe next meeting, do the first three or four months of next year, or go through? Because I’m looking at a vacation, so I wanted to make some plans. So maybe we all could see if we’re trying to get away, maybe? Yeah, I mean, we should assume it’s the second Tuesday of the month. And if there’s any issues, then we can. Was it possible that we could either discuss it with a member of December meeting, meeting preferably in November? Yeah. I may have a conflict now, nobody. Okay, yeah, we can, for now, let’s assume it’s the second Tuesday of the month. And then if you need to change a specific one, we can discuss it. The month I’m looking at is February. So there’s no surprise. Plenty of time. Plenty of time. Okay. So we have a motion to adjourn.

57:10 So moved. Second. Okay. Miss Haysley. In favor. Miss Miller. In favor. Dr. Belf Becker. In favor. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you everybody.