Board of Health: April 9, 2024

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:00 Okay. Uh, 7 31. So I think I’m gonna begin.

0:05 So I, I, um, the meeting on April 9th, uh, to order. And, uh, before we, uh, address the agenda this evening, I’d like to give you an update on a few issues and our last Board of Health meeting, discussion and pursue regarding substance abuse and use. Three passionate residents spoke and two of interpret heartwrenching stories of addicted family members. It was powerful to hear them, and as Thomas said, when he mentioned the idea, it would be an impactful way to reach our community about these dangers. Since then, both Andrew and I have been in touch with the counseling Center regarding several new programs and educating the community about these serious and prevailing problems. Additionally, we expect to hear a report on the most recent

0:51 student at risk survey from Gina Hart, high School Adjustment counselor and assistant superintendent Julia Ferrera at our June meeting. This will give the board more insight into specific areas where teens are in need of health education. The Board of Health is committed to working with the community to try to alleviate and prevent the agony many Marblehead is experiencing. We look forward to collaborating with the Counseling Center, the Marblehead Public Schools, and our citizens. I sincerely hope that this statement has alleviated much confusion and discussion from members of our community and know that your Board of Health is and has been doing everything possible to stem the tide of substance use in our town. So, I would like to go onto our agenda now

1:37 and do we have the minutes to approve? You have the fifth, the 12th will be next meeting. Well, you know what? I think we’re gonna have to postpone them because I don’t have Them. That’s okay. I apologize. I I don’t think I was given them either email copy every, I thought you got ‘em with the last ones. We didn’t go over them at the last Oh, I thought you were making adjustments to them or something like that. So it’s, it’s fine. We’ll do them both next. I do remember going over myself, but they might be sent maybe in the future. We need to do that. I can definitely do that. We’re Just very lazy people. Not a problem. I can reset. No, I’m sorry about that. Maybe we can call ourselves lazy and busy. Um, so we’ll go on to the substance abuse education.

2:24 Is that, is that your report or, No, it’s not my report. So obviously we talked about two different topics last time. Uh, we talked about support groups, uh, in a speaker event. Um, obviously we’ve been, you know, partnered with Mar Head Counseling center. Um, they offer quite a few different support groups. Um, but obviously we wanna work with some of the people that are here tonight, uh, and, and partner with them to make sure what the Counseling Center is offering is enough. Um, what else is available around surrounding communities? So Tom and I were talking about Learn to Cope. Uh, learn to Cope is a very large organization, um, and they have in-person meetings. Uh, the closest place to attend a Learn to Cope meeting is Peabody. Um, there, if you go to their website, um, you know,

3:12 there’s all these different links and they have the calendar of the different meetings. So theirs is the second and the fourth, uh, Wednesday, uh, of the month. Um, so seven to eight 30 in Peabody and that’s in person. Um, but you know, again, we wanted to kind of talk about this as another, you know, piece to our, um, substance abuse education. Um, and obviously make sure that, you know, the board has questions about this. Do we need to look into others? You know, we wanna make sure that we’re kinda serving community with what they need, um, and try to, you know, start to look at this stuff and see what we need to expand on. Yeah, Marblehead becomes kind of an island, you know, I mean, especially the way the peninsula the way we’re set up. So PV seems like a million miles away. Totally.

3:57 So, um, I don’t know, maybe Tom or Laney or someone knows how easy it would be to set something up here. So, so I did talk to Terry McDonough from the counseling center and to see, you know, I, I would work a little bit with Laney and Tom to see if we, if, if it’s learn to, you know, learn to cope if they, if we could bring that meeting to Marblehead. Right. Yeah, no, I think it’d be good to have one that’s established like that one. Yep. Um, I guess it just the logistics of venue. And So I, I believe, you know, as we’re working forward and obviously working the counseling center, I think the idea is that they could have support groups at the counseling center. Um, but again, you know, I need to go to a learning to cope meeting to understand how it’s set up.

4:43 Um, we need to understand how many people might attend. Yeah. That’s the, you know, space that’s kind of need, space is kind of a, a piece to it. Um, so it’s something that, you know, obviously this is something that the board is interested in. Um, and obviously we’ll continue to work on this. Um, and, and we’ll continue to pursue, learn to Cope. Um, I would imagine if we Have enough people that they would come to our community. Yeah, they have 25 chapters in Massachusetts and all over the different states. I was really doing some investigating what an incredible organization and if they have that many chapters. And if Marblehead is kind of an island and people feel that it’s too far to travel, um, maybe that’s something that they would consider. I mean, Yeah, I’m just curious at the Peabody one,

5:31 which I would expect would’ve more, how many people do you see it though? Um, when they started out Peabody after Covid, um, the in-person attendance was not that great. It used to be there were times that Salem Hospital, there was 60 or 70 people. Really? Okay. And those meetings were every week and it was 60 or 70 people every single week. So I would say the average attendance in person and PB, and it’s actually Thursday nights either. Okay. It may be 10 to 12, but when they do the Zoom sessions, then they’re like 30 or 35 people on. So. Okay. And it brings in a wider geographical audience for the Zoom sessions too. Okay. Yes. So the you 11th and the 25th of the next meetings for the month.

6:19 Um, and obviously, sorry to kinda open up to the audience, but, um, you obviously feel that the in-person meetings are better than the, the Zoom meetings, or they’re both benefits

6:31 Asking me, both You and Lanny, if possible. Um, either one. I think they’re both beneficial. And some people go to, you know, they go, they’re on Zoom and then they go to the in-person meeting as well. Um, and some people will go to two in-person meetings a week, say Gloucester, or have Switch, uh, or somewhere else because they get, you know, different support from different people. So I think both, sorry, I’m sorry. Um, scenarios are working and Learn to COPE has a limited number of people who can serve as facilitators. So, um, facilitators are, uh, family members who have been dealing with addiction and they just kind of take over and, and run the meetings. But pre covid, again, there were a whole bunch

7:17 of facilitators and now there aren’t. So trying to expand to Marblehead might be a, Do you know why they, uh, aren’t doing it at Salem? If they had such a large group, Pardon me, Lee, You know, why they’re not, uh, using Salem as a site since they don’t had such a large, But there were just too many restrictions on people coming into the hospital, even though it was a, a separate, um, like conference room, um, off from where the emergency emergency room is. Um, and there was no, but still they were walking through the aisles, um, at the hospital. So they were just afraid of contamination. I think, I wonder if we wrote the, to the director if he would consider having it there. ‘cause that’s central for a lot of places.

8:03 I mean, again, you know, you know, before the meeting started, Tom and I were talking, so I, I’ll definitely attend the Learn to Cope meeting with Tom. Um, Which this time or that term, that term, that tongue, that time, Well, That song could come through Anyway, you know, just to experience it, um, see what the setup’s like, um, and see how we can bring this to Marblehead. Yeah. I imagine just in Marblehead, and you guys can correct me if I’m wrong, I, I would just expect, ‘cause there’s still like a heavy stigma that, which we hope to get over that a lot of people would still wanna be anonymous. I imagine the Zoom would be, you know, camera off would probably start up, you know, once the comfort level gets there, I think it would expand. Um, but I imagine to start, a lot of people would go in via Zoom.

8:49 Um, so having both options in person and Zoom probably good. Yeah. Good. Yeah, I think getting the word out is most important. Yeah. Um, I can tell you as who had a child struggling, my first concern walking into that room with 50, 60, 70 people was who there was gonna know me? Who’s gonna be from Marblehead? Yeah, there you go. And I’m not the only one that had that same, and it didn’t matter. Marblehead s Swamp, Scott, sga Peabody, you know, everyone came from, from the area, but everyone who came in the first, second, and third time, who here is gonna know me and know that I’m here because I have an issue. Yeah. But then you get past that.

9:34 And I can tell you some of my best friends, they have become my family up from Learn to Cope. But Yeah, I imagine it’s just that hurdle initially the same thing. Like, you know, even though that, you know, if you’re there, they’re there, you know, so it’s kind of like, um, wouldn’t be judging each other so much, but it’s, it’s a mental thing, you know? And so, but So I just wanted to, uh, just continue with the Counseling Center also because I got a nice letter from the president from, um, Ruth Ferguson, who was thanking us for the $45,000 opera money. And she said she’s keenly aware of the needs that we would wanted some of that money to go to substance use disorder, she said. And she’s exploring opportunities and conducting dis discussions, uh,

10:20 with various groups in regard to group counseling and our hands-on experience. And she is working, as you said, with Terry, um, leading this up. But she said for the center will be Terry McDonough will be our principal point of contact. So I just wanted to know that she’s on board and, um, is,

10:41 May I ask you a question? Sure. Um, if having participated in these meetings, if if’s, um, lots of young people that are struggling and family certainly, uh, carry such a weight of the challenge. What about friends? Do you ever have, um, friends of people who, you know, maybe just not in that immediate circle that are going to learn to cope to help, um, find ways to cope and support their loved one? And, you know, It’s really limited. Is it, back me up on this. It’s really limited to founding members. Okay. So it’s parents, siblings, you know, I guess aunts and uncles would, um, would fit the description. Um, we have had some people who are actively using, uh, come

11:31 to the meetings and we’ve also had some people come to the meetings, um, who’ve lost someone. Um, but then, uh, and they’ve quickly learned that that’s not for them, but they’re, and are greet support groups for those people. And I, I will mention that Charlie Baker was a huge supporter of Learn to Cope. He came to a couple of the meetings and, um, what’s her name? The p Governor Mar Heal. Oh, Mar Heal. Mar Heal, Yeah. Yes. Is is his, uh, equally supportive. And I met with Charlie Baker separately in regard to setting up a, um, uh, uh, an offshoot of Learn to Cope for the Families with Children under the age of 18.

12:16 How to work with DCF F to make them understand that there’s an issue. Well, thank for, I’m, I’m sorry you have the experience that we have to ask you about, but, uh, it, it’s helpful and it’s a call. Thank you. I don’t wanna belong to Mm-Hmm.

12:34 And I’m sorry if I, if I may, there’s also opioid abatement dollars that are available. So I know you talked about ARPA money, but there’s also opioid abatement dollars. You know, Andrew can talk to that ‘cause he sits on that committee. So, yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, there are some opioid abatement dollars that opioid, um, funds available, um, that will be used for education scholarships. So the scholarships would be both for, um, getting people into treatment, um, as well as taking people that have experience with these difficulties and promoting them, you know, kind of furthering their education to help others. Um, obviously we’re kind of early on in how that money’s gonna be used. Obviously we’ve used some of that for, um, the sandboxes for, you know, the opioid overdose boxes

13:20 that are around town now. Um, we’ve talked about, uh, putting out a survey. So Swamp Scott has put out a survey to try to gain some information or ideas from the community. Um, I talked to Dennis today about that and, you know, everybody’s on board with that. We just, you know, we have their survey, we just kinda have to tailor it to Marblehead and really shouldn’t be any different, um, to get some more ideas. You know, obviously I would love to talk to you more about, you know, what areas do, do you think we should be using that funding with. Um, and, and continue on that with that conversation. I, I have a copy of the Lynn Okay. As well and, and how they’re proceeding and they’re, they’re happy to work with all the other towns they’ve already worked with Swamp Scott. Yep. Okay. They’ve held, um, community forums

14:07 And, and obviously unfortunately, uh, Lynn has a lot more money. You know, they’re receiving a lot more money than we are. Um, but, you know, obviously we, we need to figure out how we want to use this money and the best way to use it. Um, and obviously treatment programs are huge piece to that. Um, and obviously unfortunately financial DO does play a huge part of that, and we wanna make sure that everybody can, can have an equal opportunity to treatment.

14:37 Well, thank you for the dialogue. It’s important. Um, do, do we have anything more to say about the speaker events? Because, uh, well We, we’ll continue to talk about the speaker events. Obviously there are, you know, Marla Counseling Center does have other support groups, um, peer recovery support, caregiver support. Um, there’s additional, you know, information there. They have a great website, um, obviously talking about opioids, but there’s other support groups that, um, are available to the community, um, as far as the speaker events. Um, and obviously we did have some conversation about a speaker event or a speaker series moving forward. So I wanted to continue on with that conversation. Um, and we also had some guests that spoke last time about potentially forming a panel. Um, and in the past what we’ve done is we’ve had, we’ve kind

15:25 of mixed the two together a little bit. Um, so we’ve had a, you know, an individual that spoke for a while and then we had a panelist that kind of just had a discussion afterwards. Um, so obviously, you know, we need to continue to talk about this. We need to try to figure out what we want to do. Um, we, the board needs to figure out what they want to do. Obviously, all, you know, had to support the board with these ideas. Um, we just wanna continue to talk about that. We don’t, you know, we don’t have to have find, figure out everything tonight Mm-Hmm. Um, but I think obviously the things, you know, where do we wanna hold it? What time of year is the best time of year to hold it? Obviously, promise coming up promises here for some committees. I, you know, I’m not in that section right now, but obviously, um, a lot of times that’s a good opportunity

16:13 to kind of have some of these conversations. Obviously kids are going off to college next year. Um, so, you know, what does the board think? Or let’s, let’s start to kick around some ideas and dates and stuff like that. Obviously we have town meeting coming up in May. That’s always a, a really busy time. Um, but we really need to try to, to, to start thinking about this. Could You, uh, for next meeting, bring us a couple of names of people that you might think would be helpful for I, I, is it okay if we jump in with the mental health task force, considering that’s may have, along with some of this, I mean, in parallel, in tandem. Um, is it okay if I jump in with parallel? Yes. Task Force. Thank you. Um, so our last meeting, um, mark Labon, who is co-chairing the Marblehead Mental Health Task Force,

17:00 uh, had been doing some research and he presented some speakers to, um, present as potential resources to, and one of them, the first one was the NAN project, which is something we’ve been working work looking towards working with the schools. That’s been something we tried to do, um, last year and then in September, and it get kept getting pushed back with the, uh, you know, beginning of school. And the NM Project is a local organization that, uh, a family lost a family member to suicide. And they worked really hard to build programming to support young people and work with, um, young people in schools. And, um, the program’s free

17:48 and they respond with helpful ways in what adults can do to, um, listen to the concerns and meet these young people where they are and then apply appropriate interventions. And, um, there’s in 75 schools in the Boston areas, um, and they work with these young people. And, and interestingly, um, they partnered with librarians in these schools, in these communities because the librarians were finding out that children were looking at, um, ways to die without pain. And then, you know, the librarians were feeling, um, tremendous concern and not knowing how to address that. So, uh, this is something, Marblehead hasn’t partnered with the NAN program yet,

18:33 but it’s been something we wanna work with the schools. Um, so presenting this, uh, uh, Melissa, Dr. Melissa K, which will be presenting this to Julia and Gina because, um, it’s a resource that we’d like to partner with them to bring it to the source is that a family in Marblehead that had, not in Marblehead, but in this was. And, um, so that was one we’ve, we’ve always been looking towards doing. And I know there’s interest on both sides and that Dan Bauer had a great deal of interest in supporting this program, and Terry McDonough was our contact. So there’s lots of relationships with this organization and I feel confident that that will be valuable. Um, also with respect to the speakers though, to stay aligned with where we were talking, um,

19:22 there’s a, uh, mark had also met with, um, this gentleman, Kevin Rosario, who has YouTube, uh, you can follow him, R-O-S-A-R io. And he’s a person who’s had some lived experience with substance use and, um, gives a, um, authentic presentation and is is very, very successful in connecting with people. And, um, so that’s one. And, um, there’s also, let’s see, a gentleman named Charlie Stein who does, uh, dynamic speaking with positive strength-based approach. So, and also, uh, the Red Watch Band program,

20:07 which is something that Mark Labon has worked with Marblehead schools in the past to, um, help our young people that are, are beco, you know, the, the days are getting longer and the sun is welcoming people to be, you know, coming out of their houses. So there can be chil kids that are making decisions that may be regrettable. So the Red Watch Band program teaches and empowers youth to work with, uh, one another to know there’s a safe person here. If I’m in an environment where there’s been some drinking or some drug use and I don’t feel safe and I need to get home, who can I go to? They’ll have a and, um, it’s been very successful and very well received because it’s peer to peer, so peers are trained to, um, be there for one another.

20:54 So those are some of the, um, speaking engagements that we are really investigating and implementing in the next, uh, going forward. I don’t know that how soon it will be hopefully the Red Watch band, hopefully, um, this spring. So that would be a good thing for the summer with people out of school and around town and yeah. And those conversations where you can learn, you know, how, what do I want this to look like before you’re in a place where you don’t know what the best decisions would be. So, um, those were some of the speaker programs that, that we were really excited about, you know, exploring and working with the schools to implement and certainly, um, members of our task force, I explained to them about this. Uh, and, and Tom Zaro sits on our task force, um,

21:41 learning about what you wanna do and the goal of bringing lived experienced voices into the community to connect with community members. And there’s a number of professionals, mental health professionals, um, psychologists and people with hopefully tools and resources that could, um, be supportive in that conversation. So could you just so lived, experienced voices in the community and that’s kinda exactly where you were kind of headed. I know you’re really passionate about this. So Yeah, my most lived experienced ones are like, you know, Marblehead community, which is, you know, that’s where I focus on. So Be Tall Laney, you know, people like that just because it, like I said, it’s, it’s relatable. Yep. And that’s, um, and you know, I talk, I talk to all my friends

22:27 that grew up in town about this and they couldn’t support it more, you know, and people that did grow up in town because we, like I said, we, you feel different when you grow up here. Like even Swamp Scott being as close as it was, I wasn’t, I didn’t relate to Swamp Scott growing up. I never went there once when I was in high school. So it was, you know, their situations where their situations and our situations were our situations. So it was, um, so I think the more you make it relatable to Marblehead with Marblehead people speaking where it ha and showing that it happens here, I think that’s, that’s where I’m at, what my emphasis is on. And do you imagine, obviously, you know, an evening event, you know, potentially at, you know, at the pack or, um, at the Vets Middle school, um, you know,

23:13 are you thinking multiple speakers in the one night giving their experiences? Yeah, I’m not saying, you know, my, my kind of thought process is, um, you, uh, I, I know there’s a lot that would be, that are willing to, um, you know, you don’t overload it. Um, and it’s, you know, you have schedules and stuff, so it’d kind of be like, you know, you, you have your list, you have, and you reach out and you’d be like, Hey, who’s, you know, we have this, we have this night, this time, you know, going for a crowd, you available, do you wanna speak? And then moving from there and seeing which ones are available and then, you know, you kind of have a pool to go from. So we have three people here that have offered their services. They were here last time, so I mean, maybe, uh, uh, we could ask them to come with some type of a vision or presentation.

24:03 And if anybody else wants to come to the next meeting, I also, I’m sound, when I listen to this, this Red Watch band, to me sounds like pretty good because I think, as I said, the summer is always a hard time with the kids around and out and about and at the beaches and around town. And I think it would be a, a, a great thing to see if we could get that started for the summer. I don’t know anything about the o the Nan project sounds like a great idea. Um, Steen you didn’t give us that much background on, but, um, maybe we could spend a, a good part of the next meeting, just zeroing in on some of these things. And if there’s anybody that’s involved with the, um,

24:49 with any of these that you can bring forward. Any other people that we’re interested in, in being proud of this panel that we may have? Because I think that we need to see them first. I don’t think that they can just come to a meeting and show up if they’re gonna be a presenter, if they’re gonna be in the group. Of course we want everybody to, to come, but I think we need to have a, a, um, a program that is, uh, that’s the plan program. And so as far as, you know, so obviously, you know, we’re kind of middle of April right now. May getting of May is gonna be right into town meetings. So we’re, we’re busy for the next month. Um, and then you, you know, we’re heading into kind of election time and stuff like that. It is gonna be very hard to get a program ready for the summer.

25:37 Oh, I see. You target, you target the school year next year. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I think that this, I don’t, And I, that’s what kind of where I’m headed, it’s like, mm-Hmm. Let’s kind of make a plan that we, we looked to the, to the fall or, you know, early school year, um, tore start to get stuff going. Um, and you know, obviously we can have a whole bunch of stuff that we’re planning out. Um, but obviously, you know, it, it is hard to draw a crowd during the summer indoors unless it’s at, you know, outdoor events and stuff like that. But, So you do not think that we could get the Red Watch bands? I Don’t even know what the Red Watch band is, so look, I don’t, you know, that’s the hard thing for, you know, if I don’t know what it is, I’m not so sure we can get it going by the summertime, But May, may I ask the student,

26:22 do you know anything about the Red Watch Band program? I do not. You don’t? I’ve never heard of it. Have you heard anything about it? No. No. So it’s not, it’s something that Has been rolled out in the schools in the past. I think probably to juniors and seniors during prom time is kind of where they focused in the past. Um, And, And so you, you’ve reached out to Julia Ferrera into, Um, yes, she sits on our, in our meetings. Okay. So we do have support to work in the schools with some of this programming. And I just, um, wanna share that. I think there’s a, just a very supportive group that can offer asset and, and resources and, um, you know, a professional perspective that could be potentially useful if, uh,

27:08 when there’s a conversation and say you get 30, 40 people there and some people have some questions. We do have, um, a whole mental health task force that is, uh, rich with professional, um, expertise to help, help support your program.

27:27 Does that sound? Uh, Well, we have to valuable have some kind of a, which I’ve been saying for three months, some kind of a formalized meeting for, to determine when, where, and how and who. So if you have the who’s, we can find the where, and we can talk about the How. I think what she’s talking about is support people. So, you know, Tom could have people that are, you know, giving their lived experience. Yeah. And the mar the mental health task force could be there in the audience, making sure that there’s support for people that, you know, need it or, Or just right outside or Exactly. Just To Yes. No, that’s support, that’s totally fine. Like, there was never a point

28:12 where I’d say like, there’s no place for that. I, I, the thing that I was worried about is if speakers are speaking, having to stop and interrupt, you know, because that wouldn’t work if there was something outside or a resource, you know, or, you know, directing, you know, Hey, if you’re feeling weird about this, this is where you go. Or they’re even out in the hall. Perfect. It was just stopping something right in the middle because, you know, someone was having an issue with the conversation that, you know, So are you willing to, um, bring a few more people to the May meeting so that we can get a good group? I mean, I’m not that we don’t have a good group now, but you know, we, we have a few more people that maybe have had different experiences.

28:58 I can Personal experiences these people, our parents, um, that we’ve spoken with. Um, it would be wonderful to have someone, it, Obviously, it’s a delicate situation. Exactly. So like, you, you need to be able to go like, you know, I, you need to go back and speak with them and see what their comfort level is. Yeah. And see if they’re willing to participate in something like that. I imagine most of them would have more of a comfort level if we had the structure Yep. Designed where we’re just like, this is what it would be. This is this. So like, maybe not in a May meeting, bringing them into talk, but like just building out the idea of what it’ll look like so I can relay that message and then have The Yeah. And sometimes when we have events like this, you often, you know, we’re not dragging this person into a meeting

29:45 and putting them on the stand a little bit because that, that is a little overwhelming for a lot of people. Um, but we have an idea of what they’re gonna talk about as far as, you know, um, we’re gonna hear somebody that has experience with, you know, um, alcohol abuse and, and, and through his life and stuff like that. And he’s gonna share his personal experiences, the ups and downs, you know, losing the family, whatever it is. We wanna kind of know that side of the story. You know, this is another individual, you know, again, we don’t have to have the names and stuff like that. Mm-Hmm. Um, you know, he’s gonna talk about his addiction to heroin. This one’s gonna talk about, you know, and I’m just, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, this person has a pill addiction. And so this is kind of, you know, all the different things that you could have for different speakers. They’re giving their, you know, lived experiences.

30:32 Well, you’ve talked with people in your office before. If they don’t wanna come to a, a formal meeting like this, maybe this can be a time set. Oh, of course. Yeah. To come talk to you. Yeah. I mean, and not necessarily to a public meeting. Yep. And, but I think the next thing that we would need with that is maybe a moderator or someone that could channel this, uh, this program. Yeah. So I mean, there’s, there’s two different sides of it because you can have the open conversation with the individual, you know, kind of pouring their heart out, you know, telling their story. And then afterwards you can talk about, um, you know, the other side. So you could have, you know, the individual speaking and then you could have a panel discussion afterwards, like we’ve had in the past where you can talk, you know, talk about, you know, this is the other side where the family had to live through this, this is some of my experience.

31:18 Or you can have, you know, counseling side, you know, this is what we offer, this is what it’s like to go through counseling. So you can kind of set that up so you have this individual that is able to pour their heart out. Um, and then you can go to a panel, um, but you do Later need some, somebody leading this only because people that have a story, their story could go on for an hour. Right. When we talk to them beforehand and say, you know, this is how long you have, you know, this is, you know, you have a good understanding. And obviously they, they’re gonna wanna know, how long am I speaking for? Yeah. That’s gonna be a big piece. Um, so could You get some people together to meet with Andrew? Or, or At least can we talk? We can talk outside. We’ll talk, we’ll talk Yeah. And see what we, you know, what we can put together. Um, and, and obviously like, you know, if you guys are ready to go

32:03 with the Red band, the Red Watch Band program. Yeah. Go with the school. I mean, you know that you go Right. You know, I don’t stop that anyways because you guys have a bigger group and stuff like that. So if you, you guys are ready to go with that. And what’s Melissa zeroing in on? What does she is? Um, she is work, she’s meeting with, um, Tina and Julia about, um, the, uh, Nan project, the Nan project. So, and, um, there’s already a lot of enthusiasm. I think this is a program that’s in a bunch of schools and has had really big impact and, and resonating with the young people and the, the, um, teachers in the school environment to feel grateful to have this kind of, um,

32:49 I would ask everyone to take a peek at the Nan Project website. It’s really, and it’s local and the family are some of the facilitators for the programming. So, you know, they took this giant loss and, um, creative impactful work to, to try, try and prevent this from happening to anyone, any other family. And It’s, you know, the thing that was confusing me, there was a nan program here in town to Children Lost to Parent. It was about a loss of a parent. And they had something that they were, they sent kids to camp, to, to Children’s Island. So when I heard the word, man, oh, I remember. I was confused. Yeah. But it’s the same name. So, um, that’s why I, I asked you, I think a bunch of people have been confused about that Laney was raising her.

33:35 I I just wanted to also offer my older son, the one who does not struggle. Um, he can present the siblings point of view. Mm-Hmm. Which is really quite unique. He has spoken to, uh, groups of siblings, um, who, you know, they themselves are, they’re the forgotten child because they’re not the one with a problem. No. So that’s also a very unique aspect. I think we’ve gotten a slew of ideas and I, I’d like to, uh, continue this next, next meeting. And I think that we’ll have some more concrete, um, yeah. Suggestions. And that’s what I’m looking for. ‘cause I’ve Trying can, can I, can I leave one more sentence if I may? You

34:21 Can leave as many sentences as you Want. Thank you. I just, you don’t have a, I really am so grateful, Tom, for you to bring these, uh, community members forward in introducing them to us with this, um, experience that you’ve ex, that you’re willing to share with others to help other people. I think that’s what makes the world go round. And I’m so grateful to have, um, listened to each of you and learned your stories and understand your intent to, to help other people Valuable. It’s a really beautiful gesture. Thank you. That’s why I needed to acknowledge you at the beginning of the meeting. Um, should we go on to, uh, town meeting? Yeah.

35:09 Next. So town meeting’s approaching fast. Um, so obviously budget set, the one thing that has changed is that I need to change. So because we did not receive any journal contractors for our transfer station projects, um, I do not believe that we’re gonna be able to spend all of our allocation that we had put into our revolving account for this year. So we need to slide some money over to make sure it’s available next year. So I’ve increased. So we spent, um, $300,000 this year. We bought the contractor, we’ve paid for architect services. I need, we had allocated a total of $600,000 last year. We need to slide it, uh, $300,000 into next year to make that those funds available to us.

35:54 Um, so our revolving account is going up from $1,062,069 up to $1,362,000 in, uh, $62,069. So I need the board to vote, uh, that approval. And so that will go to town meeting. So we, we want us to move from $300,000. Yeah. So, we’ll, From the budget to the Revolving account. No. So it’s in the revolving account currently. We’re not gonna spend it. It’s gonna, but we wanna be able to spend it next year. So I need to, to increase the amount total spending out of the revolving account by 300,000. Remove it. No, so you’re, so you, you had a portion of money that was set in the revolving account this year. So we had allocated $600,000 to be spent this year

36:43 for the transfer station project. With the project not moving forward. Currently, I’m fearful that I won’t be able to spend all that money in this fiscal year, and if I don’t slide some over, it’s not gonna be available. So it stays in the same, it stays in the waste revolving account, but I need to increase my expenditure next year so that money is available to Us. Where are you sliding it over to FY 25. Just re moving it to the, staying in the revolving account. Staying In the revolving account, making it available to us in that flights one At flight. Did, did you get any understanding of why we didn’t get bids from the contractors? So we received, um, file sub bids on all the articles. We actually received a file sub bid from a general contractor for Windows.

37:30 And he stated that it was only gonna be, that bid was only available to him as a general contractor, then he did not put in a general contract bid. And so we’re gonna have a discussion with him to understand why he did that. But we’re gonna have to rebid the whole project.

37:47 I, without a bid, I, we can’t move forward. Yeah. So, but there were a bunch of bids earlier. So Yeah, we can go over that during, you know, I have it part of the, the projects. Um, So right now you wanna, um, vote on the budget. Yep. Would you like to make that motion to please? Uh, we, uh, make the motion to move, uh, the necessary 300. Yeah. So increase the, you were revolving account spending for next year by three and a half, uh, 300, uh, thousand dollars. Okay. Yeah. The motion to move that from, uh, FFY 24. FFY 25. Say second. Second, Yeah. So the total amount is $1,362,069 for FY 25.

38:33 That’s what it’ll be in the revolving account. Yep. All those in favor? In favor. It’s a, it’s a unanim. Um, so moving on with, with town meeting. So obviously at the very beginning, um, of town meeting, um, article number two, uh, reports of town officers and committees, um, we’re gonna need to give an update on this project. I know you had wanted to do this. Yeah. Do, do you still want to do that? Yeah. Okay. So you and I will work together Yeah. Um, to make sure you have the appropriate material and can give an update on the project. Yeah. Yeah. Is the board good with that? As long as it represents the board? Yeah. Obviously it’s factual

39:18 where we are, where we need to go. Um, trying to give, you know, an understanding of where, why we’re, where we are today. Of course. Um, the other piece with that, um, warrant article, so Article 37, That’s the article on, uh, the five member board. Yep. That’s the article on the five member board. I’d be happy to speak to that. So Helene is gonna speak to that. I will work with her as well to make sure that she has an accurate description of the article, why we’re increasing, um, you know, obviously you’re increasing for, um,

40:01 to increase the knowledge and experience of the board. Um, but we’ll come up with wording for that. Obviously it’s a benefit to the community by adding knowledge and experience to the board. Um, but yes, we will have to give an update. Um, I did attend the warrant hearing last night. Um, often the finance committee does have questions on every article, regardless if there’s a financial implication or not. Um, and so, you know, I was there to make sure that they didn’t, did they, Did they have questions on this? They had minor questions. Okay. You know, obviously is there a financial implication? Not this year, but next year there’s a minor financial implication. The board receives two more of these, what, two more of these? Exactly. Um, and, and the stipend. So the board receives a stipend, and so that would be, that would increase, um,

40:49 By $200. Yeah. But I still have to state there’s a, a financial implication to it. Um, and make sure that they, you know, don’t have any questions. We’re, we’re very highly paid. Yeah. Um, the other piece that came up at, at the Warren hearing the other night, uh, last night, we were there very late. Um, uh, it was Article 42. So amend transfer station fees. So this was written by a pri private citizen, uh, to see if the town will go to dis uh, discontinue personal beach and transfer station annual sticker fees for all Arnold honorably discharge veterans who are legal residents of Marblehead, or take any other action relative to, um,

41:35 and so, you know, obviously I had no, I had no opinion on this. Um, but the board, the finance committee did ask if, if there’s a financial implication to it, there’s an estimated 700, uh, veterans in Marblehead. So the financial implications, if every veteran me were to ask for a free sticker, the value would be $76,000. Do we think that’s gonna happen? No. And you know, if the citizens of Marblehead wanna vote this through, they have all the right to do that. Mm-Hmm. But I needed to make sure I was there to answer that Question. You there a precedent to this throughout the community? No, there is state. I do not. No, I do not believe. So. Now, in some communities they do give a senior discount. And so this is kind of one of those ones you’re like,

42:22 you know, again, if this is what the people of Marblehead want to do, I would support that. I mean, I’m not gonna stand up and speak against this. Well, we have talked about, about senior discount or people who, uh, would write that they don’t have the means, not just, and you’ve often said that that was discriminatory because Yeah. There’s multiple people that have financial issues and stuff like that. And, you know, there’s different ways that if there are, are having financial issues, you can work with Marblehead Counseling Center. You could always come and speak with me to say, yeah, I’m really struggling and I need to get rid of some waste. Can you help me out with that? You will always help you. Mm-Hmm. But nobody has a free sticker that you’ll just help me from time to time What you know, it, it, every situation’s different.

43:10 So I’m not gonna go and talk about each individual in town and stuff like that. Okay. But if, if you’re struggling and you need to get rid of something, please come and speak with Me. Mm-Hmm. Well, that’s good to know because I, I know the fact that, I know that seniors have asked. Okay. And you’ve said that we don’t have status for seniors and We do not offer a senior Discount. But because it would open it up to a lot of other, I mean, you know, I understand seniors, they’re at the end, you know, they’re no longer working and stuff like that. But new families can off often be struggling too, just as much. And so it, it, you know, everybody’s financial situation’s different. Mm-Hmm. And I need to look at it, you know, equally, Which you are saying that you do do that.

43:55 I always look at everything you do. Yeah. Yeah. That’s fair. It’s nothing to you can touch, goes to town meeting. Yeah. Told it. So It’s what, what happened with the, uh, leaf wasn’t, isn’t that being brought up again? Yeah. So there are several Leaf floor articles. Um, again, this is for town meeting. Um, I did not give our opinions on that. Um, So yeah, it’s the last, um,

44:28 uh, article 43. Article 44 in Article four five

44:35 are, are leaf blower articles? Do you want me to read them? Not necessarily, no. Okay. But I, but I just was wondering, was there much discussion on it or? No. Again, it’s, you know, when you have the finance committee warrant hearing, they really only care about is there a financial implication to these warrant articles. So then nobody spoke There. There was a woman that spoke about ‘em just to make sure. So it has been past practice that if you do not attend a warrant hearing and you do not speak to your article, they, they try to indefinitely postpone the article on you. So she stood up. Yep.

45:11 Thank you. Yep. Thanks, Sandy. Yep, Sir. So Joanne, you’re given your mental health test where you wanna give the list of It for the most part? Yes, I would. Um, let’s see. Um, we did also, uh, talk about, uh, grab the Torch, which is a local gentleman, Dave Aldridge, who works. Um, he’s, I know you know him very well. What He’s been, go Ahead. So he, uh, there was an article in the Marblehead News last week, uh, maybe, excuse me. This was, the meeting was a while ago. It may have been two or three weeks ago. Um, and our colleague, Susan, uh, steal had talked about Grab the Torch. And this is an organization working with his organization, working with high school girls to help them develop leadership skills. And, um, this endeavor, I think was, it would be valuable

46:00 to consider bringing as a project to some of our students thinking of senior project potentially. Um, and that was something that we are, it’s another touch point that we’re going to explore connecting with to see if that’s a way we can help, you know, um, support people. And I think especially these young people with some of these resources, Is it young people, not just young girls? Um, she had described it just young women, so high school girls, historically, maybe, maybe it’s changed, transitioned. Um, and let’s see, we, um, we have, we actually discussed, um, learned to Cope and, um, had a conversation about that. And, um, one of our, several

46:47 of our members are very much refer people to learn to cope and families. And, uh, Wendy Kent talked about it a great deal. And it’s been a tremend resource that she’s extremely grateful for, um, to be able to connect people that she works with to that organization. Um, and, uh, let’s see, our next meeting is May 15th. Um, and hopefully we’ll be implementing in between that. We have our subcommittee meetings. We have a policy meeting coming up on Friday. We have, uh, a engagement subcommittee meeting and a membership committee meeting. Hopefully we’ll get some, um, some more news about these subgroups subcommittees and what, uh, success they’re having. And do you think there’s an opportunity in

47:32 that engagement group to hear about some going forward with the man project or the Yes. Well, I hope so. Actually, Melissa, um, she chairs the PCO at the high school, so she’ll be, she sees a great deal of Gina and, um, and Julia. So her plan was to, they, they already knew about this, but hopefully this is something, Mark’s got a team of his students at Salem University, um, his psychology students to help them work as, you know, advocates for the students in high school, to be working with someone a little closer to their peer group. And hopefully it’ll have some impact and empower them to be able to, um, help one another throughout the next, you know, throughout this, this, um, prom season and busy time for young people,

48:20 Uh, to, is it possible to get more of these? So upstairs we have a table with a lot of information. Uh, let’s get a, a variety of information. So you can be looking for a whole bunch of different things, but if we could get this to have it available to individuals, that would be great. Sure. Um, and I can talk to them afterwards. Is He the stand for them? Like a plastic expand or Anything? That would be great. Okay. Is it possible to have the ones for the Peabody group that says taunting on it To, I mean, Tom and I will talk about it. I mean, I’ll, I’ll take their recommendation. You know, um, I think, you know, Peabody is probably the easiest one to get to, but I mean, Peabody, ESSIC and Gloster. Oh. But certainly not taunting. Yeah. So we’ll, we’ll talk to make sure that we have the appropriate, Um, because this is the, the times and,

49:05 and, uh, days of the week for I guess four time. Um, anyhow. Uh, that’ll Be good. Yeah, that would be great. I thank you for your report. I just wanna tell you that the, the, uh, board of Health was, uh, the health department was involved with the, with the, what’s it? The torch Throw The torch. Oh yeah. Carry Torch. Carrie, the torch. Well, Dave Ridge was, uh, helped by, uh, Bobby and by, by Andrew and myself. Oh. He has a set up, a kitchen that he set has set up in the JCC, and he needed approval from, from our department. And so actually Andrew was the one that really put it together. Yeah. Grabbed the torch. The torch, yes.

49:53 They could throw the, and, because now he’s making bagels and it’s called Grab the Bagel. Grab the Bagel. So I should have remembered the grab. But anyhow, he’s, he’s open for business. If anybody wants to buy his bagels, he’s online and he can, uh, then he gives his profits budgets to help these young people. Yeah, very Inspiring. He is done it in other states, New York, someplace else. If you ask him, he’ll, he’ll give you plenty of information.

50:37 All right, so this is the Marlet Transfer Station filed sub bids. Um, so on the left hand side, um, you will see, uh, oh seven five oh roofing and flashing. You’ll see metal windows. You’ll see painting, you’ll see plumbing, you’ll see HVAC, and you’ll see electrical. Those were the, the categories for filed sub bids. And then moving across, um, you had a bid price of the, the main project. Then you had the alternate number one with the scale house alternate number two, the transaction hut pad transac alternate three, the swap ship pad, alternate four, the transaction hu itself, and alternate number five, um, the swap ship. And then at the very top you have estimates.

51:23 So these were the architect’s estimates. So the estimate for the original bid price for roofing and flashing, uh, was $18,000 and $18,016. And you’ll see underneath that you will see the bids that we received. So from Rockwell Roofing and Belco, uh, Rockwell Roofing came in at the low bid of 44,975. So very different from the estimate. Um, going down metal windows, um, GVW, um, aluminum glass and concepts, um, and cap ops glass. Um, again, GVW would’ve been the low bid. Um, and they had stipulated that their bid could only be used by them. Um, again, you’ll see the estimate of 6,563, um,

52:12 with the low bid coming in at $20,000. Um, continuing on down, you have painting. Um, we only received one painting bid from John Egan. Again, the estimate was $20,243. The bid for the painting was $76,200. Um, plumbing, um, we had a lot of people, um, you know, want out their bids, so they’re trying to get a low bid and then gain other work. Um, the estimate for the first one was zero. And we had Aurora Brothers plumbing and heating bid, 180 7, you know, $187,000. Um, continuing on down HVAC, um, we received three bids. Thomas Student Inc, apex Corp, Aurora, uh,

53:00 brothers, plumbing and Heating. The estimate for the HVAC was 16,800. The low bid for that was 38,000. Um, for electrical, we had Carlton Electrical Construction. Um, the estimate for the original project was 37 5 50, um, with the low bid coming at, uh, $68,700. So you can see where these bids are. Um, you know, when you look at this in my mind, obviously, you know, the roofing way off, even the metal windows was pretty far off. You gotta kinda carry some of this stuff down the line and see where it is. How the, how does everything fit in? If you were to do all the stuff, um, you know, plumbing, you know, we didn’t really get any bids for plumbing. Um, there was no s there was no work for the plumbing,

53:47 but that’s where it came up. Um, the HVAC, um, six th 16,000, you’re getting 38. So the bids were kinda all over the place. N nothing that’s really kind of coming into our estimate. Um, and then again, as you continued on down the line, the same thing works out the same way for alternate, uh, building the new scale house. Um, the estimate for the roofing and flashing was 33,299. Um, Rockwell Roofing came in at 44, 975. Belco was 61,000. Um, going down to metal windows, the estimate for the, uh, scale house was 20,757. Um, GBW with 25, um, aluminum glass concepts came in at 56, 2 2 7,

54:32 and cap off glass came in at 48 100. Um, again painting, um, just for the scale house, it was estimated at 3,987. Um, John Egan came in at 11,000 for the low bid, um, plumbing estimated at 88,833. Um, we actually had some, you know, decent bids on this. Buyers and Signs Mechanical one 13 to 8 41, Robert w Irvine, incenses, uh, sons 1 0 6, um, GIA Plumbing and Heating, uh, 1 13 8 8 6. Um, Boston Mechanical coming in with the low bid of 96,000. And Aurora Brothers plumbing and heating coming at 180 7. So why did they build bid on the alternate Nevada? On the, uh, the, there was no, so for the plumbing,

55:19 there is no plumbing work in the first, in the main, that main project Uhhuh. But they did, you know, Aurora brothers put in 180 7. Everybody else just dollared it out. They knew that there was no work there.

55:33 Um, going down to, uh, the HVAC for the scale house, the estimated price was 31 6 60. Um, Thomas Snowden came in at 56,000. Um, apex Corp came in at 48, 900 for the low bid. And Aurora brothers coming in. Heating came in at 72, 4 50. Um, the electrical for alternate number one, estimated that 58 0 78, uh, low bid came in at 37,800. Um, alternate number two, the transaction hut pad. Obviously there’s nothing there. There is, you know, electrical tucking into the, the pad and stuff like that. Conduit. Um, and that was the low bid for the Carlton Electric. Um, the estimate estimate was 1,660

56:19 and they came in at a thousand dollars. Um, swap, uh, alternate number three of the swap shed pad. Again, um, no roofing, no, you know, none of that stuff. There is a little bit of electrical work. The estimated electrical work for the swap shed pad was 20,500. Uh, Carlton Electric came in at a thousand dollars. So, so if you, if you look at their total bid and you add up the estimate, they’re pretty close in the total all the way, you know, they’re often areas, but their total bid for the whole project is pretty close to that estimate. Okay. Um, going down, so we’ll go to alternate number four, the transaction hu Um, the estimate for the roofing and flashing, uh, was 7,047. Rockwell Roofing came in at, um, at the low bid was 7,000,

57:08 so very close to the estimate. And Bellco came in at 12,000, um, metal windows. The estimate was 15,980. Um, GVW coming in at 22,000. Aluminum glass concepts coming at 17,246 and cap off glass coming in with a low bit of 12,990. Um, painting, the estimated cost for painting was $754. Johnny Egan comes in with a low bit of, uh, 4,600, um, plumbing. Um, there’s no plumbing for the transaction hut. Um, but buyers and sons mechanic bid 10,013, but everyone else zeroed it out. Um, HVAC, there is HVAC for the transaction hut. The estimate was 12,800. Thomas Snowden came in at 23,000.

57:54 Apex Corp came in at 16,850. Um, Aurora Brothers plumbing and heating came in at 25,800. Um, so the, the 16,000 apex would’ve been the little bid, um, with the electrical, um, for the transaction. Hu the estimate was 17,000 oh four six Carlton Electric. They were the only ones that bid with the little bit of 12,300. Now, the last one for the, um, for the swap shop, um, the estimate for the roofing and flashing was 63,278. Rockwell Roofing comes in at 93,000. Belco comes in with the little bit of 44,000. So pretty, pretty, you know, under the, the estimate, there’s no metal windows, there’s no painting, uh, there’s no plumbing, uh, there’s no HVAC,

58:42 the electrical work, um, estimated 54,375, um, carton Electric, um, low bid with 9,710 now. So generally the con the general contractor would take all these and, you know, take the low bid of the, the companies that across the board and bring ‘em into his general contractor bid. But nobody was interested in that. We did not receive any general contractor bids. Now, we did speak with the attorneys. Um, no. What were our options? Obviously, option would be to reread the whole projects, um, try to talk, talk to some general contractors, make sure that they’re aware of this project, talk to them beforehand. So the local, um, DAM certified general contractors in the area are groom,

59:29 um, and GVW. Um, so we could talk to them, you know, see what their concerns are. Are there any things that they point out to us that we’re not aware of? Is there so much work out there that this is such a small dollar amount that it’s not worth them working on currently? Um, so some of those things are what we’re really looking at. Now, the other total option that the town could do would be to be the general contractors. The problem with that is that obviously the architects are really concerned about that for scheduling reasons, but we don’t have in here excavation, concrete work, building construction. So we would be responsible for finding those people, and it becomes a nightmare for scheduling. So imagine that we have, we shut the pit down, we’re going

1:00:16 to do excavation, and you know, we have an excavator contract in a, in a, a cement contract, and somebody who doesn’t show up and we’re stuck there holding the bag, essentially. So it’s just not, but the Transfer station closed. What’s the transfer station clause? So it is not advised that we become the general contractor. Yes, there can be some savings for us to do that. Um, but we just don’t have the relationships with these companies to make sure that they’re gonna be on the job when they say they might get better offers and they have no alliance to us. And so it becomes very technical or, and difficult. Um, but, so, you know, the best thing for us to do is obviously speak with these, you know, the generals, see what’s going on as quickly as possible. Um, and depending on what they have to say,

1:01:03 get this back out on the street quickly as possible to, to, you know, hopefully have a successful bid. But These would hold these, No, these would not, we, we would redo everything. Yeah. There’s enough like concerns in here where things are up and down that I, I would not wanna, you know, I, I would wanna start fresh. Do you think that they, that, that the architect is, is accurate with these prices? Yeah, because we the architect up in the beginning and be like, your estimates are even high for what I think they’re supposed to be. Um, but now look what’s happening. But look, yeah, so the, the hard thing right now is that there’s a lot of work out there. Um, this isn’t a big money job. We do live in Marblehead.

1:01:48 We are hard to get to. It’s hard to get everything here. So it, you know, that all factors in, you know, having to drive to the job site every day, getting materials here. What’s going on for other big jobs out in the Massachusetts area? Well, some of people, it all factors in. Some of these people are Local. I Recognize that. Yeah. So Carlton Electrical is, is a local company. So Peter lives in town, obviously, you know, we’ve done some work with him in the past. We hope, you know, obviously we’ll speak with him and make sure that hopefully he will rebate with the filed sub bids again. And GGD vtech, So GVW does live in town, you know, uh, George Junior lives in town. Um, he did the Brown school. Um, so, you know, we were a little surprised when he put in his filed sub bids but then didn’t carry and,

1:02:36 and the file, the sub, it says his numbers can only be used by him. And so, but then he doesn’t do a general contractor like what happened. He’s the one that was gonna be the general contractor Yeah. That he thought would come forward. Yes. And He did. Yep. Did he did on the original one? No. So Got a lot of painters in town too. Yeah, I, yeah, the hard, the hard thing for these obviously, so we have to pay prevailing wage. It all has to be tracked by the general contractor. Um, it it, you know, some companies feel that it’s hard to go from private work to prevailing wage because it’s hard on the employees because they have this such high increase in rates that they went and they go back to, you know, private work.

1:03:23 The employees are like, I just got paid all this money over here. We’re doing the same work. Why aren’t you paying me over here? And so sometimes they stay away from it. There’s obviously, you know, um, a little bit more oversight on some of that stuff. Um, so it is a little hard, but you would think that there, I I think, you know, there is a, a, a company in town Osgood, that might be interested. Um, you know, and you know, I don’t know if he’s not certified for some of the stuff not carrying the correct insurance. Um, but we, you know, it’s another company that we like to talk to. Mm-Hmm. Is commercial so much higher than residential because of the insurance? So prevailing wage, which we have to pay for municipality is much higher than, um, private park,

1:04:11 And that’s why the town broke. What, what, what does, uh, uh, with these suppose the lowest bids here come through for the next bid, what, what kind of, um, cost is the general contact factor expected to add onto this? Uh, so obviously I wanna say the, I have to go back and do look at the math and stuff like that. Um, you know, your general contractor work’s gonna be, you know, six to $800,000, if not more. Excuse me. And nobody wants that kind of money. There’s, so there’s a lot of money out there right now. Um, you know, even with cons like residential construction in town,

1:04:57 contractors are still able to name their price. They have a lot of work that’s like, kind of stacked up. Um, and so, you know, they’re not willing to pay this price or this is a, like, kind of a bigger headache of a job. They’re gonna just stay where they are. They’re comfortable with it. They’re gonna continue on. Um, you know, it, it’s kind of tough with construction right now. Cost of items are, you know, are getting easier, you know, during covid items are hard to get higher costs. Those costs have come down. Um, but, you know, cost of construction’s still pretty high at this point.

1:05:32 Well, thank you for giving And obviously, you know, we’re all very disappointed when we, you know, there’s a lot of work that’s been going into this. We’re really looking to get into construction. Um, and, and we need to, obviously our biggest concern right now is the, the current compactor. Um, we have a brand new compactor on site, um, and if something does happen, we can, you know, bring somebody into and install that. Um, but it’s not in the order that we want it to be. Mm-Hmm. So yeah, you, you said the names, I’d say just reach out to them and try to Yeah. So yeah, the email went out to some of the companies and so hopefully we’ll set up meetings in the next couple days and, and speak with them, understand what’s going on, um, and get this right back out. Oh, I’m sorry for the work that you’re doing, that’s

1:06:17 Not, yeah, we are just hoping to be moving fruit the next phase And we have to report this to the community Also. That’s correct. Yeah. Tom and I will be working on how, you know, obviously, you know, transparency, we, we wanna make sure they try to kinda understand the whole picture. Um, but yeah. Okay. Um, just continue on because I have a couple other items. Um, we have household hazard, this waste day coming up, um, that’s Saturday, April 27th to pay event. Um, it is from nine to 12. These events are very, very busy. Um, we really want you to get there first thing in the morning. I know there’s gonna be a line, um, you know, we had to shut the gate at the last event

1:07:04 because it was one, you know, it was one o’clock and we’re like this, I can’t continue to take people. Um, but you really need to be, you know, inside the gate by 11, you know, what other hours by 12 o’clock? Uh, nine to 12. Nine to 12. And you went over to one? Yeah. Yep. And Is, it’s still in. We’re Gonna, they, the company that we’re working with is supposed to be bringing a bigger crew. Um, we’re gonna probably set up a slightly different area, um, to try to push more people through, as you know, as fast as possible. Um, but it is a really busy event, obviously. Um, because we had worked with a CV, which was a pickup company before. We had a great program running. They got bought out that stopped. We had switched back to a new company.

1:07:49 We had a little bit of a lapse in time. So I know some material had built up at home, and so there was a bigger need. Um, but, you know, there’s always a need and stuff like that. So, um, the idea is to have a, you know, a minimum two events, um, a year. Obviously we would love to have three or four events. Um, and we’re always looking towards the future and what’s the best way to serve the community. Is it possible that we have a way to take household hazardous waste on a regular basis for Marble Hill residents? That’s, to me is the, the ultimate goal. Right. And there are a couple communities out there that do that. Um, I’ve seen presentations by them. Um, and so we’re always kind of looking to that and seeing if that’s something that we could bring here. Now this is still with Tioga Way, is it? It’s, uh, no, this is at, um, my wallet transfer station.

1:08:36 At the transfer station. Yeah, at the transfer station.

1:08:40 Majority of it being paint, semi, Uh, paint and gas. Paint and gas, Yeah. Um, and obviously with the paint, so we take acrylic, you know, acrylic, latex Yeah. Non-hazardous paint all the time. It needs to be dried out. Um, you’re allowed four cans a day. Um, but what happens is that when people are cleaning out, and I totally understand, they’re not looking to say, you know, they just think they’re grabbing all hazardous and so they wanna come to the hazardous waste stays and just unload everything. Mm-Hmm. As long as they pay, it doesn’t, yeah, it, it is, I understand it is the easiest thing, but we do take acrylic, latex paint on a regular basis, you know, if it’s completely dried out, you know, and tech, if it’s completely dried out, it can go in your household trash. Mm-Hmm. Um, as long as it’s bag like everything else,

1:09:25 it’s non-hazardous. What about something like, um, you know, if you, if you wanted to lessen on this day in particular, like storing, I don’t know, in like a, you know, a container outback. So we, so the, so a couple different things that we’d be looking at is that looking to take paint on a regular basis and putting paint into a 55 gallon drum. Yeah. So you gotta do it, you gotta have it inside. So in a shipping container still be acceptable. Yeah. Um, but those are some of the things that we are looking at Just to alleviate. Yep. Yeah. The other piece is that we did have a meeting with Republic recently. Republic was the one that bought a CV. Um, and we’re trying to convince Republic that this is the model to use for everybody. We’re trying to bring a CV back to the community. Okay. And so they would go directly to homes. Yeah.

1:10:11 And that, that was really the, the best model. Mm-Hmm. Um, because it reduced the risk. So the risk is when people put the material in the car and drive to the event. Um, and with that, so we did have an issue at the transfer station. So we take used motor oil or used oil on a regular basis. We have a 500 gallon double wall tank up there, unfortunately. Um, so Clean Harbors comes and picks it up. Um, they, they have to sample it to see, make sure it’s clean or that it’s contained just motor oil. Unfortunately, the last time they sampled it, which was over two months ago, um, we got a hit. Um, and so they have to re-sample it. It came in with a chlorine hit. Um, and so now we are gonna pay $4,000 to have it pumped out

1:10:57 and cleaned and get rid of the material. So we really ask people, it’s gonna continue to stay locked. You’re gonna have to sleep with the attendant to have access to it. Um, but we can only take used motor holding on it, otherwise we deal with these issues. Mm-Hmm. And the issue with Clean Harvest right now, now is that they lost one of the major plants down south in southern Massachusetts. So they, they have been very slow to deal with this. They do not have the manpower. Um, and, but like, you know, it has been almost two months with this being locked to them trying to figure out what they’re gonna do with this material. And so it’s gonna get, most likely it’s either gonna just get sucked up, but there’s a, obviously a, a heavy cost to get rid of it. Wow.

1:11:41 So when you have to pay four a thousand dollars, where does that out of Our budget? Uh, other disposal?

1:11:50 A big number. Yep. So, so you know, obviously it’s, you know, that whole industry’s changed. Um, we used to get paid for the material, then it was free, and then it was, you know, usually it’s three to $400 to remove the material. Um, but that with this hit, um, you know, some of the other concerns are, some of the other hits you can get is PCBs. Um, there are some jars of PCBs still out there in people’s basements. They think it’s oil, they dump it in, and then we get a PCB hit. And it, it, same, same cost. Um, but with the chlorine going into the fuel or with the oil, there’s no way to separate out and it just, yeah.

1:12:29 Who would put chlorine in There? Somebody trying to get rid of something that, you know, sometimes they’ll see, we’ll see gas in there that we’ve had a little higher cost for. Again, you know, it’s only supposed to be used. Motor oil antifreeze is is another one that sometimes we see in cookie oil. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, they used cookie oil is fine. Um, so we wanna move on to the Wellness day. Yeah.

1:12:55 Uh, this was something that, uh, Kim Crowley actually at Lighthouse Fitness reached out to me and just suggested that, I mean, I thought it was a good idea, um, was kind of a wellness day where, uh, maybe at the community center, something for weather purposes, um, you know, local

1:13:13 gyms, you know, whatever could, could put up tables, whatever and, and show what they got and, and people could go around and look at it. I was thinking maybe, and I don’t know if Kim’s on the call, um, and would agree with this or not, but it’s tough to find a time of year that, you know, in the summer you’re not gonna get much atten attention. Stuff like that. January, I was thinking, because you get the New Year’s Resolution people And, um, Things like that. Um, so I just kind of did a quick history look at what we’ve done in the past. Sure. Um, the last one I kind of found, I’m sure there was one more recent, but, um, the Chamber, marble Lake Chamber of Commerce was kind of the, um, sponsor of the event was called the Health and Wellness Fair. Um, it was Saturday, April 8th. It happened to be that time,

1:13:58 but it was a, um, you’ll find a diverse collection of health and wellness professionals offering interactive displays, complimentary health screenings to the public. Um, and so yeah, I I think that goes along, along with your idea. Copy that model. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I think it would be great if we could work with the Chamber. Yeah. Um, and any of the other organizations, the other group that often does, um, health or wellness events is the YMCA Mm-Hmm. Um, and the,

1:14:31 they have a new, um, executive director of, of mental wellness, um, Jeev Benjamin. Um, and so I think he’s somebody else that we might wanna kind of loop in, um, and talk to see if, you know, he has interest in either doing it there or I think providing the event or just being part of it. In the past, Joanne’s worked at the Y two different times. Yeah. I know you’ve, you’ve done that a couple times. Wellness Fair. Yeah. Wellness fair. The JCC has wellness fairs every so often. Do you have to be a member to go To those? No, They’re just in the entryway there. It’s just Everybody. It’s a town event. But That’s a good question. I don’t know that that’s well advertised. Yeah. I it probably, it probably isn’t to tell you the truth. And here it’s at a private place, you know, you might Think, I think this is where it is, would be great if we did try to partner with the chamber.

1:15:16 Yeah. Um, work with all the businesses in the community. I think this is something that you’re passionate about as well. Um, and so yeah, I, I think I, I totally agree with you with the January. Um, so let’s continue to talk about this. Obviously, you know, the mental health task force would be playing a role in this. Um, so have You spoken to the Chamber? I have not. Nope. Did you speak with the, the Y ‘cause um, about doing something like this or? No, we, We, we piggybacked on theirs last year. They had over wellness center, so we added a mental health wellness. So that’s You did. And I know that the JCC is interested in it also. They could probably send some of their staff over to Yeah. So I think, you know, either the second or the third, um, Saturday in January would be a, I would just think if you’re gonna bring, if you’re gonna try to bring in a lot of the community

1:16:04 and stuff space way you want. So if the JC or the Y wasn’t able to offer up their gym space or something, you know, if it was just a lobby might a tight Yeah. I think you Willing to do the gym? I think the Marblehead COA could definitely be an option with place with the gym. That’s what, that’s kind of what I was asking. Okay. You know, nice and central and Yep. You know, Um, so we can reach out to Lisa and see if we can kinda save a date with that. Do You think, um, the fall is any better when people are starting off with it? I really, to tell you the truth, I really like the idea. The January, I think you’re hitting it, you know? Yeah. Everybody has this in New Year. Stretch the fish. Yeah. It’s winter time. We all need activities. Um, I, I think it’s a really good idea.

1:16:50 Um, anything else for the board before we move on to trouble? Comment. Had quite a big trouble comment. I, um, you know, before we go to public comment, I have some correspondence that I’d like to, um, this is to Helene. Joanne and Tolin, how nice it was to receive all the yummy muffins from Maria’s, including the two gluten free ones for me. This is from Kay at the transfer station. I was totally surprised and very grateful the guys made those muffins disappear very quickly along with a jug of coffee and cream. We try our best to be helpful and courteous with all the people using the transfer station. Thank you for acknowledging the work we’ll do, and thanks again for the goodies. Mike, Chris, Luke, Mike and Kay. So that was very nice note.

1:17:35 Pretty stationary too. Lola, Washington Street, Marblehead, Massachusetts. I do that. So, um, Cynthia McCann. I don’t know who that is. Um, so any, any other comments that have not been made, uh, from Yes. Well, I think it’s important to point out that to, to receive zero bids on a general contract is remarkable. And it goes to, you can’t do that unless you have a seriously broad solicitation, which in fact this was,

1:18:09 and you as the board are responsible for these things. You’re the ones who put it on the street and you’re the one who received the bids and you’re responsible to make sure that, that it’s, it’s biddable and you receive no bids. So this failures to you, this is in addition as we speak to pay $400,000 a year on a bond issue for a transfer station we don’t have. So it’s time for this board of health, like stand up and start doing some things. Right.

1:18:38 Thank you for your comments. I know you’ve been disappointed right along. And I, I just keep, I keep watching basically incompetence

1:18:48 and we don’t have, we don’t years go by and we don’t have a transfer station. Many more years are gonna go by. This is your job to make this happen.

1:19:03 That’s what you’re elected for. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, Elliot. Okay. Uh, couple of things.

1:19:15 It’d be really good if you guys mentioned the diaper drive that people are having. I brought some in tonight, but the people at home could understand about it or somebody from the paper could put something in would be nice. Yeah. Thank you. It’s A worthwhile thing to do it. Uh, Andrew, how long is the diaper drive going on? Uh, so I didn’t bring the paperwork with me, but the public health nurses are doing a di diaper drive For the whole month? Yeah. For the month of, of April. April, okay. Uh, yeah. And so all the health departments, um, Marblehead Swamp, Scott, uh, Salem, Danvers, and Beverly are all accepting, uh, diapers And wipes. And wipes. Yep. And and that’s both infant and adult. And that is disposable And cloth, correct. Oh, disposable and cloth. Yep. Such a thing. There is

1:20:01 Such, there is such a thing. The other thing I wanted to mention was last year or the last hazardous waste thing that went on, um, I just happened to be going by on my walk and they were backed up past Lincoln Avenue. It looks ridiculous. I think what you need to do, if you get a feel for when the last car’s gonna be put up, sticker up on the last car, that’s it. ‘cause a lot of people waited and waited and there was a bunch of people in line that were waiting to get in for the thought. Just the transfer station. They didn’t realize that that would be a big help. Sounds good. I’m actually gonna hire people that day. Thank you for that. That’s Anyone else. Well, that’s great. We’re done before nine o’clock.

1:20:48 And you don’t I do not. Any hands, anyone online before Adjourn

1:20:59 All motion. Motion to ajour. Motion adjourn. Second In favor. Morning.