Board of Health: July 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.

0:03 Good evening, everyone. Uh, it’s seven 30. Um, I’m Andrew Petty. I’m the director of public health. Um, this is the first meeting, uh, with new members. Um, and so generally we have the organization. So I chair the meeting until we appoint a chair. Um, so at this point, I’ll take motions. I’d like To make a motion to let our speakers go before we decide on a chair. Do I have it a second? Is there any discussion on that? Yeah, there’s a discussion that I think that we should have organization first so that we could then hear the, the audience as a, as a board and not as, as a, there’ll Still be a board. We still the audience. It’s still a Board. No, but we’ve got agenda running the meeting, and I think we should have our, I Think he’s done a good job so far. Any other, any further discussion?

0:49 All in favor of the motion to allow YWCA to move forward. First the agenda. Any opposed? Okay. At that point, the motion moves forward. I’d like to welcome YWCA to the Board of Health meeting. Um, if you’d like to introduce yourself and we can begin. Hi. Good evening everyone. And thank you for this opportunity for us to be able to share a little bit about the service we provide. My name is Ella Serta. I’m the Director of Community Based Services of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, um, domestic Violence and sexual assault programs for the YWC in Northeast and Massachusetts. Could You speak a little louder, please? Yeah. And I’m here with my colleague Hannah. I’m Hannah Gagne. Um, so I just stepped into the site director role at our Lynn location, um, which is also known as the North Shore Rape Crisis Center.

1:35 So we, uh, for, we oversee 29 cities and towns, including mar And, Yep. Just keep, yep. Um, so the YWCA, specifically within the North Shore Rape Crisis Center in Lynn. Um, we specifically offer services for survivors of sexual assault from the ages of 12 years and up. Um, we provide in all of our services are free and confidential. We provide individual counseling for survivors and the non-offending family members. We’re also part of a collaborative, so we have a 24 hour hotline, which also provides 24 7 365 days out of the year, which also provides survivors who are in crisis who just need to speak to a counselor. Um, that support for emotional support and crisis crisis intervention. Um, any survivors that are seeking support to either report

2:23 to the police department or seeking restraining order, harassment order, we will accompany them, um, to provide that emotional support. We also work closely with hospitals within, currently it’s, um, selling hospital, which is one of the same certified tele SANE certified nurses, um, hospitals, Beverly Hospital, um, Addison Gilbert. So the hospitals in the communities that we serve. Um, whenever a survivor has experienced a sexual assault and so chooses to obtain evidence collection, so otherwise, the rape kit, we are also called in to be able to provide that emotional support while there, the evidence collection is being supported. Um, so just to be able to inform those survivors of their rights, um, help them with the paperwork that comes with the kit, answer any questions they may have, and just be able to calm them through this process,

3:10 that can also feel a bit intimidating. Um, So are you at the hospital or, Mm-Hmm. Okay. Yep. Yep. So we get called in. So once the seeing nurses arrive, or the tele saying nurses are, um, and tele saying, so it’s sexual assault nurse examiners, they’re specifically trained to provide these rape kits. Um, they will also contact the rape crisis center, um, for these towns, it will be us and our advocates will go in person. That’s a 24 hour service, 365 days of the year, we go in person to provide that emotional support to the survivor at the hospital. Can you tell me, tell me which towns you typically cover? So you’re in Lynn, right? So it’s, I’m assuming Marble. It’s small. South Salem. Mm-Hmm. Salem Lynn. 29 towns in total. Yeah. So the next location isn’t very close then?

3:56 Yeah, we’re pretty, I thought you were in Lowell, Lowell Center for Hope and Healing. Is that where you came from tonight? We came, I came from Lawrence. Lawrence Lawrence, um, but our Lin site covers 29 towns nearby. So yes, qua, um, marble Head, the Lin Salem p um, Peabody Bubbly. Um, yeah, this, this, it’s basically, um, Lynn North all the way up to Newburyport. Yep. Yeah. So the Essex Council. Yeah. Yes.

4:24 And we also provide, which Hannah will elaborate a bit more on, we provide an array of different, um, presentations to the community, essentially working with the youth. Our what hope is to be able to educate youth about consent, um, sexual assault right within itself, um, the Title IX as they transition into the college setting as well. Um, so we have an array of different topics that we present to youth, as well as conduct professional trainings, um, with different entities within the community. Again, how to support someone who discloses that they’ve been sexually assaulted, so how to be a support to that survivor. Um, and so Hannah will, um, dive in. Who, who are your clients? Male, female, any survivors from the pages of his fault, and no, as long as they’re a survivor

5:10 or they’re non offend nonoffending family members. Um, so we work with 12 and up men, females, um, LGBTQ plus community. Any survivors who have experienced a sexual assault. You what members? Um, nonoffending family members. So sometimes, sometimes I say if, let’s say if a guardian was the perpetrator, we wouldn’t work with that guardian, but, so let’s say if, if my father was the perpetrator who had assaulted me, sexually assaulted me, my mom could receive services, but the perpetrator who committed the car crime, who caused the harm, we would’ve provide that service to the perpetrator. The constant support.

5:50 I, I would guess that the perpetrator’s not always clear or not always an admission that they are a perpetrator. How do you make decisions in that environment? If the vic, if, if the assaulting person says X was perpetrator and X says, I was not, how do you work that through? Well, we only work with the survivor. So when someone comes into our office, you know, we believe their story. Um, most of the time survivors know who their perpetrators are. Um, I know, unfortunately in the social media, it seems to seem like most rapes are committed by our strangers. But in reality, most rapes are committed by someone we know. Um, so when a survivors coming in, we’re not questioning whether this person really did it, we’re, we’re believing.

6:35 We work out of the empowerment model and really believe in their story and supported them in hopes, you know, that they’re able to, um, reach that healing journey. Could do one more thing before Hannah begins. Could you tell us what Title IX is? Title ix? It’s, it’s essentially within the school systems in which every student or faculty who have experienced, whether that’s abuse, um, an abusive relationship or sexual assault, every school system should have a policy in place, an investigation should be conducted, so that the hope is, unfortunately, in the past, um, some of the disciplinary have been kind of victim blaming or outcasting isolating the, the survivor themselves, the victim themselves. So the idea is that within this policy, that there’s an investigation that’s conducted so

7:21 that the person who has caused harm is held accountable, and that the survivors feel safe within that environment. And it’s in all, I mean, it’s big in the ca college campus setting, but it is in all levels of the school system.

7:37 Any questions? So Hannah will elaborate a little bit more on the topics that we tend to cover in the community. Yeah. So we are really flexible with our presentations. We do a lot of prevention work, um, presentations being that main part of it. And so, like we said, we do oversee 29 cities and towns. Marvel Head happens to be one of the school districts we have really close relationship with. Um, and so I’ve worked really closely with Carlos Selo, who is the health teacher in the high school. Um, and with her, I’ve presented in her class every quarter. So she gets a new group of students every quarter, and she has me come in and present for them two days at a time, um, for, for each, each group within that. Um, before, at the beginning of this past school year, it was just with seniors. And then as the school year went on, she was like, I think this would be really good with freshmen

8:23 and having freshmen in the spring. And then I started presenting to the freshmen as well. So like I said, we are flexible. Our overarching umbrella of topics are consent and healthy relationships that we present on. Within that, there’s a lot of subtopics. Um, the most common being, we talk about the cycle of abusive relationships versus the cycle of healthy relationships. Um, different characteristics of healthy, unhealthy and abusive relationships. And making sure to identify too that it’s not necessarily a dating relationship. It can be a friendship, a family relationship. Um, we talk about warning signs of abusive relationships and how to support a friend if they’re in an unhealthy or abusive relationship, especially putting an emphasis on the fact that we are presenting to youth, so how they can actually support that person, how to connect with a trusted adult and all of that stuff.

9:10 Um, and then a few other things. We do talk about, we talk about boundaries, the importance of boundaries, how to set healthy boundaries, what those look like, different forms as well as bystander intervention. Um, and then we also talk about sexual violence as well, so the different types of sexual violence and then what their resources are within that. So obviously our services, um, but then also other, other trusted adults. So within the school district. Um, also we always talk about Hawk as well, um, since we work really closely with them. But again, it is really flexible. So it’s basically whatever, whatever the teacher thinks is most valuable. Um, we’ll highlight that. Some schools, I’m only in there for 45 minutes. Others, I’m with the students for 120 minutes. So it’s, it really depends, um, on what the, what the teacher is looking for.

9:56 So, so one question you Yeah. Um, yeah. Program, I’m, I’m getting it now. Is school-based? It’s not for adults? Is that, So, so we do a combination. So we do serve youth, um, but we also serve adults as well. So we have our counseling services, and we do a lot of work in the courts and hospitals, and that’s for any age over the age of 12, so including adults. But then on the prevention side of it, we do a lot with youth, so within the, within the schools or within other nonprofits and things like that. Because when you just ta were talking, you were just talking about the schools. So Yes, that’s just our prevention aspect of it. Your, your services up with adults and with, with, uh, school age people. So we can do so for our counseling, which is our main, our main component of direct service. Um, we can have them come in person in our office in Lynn and do that counseling.

10:41 We can also do it over the phone, over Zoom. Um, but we’re able to support survivors in whatever works best for them. So if they have certain needs, we do our best to meet those needs. Um, and that’s our direct service model. And then on the other side of it, we do a lot of prevention and outreach, like what we do in the schools.

11:02 And you also YWHA? Yeah. YWCA. Yep. We’re from the same organization. Yeah. I’m just, what Andrew, do we have them on? I can’t remember if we have them on the website Or, I do not believe we have ‘em on the website yet. Okay. But like if Yeah. Let them, you know, obviously we wanna, we’re, We’re in the process of redesign. Yeah. So, Yeah, so we’d love to have all your information up on the website. Um, is your presentation and all that information that you just gave also on the web, on your website? On our website, but we can definitely, I can definitely send it over to you. Okay. Um, so yeah, we’ll, I’ll work with you to make sure that when we add information to the website, it kind of meets your standards and stuff like that. And it’s, you know, you got, can kind of guide a student making sure we have everything that you would want to have us up there and stuff like that. Um, but it’s great that you’re going through the, you know,

11:47 already at the school and you’re expanding the program as well. And Our goal essentially Is not only to educate youth, but just as, as a society, um, the victim blaming needs to stop, you know, just educating, just a society in general of, um, holding the person who’s causing harm accountable and, and asking questions in a way, again, that’s supportive of the survivor or the victim and, and holding the person causing harm a condom. So just kind of dismantling those different miscon misconceptions that, um, society that we get from social media, sometimes within our own culture, um, that at times can be very victim blaming around debate culture itself. So if someone is, is is a person to turn they

12:32 who they know is the perpetrator, can they be brought to court to justice? Or as long we work with, if a survivor wants to bring that person to justice, we will assist them in connecting them with, you know, whether that’s a safe plan, advocate at the court, um, assisting them in, accompanying them to the police department to make the report. Um, again, if they’re in the hospital where they’re providing that emotional support. So usually we’re our clients come right from the hospital. So we see them right from the beginning when they’re having that evidence collection. Um, and we’re walking through them through the whole healing process and whatever process they’re ready for. If they aren’t looking for that, just the judiciary, the judiciary, um, process and looking for justice through that system,

13:19 we will also assist them with that. Being mindful as well, that unfortunately, um, our system, the rape conviction, sometimes they can get a lesser sentence. And so only about 1% of rape, um, perpetrators get convicted. And so when we work with our clients, we also try to have them think about what does justice really mean to them? Is it just getting a conviction, or let’s also think about the fact that you were braving enough that you had the courage to move forward and, and press the charges and you let this person, you send a message to that person. So really, um, working with a survivor and the clients, um, to also hopefully have another perspective of what justice may look like, because unfortunately, um, sometimes

14:04 within the system, the justice system, um, we may not get a conviction, But that’s a lot of incredible work, so thank you. Good. What about, um, say if there was an attempt that was thwarted, do you get people like that? And how do you handle like those an Attempt that was Thwarted, like

14:23 Yeah. Um, you all get, we get like different, I mean, if, even if there was an attempted assault where someone felt threatened, um, we will still provide that support to that survivor. Um, because at the end of the day, it’s just when we think about, when we think about sexual assault vape, it is about power and control, or a person has essentially lost in that moment a sense of their power and control by this perpetrator. Um, so we will still provide that support to, to a survivor. Mm-Hmm. You talked about a kit, what’s in the kit? The evidence collection, the rape kit? Yes. Um, the SANE nurses are the ones who provide that, um, evidence collection. It’s about sane their sexual assault nurse examiners. So they get trained by the state to be able

15:10 to specifically provide this evidence collection, um, to collect any DNA, um, any, they’ll take pictures of any bruises that may that a, that a person may have. Um, they do a toxicology exam. They also provide, uh, survivors with, um, you know, the prophylax or any medications to prevent plan B, um, sexually transmit infections. So it’s always, we always encourage survivors to really seek that medical attention, um, as a follow-up just to ensure their wellbeing, their health. It’s about, I believe, 17 or 21 steps that they, so they do a lot of swabbing, um, and they’ll do a genital evaluation as well. Um, and again, it’s a collection of evidences to collect DNA. They’ll take pictures of bruises.

15:55 Um, they take an incident report of what transpired, they’ll do a toxicology exam if there was any, uh, you know, if the survivor disclosed that they feel that they might have been drunk or, you know, they were, they’ll do all those types. And all the local hospitals have those, uh, nurses on staff. So all the hospitals, not all the hospitals are saint certified. So not all the hospitals have sexual assault nurse examiners, however, all the hospitals, all the emergency rooms are trained. So even a regular nurse in the emergency room should still be able to offer that if and, and be able to offer that, um, that service if a patient chooses that they want that service and they don’t wanna go to a different hospital. Currently, Salem Hospital and Beverly Hospital

16:40 or Telesan Hospitals, I believe, um, Anna Jakes got certified as the same hospital. Yeah. And what was the other one? Um, Addison Gilbert is also sane. Yeah. Yeah. So currently we have four in the community, um, that are, have some form of building community health. They don’t have an emergency room, so we only go in emergency rooms for this too bad. So pediatrics and doctors, if there’s a disclosure, should essentially encourage their patients to seek, you know, if they so choose to seek the evidence collection. And in order to obtain the evidence collection, it will be through the emergency room.

17:21 How long have you guys been around? Our Lawrence site has opened since 1892. When it first started, it was, you know, for the immigrants who were coming in a factory, and it’s kind of built itself to, um, a social, social change agent agency. Um, the North Shoreway CRI Crisis Center was a center within its own. And then I believe it was around 2010, um, that they came under our umbrella. Um, so that’s how we became the YWCA Al Rape Crisis Center. What percentage of people do you think don’t report? Oh, the statistics are there. Um, I can’t, but we know that it’s extremely under reported, extremely underreported.

18:07 Now, when you go into the schools, do you, do you charge a fee or is it No. You know, if people want, if the schools wanna give a donation, they can, but we, our services are free. All of our services are free and confidential. And have you, have you given this presentation to the school committee? Um, to the school committee, not to committee. They, they’ll, that they’ll be, that they’ll be next. Yeah, they’ll be next. That Will present to them. Yeah. And I think it’s important in, in the, in the health classes, and there is, I printed out and I gave to Megan, there’s a Healthy Youth Act that has passed, I think it’s in, in the house, um, that would encourage, um, that the schools have and collaborate with like rape crisis census, to ensure that students are receiving appropriate, adequate information around, um, consent and, and,

18:55 and, and sex education. Um, and I think the important work that we do is, you know, the school tends to do sex ed. Um, for those who I know some schools still, um, talk about abstinence, but our work, it’s, I feel like this work is needed prior to talking about sexual education, because we begin talking about consent, talking about healthy relationships. And so before we start talking about how to use, utilize the condom or different contraceptions, let’s talk about what it, what it entails to have a healthy relationship. Let’s talk about what consent really looks like. ‘cause we hear a lot of times the youth miss, but sometimes they, they say no, but they really mean, yes, that is not up to you to decide if a person doesn’t say yes or yes, I’m sure, yes, I want to do that. You cannot assume this person saying no, but they really want me to continue.

19:42 Um, so just educating the youth, um, and not just the youth public in general, um, about, again, around these topics, around consent right within itself, and this missing some of those myths and misconceptions that, again, that we receive from society and our culture. That’s the work, at least for myself being in this agency, that I work towards a society where victim blaming stops and hopefully that there is no crime that’s being committed on someone that of an assault. You talked about Hawk. Um, where do the services, uh, begin and end with you and Hawk? So our agency, There’s, we have three sites. So just talking about the Lin site, um, we just focus on sexual assault. Hawk is focused on domestic violence. Um, there’s obviously some overlap there. Um, and so sometimes, you know, we have clients who work with both, um, or a client might come to us

20:29 and then we pass them off to Hawk, but we’re only focused on sexual assault. And then Hawk is only focused on Es domestic violence. So it’s split there. We know sexual assault happens with an intimate partner relationships. So there’s, there’s that kind of, it, it kind of intertwines. So there are times where, again, Hawk may be working with a survivor. The survivor discloses that within their relationship, they’ve also have been sexually assaulted, and Hawk made the referral to us. And vice versa. We may have a client who came in for sexual assault services, and as we begin to assess their relationship, we see that there is the cycle of violence also. So we will also connect them with Hawk. Again, it’s just so that survivors have enough comprehensive, um, services in place for their healing, um, journey.

21:15 Yeah, it wasn’t that long ago that, you know, marital rape wasn’t considered rape. And, and even when it became, and, and correct me if I’m wrong, but even when it became all 50 states declared it rape, there were still states that created loopholes so that there could still be accountability skirted. So it’s really important to have the two organizations working together because the violence is violence and it will overlap. I’ve got one more question. I was on the school committee a a long time ago, and when we had, um, sex education, we had our own people doing it and, um, do, and they were known in the school. Do the students trust you because you’re from the outside? We’re such a sensitive issue?

22:00 Yeah, I think that having someone from not within the school actually provides a lot more opportunities. Um, a lot of the time, almost every time I present, actually multiple people come up to me, multiple students, and say that they’re really happy that they know someone at the agency. Um, it just makes it a lot less intimidating. Um, and then within, um, schools that, where we have two different, like two different blocks to work with them as well. So like Marblehead, um, at the end of the first day, I’ll give everyone a little sheet of paper that they can write like an anonymous question on, and then the next day I answer them to the class. And based on the questions, it seems like they already build that trust within just one class period. Um, but, you know, we try to make it as, as upbeat as you can, um, just so that there is that like trust building and on that first day. Okay, that’s my question. Mm-Hmm. Thanks.

22:46 I always like to point out in town that, um, people don’t think these things happen in Marblehead. And you, me meant you mentioned misconceptions. So I’ll tell you about a victim because it was me and, uh, I worked at a store in Marblehead and an old man when I was 16 came in and tried to sexually assault me. And I was lucky because, you know, you freeze at the moment and it’s terrifying. And, uh, I was able to push him away and just, you know, I was big enough that I could handle it. And so, and it sucked, and I took it to every level police, everything. There was no, but if I had someone, like, the only people that were behind me was my parents, even the press sucked about it. So it was like, and it did, did get to the press. And, um, so I think if people are aware

23:33 that it can happen to anybody, you wouldn’t picture this as the person that it can happen to. And I’m lucky that it didn’t go through, but having support and people to reach out to, ‘cause I had no idea who to reach out to, you know, we were, were just shooting off the hip. And, uh, I think it’s really important and I think that I look forward to just like pushing you guys out there so other people can, you know, Step forward. Thank you for sharing your story. And as you said, this is, this crime can happen to anyone. You know, rape doesn’t discriminate when it comes to a race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status. It can happen to anyone. Um, and again, most of the time, um, most rapes are committed by someone we know. Um, and even as you mentioned, you know, if a person has attempted, we’ll still provide the services. Mm-Hmm. You know, the thing, it doesn’t have to be a full rape.

24:19 When we define rape, we say rape is anytime anyone forces anything into any of your sexual officer, that’s your mouthy s in your vagina. However, when you think about sexual assault, it could be just fondling. We deal with also digital, um, assault as well. So, um, sexual harassment. So all that falls under the umbrella of sexual assault. Anyone who has, um, experienced any form of sexual assault, we are here to provide that support in our services too. Okay. Any additional questions? Quantitative sort of questions. You, you have two different groups that you serve. What, what numbers do you serve each year in the youth and in the emergency room visits, order magnitude? Have those numbers gone up after the pandemic? Um,

25:07 Oh, I have those stats back in my office. I’m the one who collects, I collect all the, the data information from the three sites. Um, and I compile them because we report to the Department of Public Health, um, to DPH. So we have to submit, um, our quarterly reports, um, throughout the whole fiscal year. So I have a spreadsheet that will tell us throughout from June to July is our, I mean, from July to June is our fiscal year. Um, and it will say how many, how many, how many clients we served, how many clients, you know, breaks down the demographics, their age, their ethnicity, sexual reputation, um, but the numbers are still are high. Could you get that too, with the office here? Yeah. Thank you. If I could Second, second quantitative question if I can. Um, how much support do you get from the community?

25:55 Where does your money come from? How much do you need in order to provide the services that you are doing? You’re, you say you’re free, uh, to all, all those that need your help. Yeah. So most of our fundings come from the Department of Public Health. That’s predominantly where our funding comes. Um, we have like fsfa funding that comes also built. So everything comes from the Department of Public Health within the Lin office. Lawrence has different other components that has like OVW, but our Lin office is predominantly through the Department of Public Health. Um, for example, like Title ix, the colleges are now being forced to, um, it’s the expectation that they work with a RIC sensor. So through Title IX colleges can also put a, put some of

26:41 that money into, um, with a rape crisis center, share some of that part of the money that they’re receiving. Um, for our services, some rape crisis centers have charged, we personally have not charged. We’ll inform them that if they want to provide a donation, they can, but we haven’t charged for any services. And what DPH has always said is, if an entity is unable to pay for the services, we can’t deny our services to them. Um, so essentially we just say if they wanna give donation, whatever they want to give with otherwise, you know, we will still, we’re still gonna offer the services. Um, and the same PREA is the Prison Rape Elimination Act. So we work closely with, um, personally, we work closely with Middleton and Exes Correctional Facility, um, with inmates who have also experienced sexual assault.

27:29 And again, they have a separate pot of money. And so as they work with us, if they so choose to share some of that money with our agency, they can. But predominantly our, our funding comes from the Department of Public Health.

27:42 And the colleges you work with are only on the North Shore, Pretty much all of Exa County.

27:50 You don’t go beyond that yet. So 29 29 towns, that’s not 29. No, no, no. 29 towns. Right. And we currently have a few MOUs with, and the co Southern State Bronx a lot. Um, there’s a couple of colleges that we already have MOUs with within the, the North Shore area as well. Great. Well, thank you so much. It’s wonderful to, to meet you in person. It’s wonderful. See Kevin, Uh, to obviously we’ll, you know, be communicating, continuing, uh, to make sure we set up our website with all your information. Um, and it’s everything that you guys want it to be and stuff like that. And, uh, I think it’s wonderful that you guys are already in the schools and you know, it’s great that you guys are doing freshmen through seniors. So thank you so much. Really Appreciate, thank you for this opportunity.

28:35 Thank you. And we’re, we’re also gonna, um, have some pamphlets to leave on your Great, so yeah, if you wanna leave with those Yeah. Tonight, I can put those out on the table, uh, next to Hoff and stuff like that. And that’d be great. There was a, I’m not taking

28:55 No, great.

28:59 You can them off. I’ll take them off, yeah. Because of the, oh, that’s awesome. Thank you very much for having us. Thank you for Thank you. Thank you.

29:09 One, one last question to go out the door. I mean, I’ve worked in a couple of other states where the states are very far behind in analyzing the red kits. How’s Massachusetts doing that Since They passed that backlog? Um, where they had to catch up? They, they’re, they’re on track, So We’re caught up. Wow, that’s great. And Now each kit also is, has a tracking number to it. Um, so for survivors as well, with that, they’re able to see exactly where their, um, kit is located, whether it’s still in the police department, it only gets sent to the lab if they’re thinking of pressing, um, or they file, if they report it to the police department. That’s extremely important. If, if a survivor doesn’t feel that the information has been analyzed, it’s,

29:57 it’s a real negative for that person. If Massachusetts is keeping up, that’s, that’s a positive for people who have the guts to make the complaints and, and knowing that their society is supporting them, you should feel, should feel quite good about that. We’ve made some strides. We still have a lot of work left to do, and that’s why we do what we do. Um, and so we continue to, to, to hope that, again, our hope is that this, if I don’t have a job because this crime isn’t happening, I’ll be upset. You know, no one should have to endure such a traumas. So thank you for, for your time and your opportunity. Thank you. Thank you so much.

30:48 Yes.

30:52 All right. So back to the agenda. Um, and back to reorganization. Um, do I have a motion for a chair?

31:02 I’d like to make some comments and a motion. Um, I, I think this is going to be an exciting year for the Board of Health. There are two major issues that will make it sue. Number one, after many years of support and investment, um, the Department of Health and the Board of Health will probably bring the transfer station to a positive conclusion. And second, uh, as of, well, a year from now, this board will go from a three person board to a five person board. I, I, I think we all agree that that will support the practice of public health in,

31:48 in this environment a great deal. So to the extent that this board can do some helpful, useful work, uh, this coming year, we will be making steps for the future. Um, most of you know, I, I’m, I wasn’t born in the hospital. What used to be in this building, uh, this was, was the operating room. I, Yes, In my time here, I’ve been amazingly impressed by how important the issues of self-governance are to this community. And I’m actually even more impressed by the cadre of people that are in this community that volunteer

32:33 and give of their time to serve on boards, to serve on committees, and give to, to support this, uh, self-governance mindset. Um, those volunteers deserve all of our gratitudes. We have one of those super volunteers in our midst LA mentioned she served on the school committee several years ago. She’s been on this board for many years. She knows the board, she knows the community. So I am happy to stand up to nominate her to continue, um, for, uh, as chair for, uh, this,

33:19 uh, this, uh, coming year. Um, Helene has one other characteristic that I think is important to this as well. Of the three of us that are eligible, being sworn in board members, she’s the only one who’s the willing, able, and ready to stand up and be the chair. Tom and I, before I signed in, before I sworn in talk, had a couple of good conversations and, and, and he and I, uh, uh, I, I think came to, to many agreements, but I, and I, uh, he’s made great contributions to discussions that, that I’ve learned about the transfer station. But in that time, in dealing with Tom, I, I’ve never heard

34:06 that he was interested in being, uh, board chair. Uh, he actually asked me if I was interested, even as a newcomer in being a board chair. And my answer absolutely was, no, I don’t think I’m ready to do that for this community. At some point with the background I have and the interest I have in public health, I’d be honored to do that at some time in the future. But I do not have the knowledge of this community that’s necessary to be an effective board member. This community, like all communities, has its idiosyncrasies that you have to know, you have to work with, and you have to understand.

34:52 And so it is, we all have, we’re, none of us are perfect, but I believe that, that, that Helene brings to this table and this community, that historical understanding of the nature of this board and the sister or fellow boards out there, that will be particularly important in this transition period as we move to put the transfer station to bed and go to a five member board. And, and, and finally regarding the, the reorganization of, of the, um, uh, uh, board.

35:38 Well, I, let, let me look for it. You, you may say that, okay, I don’t need to know about the idiosyncrasies of, of, of the town. All towns have quirks, but I came here from New Mexico. New Mexico is a totally centralized department of health. In effect, there’s one board of health for the multiple millions of people in New Mexico, and it’s the fifth largest geography state in the country. It will take me a, a fair amount of time before I can understand how this board fits into the healthcare system

36:26 of Essex County, of the region, and certainly this crazy commonwealth with how many hundreds of rural jurisdiction boards. So I, I I, I will support, do everything I can with, with my science background to support the chair and the depart, the, the director of the department. But I, in all, uh, honesty, I’m not ready to do that as well. So I, I think that, that, that’s an, an an important thing to consider. Okay. So regarding that reorganization, I believe that that it, it is likely that when we move to a five person board, that bo board will break up into

37:15 smaller subcommittees in order to, to share the administrative load with the chair. I’m, I’m gonna propose that we do that now that we set up two vice chairs that the two of us begin that I’m nominating Helene for chair set up Tom and Tom to be vice chairs, so that we can learn more about the details of the individual activities within the department, uh, and the board. And, uh, so when we are making that transfer to those though, there’ll be three rookies, well, at least gotta be two rookies next year, then, right?

38:00 And may, maybe more so when we make that transfer, there will be a board that will have a more robust background in order to share that. My proposal is that we have one board focus, one board, vice vice chair of the board focusing on community health. We originally talked about it being public health, but Andrew’s the director of public health, and I think that’s kind of confusing. Um, uh, the second board, uh, vice chair, I believe should be focusing on, um, the interface with the environment, waste, uh, renewal, composting, um, those sorts, those sorts of things.

38:45 We may disagree on how we divide the labor or the names or any of those things, but I think it’s worthwhile for the community to begin to know that this, this board is looking to a very positive future. It’s structuring itself to move forward in, in that direction. And we will be really prepared to hand off to the new larger board in the future. So thank you. So I have made a motion Yep. To nominate, um, he end for one more year for your chair. Do I have a second to that motion? I’d like to read something. Um, There has to be a second, so we can be a second. Then we will open up to discussion. Yep.

39:32 So you second before discussion or, or you can choose not. Yep. Okay. Then our next session. Okay. So I, we have a, a motion on the floor for wanting to be chair. We have a second. I’ll now open up for discussion. Okay. So the past year has been very difficult for me as chair. Um, I completely felt unappreciated and dismissed with Elaina’s chair. And so, um, I will, I would not be seconding a motion for her to be chair. And I wanna provide a little context as to why being an elected member of a board comes with many responsibilities, but above all, it’s doing what’s best for the community that elected you, which includes putting the community above yourself. Now, Thomas Soro has shown that his focus coming into this year is to use his vast experience and expertise to make clear distinction between the Board

40:19 of Health and Health Department, create more focused mission statement, change the passive perception of the community the community has for the board, and regain the trust of the residents. I support him with this, and I look forward to playing my role. My focus is the completion of the transfer station, helping to provide community resources to increase mental and physical health of residents, and above all, help to find new and effective ways of reducing substance abuse through the programs. Helen, your priority seems to be becoming Chair. You’ve served this town on several boards over the years. However, being a chair isn’t something you’re entitled to based on service. It’s something you earned by others. Recognizing leadership characteristics, you were chair in the past year, from my view, from day one, it was clear that your goal was to obstruct anything

41:04 and everything I brought to the table, regardless of whether it was a sound idea and had community support. Now, most of what I brought to the table were positions I ran on and won by a large margin. So the community support was there, and you should have taken notice. Here are a couple examples of where I believe you prioritized obstruction. In our very first meeting, I pushed to get the new trailer for the transfer station workers. This had been something they asked for, for years, was a low cost, and was supported by both Andrew and Joanne. You spent 15 minutes fighting against this. I pointed out that our section of the website was confusing and hard to navigate, and therefore, we should do a simple restructuring. You disagreed with your reason being that it has nice colors and you really don’t use websites. I pushed for transparency in our spending

41:50 by simply designating a couple minutes at each meeting discussing the bills that we were signing off on so the public could know where their money was being spent. You rejected that transparency. During the Marblehead Counseling Center presentation, they were pleading for more funds in order to assist with their large backlog of patients, 70% of which were children. We didn’t have additional funds. And I asked them if they thought about asking the town via debt exclusion override. They said they didn’t think it was appropriate for the MCC to directly ask, but made the suggestion that the Board of Health could at the next meeting, when I suggested we present this to the town and let the residents decide, you rejected that idea. You constantly point to your unwavering support for the Marvel Ed, um, counseling Center, yet you dismissed an opportunity to help them in the exact manner they asked,

42:37 which would’ve included the community and the decision for no other reason than I suggested it. Those are real people on that backlog suffering, I believe, like probably many of their parents, that the residents of the town would’ve helped, but you chose not to even ask. And lastly, even when I agreed to your request to bring speakers to present for my substance abuse talks, a position that I specifically ran on it is clearly very popular. You rejected the idea that it should be done through the Board of Health before even one of the speakers presented and instead suggested I do it on my own outside of the board. The only reason you changed course was on it was because I put it out to the public via social media. And to be clear, I can’t go anywhere in town without people talking to me about this potential program and how beneficial they think it will be.

43:23 As someone in this room pointed out to me about these and other instances, these were all missed opportunities with your leadership. Leaders prioritize the people they represent. Not silly titles or making sure they get recognition. Leaders hold themselves accountable when they lose their way. Leaders also need to recognize that people will rise and they should embrace and learn from new ideas and energy brought to the table. At no point have I ever indicated my desire to be chair as Thomas Massaro. Why not? That’s quite simply because it’s not something I care about. I care about results, not titles. I believe the best thing for this board is Tom Massaro to be chair. And I truly admire his reluctance to take that role in his first year as he didn’t think it would be appropriate. That is what a real leader would say. Now, to be clear, this was not written in anger.

44:08 It was written in frustration and a passion for moving forward and helping people in the town who are hurting and have lost, lost trust in this board. I want to move forward without fear of needless obstruction or speed bumps from other board members. You may choose to dismiss what I’m saying, but if you do, what legacy are you leaving for the next generation before you second your own nomination, as you’ll have to, in this case, I’d ask you to take a moment of reflection and ask yourself, is this what’s best for Marblehead? Or is this what’s best for Helene?

44:40 Is there any other discussion? Well, without dealing with individual incidents or anything, today is the first day of this board for 20 24, 20 25. I hope we can all get beyond. Last year, the world of public health suffered an enormous amount of problems during the pandemic agencies that were world class did less than world class service to the society. It is very clear to now even those world class organizations

45:26 and everyone else who thinks about public health, that the future public health will come more and more from the local, regional and small jurisdictions, which are closer to the people. We have two people on this board who are very close to the people and the people that they know. We ought to be able to work together. You and Bo audience have to reinforce us. If you see my not being polite to Tom or Helene, I wanna hear about it. But we need Marblehead. Marblehead has the potential to be a leader, the the bright people, the entrepreneurial thinkers that are in this community,

46:12 and we can convince them how important public health will be in the next 10 years with climate change, with all the various diseases that are out there. All of the, all of the issues that we can do for, for public, for the, that improve the, the status of our community. So again, what happened last year is last year, let’s try to go forward. I I, people told me how to sneak by the open meeting law by not signing up, right? Like not swearing in for a week. So I had the opportunity to spend time with Andrew, with Helene and Tom, and they are together in their commitment to this town.

47:00 And you are very lucky that you have that because I, I didn’t see it at all in New Mexico, and it was more shallow, even in the states I’ve lived before. So this is a, this is a, a pivotal moment. Uh, we have that responsibility and I, I think we can all commit that we will treat each other, I hope, and I will work at, at, at, at, at, at, at it, that we, we will treat each other with respect and dignity going forward, regardless of what may have happened in re previous elections in previous times and in previous years. I’ll commit to that. Tom, any other discussion? Karen? None. Yeah. Uh, oh. Mute. Goed.

47:48 Um, I think I’ll do it as part of my remarks. Okay. Um, hearing not, we have a motion for Helene to be chair. All in favor? All opposed, uh, with the two to one that carries. Congratulations, Helene. Thank you. I get my give You’re, I was given from some of the presidency.

48:11 Thank you. Um, I, I have some prepared remarks, but, um, I’m disa very disappointed that this, uh, meeting began as it did. And I’d like to refer to what Tom, uh, Tom Azar said that this is a new year, and She said she was gonna start calling me senior time. Well, I, I, I’ve got so in my, I’ve got some in my here. No, you know, who’s more senior though?

48:42 Any, anyhow. Um, I, I am disappointed that we had to go back through ancient history and, and most of that, uh, I would have a response to which I have no interest in doing. Um, so let that be, uh, at, that’s, uh, Mr. McMahon’s viewpoint out of his Roy glasses. I have other viewpoints and never the twain will meet. And I’m excited for a new year with a, a new board member with, um, new business and not business as usual. And those are the things that excite me. And, and I don’t wish to look backwards, uh, even though I could, um, go down every one of those points.

49:31 So let that be. And as my, as my very dear friend’s mother, uh, all would say when, uh, she didn’t agree with someone, she would say, let them be well and let you be well, Tom, and let you be well. And I hope everyone is well. But that’s how I learned to, uh, live with, uh, negative things before. So I think that’s, that’s a good thing for me to, uh, remember. But thank you, Andrew, for calling, uh, tonight’s meeting, uh, to order and running the beginning of the meetings. I really felt that that was not the most appropriate way. I thought that we should be, that people

50:18 to greet, uh, guests. There were guests in our home, and I thought the board should be doing that. But that isn’t what happened. And as board chair, I pledge to continue the important work on behalf of the wellbeing of all our citizens of Marblehead. As I, as I have been doing in this community for over 30 years. I would like to welcome Dr. Tom Zaro and congratulate him on choosing to offer his expertise to our board and our c communion. He doesn’t have to do this. He’s doing this. The couldn’t of his right, because he really loves what he does. And, um, I, I could tell from the first time I met him, I know we both, I know both he and Tom McMahon have something in common. We all know that they both have the same first name

51:04 and the same first initials. So at times this can be quite confusing. I suggest we address, address them with their title and their last names. I hope you agree, Dr. Zalo and Mr. McMahon, because otherwise I don’t know which Tom is. What Tom, and, and I think that, uh, there may be times when we actually do know who we’re speaking of, but if there is a question, I think that’s the best solution for me. So if I’m a little bit formal, uh, that’s part of my upbringing also, but, um, I think that that would be best. When you say Dr. Zaro,

51:46 I’m fine with that. If it helps the board, I think the board is gonna need overtime to write grants to get extra money. This is, Andrew has said that we offer one of the four jurisdiction size, one of the smallest boards in the state. That’s out. Great. That’s outrageous. But We are not gonna be work pretty soon. We have, we’re gonna have to work. And sometimes having initials after your name will help you get grant money and get into in offices that otherwise you might not be able to. But That’ss, the only reason I’m not talking about these, we don’t wanna be formal. Um, um, I don’t like Thomas. My mother called me when she was angry.

52:32 So it can be Tom or Tommy or Dr. Macero. There you go. Julia. My wife calls me Tommy, I’ll let you feel it. I’ll take the Tommy one and my mom does. So We’re looking, but we’re looking for the, we’re looking for a vote. We need a vote. Tom, Tom, Dr. Za, Mr. mc, McMahon. I think that that might be the way it works. I, I let’s The motion to let Tommy, aren’t we Tom? And I’ll be Tommy.

53:00 Alright. You don’t, you. Deep six. My suggestion, as, as you heard, the offices of the board will be structured slightly differently. The first item of business is to point, is to point the vice chairs. I’ll be asking for two motions. One to nominate the vice chair of Community health and the second motion for environmental protection. This change will allow for each of the nominated vice chairs to oversee those areas which fall under the designated topics. With that, I’m going to nominate Dr. Tom Zao for the Vice Chair of Community Health. Is there a second to that? I just, uh, I mean, I guess all I need is, uh, from Tom. Like what do you I mean, Well, we’re gonna hear about from me. Yeah, I was, No, I mean, but he came up with the idea, so I just need

53:47 to get like a little more understanding of it because, you know, obviously some things I’ve been working on are a little imposed. Well, I’ll Read revisit. I’ll read this here. Um, If you, I think that we overlapped, but I, I would like to understand, well, Andrew and I have talked about this. Andrew, I have it written here after we, uh, described. Okay. I, I just was looking for the vote first. Okay. With the new structure, the board will be doing business a little differently. We’ll be hearing more reporting from the vice chairs. Thomas are, will be addressing more long range planning. And as a member of the Mental health task force, he’ll be reporting to the Board of Health regarding their meetings as a physician. Dr. Zaro has the knowledge to keep the board abreast of the medical issues that he and the director address.

54:33 So, uh, that’s what basically what it would be. Well, it’s the only thing that I have with that. And so that’s why I wanted to ask Tom. Um, obviously like I have no problem with the Environmental one doing the transfer station, going with Andrew. Roll on that. Uh, my talks that I’m gonna set up those, it still right? Yeah. Fall under me. The We’re not, nothing we should do is gonna be taking Taskforce is excited about that. Okay, Great. Yep. No, I just wanted to clarify that that was, that was, Yeah, it’d be great if you can come to one of those meetings. Sure. Am I allowed? Yeah, We just, I never did it before because I didn’t, we just have to post it. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yep. Okay. So we’d have to post the board of health meeting at the, the task force meeting. Okay. Yeah, No problem. So there’s a nomination on the floor for Dr.

55:18 Mazarra to be vice chair of the community Community Health. Is there a second? I’ll second it. Uh, all in favor? It’s unanimous. And that’s, that’s a vote. I, I nominated Tommy. Wait A minute. I’m, I’m, I’m, you’re jumping the gun. You don’t know how happy you’re gonna make my wife with this.

55:40 I, I, I’m seeking a nomination for Vice Chair of Environmental Protection.

55:47 Tommy. Mr. McMahon has been nominated and I second that. All in favor? Yep. That’s the unanimous. So congratulations to both of you. Um, Tom McMahon, the Vice Chair of Environmental Protection, we’ll meet with the director as needed as the project at the transfer station to develops to completion. And I, that’s, that’s a priority of this board. I don’t even have to ask. I know, just from sitting with you, ma’am. And I, I agree. It’s been long overdue and I see in the very, the very

56:29 that said, the chair of the board and the director will still meet around policies and regulations and will develop the meeting agenda with the input of the vice chairs. All agenda, agenda items will be submitted to the director and will be submitted two weeks prior to the upcoming meeting and will be available to the community as it is now at time of posting. Um, before we go to the rest of the agenda, I have a few housekeeping issues that I would like to discuss. Just when we have a new board member, as we had last year, the board meets monthly, generally on the second Tuesday of the month. And from time to time, it may be necessary to have an additional meeting. And we don’t do it without notice and without people, without being very necessary. If we have to get a bid out or something, or if people can’t make it, we try to oblige them at,

57:18 at the very least. And as we talked before, the board is obliged to the, uh, Commonwealth to follow the Massachusetts Open Meeting law, and the meetings are run according to Robert’s rules. And I think that Andrew, you have some documents to, to hand out about Robert’s rules. Yeah. So, you know, in the past I have given the board members the short versions of Robert Rules. I can send those in again. Um, there’s also documentation from, uh, I recommend, you know, all members take the courses from the MA Mass Board of Health Officers Association. I can give you the contacts for the mass fluids you could renew any of those. No, you do not. Yeah. There are some renewals for ethics and stuff like that. I’ll provide all that stuff from the c take test every year, Don. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

58:04 The members of the, of, of the board are to address the discussion through the chair, and we thank members of the community, uh, for their interest and also should address their, uh, messages through them, through the chair as they participate in, in the board’s business. And we thank them for coming and being here. For us, it’s very important. I look forward to a healthy discussion of collegiality as we address the issues in order to maintain and prove the health of our residents. Although members have different viewpoints on an issue, once the vote is taken, the full board adopts and supports the decision, even though they making a difference of opinion, the board will come together for the common good, and I think that we should all have that over our locker room or whatever. We, wherever we, our mirror, wherever we look healthy

58:53 and respectful, discussion is always welcome. More importantly, I conduct the Board of health business at this table and not through press, uh, social media, and I request the others to do the same. Thank you very much. If I’m, we’re going to go on to the rest of the meeting,

59:11 next on the agenda, um, is, uh, mental health task force, uh, update. You have one. Uh, Jolene Miller, my predecessor, um, Reported on the June Mental Health Task Force meeting last time the Na N Project. Mm-Hmm. Came and then they came the following day to this group. There were five members from the mental health task force that participated in the, uh, wellness fair, the counseling center had. It was a fantastic opportunity to, to get, to meet the people. And we will have the first meeting of this, uh, uh, fiscal year in August, under the chair of Mark Labone, uh, practicing psychologist and professor at sales child, child psychologist,

1:00:00 and professor at Salem State University. And I will be the liaison. Well, and you can bring back the, I went to the wellness fair and I enjoyed, um, uh, all the tables that were there. Um, yard table, the, um, pride table, the, the police training table, um, to name a few. Uh, I’m trying to think who else was there. So for someone from Lynn Community Health, was there, um, there were lots of, Metro Credit Union was there if I wanted open up an next account. So, um, they got on the, who was across from you? I’m trying to think across the way from you. It was, um, Another, yeah, right next door, us from me.

1:00:47 Yeah. Can’t remember. She was the Lincoln Health on one side, but there was, it was a, a good turnout. Yeah. Pony Brides for Kids And free ice cream. Oh, yeah. I know, I know. Well, it wasn’t exactly free after was a problem.

1:01:04 Um, anyhow, it was a, a very good kickoff for a 55th anniversary when they wanted to have it, the 50th anniversary five years ago. And it’s continuing when Rob Delaney’s coming, um, August 10th at six o’clock, and he’ll be in the, um, at, at the, uh, pack, I think. Is that correct? Yeah. He’s, he’s got a good story. It’s, it, it’s a nice story. It’s not such a good story. It’s a sad story. So, but he’s a, a great guy. Um, so that is for the, uh, health, mental health.

1:01:48 And the next is the, uh, mission statement, uh, that you had suggested that you wanted to Yes, I, I proposed that we delay that conversation during my pre-board, uh, conversation. Andrew agreed that he would take a whole meeting, uh, one evening and discuss the details of the board of the, of the Department of Health so that a newcomer like me can understand the hand in glove relationship with the board, while the board still remains independent of the department. So, um, I think it would be much better for the board to be able to discuss a revised mission statement

1:02:35 after we hear from the Department of Health and have perhaps have a discussion about a mission statement for the Department of Health as well. Does that make sense? That makes great sense. And I think the best time is either September Yeah. To have that discussion. We, we, we re rewrote the statement when it was requested by the former town administrator in 2021, and it’s in the Town report, if you can look that up. And, um, we never differentiated the difference between the, the Health Department and the Board of Health. We work all one. And so that’s the hands, and I technically Aren’t, that’s the problem. So I think we just have to clarify what we do. Well, I don’t know if that’s, uh, we may have to speak

1:03:21 with the co, the Commonwealth Board of Health, your advice, although the pa the document you sent us is from them, isn’t it? Which One? The, It talks about the, uh, the Board of Health and, um, this mission statement that’s From, so that’s a different mission statement. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. But maybe we should get that from the department. But yeah, I, I’ll provide you guys the board with all the information from, um, the Mass Boards of Health Association. So you have all that. And, and yes, we can continue to discuss this. I’ll describe all the different work that I do in my department, um, and how the, you know, the integration between the board and the departments work and stuff like that. But as I said, you’ve got a shingle outside that says Board of Health. Understood. And I, I’ve just never,

1:04:08 and I’ve worked at other, I worked in Newtons that we all the Board of Health, and I, I don’t know whether, I think Tom said it right, when I’m not gonna go out and enforce any Leafblower laws. Like said, I’m a board member. I’m not in the health department. So I think Tom is the, you know, I gonna ask this week. Nope. So, Well, the, uh, the fire department head over there on their side today. Oh, no, they’ve had it for, yeah, yeah, for a while. For a while. I, I was, I just happened to see it today. But, um, um, all right, so more to come on that, postpone that. So, um, we’ve got the wellness fair that These are, these can kind of be together, uh, quick. It’s kind of just locking down a location in a day.

1:04:55 Um, so looking for availability and things like that. Um, I don’t necessarily know if, and I’m, I’m turning to Andrew on this. Yeah, it’s fine. Like, do you know how to contact them and the whole conversation? Yeah, so I think the two for the wellness fair, um, I think, you know, we kind of talked about the, you know, uh, the community center in January. Um, so I can, you know, speak with Lisa and the Breton Park Department, um, to see availability for that and come back to the board to say, yeah. Yeah. But obviously I think, you know, if the board’s in agreement to shoot for January, that would be a good, um, goal. And we can, you know, you can talk about what your image is about who you want there. Obviously it’s gonna be a combination of, you know, mental health, uh, physical health, you know, all,

1:05:41 everything that goes in between them. Yeah. So, uh, make a motion to, for Andrew to look into availability in January. Mm-Hmm. So second, it,

1:05:54 If you need a motion, but we’ll do, that’ll give it a little more firmness. Um, All in favor? Oh, maybe It, it’s a vote. The substance abuse talks. Just, uh, talking to some of my favorite speakers in the room. Um, it seems like early November, early to mid-November is kind of best for them. Um, so, and then, and then I was gonna structure that with others so that I actually can have be like, this is when it’s gonna happen. It’s a good time. It’s just before the holidays, Which is All right. Exactly. So, uh, that would be, I think, availability at the high school auditorium. So, high School Auditorium. That’s what I choose. I think that’s the best setup. Nope. Um, but I think that’s correct. I think that’s pretty intimate.

1:06:39 It’s not, yeah. I don’t like the, I don’t like the one at Ideal High School. Yeah. The fact, um, so I think that one’s a little bit more intimate. So let me talk to the school and see what we can do about that. Mm-Hmm. Obviously this would be an evening Event. Evening, yes. Well, I also looked into this drug story theater that I brought up last time, and they’re willing to talk to us. Um, they’ve been doing the, these, um, uh, plays with, with former, um, uh, teenagers, not former teenagers, former addictive teenagers. And, um, they, uh, a women come out, they just spoke to Lincoln Sudbury. They’re going to come to Swamp Scott, and they would piggyback with us. That’s Fine. Yeah. No, the more The better because they, um, they were free

1:07:28 and they’re waiting for approval from the Commonwealth, uh, to get more funding, because if they, they aren’t free, it would be a couple of thousand dollars to us. And if we can use the opioid money, that would be a way to Yep. Pay for it. And if we use, if we, And I think that would be a great use of those funds. Yeah. Yeah. And I’d like, I’d like to recommend them. I talked with a woman today, she was delightful. I said she became my sister. I just enjoyed talk, you know, just sort of hit it off with somebody. And I did with, with her, um, she, this doctor, uh, I wonder what his name is. Um, she’s talked to him, asked if he was a physician, and he is a psychiatrist that started this program.

1:08:15 And if anybody you remember, you may not remember, perform this time, I think, um, did you ever watch Zoom on tv? The child’s programing? I have cable. No, it wasn’t, it wasn’t a cable. It was the it was, Yeah. Senior. It was. Uh, but anyhow, he ran a, our kids probably watched it. We, I watched Zoom watched. Okay. Um, so, and he, he was Joey in Zoom, this guy, I dunno if you remember the people’s names. Yeah. Do you remember the names? Yeah. So, so I thought that’s, I thought did, what was this you on? I know. I auditioned for it didn’t make it nasty. It went rounding it probably too good. I love that. Anyhow.

1:09:01 Um, so I, you know, it sounds like it’s a, a good thing and they’re just waiting for funding and we could wait till they get it. It seems like they are going to get it, but it’s just not, they’re year ended and wait, so they were very excited because we are a gig for them, so they’re more excited than we are. So if we want them, they’re be So, so for Tom, for like, setting up the stuff so we can easily set up meetings with yourself and your, you know, um, and we can do that both through Zoom and in person. Sure. Yeah. Um, so, you know, I know you have a busy schedule, so whatever you know works Yeah. Figure we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure that out. Yeah. Well, if you want speak with, yep. Yeah. Let me pass this over you. That’ll be good. Oh, oh, oh, wait a minute. I’m sorry to take that. The, there is a national

1:09:47 Fentanyl Awareness Day in August. Did you know of that? Mm-Hmm. And she says that she, um, has some work I’m gonna flyer to send out. And, um, I think that we should find out what day is, I think she told me it was August 21st or something, but I didn’t write it down. But, um, she said, here is the, here’s this, uh, writeup on the National Fentanyl Awareness Day, and I couldn’t pull it up. So maybe you can do that.

1:10:19 Chair. I have a question. The opioid money was referred. I have a question in that, how should I, should I address to you to ask Andrew? Or should I wait till Land’s Report? Or how do we, how do We talk about Now you can say what’s, I’d like to speak to Andrew. Okay. The Supreme Court throughout the settlement,

1:10:44 what does that mean to do? Are there multiple SE settlements? Yes. Okay. So there is money that’s still available. We have to double check. Okay. Yeah. So it, it does some of these, you know, reverse, um, decisions do put certain things in jeopardy. Um, so yeah, we just have to make sure that the money that we have that has been paid out, that we’re not gonna be required to pay back or anything like that. How much food could have, we haven’t paid anything out. So we’ve been paid approximately $110,000 so far. Mm-Hmm. Um, but we haven’t really, you know, we’ve spent, um, several thousand on the Narcan boxes and stuff like that. Yeah. Um, and that’s approximately it so far. Um, but yeah, we just, you know, I know we are due some other settlements, but with these reversals, I have to check with council

1:11:31 to see where all that stuff lies. Now I, I do believe that first settlement is going to, can stay, but anything’s possible, I guess.

1:11:42 So what would we lose if it was curtailed? Uh, let me just talk to the town administrator and town council and, and make sure that, you know, we are able to continue to spend that money and that there’s no kinda freeze on anything currently. Okay. And you can put that on Yep. For the, the next agenda. Yep. Okay, good. So are you All set? Mm-Hmm. Objection court. Objection court. Uh, so several different items to cover. Uh, transfer station. Um, we now have a flag disposal container up at the transfer station, um, in the residential area by the residential trash disposal. Right to the right now is a flag disposal bin. So all your American flags just place ‘em in there

1:12:28 and they’ll just be dispose of properly, properly. Um, there’s an official ceremony that needs to be done, and there’s an official way that he needs to, um, dispose of would flag properly. Um, so that there’s a, a box out here. Uh, and now there’s also a box up with the transfer station. Obviously for a lot of people that, so throwing their trash out, it’s easy to dispose of that up there. Um, is That, did that all happen because we saw the box and saw these flags all thrown in there? They didn’t have a, they didn’t have a label on them. They didn’t say anything. It just, There’s some of that. And obviously our veteran agent who has been here for quite some time has passed on. Um, so this office in,

1:13:11 He’s retired, he’s retired very much alive. Lot of great work outta Dave. Um, but currently this office is closed and I wanted to make sure that people have an adequate way to dispose all the flags. So could they be labeled that? That’s what it Oh, it gonna flag flag. It says it right on it. Yeah, it is. Yeah. We Didn’t know what it was. We, we purchased the box that it was designed, you know, this is what it was designed for. Um, we have a new tank up at the transfer station. Um, we have began to purchase items that were, are part of the project. Um, so we have our new compactor on site, the waste oil tank’s now on site and actually is in use as these items are coming in. We wanted to use them. Um, the benefit

1:13:57 of us purchasing them, rather being on the, the contractor for the, the general contractor. The general contractor purchase this, purchases it and gives it to us. They can charge 10% mm-Hmm. They get 10%. Um, so I am currently working with the Winter Street Architect and Haley Ward, um, to look at our project and also do some value engineering. Um, so we’ve been looking at that. The two main buildings, well, the three buildings that we’re looking at are the swap shop, the transaction hut, and the little, the control room next to the major compactor. Those three buildings came in. Our estimates were extremely high for those. We really want to take a look at those. The two that we’re concentrated on right now are the transaction hut, uh, in the yard, uh,

1:14:43 which is gonna be, uh, same location, the residential area right next to the residential trash. Um, just for that transaction hunt, we had an estimate of $138,000. This is a small, like 10 by 10, eight by 10 building. We need to look at that and see if there’s ways that we can do it for less expensive. Now, obviously there’s a couple little things in there. It’s con what’s considered conditions face. So it has AC and heat, but we feel that there’s some huge cost savings there. We’re looking at companies that can pre-manufactured these items, ship ‘em directly to us. It needs a pad and we can install it. Yeah. There’s potentially some huge savings. We’re doing that for the same thing for the control room. The control room. Similar size building, same thing.

1:15:30 We, we need to take a look at this. The, so we’re dealing with the company currently down in Georgia who makes these pre-up, manufactured transaction hubs, security boosts, all this stuff. The cost is significantly different. We can get stamped engineer plans. We just need to make sure that it, what the manufacturer can supply matches the mass building code. So the architects, the engineers are taking away. Um, we’re also looking at schedules. So the big piece that we wanna make sure is that we wanna make sure that we have contractors that are interested in the projects. We’re putting this out to bid in a timely manner that’s gonna be appropriate or attractive to general contractors. So we’re currently going back and forth between the engineers, the architects who has,

1:16:16 who has to do some modifications or look at these designs from others to see if we can implement into our projects and figure out exactly for schedule. Um, we would love for this project to go back on the street around October. We believe that is the right time. Um, that gives the general contractors time to kind of finish their major projects to the summer and, and move into the fall when they’re potentially less busy. Uh, and, and see some better numbers for us. Have you had any more people asking for that they’ve reached out to? Yeah, so we’ve had quite a few, um, different contractors reach out to us. The biggest pieces that, obviously there’s certain contractors that need to become DKM certified, so we’re continuing to check in with them to make sure that they’ve received their DDAM certification.

1:17:01 If they haven’t, when are they gonna receive that? All that information comes into play. Mm-Hmm. Um, there’s a lot of local contractors that are interested. And so obviously through myself and the engineers, we’re continuing to reach out to them. Once we’re complete with this kind of revaluing, our value engineering work, we wanna make sure that they have copies of all the plans, they submit their questions to us so we can be on top of anything. What, so there’s no kind of questions during the bidding process. What Does it take to get decant certified a lot. It does. Yeah. Okay. Unfortunately, yeah, it’s about a 60 to 90 day process at the minimum. Mm-Hmm. Um, obviously it’s, you know, department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance. Um, so it’s a state organization. Um, yes, it’s a lot of paperwork and stuff like that. Mm-Hmm. Um,

1:17:47 but yes, you know, any help that we can for the, you know, these individuals, we will provide that, you know, obviously we’ve been talking to them and get this back out again. You know, we’re looking at items that we should be purchasing outside of the contracts that compactor we’re looking to purchase the steel for the chute and making sure that that’s on site. Um, the compactor itself and the steel chute is gonna be done by others. Our current compactor, um, maintenance company will be doing that work. Um, you know, they’re very familiar with this and they can do that work in a very short period of time. Um, you know, compared to somebody that’s not kind of used to that stuff. Um, so that’s kind of where we stand, um, with the transfer station construction update and stuff like that along with some of the other things. I know we always talk about coming

1:18:33 to an end with these projects. Um, the transfer station is one of the busiest places in the community. Um, probably not as busy as the schools, but I would say it’s second, you know, so there’s always gonna be items that we’re gonna be looking at. The next big thing is that we’re gonna be looking at the, the feasibility study for the con, um, construction demolition material. Um, so I’ve been talking to Hailey and Ward. Um, I hope to be coming back to you in August, or if not, I, I really hope to be coming back to you in August, um, with a number for the feasibility study. Um, we’re pretty close to that. Um, and moving forward with that. So they can take a look at that, do an evaluation of the cost, the employees, the equipment, and, and, but the potential revenue stream that it will be bringing in, would We also have to include in that? ‘cause the mounds would have

1:19:19 to be gone at a faster pace, correct? Uh, not necessarily. Yeah. So we’ll, we’ll look at all of that. So like, you know, we’ll, we’ll figure out, um, where the structures are gonna be, what needs to be moved. And so if we have to take over an area of those mounds and stuff like that, and there’s a cost associated with that, that would all be discussed as well. Okay. Yep. We wanna look at everything, you know, the other things that we wanna look in. Are there other items that we might wanna consider? Should we be considering, um, taking in, um, concrete Yeah. Stuff like that. Anything that you can make money off it. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, the engineers have to do an evaluation of, you know, surrounding areas, surrounding yards that are taken in this material, what the costs are to handle it, what the costs are.

1:20:05 Trucking, obviously we’re kind of on a remote area. Um, so there is some additional trucking. Um, and then trying to do the evaluation and come back with the feasibility Mm-Hmm. Um, and then come back with the designs and all that stuff for us. So, so the first would be the feasibility study. So If you do the feasibility study, that will be determine if you go forward, you may, So the feasibility study go forward. Correct. The feasibility study will tell us what we’re gonna need. Is it possible what the potential revenue stream is gonna be. Um, and, and, you know, you Thought about looking, I, and I have no, I I just know this is a huge pain brick. Uh, yeah. So like, we call it a B, C, so asphalt, brick and concrete, we consider it all the same products. Okay. Yeah. It, it all out. I know Miles River is like The only place in Correct.

1:20:52 Anywhere, so, so, um, brick is a, so Concrete’s really easy to deal with. Yeah. We have a second. You know, it’s a great product to use for secondary products, uh, and projects. It’s great underlay material. Mm-Hmm. Um, asphalt’s another great material. Once it’s ground, it’s not considered hazardous brick is a tougher one. Yeah. Um, so a lot of people when they are buying, so a DC is often used as like a, a driveway vetting material. Yep. Um, and so depending what the need is, would dictate, do we take this, do we mix it? What are we doing with that? Mm-Hmm. But yes, I think we would be evaluating all that stuff. Okay. Yep. And obviously, like the plan with this engineering firm is that they’re a large firm and, and we will form a relationship and we will continue to work with them

1:21:37 for a long period of time. Mm-Hmm. Um, they’re giving us proposals to start to look at. So we currently have a contract to, for doing all our water, are quality testing required by DEP for a landfill. Um, they also do, um, have to do our inspections for our operations. Um, they’ll be giving us numbers to continue on for the current company for that as well. Didn’t we Give you a figure though, for the feasibility study? So we have a figure of a hundred thousand dollars. My, my, and, and we obviously talked that we didn’t think it would be close to that. I think it’s gonna come in somewhere around half of that Mm-Hmm. Which left the other, you know, the additional sums to look at the license plate reader cameras and all that stuff. Um, so once we have the feasibility study number, we can really look at the license plate reader.

1:22:24 You know, we know the product that we want to use. Um, with that comes a, a large piece of software that’s gonna be huge integration into our operations, um, that will allow people to buy stickers and purchase everything online or pay for everything online. Show up to the transfer station with a sticker or a phone and say, Hey, I can dispose of this tv. I’ve already paid for it. Here’s my receipt. And we can process all that. We’re trying to get a little bit more streamlined and online with all that stuff. Mm-Hmm. Um, but the LPR company, they do all that. That’s their software program. Um, with that, um, there does need to be some fiber optic work for the LPR cameras. We currently have a fiber op op optic contract in town. So we’re using that contract there.

1:23:10 Shouldn’t, you know, so we’ll look at, we have to run fiber optics from the gate, essentially on Green Street back up and around, uh, to the top where the residential, uh, bin is. That’s all above ground. It’s gotta be done anyways. So that’s something that, you know, should be done under that contract. Um, so we’re looking at all that stuff. Um, and so that’s who we get for the transfer station update. Any questions? I know that’s a lot. Um, obviously board members are always welcome to reach out to me and talk to me, you know, further in detail about some of this stuff. So do you have a, a timeframe when you think that we could have these pieces on, on site? You said You, so the co-actors on site. I’m speaking with the company that does the steelwork.

1:23:58 We’re looking to purchase that now and bring that on site. So these things are onsite and ready to go. Um, the oil tank, we’ve already purchased it that’s onsite and being used currently. Um, so anything of like that, we’re gonna continue to look at, um, the sign. So obviously there’s a sign package that goes along with the new entrance and stuff like that. We should pull that out. We’re already working with a sign company currently. Um, we should pull all that stuff out and look to purchase those signs at some point when we feel that’s appropriate. And, and what about these prefabs? So the, the, the engineers and the architects will continue to look at the prefabs and tell us, yes, let’s do this. This makes the most sense. There’s gonna be huge savings. You know, this is, we need to order them or they can,

1:24:43 or be ordered through the contract and stuff like that. And, and you say you’re waiting for the contractors to be done with their big jobs, the big summer jobs? Yeah. So right now we, we need to take a look at the value engineering, see where we can have cost savings, make sure we can actually get those products, add that back into the design, and get that all ready to go back out on the street for, to put it back out to bid. But we also wanna make sure that the contractors are ready. They have their D CAM certifications and they’re able to bid on these projects. And the ones that you like that don’t have it, you’re, you’re, you’re speaking to them about getting Yep. The right, uh, Yep. We’re speaking to them to see what their, what their timeframe is to, to receive these DAM certifications.

1:25:32 So, uh, processing bills. So we generally process bills weekly. They get passed through the warrant. The warrant comes out, gets sent to board members. The easiest way to, to process these, or a couple different ways to process it in the, in that, uh, DocuSign signature page, you’ll have two different ones. You’ll have a board of, like a health department one and a waste department one. Also, with that, there’s a copy of the budget. There’s a budget code that’s associated with where the money’s coming out. We’ll also attach the copy of the bill that, of the actual invoice. So that will be there to identify the product, everything. And obviously if you have questions, you, you know, we, we can do it a couple different ways. I can send it out as a giant packet

1:26:18 or we can keep all that stuff in the office. And you guys can come into the office, go through everything. You took me emailing, asking what companies do. No, I mean, I can like whip those out quick. Doesn’t have a been a problem. Um, I just wanna make sure, like I, I need board members to sign it. We need, there is a, you know, a timeline to this stuff. I need you guys to be comfortable with this. The other option is that you can vote that the chair is authorized to sign all the bills. And then she would just come in, I meet with the chair on a, a weekly basis. Um, we could go through any of that stuff and then she signs off on it. That’s up to the board. So You’re, you’re not gonna do the DocuSign for the, for the bills anymore? It depends on what the board would want. Yeah.

1:27:03 I can always do the DocuSign. But the difference was, so the board can decide that the chair can sign on the, all the bills, or we can send out all the information on the DocuSign to make sure that you guys have everything you need to sign and you can Still do it through the DocuSign. Yep. And you don’t have to come into the Building. Yep. Or I can have all the copies of the receipts in the office, and you guys can come in the open days. Yep. So Go ahead. Madam Chair, I’m, I may have triggered some of this. I was very uncomfortable the first time signs that I got, ‘cause I signed for $40,000. That’s not that I would’ve never, ever want to have to defend that. I knew what I was signing for. And I don’t know, I mean, uh, done my accounting courses in business school,

1:27:50 but there’s no way that in a DocuSign document without spending an enormous amount of time, I can understand the rationale that I, I know that in normal head, people can be trusted in all of that. But you read everywhere that people figure out ways, and there is no way I ever wanna have to defend what I’m signing. So I I don’t know whether you more back him. Well, I, I, I’ll, I’ll come in. Th there’s one pending now, I guess. Um, but it, it just seems to me that it, it just couldn’t,

1:28:39 couldn’t pass a legal muster. The, the, This is all through legal. So this is not me. This is all through legal, But, but legal believes that I’m signing for it. That’s what I’m worried about. The legal mu I, I mean, I, if I had to defend that I signed for the $40,000, I, I really like, I, I would say I really like Andrew Petty. I trust him, and therefore I signed it. I mean, that’s just, did you know what you were signing? No. It’s right out on the right. Well, but in one, two or three words, um, I will come in, you gimme my tutorial on where all this stuff sits. Maybe once I understand the budget Yep. It, it’ll be easier for me. Um, but, but we have to be good stewards

1:29:29 and I don’t feel that I’m capable of being good steward without an awful lot of time in a, in an, in a very inefficient environment. So, yeah. So, um, uh, you know, the idea with the DocuSign is that I know you’re in the office early in the morning and don’t have time to come to the office. Mm-Hmm. So we wanted to kind of, you know, I, I guess I can do a hybrid model, making sure that the DocuSign has all the documents, has the invoice and stuff like that. And in the office, we can have, have the exact same thing. So you can come into the office, um, and if you have questions, you can ask, you know, we can ask those. Okay. Answer those questions. Do you get in before they get early Wednesdays? Mm-Hmm? Do you get in time before they, they leave on Wednesdays? It’ll,

1:30:14 So the office is, you know, six o’clock I haven’t signed anything. Yes. Well, I keep track of them, but they have not signed any. But you don’t want, you don’t wanna come in and sign them? Uh, no. I, what I had said before is I wanted them discussed. They, we could sign them, but I wanted them discussed to the public so the public is aware whether it’s after we sign ‘em. ‘cause they need to be signed weekly. I, I wish Jen hadn’t left because the school committee does not provide, or not The school committee what, or not the School committee. No, but I mean, I, you at one point were co comparing to the school committee. They do not have the bills there. They just say, I’m Finding increased transparency with the town. And I think that’s the way to do it, is to tell the town what you’re using their money for. And I’m fine citing them so long as we have a discussion with the community.

1:31:01 And I’d hope eventually on the new website, we could just post it and everyone could see it. You know, I mean, obviously our, to some degree Yeah. Our budget is posted. Yeah. I mean, obviously everything’s through clear gov. Um, yeah. I don’t know what the plan, like obviously we’ve moved to this new platform, clear gov. I don’t know how, as I go through and, and use money outta my budget, obviously. So there’s a, there’s a salary and there’s an expense side to it. So obviously anytime we’re purchasing anything, it’s allocated to those expenses and to those, I’m not Worried, I’m not worried about getting into the nitty gritty. Okay. You know, for the public, you know, it is it, I’d say posting the bills themselves and maybe like, you know, kind of Tom, what I sent you would be like a little, um, thing that says what each company does. Because as you point out the descriptions just, they,

1:31:49 they don’t tell the story or else I wouldn’t be emailing it. So, but there’s nothing you can do. You don’t only so much room in descriptions for Yeah. So like, so if we, if we provide the invoice, you’re gonna see that, you know, the company you’re gonna see, gonna see. I don’t think you need to go to that quite, quite that level to satisfy me. I think it, um, satisfaction for me would be, you know, the, what we signed, you know, what you had out before. You know, let’s say even before Tom asked if that was something like that was posted so the community could see it. So we never Posted It’s in the office for the board to come in. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s, but I’d say like, in the future, like that’s what, what would make me comfortable signing it, you know, if you, I I, I don’t think you need to put the invoices out to any of us. I think we can go by there. I do like the spreadsheet. Yep. Um, but, you know, that’s my 2 cents.

1:32:36 So how would you like to proceed? We need to have bills signed on a weekly basis. Well, I’ll come in this, uh, and, and sign. My wife disagrees at times, but I am trainable, so I’ll work on it.

1:32:51 What I’ve found, if you look across, it’s the name of, it’s the name of the case. And we can sit down and I can go Through. It’s the, the company. It’s the amount. It’s, it’s the, it says what it does. I mean, if it’s go the post office and it’s the amount and it stamps. So does that make sense? Yeah, Sure. It’s, if it’s the transfer station and its amount and it’s two by fours, I mean, what’s more? But how do we know that two, two by fours have actually been delivered and somebody just hasn’t put that in there.

1:33:29 I’ll bring it back if I have more problems. The only way you know that is if you have, I don’t need to pay your bill until they get it. Have to. Right. So we, we cannot pay, we have to have it on site before we can pay these. That’s correct. I mean, this whole, see, that’s something I know because of other departments, they, nothing’s paid. So I think what you’re saying is that nobody can access our funds and put a bogus Right. Information piece of We’ve already gotten it. All right. I’ll thank you for bringing it, bringing it up. Uh, bathing Beaches. So the way the Bathing Beach data works is that obviously we go and test on a Wednesday.

1:34:16 We take the sample, it goes to the lab, the lab takes the results and sends it to the state website and posts it right away from the lab. That is the most efficient way to get the information out there. If you go to the town website and go to Bathing Beaches and click on water quality, that will take you to the state website where you just have to put in the beach name and they’ll, that will bring you direct directly to the data. So if we change any other way, there’s gonna be delays. That is the most sufficient way to do it. I think that’s the best way. I’ll still spell Dvo wrong every time.

1:34:56 So Yes. And obviously there’s the five bath beaches, the deux, the Crocker park, the gas house, grace Oliver’s and Raki. You were born here and I wasn’t, so Yeah, But I’m a bad speller. It. She’s an a you,

1:35:22 um, budget. So, um, we’ll be getting the budget process early. Um, they’re asking us to submit a, um, essentially a, a flat budget, um, by September 6th. Um, so you’ll, you know, so the, so the budget process, um, so the budget process is a long process. Um, we work with the, the finance committee. Um, they have liaisons that work with the health department and the waste department. We generally, um, it generally is the chair that works with me, um, to meet with the liaisons to present our budget and move forward. Once we’re in an agreement, it comes back to the board. So the board understands what the, the finance committee’s saying. What we’re saying moving forward. Our biggest pieces of our budget

1:36:08 for the waste side are collection and disposal. So the collection contract currently is with Republic. That’s for the collection of recycling and waste, you know, household trash, curbside. We do 8,000 homes every week. We have a very good contract. It’s, it was a 10 year contract. We have two years left. But that won’t be coming up. And there’s gonna be a significant increase in those contracts. We are looking at contracts across the state. I am able to pull up who has the most recent contracts, what that’s looking at. We’re using all that data to put together what we feel is gonna be probably the best, um, information to move forward to put a budget together, working with the finance committee.

1:36:53 Mm-Hmm. There is a cha. We’re also gonna potentially have to do a reduced budget. So a reduced budget would be employees stay the same, but you’re only allowed a 1% increase in expenditures. That will not work for us. We, we will need to continue to discuss that. That will not work for the waste department. Mm-Hmm. We, we can discuss the health department. In the past we’ve made cut cuts to, um, Marblehead Counseling Center. That’s where we, our only place we’re able to make cuts because that budgets so small. Um, for the health department, obviously you can’t really make any cuts in the waste department because only way to make cuts is to cut a Saturday. And that’s not a cost savings, that’s not a, you know, that’s not good for anybody.

1:37:39 I think this is the most important thing at town meeting next year to tell Jack like, this needs time to discuss. Yeah. And have people actually like, be like, ask questions, let’s hear it. And obviously the discussion is, is months long. Yes. Um, because it’s not, you know, we will discuss it here. Yep. We’ll discuss it at the finance committee before it even goes to town meeting. Mm-Hmm. Um, and we hope people participate with that, but Yes. Then just to make everyone aware and you know, that Yep, exactly. The consequences and everything. And so everyone’s fully aware and I think we’ll talk a lot the consequences before we even get Yeah, yeah. No, I, so, you know, that’s gonna have to be, you know, if there has to be cuts and stuff like that, we’re gonna need to decide how this is gonna work. Right. Um, or,

1:38:24 or you know, what fees need to go be increased to try to handle, to handle this stuff. Right. Um, so again, with that, you know, we need to be cognizant of, you know, the town is not in good financial shape. We need to be looking at fees. Um, you know, we can start collecting data on, so generally we look at fees, we look at our cost of commercial waste disposal. So what we’re charging contractors to come in, um, to go across the scale. We look at all the items that people throw away, the mattresses, the, the white goods, all that stuff. The tires to make sure we’re essentially matching market price out there. Um, and then we’re also, we would look at, um, facility stickers, you know, which is slash beach stickers. So those are all gonna be the things that we’ll be talking about for budget.

1:39:11 Mm-Hmm. Questions. Yeah. And they wanna see it in September. So the first one is gonna be, you know, I’ll put the budget together and then the, the real discussions, you know, start after that once we start to meet with liaisons, um, and stuff like that. Well, they brought it up early last year. They even gonna have it earlier this year. Yeah. It’s hard to tell when you haven’t run through budget Years. That is correct. It’s really hard to tell what my expenditure, the hardest thing is, a lot of our stuff is market driven, um, trucking driven and stuff like that. Um, so, you know, it’s presidential driven, so the cost of something today might not be the cost of something in May or, or even, you know, April, you know, March.

1:39:56 You know, stuff like that. So generally budgets were due end of January. We would have budget discussions in February, moving through our liaison meetings. Uh, and then Tommy, And now it’s gonna be September. I don’t think, I think it’s gonna be early, early discussions, but later on we’ll have the FinCon liaison meetings and stuff like that. I think there’s just gonna be more meetings and more discussion. So, um, you’re down to public comment, except I have some business that I’d like to talk about. Um, this, um, surgeon general, uh, Vivek ing, he’s now, um, talking about, uh, uh, social media that you’re been, he’s saying

1:40:43 that just like cigarettes, social media platforms are designed to be addictive. This is his quote. Cigarettes have a, have carried a surgeon general’s warning since the 1960s. And, uh, talking about TikTok are fueling a mental health crisis. An Instagram and TikTok are fueling mental health crisis among youth with the kids who spend more time chasing likes and comparing profiles. And, um, they, they recommended year, uh, is, uh, over of 13 when they’re, now the 12 year olds are trying to get onto some form of eight to 12 year olds are trying to get on some form of social media. So it’s just dropping lower. So I don’t know.

1:41:32 I mean, we’ve been first in other things with, you know, our, uh, prevention with the ba the bags. We’ve been first with the cigarettes. Yep. And we were first with, um, with the turf. Yep. And with, with the, uh, not the turf with the Besides. Yep. And not, and he is also talking about gun violence. The same, same week surgeon General Vivek Murphy declared gun violence, public health crisis Tuesday on Tuesday, which was the date, but this was 6 26, um, with the same vigor used to reduce deaths and injuries from tobacco and motor vehicles. So it’s serious.

1:42:18 And, um, as when I spoke to Andrew, he said he doesn’t know how much gun violence is in this community, but if we’re talking about rape and things like that, you don’t know what these kids are being held up with. You know, I don’t think, I think we’d know about that. It’s a small enough town, But that if somebody points a gun to them to that they won’t accept a offer. I don’t know. Never heard about any of that. And I hang out with cops every weekend, so that I’m sure they would implement. But, um, I mean, I hope it never happens, but I have to agree with Andrew that I don’t think it’s much of a problem in this town. But, and that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be in the future, but, um, well, I, I would like to recommend that Andrew, you could recommend to Gina to put two questions on about the social

1:43:05 media and see what they say. If they, if they’re suffering from mental illness, Uh, you know, obviously I would, you know, be working closely with Tom Yeah. Uh, to discuss these items and where we wanna go with questions. And, And, and I think that the gun, I really dive into some of this. I think the gun violence, I just have to go to the cop to Dennis, I think I mean it, same thing. Tom talk, you know, I can definitely talk to Dennis about it. We can definitely talk a whole book on it. Tom and I can meet and discuss it. You can a book on it. Yeah. But obviously, you know, uh, public health has definitely come out and said, um, gun violence is a public health issue Right there. Our surgeon general. So I think I would like to see some numbers on it.

1:43:51 Okay. So with that, um, any, any, uh, anybody else on the board that wants to say nothing but from Holy go to the, uh, public, anybody in the public have anything to say? Couple of things that flag just follow the book. Could be, and it’s a perfect spot. People can see it. Uh, I think that’s really good with the construction of the little mini sheds or whatever you want to call ‘em. Have you talked to anybody at the vocational school? They’ve done a lot of that sort of thing at other places. Especially if you’re gonna do a pad and then have a building put on it. It might be a win-win type of situation. They’ve done a lot of stuff at Stree in this town, but other places they’ve built little mini fire

1:44:37 stations and stuff. It’s a, it’s a possibility. And I noticed the other day when I was at the transfer station, I loved seeing that there was a little sign saying that there was a minimal charge for non head residents that do disposal. We really gotta pursue making people who are not taxpayers in town pay more.

1:45:02 I’m all amazed the number of trucks I see coming from all sorts of places. ‘cause it’s very simple to come from Lynn or Salem, whatever, rather than go way up to Mellows or something in Georgetown. And we’re silly not to be taken advantage of that personally. That’s, but I think you’re heading in the right direction and I really would like to see the swap s**t not get left out. There’s gotta be something that we can do up there. I don’t think they’ll have that clue as to how many thousands of pounds of stuff go through there and get recycled and get used for now. I get a bunch of stuff every time my grandkids come, I go up and get a bunch and then I return ‘em for somebody else. But, uh, I think it’s the other in progress ways

1:45:48 to go with your making progress. Three Things. You prioritize those, those were just priority because they must happen. Yeah. Like the swap, she is still on the table. The swap shop’s always on the table. And obviously the hardest thing is that when we look at, you know, when we did our alternates Yep. The swap shop was alternate number five mm-Hmm. Um, and one of the things that was, you know, so the estimate for the swap shop and, and these were just estimates Yeah. Um, was 333,000 bucks. And so obviously, you know, I I, so obviously again with all this stuff, yeah. You need to get the main portion of the project done. Again, continue to look at value engineering. The engineers brought that up and said, we need to look at that. Like this, this should be a basic pole barn. Yes. You need, it needs to be on a concrete pad. Yeah.

1:46:34 There’s gotta be some other things. Right. You need to get this project done. Yeah. So what, what is the best way to get this done? You know, does that get left off? So we have enough people to bid on the main project and we come back and do that at a, you know, either as a, you know, once we know what our number is for the main projects, you know, can we do that as a side project? And yes, we we’re always looking at the voc school to potentially do work. Yeah. Yeah. Good.

1:47:01 Do you have a copy here, Steve? We have two online. We have, We have two online hands rights. One more in the back. Oh. Oh Wait. Good. I just, I’m sorry. That’s okay. Um, I wanted to first say thank you for the positive attitude that I have sensed for the coming year. It’s a very welcome change. Um, I wanted to ask about the opioid settlement. I heard you saying that there might be some money that we need to give back. It got reversed in the Supreme Supreme Court. Supreme Court, yeah. Reversed the settlement that, that, uh, allowed the Sackler family never to be sued, uh, for their, the Sackler family raided the, the treasury of

1:47:49 the firm that they owed. What’s it called? And they took $11 billion out of it. The firm went bankrupt. And so all the, the, the settlement was just to use the firm as the source of money and let the Sackler family with its multiple billion dollars that were extracted from the company. Untouched. And so the Supreme Court said that that was not, uh, legal, not appropriate. I understand What is happening to the, to the funds That it’s kind of like, my understanding is that the, the settlement, like the ruling on the settlement was null, but now this opens the door where it could be higher. Right. But it could be years to get hired. It could be.

1:48:36 Yeah. So I guess my question is the money that’s spent allotted, that’s, and obviously we haven’t spent much, but what we have spent is that it’s, It’s up in a year now. Yeah. Which Andrew’s gonna check. So Yeah, we’ll check with Town council to make sure that there’s no concern about spending that moving forward. That, you know, The money we have to, would it be possible we have to turn, I need to check the town, the accounting office to make Sure. And so my other comment, I guess is a moot point. I, I just wanted to give a cautionary comment that I, I believe part of the rules for spending that funding is that we need to go to the community and get their input as to how they want the, the funding to be spent.

1:49:20 Yeah. So now I guess we to pick off, So I believe that question’s been answered. So my understanding, and I can check with council and stuff like that, is that the, the select board set up a committee to delegate where the funds can be stood. But the town was asked what they wanted to have done with the funds. I was asked, I was not. You, you were asked. No, that wasn’t, I know that. I, so I work for Lynn Community Health Center, um, and I joined the, um, city of Lin in their quest to find out what the citizens of Lin wanted to do with the funding that was a portioned to the city of Lin. Um, as I understand it, they’re not, you, you cannot just

1:50:08 make a decision without the input of the citizens of the town or the city. Yeah. And they done that. I mean, Maybe I’ve talked like obviously there’s time now because unfortunately there’s time because you have to figure everything out, but I don’t think it’d be the worst thing if it was. No, We’ve talked about a survey question. You know, so obviously, um, swamp Scott has put together a survey, um, that we have copies of. Um, so I can go back to the, you know, the opioid committee and say, Hey, can we put out a survey? What’s the cost of it? Where’s the funding gonna come for the cost of the survey? Um, and all that stuff. And, and I believe Swamps got, got their training from Lynn. Right. So obviously, you know, Lynn, Lynn is a city and received I think a considerable amount more than right. Than Marblehead. Um,

1:50:54 so maybe looked at the process differently. Mm-Hmm. Anyone else? You got something line You said? We have two. So one,

1:51:13 I have a copy of you. There you go. Remarks to Yeah, I’m gonna keep, I, I’d like to see it. That’s okay. Um, rejecting request. Well, it’s about me. I’ll get it somehow. Okay. There you go. Oh,

1:51:38 Hi. Am I up? You’re on. Okay. Terry Toro, one 13 Jersey Street. I just wanted to go back to, um, the guests that you had from Hawk and just give a little plug to them. Um, I’m the president of the Marblehead Municipal Employees Union and on the executive board of the North Shore Labor Council and the state A-F-L-C-I-O. And, um, we’re running a pilot program with the unions where we’re training union, um, people in each local. We’ve trained about 50 people so far to be Hawk liaisons. Um, at this point we, we’ve had two training sessions train about 50 people, and we have managed to get at least 10 members of unions that were in domestic violence situations

1:52:23 to Hawk for help. Um, it’s a fabulous program. They are so willing to help everyone, you know, um, when I discussed with them that, that, you know, oftentimes the only place that a domestic, um, someone who’s under domestic abuse or control at home is allowed to go, is at work. They’ve been isolated from friends and family. Um, and the only place they, they’re sent is to work. So, you know, with that being said, we’re hoping that, you know, they, they trust the union, um, leadership to give them to a liaison to get them services through Hawk. So anything that you can do to partner with Hawk, um, to support Hawk is just super, super valuable. And I can tell you that from experience.

1:53:10 So this is a pilot program right now, um, on the North Shore, but hopefully it’s going statewide. I’ve been talking to Chrissy Lynch from the A-F-L-C-I-O and that’s going statewide and we’re gonna try to get it to go nationally as well. So just, um, please support Hawk. Thank you. We’ve supported Hawk for 30 years that I know of, Not just with money. Helene just like continue, like to support with programs? No, financially. Yep. Oh yeah. I know you’ve supported financially with a few missing years, but, um, I’m just saying, you know, as far as them coming in and doing programs, they’ve been fabulous with the union members. That’s all. All right, thanks. They are a great group and, uh, a lot of, a lot of town people support them personally and I think the school department also, uh, gives them money.

1:53:56 They used to at least, I’m not sure, but they should if they They did, but they may have stopped. Oh, And then, hold on. We have another, another one. Bear with us.

1:54:24 Did I do that right? This is Allison Taylor, um, school committee. Hold on. Can you hear me Second? Lemme just make sure I can get your, oh, one second, Megan. Sorry. We got Yep. So you just don’t have video. You’re good. Go Ahead. Yeah, no, you don’t want me to have video right now, moving all day. Um, so, uh, Allison Taylor is 2 85 West Short Drive, um, school committee, vice chair. I, I just heard Helene note, um, I know Jen was in person and I heard Helene note, um, questioning about, you know, what the school committee does with their schedule of bills. We do provide them online and we do provide the ability, um, to have a discussion. We vote on them if there’s any discussion or any questions, we walk through that in our public meeting. And, um, that’s what we do with, with every schedule

1:55:11 of bills before they get signed. So I just wanted to clarify that for you. Do you bring the bills to your meetings? Yeah. Yeah. They’re, they’re published online and, and they’re in our packet. Let me And you get a packet delivered to you. Right? You still still get that happen? We do not get a packet delivered, um, delivered to us. We get, um, it’s online. It’s online, yeah. So we just go online, um, to either view it, you can print it if needed. And, and the, the bills are in there, there to be signed by hand, not like a DocuSign. Uh, the chair. Yeah. So Jen goes in to sign by hand. It’s just the chair that signs. Um, but we all have access to it and before that happens, um, we,

1:55:56 we talk about them in a public meeting.

1:56:02 Thank you for that. Sure, no problem. Um, also great, great work with Buck. I’m, I’m just so excited to see that moving forward and I’m really, really looking forward to, to this year and, and, and watching your board grow. So I, I applaud you all for being able to work together. Um, I know firsthand it’s not always easy and, um, it’s a little bit of a thankless job. And, and thank you all for your service.

1:56:52 All right. That’s it.

1:56:56 You vote adjourn? Yeah. Uh, motion for adjourn. Second.

1:57:08 9 25. That’s late. We usually get up at nine.

1:57:19 Yes.

1:57:24 Upstairs. Which one? I Muscle Bay hands. That’s true.