Board of Health: January 11, 2022

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.

0:00 Welcome. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, an act relative to extending certain COVID-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency, signed into law on June 16, 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote participation. No person in attendance by members of the public will be permitted. Specific information and the general guidelines for remote participation by members of the public and or parties with the right and or requirement to attend this meeting can be found on the Town of Marblehead’s website. https.com slash www.marblehead.org slash board-health under agendas and tonight’s agenda. For this meeting, members of the public who wish to watch or participate in the meeting may do so in the following manner by inserting the meeting ID number 434-701-1658 on Zoom or dialing phone number 1-253-215-8782 or 1-301-715-8592. The following board members are participating remotely in tonight’s meeting. Helene Hazlett, Joanne Miller, and myself Todd Belf-Becker. All votes will be taken by a roll call vote. At our meeting on December 29, 2021, we did not announce who would be participating remotely at the beginning of the meeting. To correct this error and to comply with the open meeting law, we have re-noticed the mask mandate issue and I have announced who is participating remotely in tonight’s meeting.

1:33 Now I would like to entertain a motion to reaffirm the vote that we took on December 29, 2021 to issue the emergency order that is before us which requires face coverings in indoor spaces. Before we do, you can either do a motion now or I’m going to read the order. I might as well read it and then we’ll have a motion. So it’s COVID-19 public health emergency order. Notice is hereby given that on December 27, 2021, the Board of Health adopted the following emergency order under the provisions of MGL Chapter 111, Sections 31, 104, and 122. Based upon review of current COVID-19 caseload and testing positivity rates in the community and the rise of the Delta and Omicron variants, the Board of Health has found that there exists in the community a disease and cause of sickness that is dangerous to public health and that action is necessary to minimize the further spread of the disease. The Board of Health voted to adopt as an emergency public health order the following indoor face covering regulations in the town of Marblehead. One, effective at 1201 a.m. 1228, 2021, face coverings that cover the nose and face are required for all individuals regardless of vaccination status, age two years and above in all indoor public spaces, including but not limited to restaurants, retail establishments, restaurants, bars, performance venues, social clubs, event spaces, places of religious service, and social services. Two, not withstanding any provision in this order, face covering should not be placed on young children under two years old, anyone who has trouble breathing, anyone who is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the face covering without assistance, or anyone who due to disability is unable to wear a face covering.

3:20 Three, food service establishment customers may only remove face coverings when seated and consuming food and beverages. Four, indoor performance venue customers may only remove face coverings in the actual act of eating and drinking if permitted in the venue. Five, lodging guests and workers are required to wear face coverings when inside hallways and common areas. Six, residents and employees of multifamily dwelling units are required to wear face coverings inside hallways and other common areas. Notice of this requirement should be posted at all entry doors to the building and common areas. Seven, fitness center and health club workers, customers and visitors are required to wear face coverings during fitness activity including strenuous activity and group activity. Eight, at personal services establishments, including but not limited to barbershops, hair and nail salons, massage, all customers and workers are required to wear face coverings except for skin or beard care that occurs on the face, where the customer may temporarily remove the face covering, but must immediately put the face covering back on for the remainder of the visit. Nine, face coverings remain mandatory for all individuals in public and private transportation systems including ride shares, livery, taxi, ferries and buses, in healthcare facilities and in other settings hosting vulnerable populations such as congregate care settings as directed by the Governor and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Ten, nothing in this order shall affect the state and federal orders already in effect in Massachusetts and mandates established by the Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education regarding the wearing of facial coverings in school. Eleven, all entry doors of businesses open to the public must post notice advising customers that face coverings must be worn inside the establishment.

4:57 Establishment staff must supervise and enforce this requirement if a customer refuses to wear face covering for non-medical reasons, a business may decline and contribute to the individual. Twelve, the Board of Health and authorized agents pursuant to MGL 111, section 30 are authorized to enforce this order and if necessary may do so with the assistance of the Police Department in the sole discretion of the Chief of Police. Thirteen, whoever violates any provision of this order may be penalized by a non-criminal disposition process as provided in Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 40, section 21D and the town’s non-criminal disposition bylaw. If non-criminal disposition is elected, then any person who violates any provision of this order shall be subject to, for first offense, a written warning, for second offense, a penalty in the amount of $100, for third offense, a penalty of $200, and for fourth or subsequent events, a penalty in the amount of $300. Each day or portion thereof shall constitute a separate offense. If more than one, each condition shall violate it, shall constitute separate offense. Fourteen, notwithstanding the foregoing, agents and officers are encouraged to educate offenders and to exercise their judgment on a case-by-case basis and they may issue verbal or written warnings prior to determining that an offense has occurred. This order shall remain in effect until March 8, 2022, unless rescinded earlier by the Board of Health. That is the order. Andrew, I’m just going to go backwards. I announced who was at the meeting, but let’s have you do an actual official roll call just to be completely dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s. Okay. I’m Ms. Joanne Miller. Here. I’m Ms. Helene Hazley. Present.

6:28 Dr. Todd Belz-Becker. Present. Thank you. So, Helene or Joanne, James Moroney, I can see you from MHTV and Andrew has recorded the meeting already. So, I’m going to join. Do we have a motion to reaffirm the COVID-19 public health emergency order? Yes. I make a motion to reaffirm the order. I second that. I second it. Thank you. Andrew, we’ll vote. I’m Ms. Joanne Miller. In favor. Ms. Helene Hazley. In favor. Dr. Todd Belz-Becker. In favor. Okay. So, our next item of business is executive session, and we do need a motion to go into executive session. We will be leaving this meeting room and we will be returning once executive session is over. So, if you are interested in continuing watching the meeting, you just have to wait a little while and we will be back soon. But we do need a motion to leave this meeting to enter into executive session and you both do you have the wording? Yes. So, why don’t you make the motion? You want to read that Joanne? Sure. I move pursuant to GLC 30A section 21A3 that the board move into executive session for the purpose of discussing potential litigation regarding the open meeting law complaints filed by Mark Pelletier,

8:06 Andrew Kramer, and Alan Waller, the public discussion of which may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the board. Two, I move to delegate the response to the open meeting law complaints filed by Mark Pelletier, Andrew Kramer, Alan Waller, Charmaine Paulander, Tammy Bear. Pardon? Go on, go on. Kevin McCarran and Emily DeWitt to town council. Okay. Is there a second? There’s a second. All right, this is Joanne Miller. In favor. Miss Pelaine Hayslitt. Excuse me. We may want to say that we announced that we will be returning to open section. Yes. Yes, we will be returning to open session. So you should add that to the motion. Would you add that to the motion, please, Joanne? Yes, may I please add, announce that we will be returning to, you will be returning to open session. Before you take a vote, we’re only going to discuss the three that were on the notice. We’re not going to discuss the other ones that we received. Do you want that to be stated also, Elizabeth? Yeah, we could amend the motion and we’re just going to deal with the three that were on the notice. We’re going to. So if I may amend the motion and if I can repeat, I move pursuant to GLC 30A section 21A3.

9:39 That the board move into executive session for the purpose of discussing potential litigation regarding the open meeting law complaints filed by Mark Pelletier, Andrew Kramer and Alan Waller. The public discussion of which may have a detrimental effect on the negotiating position of the board announced that we will be returning to open session. I second that. Miss Joanne Miller. In favor. Miss Pauline Hazlett. In favor. Dr. Todd Belfecker. So you move the means to move us into the separate room, correct Andrew? Correct. I have to just ask the people to put their hands down. That’s preventing us from doing it. I just do.

11:47 Do not working, Andrew. No, but we’ll see what happens. I think going in. So, Joanne, are you not able to go into the into one room one?

13:26 No. We are back. And James from MHTV. I think this is already being recorded. So I don’t know if you can just get the recording from Andrew. That might be the easiest way. Yes. Okay. So we’ll go back to our agenda. And the first thing after the executive session is to approve meeting minutes. We have first November 15th, 2021. Do we have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Seconded. Okay. And. Miss Joanne Miller. In favor. Miss Helene Hazley.

14:57 In favor. Dr. Todd Belfecker. In favor. Next, our meeting minutes of December 13th. We have a motion to approve 2021. Motion to approve the minutes of December 13th. I second that. Miss Joanne Miller. In favor. Miss Helene Hazley. In favor. Dr. Todd Belfecker. In favor. The final minutes for tonight are December 14th, 2021. Did everyone have a chance to read? There was a. Yes. Okay. Great. I moved to approve the minutes of December 14th. I second. Miss Helene Hazley. In favor. Miss Joanne Miller. In favor. Dr. Todd Belfecker. In favor. All right, Andrew, could you give your COVID update, please? Okay. So as of January 7th, 2022, we’ve had a total of 2,543 confirmed cases. That was between, you know, that’s all the way through it. Between the dates of December 24th and January 7th, we had a total of 452 cases. This past Friday was the first time that we had listed probable cases. So these are probable cases that appear on Maven. Maven is the state’s disease surveillance system.

16:29 We have access to. For additional for the two-week period, there are additional 47 probable cases. So as far as the age range goes, again, I break it out to all the age ranges, 0 to 4, 5 to 11, 12 to 19, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, 70 to 79, and 80 plus. So the reason why we break it out in this age range is that obviously before 5 to 11-year-olds were not able to get the vaccine now, they’re able to do that. So in the past two weeks, we’ve had 24 cases between 0 and 4 years. We’ve had 39 cases between 5 and 11. We’ve had 70 cases between 12 and 19. We’ve had 72 cases between 20 and 29. We’ve had 47 cases between 30 and 39. We’ve had 66 cases between 40 and 49. We’ve had 76 cases between 70 and 59, 29 cases between 60 and 69, 25 cases between 70 and 79, and 4 cases for 80 plus. The average daily incident rate per 100,000 people for the last 14 days was the high of 145.2. This is the highest that we’ve been so far ever during the pandemic.

18:00 Obviously, that is a relative change in case count is higher. The total tests that have been completed so far, and this is PCR tests, is 92,494. The total test for the last 14 days is 3,648. The percent positivity for the last 14 days is 11.57%. That is obviously higher than the week before. Again, this is the highest percent positive rate that we’ve had during the whole pandemic. For vaccination rates, obviously, again, we’re doing extremely well, but I’ll go through the whole count. For 5 to 11, we have 61% fully vaccinated individuals per capita. For 12 to 15 years, we have 95% and greater for fully vaccinated individuals per capita. For 16 to 19 years, we have greater than 95% fully vaccinated individuals per capita. For 20 to 29 years, we have 93% fully vaccinated individuals per capita. For 30 to 49, we have greater than 95% fully vaccinated individuals per capita. For 50 to 64 years, we have 93% fully vaccinated individuals per capita. For 65 to 74 years, we have 93% fully vaccinated individuals per capita, and 75 plus years,

19:31 we have greater than 95% fully vaccinated individuals. So the other piece on here that I included this week is individuals with booster doses per capita. Obviously at this point, five to 11 years old, you’re not eligible for a booster at this time. For 12 to 15 years old, we have 1% individuals with booster doses per capita. For 16 to 19 years, it’s 37%. For 20 to 29 years, it’s 38%. For 30 to 49 years, it’s 52%. For 50 to 64 years, it’s 60%. For 65 to 74 years, it’s 73%. And for 75 plus years, we have 85% individuals with booster doses per capita. Obviously there’s been a lot of changes. So obviously we include a lot of guidance in the COVID report. So it’s now called the Marblehead Case Report and Guidance. So one of the big highlights that we’re looking at these days is isolation. So now individuals, once you have a positive test, and a positive test can come from a rapid antigen test. It does not need to be confirmed by a PCR. Once you have a positive rapid test, you need to isolate, and you need to isolate for five days.

21:02 Once you’re five days, and day zero is the day you took the test. So the day you got the results on the rapid test. Once you complete five days, so day zero is the test to date. After five days, from day six to 10, when you’re around other individuals, you should be wearing a mask. If you are close contact to a case, we consider you under quarantine. Quarantine for individuals that are not fully vaccinated and fully boosted. Obviously you can read the guidance. You also need to quarantine for a total of five days. Day zero would be the day of contact. Day one would be the afterwards. And again, you were being asked to wear a mask from day six to day 10. We’re also recommending that you test on day five. That test can be either a PCR or rapid antigen test. So those are the biggest changes. Obviously since we are shifting over and accepting antigen tests, we are no longer issuing release from isolation or quarantine letters. The only way I can issue these letters is if I have proof from Maven about either a probable case or a confirmed case. That’s the only way I can write these letters. If you’re able to provide these documents to me, if you took the test somewhere else,

22:33 I can issue this letter if that’s something that you need for either work or something like that. Would you repeat that for a moment please? About? The release from isolation and quarantine letters. When you can issue a letter please. Yeah, so I can only issue a letter if I have the documents being that your confirmed case with a PCR or you’ve been a confirmed antigen case that took place in a doctor’s office. That’s the only way that it can get into the Maven system. I need those to be able to write those letters. Otherwise I’m unable to confirm your tests. So that’s been the biggest change. Obviously if questions, please the best way to reach us is through email or yes, you can call the health department. Most likely you will be speaking with the public health experts of these questions. As far as other testing goes, we understand, you know, obviously we recommend that you try to get a test. We are in the process of purchasing a pallet of i-health tests. We will be purchasing 7,560 test kits. Each test kit has two tests in them and we will be distributing these into the community. So that’s approximately 15,100 tests. The reason why we’re gonna give individuals two tests is that it often takes two to three tests

24:03 to have a positive result. A lot of times people feel that they’re coming down with it or they had a contact, they’ll take the tests. And usually a couple of days later, as your symptoms continue, you’ll test again and that’s generally when your positive will come up. We will be taking a look at the, we will distribute any tests in the environmental justice population. We will be releasing tests to Marblehead Housing, through the food pantry and through the COA. Again, we have received confirmation from a company that they have received the order. In the next couple of days, I will receive shipping confirmation for these tests. And once we receive them, we will begin distribution. That’s really it, all that I have through the COVID reporting at this time. Todd, does the board have any questions? Is there any contact tracing going on at all right now? So yes, there’s still some contact tracing going on for daycare environments, some school environments, but for the most part, not a lot of, we can’t keep up with the, we’re unable to do contact tracing for the 377 active cases that I’m aware of. It’s just not possible. People understand what a contact is and really, if possible, you should be contacting your contacts if you’re a positive case and letting them know that they have been exposed to COVID-19 and that they need to, obviously use that information

25:34 depending if they’re fully vaccinated, they will have to choose if they need to go into quarantine. I might have missed something. I have a question, Dr. Beldt, Andrew, you talked about the close contact in quarantining for five days. Is that, does that include if you’ve been fully vaccinated or just thanks to him? So if you are fully vaccinated in booster, so a fully vaccinated individual, so there’s different types of, so an individual that’s five to 11, so obviously they’re not eligible to get a booster currently. They are fully vaccinated when they receive their two doses. So two weeks after they’ve received their two doses, they’re fully vaccinated. If they’ve been exposed, they do not need to quarantine. However, they need to fall attention to their symptoms if they do develop symptoms, they need to get tested and depending on the results of the test, they may need to isolate. And then others who have received their booster, which we need to fully vaccinate. So if you’re fully vaccinated individual and you have received your booster and you are a contact, you do not need to isolate as you’re fully vaccinated, but you need to monitor for symptoms. If you develop symptoms, you need to test and pending results, you may need to isolate. Especially if you’re developing symptoms. Okay, thank you.

27:04 Do I have any questions? No, thank you, Andrew. Thanks, Andrew. Thank you, very thorough report. Obviously these reports will continue at this time, coming out on Friday at this time. Thanks for all the work you do every week with the reports. Next item is Helene’s update on the Superintendent’s Advisory Leadership Team, the SALT update. I have a brief report because really it was, we met on January 4th, it was the second day back to school. And we did not meet yesterday because there was a conflict. I think the superintendent had a meeting with the Finance Committee. I don’t take my word for it, but I think that he was talking budget, whatever. So we didn’t meet. But it was stated that they will not be going back into remote learning at that time. That was stated as you saw or heard, either read that some districts took teachers workshop day or a snow day for that Monday, one, three, or even maybe the second day around the other districts. But Dr. Bucky made a point to say that he was not going to go remote, doing the best that they can to stay in session and they’re doing a very good job of it.

28:37 And on the third, the teachers, I apologize, it was on Sunday before school started that the teachers and staff received test kits. So all the staff had test kits so that they could feel comfortable about returning. And I thought that was a wonderful thing to do for our community. The Commonwealth Mass mandate for the schools is through February 28th. So it’s just about the same timing as what we voted, which as we’ve stated in our vote that we can change if need be. They’re also doing trying to keep students away from each other during lunch. The field house is being used at the high school for the students, which I think was a terrific idea. When possible, they’re keeping windows open. Obviously, they’re not doing it this week. And there was no school on Friday. So last Friday when there was the snow day, which I think was a blessing in disguise. This is just an editorial in my part that kids got an extra day if anybody’s were ill. They’re doing very well with, there is absenteeism on both the staff and the student level. And they’re doing very well with. I’m covering the classrooms. Even our athletic director, I got a kick out of the fact that he taught pre-calculus one day.

30:09 So I think he used all his skills from his education, which I think was great. The nurses are stretched to the max, and I think that we have to really appreciate what they’re doing. It’s taking a toll on other things that they should be doing, and I hope that they can get those things done as the year progresses. I don’t know what they are, but there are things that nurses do, and they’ve had to wait for some of those things, because they’re so inundated with other activities. They have gotten a supply of the KN95 masks, and if a student comes to school or something happens with even a staff person, they are available. Some students just don’t have them for various reasons at home. They’ve run out, they forgot them. There is financial issue or whatever, but they are available for the students in school. Let’s see one other thing. Oh, the dashboard will continue, and Andrew, you could help me with that. The dashboard will continue to reflect the positives, and they’re cleared through the Board of Health.

31:41 That was a statement, and could you explain that, please? I’m not exactly sure what they’re stating there. They run their own dashboard. We use our system, Maven, to come up with our results. I’m not sure how they run their dashboard. Okay, so maybe I took notes that weren’t right, because it said cleared through the Board of Health, but they are doing the dashboard. That’s going to continue. And that’s it. So that was all on the second day of school, and I have no report about the schools since then. Hey, Helene, just a point of order that there is a public comment period at the end of the agenda, so I do see a bunch of people with hands raised. We will be recognizing you at the last item on the agenda. So if you want to put your hands down, that’s fine, but just so you know that… Maybe I can clarify something that I’m making this report to my board, and I don’t think that… I mean, I can try and answer some questions, but I attend the superintendent’s meeting, his weekly meetings, unless he cancels them, and this is for to keep the Board of Health up to date on what’s going on in the schools, and really, I don’t feel unless I need to be told that there’s something different in what I’ve reported, but…

33:14 I don’t mean to take any questions about… Yeah, no, it wasn’t specifically about your report. I’ve just noticed a lot of hands are up, so I just wanted to make people know that. Okay, well, I mean, I can’t answer questions for the superintendent, is what I’m trying to say. Okay, thanks for that report. Joanne, the Mental Health Task Force update, please. Thank you, Todd. Good evening. The task force, we’ve had a couple of very busy months. The first thing I’d like to report is that the task force was in full support of writing a letter in support of Chief Dennis King’s grant application to DMH. This is a grant towards supporting a crisis intervention team training and jail diversion program, and I think that the Marblehead Mental Health Task Force was in full enthusiastic support of this grant. It’s going to offer a co-response clinician, as well as a crisis intervention team training towards de-escalation tactics for our police departments. So we were very grateful for Chief King’s efforts in that pursuit. We’re excited because we’re pulling through our second speaker program. It’s coming up on Monday, January 31st at 7 p.m. It’s going to be at the Marblehead High School, and it’s going to focus a community discussion focusing on suicide awareness.

34:46 We’re hoping to invite an inclusive audience specific. We’re really hoping to get our young people in the community, their families, and truly anyone interested in learning about suicide prevention. One of the things we’re excited about is the school is rolling out an SOS program, so Amanda Rumbel from the high school is going to be presenting information and background on the SOS program that’s going to be presented at Marblehead High School. We’ve created some social media platforms to support our Marblehead CARES initiatives, and we were really fortunate to invite Dr. Mark Lebahn to attend our meeting back in December. It was on December 20th, and Dr. Lebahn is a practitioner in mental health, and he initiated a Marblehead CARES coalition to try and build support in prevention of substance abuse in Marblehead in the past. We were able to connect with him and try and gain insights. He was able to share the history of Marblehead CARES and substance use prevention, and so he was helpful in helping the task force get up to speed on the process and this opportunity that we’re interested in continuing and building on the work that he’s

36:17 done in the past. We are fortunate to have Gina Hart from the high school join our meeting and look forward to collaborating on this initiative. We’re also looking forward to inviting interns from the high school to join the Marblehead Mental Health Task Force and support our work and our initiatives going forward. I’ve been very fortunate to work with Dan Bauer to find some interested young people that we look forward to partnering with to benefit from their insights into how to support our Marblehead Mental Health Task Force going forward. So lots of exciting things happening and lots of great work and collaboration to report. Thank you. Can I ask you a question? Go on. I have a question after you. No, I was just saying it’s getting repetitive that every time you give a report we say, wow, we’ve done so much with this in such a short time. So thank you for continuing to do all that you’re doing on this task force with all those great co-members. Thanks. Helene, go on. Do you think that you’ll have the SOS report because the testing I think was done not the testing, the questionnaire was done at the high school. Will you have that available for that program on January 31st? Well, it’s in development. So that will be up to Amanda Rumbel who’s rolling it out the high

37:51 school. So we’re meeting on January 24th with our speakers and moderator. So I’ll have more information then. Oh, good. It would be helpful I think to know, you know, where our community is. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much, Helene. It’s Joanne. So the next item is the Sustainable Marblehead wants to talk to us about a peaker plant. Why don’t you raise your hands digitally and then we can unmute you so you can give your presentation. Looks like Judith, are you raising your hand? Yeah. And… Ta-da! Okay. We are unmuted. Welcome. So if you could just tell us why you’re here, please. So one, thank you. First, I’m sorry, first introduce yourselves. Lynne Nadeau and Judith Black, both active in Sustainable Marblehead. Thank you for having us. You guys are amazing to help us through this. Thank you. So we are here because we want to talk to you about the peaker plant, the Peabody peaker plant. And to frame it, I just, since my job in life is to tell stories, I’m going to tell you a two minute story that kind of explains the peaker plant. Four men are walking down the road,

39:27 three Brahmins, very well educated, and just an average fellow. And they are on their way to the Prince’s palace. He needs advisors. And as they walk, the Brahmins look down their nose at the poor fellow who has less education, and they discuss many erudite things, string theory, philosophy, theology. And the poor fourth fellow just listens and tries to figure out how he can apply those things to his life. Well, they pass a huge pile of bones. And the first Brahmins as well, I have studied forensic anthropology. And I do believe those are the bones of a Bengal tiger. And the second is, oh, I have studied hematology and phlebotomy. If you put the bones together, I can layer in blood and organs. And the third said, and the fourth fella said, shouldn’t we let a sleeping tiger lie? And they all look down their noses at him. Well, the first one put the bones together. The second brought up the blood, the veins, the arteries. And as the third started to work on reanimation, the fourth fellow climbed the tree. When the Bengal tiger came to life, honey, it was hungry after all those years of death. And a few hours later,

41:00 the poor fellow with common sense just climbed down and watched the tiger walk away. And he went on to be the prince’s only advisor. So 2015 A is M. Weck, Massachusetts, municipal wholesale electric company is up. Are you going to give me a chance? Yes, absolutely. I just want to say, we’re going to be fairly brief, because we have one simple request from you. And the request and I hope you have, well, Judith is talking, and I am as well. I hope you have in your folder, a letter from Sustainable Marblehead, and a letter from the Peabody Board of Health and our simple request, which Judith will elaborate upon is for you to write a letter supporting the Peabody Board of Health letter about the health of the people of Peabody and the surrounding area around the building of this power plant. Go ahead, Judith. The power plant was proposed seven years ago, using what was supposedly the best technology. And it is a peaker plant. Do you all know what a peaker plant is? Just give me a yes or no. Why do you say so? So, base load is what our life company handles, and it’s what we use most of the days. But at

42:36 five o’clock on really cold or really hot nights, like really tonight, people come home, they turn on every appliance they have, and your energy needs peak. And so they have these special plants. Now, this plant that is proposed and not yet built is an oil and gas facility, which might have been best practice seven years ago. But there are some serious problems now. One, we understand that fossil fuels are basically suffocating our planet. Two, because of the next generation roadmap bill, it will become a stranded asset, and we will still be paying, our town has bought into this plant, we will still be paying for this $85 billion facility long after it is closed, because we’ve got to stop our carbon emissions. But three, what we really want to talk to you about is the 2.5 particulate matter. And the reason it is worse than the peaker plant is that every time they stop and then start the plant, the particulate matter spews out. Lynn is now going to read part of this letter. So folks, when the plant was permitted, there was no health impact evaluation done. Since that time in 2015, there’s been a new law, I think you’ve all heard of the roadmap law that got passed in Massachusetts that has new rules about clean energy and about health

44:07 and about the studies that need to be done before. But this plant has been grandfathered. And so the Peabody Board of Health has written to Governor Baker quite an extensive letter with details about what’s coming out from that plant. And they’ve asked other boards of health to support their plea to the governor to please do a complete health evaluation of the impact of that plant on the people in Peabody and surrounding areas. And today, as a matter of fact, I was listening to a hearing, an all day hearing from the state in the State House. And there was a lot of concern about the building of this plant and that it does not satisfy the conditions of the new law that’s going to clean up, make our environment sustainable. So I don’t know if you want me to read parts of that letter, but Marblehead is a community that owns more than 4% of that plant. And we feel sustainable Marblehead and the energy and public policy group and the advocacy group in sustainable feel that we have a responsibility to make sure that the impact of this proposed plant might have on the health and the environment of our neighbors in Peabody.

45:42 So we ask you as an entity tasked with protecting the general health of the community to support the Peabody Board of Health by writing to the governor also and requesting that the state conduct a full environmental and health impact review before the plant breaks ground. So 2.5 particulate matter enters your lungs. It exacerbates any number of very dangerous conditions from asthma to heart problems. And within a stone’s throw of this plant is Mass General Hospital. It’s the large Catholic High School. It’s the New England home for the death. There is a dairy farm. So this particulate matter is basically going to show up in the cow’s milk, which is being sold to us. And then, so it’s the health of their community is threatened. It’s not just the 51,000 tons of CO2 that’ll go into the air. It is their community health. And the question we have and the reason we want you to sign this is, is it morally right for us to get the energy that we want, not even that we need, because this is a capacity plant and we could get the same energy through renewables and batteries. Is it moral for us to get the energy that we want at the cost of the health of the people of Peabody?

47:18 Question. Do you have a chance for questions from us? Is that up to you? Go for it, Helene. If there is not this peaker plant, what will help us when we do peak? You and I remember when we had all those little signs start peaking on every light switch that the light department sent out. The other two members of the board will not remember this. But it was a little sign when you entered town, stop peaking. Well, there are battery alternatives and they have not, the proponents of the plant who started thinking about this in 2015 and lots has happened since then, have not considered using batteries. The Marblehead Municipal Light Department is now beginning thinking about how to shave the peak all over Marblehead. You may remember we got smart meters many years ago and they can really work to shift the load so that there is a way of shifting the peak and flattening out the entire use of power. Also, ISO New England can sell us capacity as needed. So this is not even desperately necessary. It is really interesting because when they first designed this plant in 2015, batteries were not that sophisticated. But you know from microchips

48:54 how quickly things change when there is necessity. The price of batteries has gone, and their ability to hold charge has gone, and that is where we would like them to go. Thank you for answering. I have a quick question. You mentioned when the plant is breaking ground, what is the time frame that they have just begun, actually it is later, everything has been delayed and they have just begun smoothing out some of the areas where they are hoping to build the plant. They have just started putting in some infrastructure, but they won’t start the actual building. There is still time we hope to stop this. Do you know where it is? It is on Endicott Street. If you go past… Last… Yeah, you go left before Endicott Street, before you go over the water. Right past Treadwell, a famous place, and you hang a left on Pulaski, which is the place, you know, it is industrial, but there are houses right next to the fence, so it really is a community. To clarify, their permit is grandfathered from earlier regulations. If it was requested today, it would not have gone through. Right. They would have had to have not only a health impact, but an environmental impact report. And it doesn’t… We have to keep our cars up to date, don’t we? And we don’t say,

50:28 oh well, it is an old clunker, it is okay, I can get… No, we have to be inspected. Well, it does seem that the new law that was passed should pertain to this power plant.

50:44 Well, I think that we do need to discuss this. I would say that we can put out our agenda at our next meeting, and now that we have heard your presentation, and we can decide where to go when we meet in February. Does that work for you, Helene Joanne? Yes. You said they’re not going to break ground until the spring? I don’t think so. Okay, well, I didn’t want to be too late. No, we need to do everything we can now, but… And you have both links and my contact information if you have other questions. Well, I have to ask, but Todd, is there a reason you want to delay? Because I’ve got my questions answered. Well, we got a little mixed up about… We did send this letter to the board, I believe it was in September, and somehow we saw this on the agenda, we didn’t realize that it would be better for us to be here. And so it was our fault that we didn’t realize that, but this letter from the Board of Health of Peabody was written in July. And I do think there is a certain… It would really be lovely if you folks spoke out about protecting the health of the people in Peabody with some degree of concern and speed. Not to pressure you. So are you saying that you would appreciate a vote tonight or you want us to get a new letter? I don’t understand what you said. We’d appreciate a vote tonight.

52:18 And then you could get us the letter? Yes. Todd, are you interested in… for any reason to hold it off? You just want to… This is new to me and… I mean, there’s two issues here. There’s the personal philosophy and then there’s the mission of our Board of Health. And I think we need to reconcile those two things. Personally, I think that the grandfather shouldn’t stand, but that doesn’t matter what I think personally. I think that it’s an interesting precedent that we have to consider that we are the Marblehead Board of Health. And so doing something that doesn’t directly affect Marblehead and its residents, and I know on a global scale, that’s not what I mean. I think that that could be an interesting precedent that we might not… It might be… Interesting. It might be grounded that’s tough to trod because what doors does this open when we are the Marblehead Board of Health? That’s my town board concern. Well, you know what? I didn’t know anything about this. In fact, I know about peaking, but it didn’t make sense when I said I didn’t know what a peaker plant was. But we are fortunate enough and don’t have the opportunity, but we have our legal counsel here today. Maybe we could ask this individual if it’s common practice for one board to speak on behalf of another board.

53:51 Do you mind doing that? Sure, Liz, do you have a say on that? I’m sorry, I was multitasking. What was the question? My concern is that this is the Marblehead Board of Health. And so I don’t know what precedent would set if we were reducing for peaking when we’re the Marblehead Board of Health. That’s my concern. So the Board of Health and Marblehead only has jurisdiction over the boundaries of the town itself, if that’s what you… Is it out of… Are we out of realm by writing a letter of support? Or is it something that we could consider? We have bought into this plant, so we do have an investment as a town and a response. Writing a letter of support is allowed. There are other boards of health that have written letters supporting the Peabody Board of Health. Marblehead would not be the only Board of Health that supports the concerns of the health of the people of Peabody and the surrounding area. Then what are the other boards that have supported Peabody? Actually, I don’t know. I should have that information. Well, then maybe that’s something we can get also. Where did this money come from? The Marblehead money.

55:29 The Light Department invested. Oh, and was that on a… Do you know how much it was? It was an on-town warrant? It was part of their budget? No, and that’s one of the things that we found a little upsetting. There was no public vetting. There was no stakeholder inclusion, nothing. It was a single line item in a 2016 Light Board meeting, and it’s before the League of Women Voters’ recovery meeting, so nobody knew. All right, so Todd, with all that, you’ve got my vote to delay it. And to point out, we have a meeting coming up in a few weeks that we could reconvene. That’s what I would suggest, is we put it on our agenda for our next meeting, and then we can decide either to do a vote or not. Okay, well, thank you, though. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you so much. Can I walk away and turn the heat up in my room for a moment? I’m getting cold. I’m not peeking, though. It went up from 67 to 69. So our next item is the Transfer Station update, and we do have some new information.

57:02 Numbers were just released this week to us from the architects, and Andrew, should I just go into the background? Do you think, should I start with that? Yeah. So in July 2014, landfill construction began to cap the Transfer Station site, and it was finalized in October of 2017, so the DEP signed off and approved what they required us to do. I’m sorry, that was complete on August 24, 2018, was the complete conditional approval from the MASP DEP. We had some settlements and some legal issues, and those were all finalized September 24, 2020. And we decided to reach out to winter compute architects to discuss options one and two last May of 2021, May 24th. So those options one and two that we asked the architects to investigate for us. Option one would be to build a brand new Transfer Station building, and building a scale house, a swap shop, and do a lot of site work. The numbers that came in today for option number one would be roughly six and a half million dollars to do that project. Option B, which they investigated for us, would be to rehabilitate the pit, make a new scale house, change the traffic flow, make a staff support building that also had an

58:38 area for drop-off for oil electronics and such, and also a swap shop. And that came into roughly 1.5 million dollars. So option A to option B is about a five million dollar difference. The recycling area, the compost area would be the same either option. So our task tonight is to decide if we want to do a warrant article for town meeting, which is due on January 21st, I believe, and pursue option A, option one. And we would need to ask for quite a bit of money, or we would need to choose not to go to town meeting and do option B. We have all lawsuits are settled, all with the construction firm, with the engineering firm. So after everything has been finished, we have about 1.25 million dollars left for this project, which is roughly what we need for option B. It wouldn’t be too huge a difference. So we have dealt with the inspector general’s office because I know that people are questioning where this money is going. We have been told by the inspector general’s office, there’s no fault with our expenditures. Everything has been The project has been completed completely by the book above board. After the project has been completed, we have about $1.25 million left.

1:00:09 So Andrew, is there anything that you would like to fill in from that summary? Obviously, there’s items that we need to complete. Obviously, the pit structure needs some work. That was built in 1975. That has put a lot of work through that. Obviously, we’ve done a lot of maintenance to the pit itself. But yes, obviously, the other piece that’s really important is the scale house. We’re currently operating at a temporary trailer. So those are the two main items that need to be completed as soon as possible. Obviously, yes. Going back to town meeting and asking for an additional sum of money, town meeting would be in May, and then the vote would be taken for the override potentially would be in June. So obviously, that would delay the project by quite a bit. So I think the board needs to recognize some of that stuff. Obviously, like Todd said, we have the $1.25 million. When you add up all the totals for option B, it’s $1.666. And like we said, these are draft estimates that just so everybody realizes, we’ve reached out to an architect. We’ve worked with Winter Street Architects for quite some time. The draft estimate for the swap shop came in at $290,000.

1:01:42 Obviously, the swap shop is, I’m going to call it a really nice garage. And I think saying that we’re going to spend $290,000 is quite a lot. So these are numbers that we really need to dig into a little bit more and try to understand where they came up with these prices. Obviously, we want to make sure that that’s a true price. And obviously, you’ll never know what a true price is until you actually put it out to bid. Some of the other additional costs that you have to remember is that you’re still going to have some architect fees. Option B, you know, those range between $170,000 and $240,000. And option A for the full transportation and all that is similar around the $150,000 to $240,000. You also have an OPM, an owner’s project manager that’s on board. And his estimated fees for option B is around $60,000. And I still need to get option A estimates for the owner’s project manager. And yes, you know, unfortunately, these numbers take a long time to get. We have been working for this quite some time. And yes, the board has a very short period of time to make this decision before, you know, the articles are due for town meeting. You know, obviously, the language for the articles can be written pretty quickly. We have a standard article for, you know, items like this as the board has been doing this for the last, you know, quite some time.

1:03:14 So we can work with, you know, the legal counsel, the architects to come up with a draft one article, if that’s what the board needs or if that’s what they wish. So you didn’t mention the offices, though. You mentioned a scale house. So, so option B includes the pit structure, the staff support buildings. So it’s a staff support building, as well as the electronics recycling, oil recycling, you know, miscellaneous recycling up front, a scale house, a swap shed, and then site work. So is the staff support building is the scale house in the staff support building? No, so those are two separate structures. So you have the scale house, which is a standalone building. And then you have a staff support building, which, which really being for the heavy equipment operators and people like that. What about, you know, where you come in, you go and get your sticker? That would be a scale house. And pay a bill that’s at the scale house? That’s at the scale house, correct. Are there offices there? Yes. Yep. And you’re going to change that pit structure? That’s a structure would stay the way it is. Obviously, it would be fully rehabbed. And you still would walk up to this cavern? Nope. So, so that is a commercial pitch, a pit. So that’s where, you know, the idea with that is that trucks are backing up to that.

1:04:49 Residents use what it’s in the back in the recycling area. There’s a residential drop off bin for household trash and stuff like that. What goes in the pit is only way and pay items. So you go across the scale back up to use the pay. So you go around the back to drop your trash. Correct. It was in the back. And do you have any renderings for this or for the offer? I mean, we don’t wish we just rendering a you’ve already seen this is the original design by which the street architects that we’ve had multiple meetings about. Well, a long time ago. I don’t think you’re in. I have a photograph here of one of them. I mean, we can definitely make sure that Joanne takes a look at all this stuff. Yeah. Andrew, can you help me understand the site work breakout for option B? It looks like that’s well, it’s the biggest expense. And just so I can understand kind of what’s included in that. I appreciate understanding these buckets a little bit. So the site work for option B is so you have a pit. So a scale pit that actually you’d have to create the scale pit. One of the concerns that we have in that area is that we’d hit ledge. So obviously you’d have to be bringing in a rock camera to deal with that. There’s some site work that would need to occur around the pit structure itself. And then obviously site works to take care of the foundations for the scale house, the support, the staff support, that other right recycling area and any other site work that needs to take place in the up front of the area, which would also include paving and all that stuff.

1:06:37 Paving and fencing. And there were plans to open up with plan B to make the traffic flow a little bit more flowable. Yeah. So obviously the biggest issue that we’re dealing today is that we have a wonderful residential recycling and drop off area. We have a great residential and commercial yard waste area. But are the front of the house, the commercial operations for trash waste is a very circular pattern and it creates some traffic. You have residents that have to do with large trucks and stuff like that. And so we want to make it a little bit more linear. So free flowing through the front. Yes, you’re going to have to bypass that scale. And again, we’re trying to deal with the traffic for the commercial trucks rather than going around and around in circle, trying to make a little bit more early fashion. Basically control scale access on and off. So some lights similar to traffic lights, telling people to come and go. But yes, trying to deal with the traffic flow up front. And that would be part of option B as well. Yep. That is all part of option B. Further questions from the board? Yes. Yes. Do you have any other questions? No, I mean, I don’t, you can, I didn’t want to step into you were done with this. Go ahead, Helene. Go ahead.

1:08:09 That’s the only thing that’s different when you’re on Zoom. When we’re together, we can give and take a little bit. But what about paving and seating? Is that something that… Yep. So paving and seating, all that would be part of the site work. Because the entry now, it’s just like a gravel area. Correct. That’s correct. So obviously currently, you know, there’s some degraded asphalt that’s up there. You know, we, and that does need to be replaced. Will it be done in that 1,000,000,666? Yes, that would all be part of that 1,000,000,666. And do we have to go to town meeting for the $450,000 differentials? That is something that we would have to work out. You know, obviously, there are, you know, there is ARPA funds that can potentially approach the ARPA board about seeking some funds to do that. Obviously, during COVID, the transfer station saw a huge uptick in traffic. Obviously, people are doing a lot of cleanouts. We’ve seen a lot of increased traffic through that facility. You know, the idea with ARPA is recovery. And obviously, the transfer station, we sell over 7,000 stickers on an annual basis. This facility obviously benefits the whole community. All of the residential trash that is picked up curbside goes through this facility. So this would be a benefit to the whole community as a whole. So you also said if we went for the plan A, that there would be delay because we would have to have it go on the ballot.

1:09:49 Yeah, so plan A obviously has to go to town meeting. The main building, the estimated costs are $4,131,000 and $874,000. The scale house for that design is $299,543. The swap shop, same number, same design, $290,270. The site work for option A, much greater site work that would need to be done is $1,553,966. The difference with the two projects obviously is that proposed building would be placed further back in the site. There’s currently the 60-inch culvert. You see a manhole that comes up from that culvert. The building would be placed behind that. You would have a flat entrance that goes from the front gate all the way to this building. So that all that area below the pit currently where the tractor trailers are parked, all of that would be filled in. Obviously, you’d have drainage work and all that stuff. You’d have new water and sewer that would be going out to some of these areas, and that would increase the cost of the site work. Obviously, again, all your the seeding, the paving is all included in that number. So yeah, you would need to wait until town meeting, then obviously the official vote, and then you would begin the process after that. And how long would it take with option B? We still have to go to town meeting for the $450, right? So obviously with option B, if you needed that $450, yes, you’d have to go to town meeting.

1:11:22 But there’s a potential that you could start the project sooner, that you could break out that pit structure and the scale house. And you could get some estimates. Obviously, rust estimates is that those two numbers are below the $1.25 million, and you could potentially put that out to bid as soon as permits are obtained, designs are finalized, and you could try to begin that project as soon as possible. If you go for the renovation as opposed to the A, how long do you think that after we did that project would it last? Would it be as lasting as the project A? Yeah, so obviously it would be a full renovation. So they brought in a structural steel engineer to take a look at the steel for the building. And I believe that structural engineer has said that the steel is sound. Obviously they want to make sure, you know, they did a review of the concrete. I didn’t find any issues with that, but obviously the engineers would need to take a final look to make sure they could address everything and make sure this building would be, you know, essentially a new building. I’m obviously using, you know, the older foundation and stuff like that. And as you mentioned before, the swap shed estimate, for example, seems much higher than what we can really do it for. So there is some wiggle room in that number.

1:12:55 Yeah, there’s definitely some wiggle room. I mean, you know, like I said, $290,000 seems very high for a swap shed. But obviously that’s something that we need to kind of dive into. The other numbers that seem really high is that staff support building for $469,000 and this $470,000. We’d really need to take a look at that. And maybe there’s sections that we can pull off and begin that project and come back to at a later date, you know. So I’ve got the numbers, but I don’t have the things that it represents. But you’ve just told me that one’s the swap shed for $290,000. So I sent that to you in an email. So you do have that, but that’s okay. But I don’t have this. What’s the $299,000 for? So you have it listed as, in the email it says, option A, build transportation desired by Woodford Street. You have option B. And then it lists all the items underneath it. So option A, build transportation designed by Woodford Street. It says main building, the $4,131,874. Support our staff’s scale house. $299,543, swap shed $290,270. Site work, $1,0553,966. Then it goes to option B, pit structure, $131,841. Staff support, $469,920.

1:14:26 Scale house, $299,543. Swap shed, $290,270. And site work, $474,486. The total on that, the total for the top is $6,275,653. The total for the bottom is $1,666,060. What happened is that I was busy adding it up because you didn’t total it and then I didn’t write what the purpose was. So the decision is to start and the pit, the pit, to redo the pit is an extra $4,000,000. No, so option A, if you were to build a new building, it’s $4,131,874. Oh, the new building, not just the… Yeah, that’s a whole new building. A whole… Yep. That includes a open top trailer pit. It’s not a compactor. It has a commercial side and a residential side. So the residents drive up, there’s parking spaces and they’re throwing their trash into the top of the truck. It falls into the bottom of the truck. There’s no scale associated with the residential side of it. The commercial trucks go across the scale and back to the commercial side, enter the building, dump into the truck or dump onto the floor,

1:15:58 and there’s an excavator there to fill up the truck. Okay. But then the 299 is the scale and the 299… Scale house 299, both projects have a scale house to it. Okay. And the difference between option A and option B is that option B, the scale house is not in the original designed area. It’s closer to the front of the property because you’re still keeping that pit structure. And so you need to fit the scale in that. And you say that’s where the business office is? That’s where the business office is, correct. And both designs? In both designs, yep. Okay. And how soon can you get the business office? Because I understand there’s a lot of problems in the business office. So currently it’s a trailer. There’s a bathroom in the trailer. It’s heated. It’s got AC. We try to address all the issues that the employees bring up. It’s a lease trailer. Anytime we’re notified of issues, the leasing company brings in a crew to fix any issues that we notify them of. Okay. Do you… I think there are some people, you know, that are interested in this project that I would like to request that they ask their questions at this time before I make a decision.

1:17:28 Because I think that if we went to town meeting with this, that they would have the opportunity to speak. And the plan was, Wayne, to do all public comment at the end of the meeting. Well, then we’ll have to put this on the short agenda that we have next week. No, no. We’re going to finish this tonight. I think we have to finish it tonight. Well, it has to be ready on the 21st. If we met a week from tonight, we could do everything. We’ve had, even though the numbers are new, we’ve had this to discuss or to think about for a long time. I think that we have to finalize it tonight. Andrew, can I ask a question about… This is not maybe the best question, but it’s something I’m thinking as a citizen of Marblehead. With respect to disruption in terms of when I want to get rid of stuff, I’m really ready to go with it. Does plan option A, is there a significant difference between option A and option B with respect to serving the community? Yeah, so the estimated construction time of option A is assuming 12 months. The construction period for option B, the assumption is six months. And obviously, the two different projects are much different scales. Really, the building of the scale house is the biggest interference for option B.

1:19:02 All of the site work would be a disruption during option A. Just like when we had the… For either option, just like when we had the cap put in, we had alternatives for people to dispose of their waste, right? Yeah, so obviously, the most important people that use the transfer station really come down to the residents. We would try to accommodate the residents during construction of both projects, if possible. I’d say it again. I can’t vote until I hear from the citizens, because this is a big project. If the citizens feel that they want to bring this to town meeting, it may affect my vote. If they feel comfortable with the money that’s available with a small amount, it will mean something to me. So we can either hear from them and vote later or delay this and vote at the next meeting. Would you have been awkward? We’re going to do it tonight. We’re going to finish this. So I will allow a couple of people to speak so that you can hear what you want to hear, Elaine. If anybody wants to ask us, we’re not going to be engaging in a dialogue. You can ask questions, but we do not have an obligation to answer. You can make your points, but I will recognize a couple people who want to…

1:20:33 Just about the transfer station, not on the other side. Just about the transfer station. So if you have any comments, please raise your hand, and I will give every person two minutes, but we’re going to only have a handful of people. So I know that the first person whose hand is up is about mass mandate. Either be lynched or your hand is up, or you will have something about transfer station. If not, I’ll recognize you later when we get to the actual public comment. So I’m going to unmute you for a second. Peter, are you there? I guess we’ll move on. So Jack, Jack Atridge, and if you could just introduce yourself, and you’ll have two minutes. Jack Atridge, 67 Beach Street. I’m sort of disappointed that I have to speak tonight, and disappointed from what I’m hearing. I was expecting some accountability tonight and some accounting. I know that a lot of people, including myself, have been asking for an accounting of what has taken place for the three articles that were voted for a town meeting.

1:22:04 I compare this to having three kids and overspending on two kids’ college accounts, so that I can’t send the third to college. And it’s obvious that the funds were spent on the project, but they were misallocated for sure. And I don’t know how anybody could… They were broken out into three separate articles for a reason. And if there’s going to be a conversation that it was okay for the board to co-mingle funds, I think you’re trying to fool the town in a very bad way. And it’s eroding the confidence that I have. And I know that it will erode the confidence that the town has in going any further with this project. Nobody wants to see a world-class dump more than I do. It’s a staple in the town of Marblehead. But if we’re going to talk about the fact that you had the right to take money… It’s like if there were three different projects in all different parts of Marblehead, it’s the exact same thing. You don’t take one and put it in the other pile. We already voted $5.7 million for everything that you’re looking for, $6 million to do again. I’m only asking you to come clean and explain the process that took place. I know that it was a process that needed to take place, but to hide behind a couple of words in the article, it’s trying to fool the town and it’s disrespectful to town meetings.

1:23:39 Thank you. Thank you. Dan Albert, if you could introduce yourself. Yep, I’m Dan Albert, 58 Lester Road. I was at the dump this morning about 11.30. I nearly fell in the compactor pit. The reason I nearly fell in the compactor pit was today it happened to be very cold and very slippery. But the reason I was where I was was because that pit is designed so it’s very difficult, almost impossible to get a pickup truck to lie flat on the approach pad. It’s simply not fit for purpose. The entire space in the front is not fit for purpose. You’ve talked about traffic. There’s really no room between that pit and the scale for you to get the number of vehicles through there that you need to. I was really just going to say a couple of quick things and I will keep it to two minutes. But boy, just sitting here and listening to what I’ve been listening to, I’m really a little concerned. I don’t want to try to be aggressive or complain much. But when I hear Andrew, and I don’t know Andrew, I’m not trying to pick on you particularly, but when I hear that we respond well to comments and concerns of the employees and then I read in the paper that the employees are filing a labor grievance,

1:25:13 I’m a little confused. When I hear people asking, where would the offices be? Basically, what is the scale house? Has this group been to the dump and just hung around? The so-called commercial space is not a commercial space. Just because commercial trucks use it, guess what? Lots and lots of residents use it. The number one selling vehicles in the country are pickup trucks. Marble headers drive pickup trucks. We use the pit. The pit is not just… Last thing, the pit is not simply something that, yeah, obviously needs a little repair, as Andrew said, no, you got to tear it out and you got to start again. I’d love like Jack to know where the money went. If you don’t have the money, then you got to go to town meeting. I really appreciate Elaine asking for more time to think about it. Thank you. Thank you. Next person is Kevin. Thank you, Todd. I do agree with what Jack said, but he already said it very eloquently. My question is to Andrew. Please. Can we get an address, please? Sorry, 13 Taf Street. Go for it. My question, Andrew, is on the quotes that you’ve received, has anybody… Obviously on this board, I don’t assume anybody has any commercial real estate and development experience. Have we consulted in or negotiated with any of these folks on bringing the price

1:26:46 down and cost down? You’re talking about the swap shed cost, which is astronomical. You’re talking about obviously concrete costs and steel costs. Sorry. I’m just asking, have we… What is this all the way through to give an actual number to the town of Marlboro Head People to say, listen, maybe it’s not 1.6 million, maybe it’s not something 1 million that we negotiated this to the point where we can actually provide a serious number to the town to say, this is option A, this is option B. As far as the numbers go, so the architects are… With the street architects out of Salem, they use an estimating company to come up with the numbers. They take their drawings and provide them to the estimators. Like I said, these are estimates. We won’t have final numbers until we actually put the project out to bid. Once it goes back out to bid, whatever the contractor sees and feels that it’s appropriate to bid on, what the value of the project is, those are the numbers. Like I said, the architects, we got numbers early this morning. They went through it again this afternoon. The numbers came down. Obviously, a lot of the numbers, to some of us, seemed pretty high. But again, we’re relying on the architect and the estimators to do their job. So there’s four more people with their hands raised, plus Jack.

1:28:21 I’m going to… Mr. Winch still has his hand raised and he’s on. He’s not on. There’s four more people, plus Jack, so that’ll be five more people. Jack, we’ll let you speak again. Then we’ll close the public comment about the transfer station. Megan, you can introduce yourself. Thank you very much. Yes, Megan Sweeney. I’m at 23 Beacon Street. And thank you very much, first and foremost, for Helene for allowing us to speak and to give our voices a chance to be heard. There are some serious concerns about the transfer station. You’ve already heard about the money. I will echo those concerns. But for me, it’s more about the people and how our people, our employees have had to work in the conditions that they’re in right now. And I think that we have a trailer that is in no way, shape or form. A safe place, a healthy place, a sanitary place for our employees. Especially when it’s with a high of nine degrees today. I think that our focus should be obviously on fiscal responsibility, but we have a responsibility for the human resources as well. And I think we have failed them terribly. And I hope that you will listen to us as well. You will listen to your employees and you will just step back for a minute and take a look at the conditions that they have to work in. And, and make the best decisions from there. Thank you.

1:30:00 Jimmy Zissen? Yep, this is Jim Zissen to Mount Road. I just want to say Jack Atridge said it, I think, perfectly. Article 34 was clearly for a transfer station building. It was spent on something else. You’re going to really have to explain to the community what it was spent on. Otherwise, you’re going to have zero chance at town meeting. We all want to transfer a station building. We love the setup up there. We love the swap shop. We love being able to go up there. We’d like to see it built. It’s going to need more money from the town, but don’t explain what happened. You’re just never going to get the money. We’re not going to get there. And it will be very disappointing. Again, I think Jack and the others said it very clearly, and I agree with Helene, you’re not ready to make a decision tonight. You’re ramming it down your throat. Your members, and you’re going on half-cocked, and town meeting is coming up, and you have to be prepared for it. So that’s all I have to say, and we need an accounting. And under what authority, you moved off of Article 34 and did something else. I know at the 2015 town meeting, you tried to talk about capping. You know that’s not what actually passed.

1:31:30 So in 2018, Robin Michaud and Gary Spies went back and recertified the article, and it was all about the transfer station building. You know the bond with the transfer station building. You really have to explain why that didn’t happen. Thank you.

1:31:56 The person who says power up can give your name. Yes, good evening. This is Jean Lamkin from 19 Devereaux Street. First, thank you, Helene, very much for opening the mics for us before a vote. I’m deeply moved and appreciative that you did that. I am so happy for the comments that Tim and Jack Atridge and others made around the fiscal situation. I could not sum it up as well as they have, but I just want to say that I endorse second, third, fourth, the things that they said about the accountability and the transparency we need around the fiscal management of the funds that were allocated in prior town meetings. I also, big shout out to Megan Sweeney for addressing the people concerns. Well said, I endorse that. My observation and my recommendation as you consider whether or not you’re going to take a vote on this today is as I listened to the conversation about a choice between an option A and an option B, I could not help but get a sense that there was a sense of the need to make a decision and start to act and get some things going. And what came across quite honestly is a bit of magical thinking around house projects and commercial projects. The things we hope will work for us will be cheaper and faster, and the things we don’t really like will take longer and be more complicated. It was very much that what I took away from the A versus B. And it was interesting that getting something going could be done on the cheap and on the quick if it kept us out of a town meeting discussion

1:33:32 versus recognizing that we’ve been years and years from finishing what had been on the design with the quality, thoroughness and lastingness that this project would require, which requires us to go back to town meeting and spend the amount of money necessary to do this right and do this for the type of keep it for long that the transportation deserves and the people who work there and use it deserve. So I would very much endorse what’s been said and encourage you to hold off on trying to bring a bell to rush a solution after there’s been too long of not solving for it. You can put your RFPs out and we can address this in full at town meeting and vote for the funds needed to make this right and have the accountability and transparency this warrants. Thank you. Thank you. Jen. Hear me okay? Yep. Oh, thanks. Thank you. Thanks to the chair for allowing me to speak. I’m just going to speak for your name. Your name first. Oh, sorry. Jen Shaffner 20 Casino Road. I’m just going to speak for a minute here about just the process that I saw tonight in regards to your two options. I’m not going to other people have spoken quite eloquently about what got us here historically. But in my experience working here in town, I’ve been on five different building override committees, including Old Townhouse, Abbott Hall, Village School, Glover School and the Brown School from a low of, I think, I think it was four or five million for the Old Townhouse renovation to $54 million for the Brown School.

1:35:14 And I have I also helped out with some input with Abbott Library that passed last year for I believe was eight, seven and a half or eight million. And what my experience has been is that the town of Marblehead is the residents and the voters here are extremely generous and are committed to bettering our capital assets, including our buildings and I would describe the transportation is one of our assets. But the but the town of Marblehead and the voters here, thankfully, our demand rigor in this in the scope and the process of asking for this approval in that exclusion override or any source of additional funding. And to me, I think the process I saw tonight was to quote, I think, Jamie or one of the others a bit hurried. And you’re talking about two options that have apparently been presented to you by professionals, but they’re not here tonight. In any other process I’ve seen with these other projects, we’ve always had the professionals there presenting the facts. And you’ve presented two options. There could be other options for some price in between that we don’t know. So I just encourage you and strongly suggest that you go back to process, whether you need to set up a new building committee or you need to have some folks, you know, from the community helping out on this. Maybe you get to town meeting this year. Maybe you don’t. But we’ve waited this long.

1:36:46 We need to do it the right way. And the people of this town will come through when they’ve had an accounting and when they’ve had a process that shows that it’s been rigorous and the options are reasonable. So I encourage you to try to relook at your process. Thank you. Do you have another comment? Yes, thank you. And I guess I’m, you know, after being told almost three months ago that that I was going to get an accounting, I’m respectfully asking when we can expect to get a breakdown of the accounting of the three articles that town meeting voted through. Andrew, do you I know we’ve we’ve said this before in meetings and I know we’ve explained it, but would you mind explaining it again? Explain what? Like why there were three town meeting articles but one vote a month later. So the three town meeting articles. So you had three town meeting articles and let me just grab them here. So you had one article for a 60 inch culvert. You had one article for additional waste on offsite properties and you had the transfer station building itself. All articles were written to give you leeway to spend on other items.

1:38:18 And so obviously the biggest piece with the landfill closure is that the first thing that has to occur is that we had a mandate with the state of Massachusetts to close the landfill. So you have to capture all the waste from town properties and all surrounding properties. Obviously, you know, we ran into some engineering issues. If the engineers had done the adequate job, they would have identified all this additional waste on in the surrounding properties. It was the additional waste that really put us over. So you have no choice but to capture that waste. We had some other additional items on site that caused some issues on suitable materials in certain areas that are under pavement or under structures that have to be secure. Those items pushed you over and into spending, you know, essentially what came to almost all the money. But you can’t move forward with the building without a completed landfill closure. The articles were written in a way that allowed for all the site work in the landfill closure to be completed. You have to remember that the building sits on the landfill itself. I can’t build a building or the town can’t build a building without landfill closure being completed. That was the mandate with the state of Massachusetts. That’s where we are today. Obviously, we also ran into litigation with the contractor.

1:39:51 And then ultimately, we went after the engineering firm to try to recoup some money. During the litigation, obviously, the biggest thing that the litigators were saying is that, yes, we understand you spent a lot of extra money. You would have still had to pay for that regardless. All that additional waste on off-site properties or on your property, you still have to pay for it. It doesn’t come for free. But again, you know, I understand how people are frustrated. We all want a transfer station building. We want the project to be completed. Yeah. You know, the board is trying to be fiscally responsible. It’s a tough decision. Do you go back and ask for more money or do you try to complete the project with what you have? Can I just follow up with that real quick? Real quick. Yeah. I mean, that totally didn’t answer my question as to when we can expect an accounting of the project. And it’s wildly disappointing to hear that the town voted a town meeting and then an override referendum on three separate ballots. And now the position of the board is that they had the right to do whatever they wanted with those three different articles that went through town meeting. It’s a shame that this is the position that the board’s taking. And when are we going to see the accounting for the project? Some people have been asking probably close to six months. I know I’ve been asking for about three, trying to do it offline have been put off.

1:41:25 I’m asking for a commitment tonight to just share the numbers. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Not the second that that closes the public comment for the transportation part of the meeting. Looks like we’re going to have to schedule meeting next week and we can we can vote next week. What do you think, Helene? It sounds like Helene, you wanted to vote next week anyway. I wanted to vote next week. I didn’t make a commitment to you that if you had the people speak that I would have my hand forced to vote tonight that I would my preference would to be put this on the agenda. I also think that if we have town council that she can help us with any other answers, maybe for next week that that would be helpful. I personally would like to be physically responsible. I wrote those two words down before Andrew mentioned them. I know that there will be people that are disappointed that we’re not going to get the whole whole ball of wax if we end up being physically responsible. However, I asked to hear from the community because I wanted to get a sense of where they were coming from, which I did not.

1:43:01 I see I think one person mentioned their preference. More or less people were just telling us they wanted transparency and they wanted an explanation. And I was very pleased to hear someone say that they were concerned about our employees because certainly we all are concerned about our employees. I don’t think that what I thought was going to happen occurred. So, yes, I think I’d like some more time. Maybe the architect has to come and maybe if you feel that because we’re so privileged to have our town council here. If there’s any guidance here for that. I don’t think she was prepared to speak on this or not, but I just give her that opportunity, but I don’t feel it’s necessary that she has to. And Todd, I have the articles right here if you’d like me to read Article 34. Yeah, because I have to say that we’ve been nothing but transparent this whole process. And it’s a shame that people think that we have not been, but we have been above the board when we complained. We’ve gone to the inspector general has cleared us. We have never hidden anything. I think that’s very important. This entire project has been completely transparent and anybody can see that.

1:44:37 So Andrew, if you don’t mind just reading that quickly, just so we can move on. So Article 34 work associated with new transfer station building to see if the town will vote to appropriate a summer money to be expended by the Board of Health for the permitting public bidding site work utility work deconstruction of the old transfer station the construction of the new transfer station. And all other activities and costs necessary to carry out the work and determine whether this appropriation shall be raised by borrowing or otherwise or take any other action relative to sponsored by the Board of Health. Then the ballot question. Question number one. Shall the town of Marblehead be allowed to exempt from the provisions of proposition two and one half so called the amounts required to fund article 3233 34 and 30 of 2015 annual town meeting to pay for the bonds issued for the proposes of repairing and or replacing the 60 inch concrete drainage culvert that crosses the landfill property includes including investigations engineering construction and all other activities and costs necessary to carry out the work work necessary to remove re-clo- relocate or dispose of solid waste in areas beyond the limits of work in the current landfill closure projects, including investigations, engineering, legal fees, construction, easements, and or property acquisition and all other activities and costs necessary to carry out the work.

1:46:08 We will take a moment to carry out the work and permitting public bidding site work utility work deconstruction of the old transfer station the construction of the new transfer station and all other activities and costs necessary to carry out the work and all in connection with the cleanup related to the historic operations of the former landfill. Thank you. Okay. So we’re going to do at the end of our meeting, we’ll choose a date next week that works for everybody and we can address this and take a vote next week. Thank you very much. Okay. Director’s report, Andrew. Director’s report. So the biggest thing that I wanna talk about is trash and recycling curbside. So I wanna remind everybody about the trash and recycling collection notice. So on November 14th, 2017, the Board of Health voted to amend the solid waste regulations. The new regulations went into effect January 1st, 2018. The amended section appears below. There is a 235 gallon trash barrel limit or 70 gallons total. 164 gallon toter can be substituted for 235 gallon barrels. The Board of Health would like to remind you some of the current solid waste regulations. Trash and recycling must be out for collection not later than 7 a.m. on the day of collection

1:47:41 and not before 6 p.m. on the day preceding the day of collection and shall be removed from the sidewalk on the same day as emptied. All trash must be placed in barrels with the tight fitting lid. All trash in the barrels must be contained in bags. Barrels can weigh no more than 50 pounds when full. Recycling is mandatory. We are single stream recycling town, paper, cardboard, glass, aluminum, and plastic can all be mixed together. All cardboard must be collapsed and measuring no larger than 36 by 36 inches. Please, no plastic bags and please do not put your recycling curbside in a plastic bag. Unfortunately, we are unable to recycle styrofoam so please dispose of it in your trash. Grass and leaves will only be picked up during leaf collection weeks. They must be contained in a paper leaf bag or barrel. No plastic bags, no brush or tree trimmings. There is no limit on the amount of recycling that you may put out curbside. Pizza boxes that have been contaminated with oil can be recycled as long as the food residue is removed. Please follow the Recycle Smart Guidelines, WWPS Recycle Smart Mass.org. Please rinse all recycled glass and plastic of all food residue. We will hold recycling events for household hazardous waste four times a year.

1:49:14 Please check the website for a schedule. Please, no plastic bags or polystyrene styrofoam in the recycling. Please visit the health department website or contact the Health Office, 781-631-0212 or email health2 at marvelhead.org for additional information. So this did go out, get sent out through the town clerk’s office to every home in town. But just wanna remind you of the curbside regulations. Thank you for reading that. It appeared in the census and I appreciate you reading it. Yep. Is that the full director’s report? That is the full director’s report at this time. No beach testing this week? No beach testing this week. Okay. So it’s public comment period. I was going to divide this in two parts with most of the meeting issues first and then mask issues second. I’ll still do that. We’re not gonna discuss the transfer station public comments anymore, but if there’s anybody who has anything to say about anything else we’ve addressed, please raise your hand, you’ll be recognized first. And I just wanna outline the parameters that we have for our public comments. We have had public comment on the mask mandate at a previous meeting, so I do request limited comments to points that have not already been made

1:50:46 and the mask related comments will end after 16 minutes. So we are going to have a shorter public comment period than we’ve had because we’ve already had quite a bit of public comment on this. Each speaker must raise a hand. You’ll be recognized in the order your hand is raised and you’ll have two minutes per speaker, but I do reserve the right to cut you off if necessary. I’m gonna recognize you, please state your name and address for the record. And the public comment period will be an opportunity for you to speak, but the Board of Health will not answer questions. We will not be engaging in a dialogue with the public. So thank you for your cooperation. So it looks like the, I’m just checking if there’s anybody I know for a fact does not wanna talk about masks. You can just, you don’t, okay, you already spoke. Dan Albert, is this about the transfer station? Okay, I’ll, your hand is not up, okay. All right, so just one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, okay, so we’re gonna start, I guess, with Kevin. And if you could introduce yourself, I’ll unmute you. Hello, can you hear me? Hi, we can hear you. Hi, this is Kevin McCurnan, 24 Foster Street. My background is in building PCR devices and DNA sequencers. I worked at MIT under Eric Lander on the Human Genome Project

1:52:18 and I’m here just to voice in the fact that all of the peer-reviewed literature we have on masks do not support them, but we do have literature now on their harms. One reason I’m not showing my face here is I want the whole audience to see the actual microbes I collected off of my child’s mask. They’re in my profile picture. And there are twice the number of these microbes on the outside of the mask as there are on the inside of the mask, which means the children are touching them and they’re incubating them on a petri-film in front of their face. This is not good for their immune system. We also have studies from Schwartz at…

1:52:49 I mean, you don’t need yourself. Yeah, sorry about that. Okay, where should I, where should I start? After the child’s mask. Okay, children’s mask. I just wanna read you Schwartz at all, brief part of this. There was a 26,000 person study here and responded 68% of the children complained about impaired, impairments for in the mask. Side effects included 60% irritability, 53% headaches, 50% difficulty concentration, 49% less happiness. There’s a depression problem that these masks are driving. Reluctants to go to school in kindergarten, 44%, malaise, 42% impaired learning, 38% drowsiness and fatigue at 37%. So we have clear harm. We have peer-reviewed evidence that suggests in randomized controlled trials, there are no evidence of these things working. So we just wanna keep this on the record that when there are complaints about these studies raised, they are raised because the IRBs never let them mandate the masks in the studies. It only let there be a voluntary study. Yet here we have the Board of Health doing something IRBs do not allow to be done, which is to mandate masks. So you need to look at your legal liability here. It’s gonna expose the town to more lawsuits, which seems like you’re already buried in. Thank you. Kevin, you’re next. Are you there? Kevin? Okay. Sarah. Hi, Jeff.

1:54:22 I actually had raised my hand at the end of the trans-pacificing discussion to get in on that, but I’m happy to wait till your next meeting and hold my comment till then. Okay, thanks. Next is Paul. I’m alone for Winslow Square Lane. I’m an intelligent, educated, logical thinker. So you go to your PCPZ, and before Z takes your blood pressure, Z tells you the machine that Z is using today is not accurate. Z takes your BP, and the inaccurate machine registers a high result. Z then says to you, your blood pressure is high, you need to take this pill. Would you take the pill? According to CDC’s Rochelle Walensky, PCR tests often produce a large amount of false positives. The PCR test for COVID-19 is not accurate. The board has instituted a mask mandate based on a test that’s not accurate. Why? Do you want to make a sense? Are you all set? Okay, thank you. Kevin. Good evening. First, I just wanted to express my disappointment in the Board of Health.

1:55:54 If you were not in the meeting a couple minutes before it began, you missed out when Dr. Belkbecker was having a conversation that he thought was private. He mentioned the open meeting law violations and said that these were formalities and he had to jump through some hoops and how upsetting that was to him. How disrespectful and disgraceful those comments are. Now, my other comment, the reason I raised my hand originally is because a week ago, as a small business owner in Marblehead, I wrote a letter to the Board of Health. It was a kind letter. I did not get out of control. I was not mean or hateful. I asked for help. That was a week ago. I have not heard a response from anyone in the Board of Health. Not even, well, I don’t know who you’re serving, or who you think you’re serving, because I’ll tell you right now, there’s 209 people on this meeting right now. We really don’t feel like you’re serving us. So I’m wondering, am I going to get a response from my email? My plea for help? Thank you. Address please, Kim. 21 Roosevelt Avenue, Hilly.

1:57:25 Thank you. Thank you. Garrett. Hey, thanks, Todd. Garrett Trumbly to Homestead Road. I think it’s pretty shocking that public comment in this meeting on the mask mandate is limited to 16 minutes when I couldn’t get into the previous meeting, which was arbitrarily and suspiciously capped at 300 participants. I want to point something out to my fellow citizens in Marblehead. It’s that town bylaws can be changed. The Board of Health should not have emergency powers. It’s not a question of who’s on the board at any one time. This construct whereby three individuals in town can make sweeping, unscientific, grossly enumerate, and very harmful judgments that impact every person in town is a failing of ours and it can be changed. It’s really just as simple as a bit of political will in keeping our attention spans intact. It’s not a matter of bad fates on the part of the board, although placing comment at the end of this meeting

1:58:58 for 16 minutes only is unambiguously bad faith. It’s that emergency public health powers should not accrue to a committee of three anybody’s. They should be continuously reviewed. They should be voted, debated, and should take place in as wide a referendum as possible continuously, if need be, during any so-called emergency. That’s all. Thank you. Emily Deane. Hi everyone, thanks for taking my question. What’s your name? Emily Deane, 154 Atlantic Avenue. You might recognize me from several emails that I’ve written but had no response to. I’d like to second Kim Crowley in that a lot of us small business owners in town We have been left with unanswered questions, with unanswered protocols with regard to the mask mandate, and we just want to know why. The explanation was never given as to why the metric changed from allowing our citizens to use their own judgment from going to a strong suggestion to a mandate, which is not a gotcha moment, Dr. Belf Becker. This is people’s livelihoods

2:00:34 at stake, and businesses are dropping left and right in our town, if you have not noticed, and March 8th is a very long way away from right now. So when Helene walked around and noticed people weren’t taking her suggestions and decided to mandate masks, we would like to know what metrics are going to be used to lift that mandate. It’s as simple as that. We’re trying to hold on to our businesses in this town. Please allow us the information that we’re asking for these metrics. Also, give us the protocols as to how we deal with protesters or people who don’t want to wear the mask. Next is going to be a vaccine mandate coming down the pipeline, and then small business owners are going to be dealing with that. We just want our questions answered. Thank you.

2:01:35 Dan, there’s nobody there. His hand is raised, I think. All right. So the last person tonight is Kathy. Yes. Hi, this is Kathy Christ. I live at One Gerald Road, but I’m the owner of Get in Shape for Women on Atlantic Avenue. I too, along with Emily and Kim, sent a very detailed letter of my situation with no response, kind or otherwise. My business is definitely suffering, holding on by a thread, as so many of the other businesses in Marblehead are. And again, it’s unprecedented that three people can decide what is best for the rest of us, when at this point, there are certainly people with COVID. However, the deaths have significantly lowered. And again, there’s no metrics to sustain this mandate at all. It’s doing far more harm than good. Thank you. Thank you. So that concludes public comment. Let’s choose a meeting date. I suggested a week from tonight, because we wanted to get something for the 21st. And we do meet on Tuesday, so I hope that maybe the board would be available. Yeah, that would be fine with me. I’m available. Andrew? Nope. Okay. There’ll be three items on the agenda. Is that correct?

2:03:09 We’ll decide the agenda later. No, you won’t. Okay. But it, okay. It shouldn’t be lengthy, though. Nope. Okay. Do we have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Seconded. Ms. Lleweyn easily. In favor. Ms. Joanne Miller. In favor. Dr. Todd Belfecker. In favor. Good night. Do you want Elizabeth to speak to the board’s authority at all or any of that stuff? I mean, if you have anything to say, Liz, before we can pause the adjournment, if you have anything to say about what the board is authorized to do. So I was just going to speak to what the chair and I were discussing before the meeting started. The board has the authority under. Do we have to reopen the meeting since we made a motion? I said we’re going to pause the adjournment. I think that’s okay. Okay. So the board has the authority under Chapter 111, Section 31 to call emergency meetings when there’s a health crisis and COVID-19 has been determined such. And so the open meeting law violations that we received were in regards to how the meeting was held. And I heard some

2:04:43 comments about the board’s authority and that it’s a bylaw that allows the board to act as it did. And it’s actually a statute. And I just wanted to speak to the fact that all boards of health and the Commonwealth have the authority to establish emergency orders as they did here. And so we’ve continued noticing these meetings and taking comment to avoid any appearance of an open meeting law violation and address everyone’s concerns. So I just wanted to clear that up for the record. Okay. So let’s have a new motion for adjourning. I move that we adjourn this evening. Second. Ms. Helene Hazlitt. In favor. Mr. William Miller. In favor. Dr. Todd Dolfecker.

2:06:00 Night. And everybody.