Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance

By City Clerk at 3:32 pm, Feb 13, 2025 NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance Date: December 10th, 2024 Time: 2 pm - 3 pm Meeting Location: ​ Virtual: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88294190778 APPROVED AGENDA FOR VIRTUAL MEETING Voting Attendees: Non-Voting Attendees: a.​ Ann Marie Casey, Amesbury a.​ Meghan Russell, BME Strategies b.​ Jim Wilson, Amesbury b.​ Erika Syokau, BME Strategies c.​ Deb Ketchen, Amesbury & c.​ Mike Hugo, MAHB Merrimac d.​ Steven Kahn, Northeast Training d.​ Chris Berube, Merrimac Hub e.​ Frank Marchegiani, Rowley e.​ Stephen Casey, Northeast Training f.​ Deb Rogers, Newbury Hub g.​ Paul Sevigny, West Newbury I.​ Call to Order a.​ Deb Ketchen motioned for the meeting to be called, and Frank Marchegiani seconded. The meeting was called to order at 2:04 pm with a quorum of 5/7 voting members present (Amesbury, Merrimac, Rowley, Newbury, and West Newbury) II.​ Approval of November 26th Minutes a.​ Chris Berube motioned for the meeting minutes to be accepted as written, and Deb Ketchen seconded. The meeting minutes were approved with a vote of 4/7. Paul Sevigny abstained from the vote.  NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance III.​ Training Hub Presentation a.​ Stephen Casey and Steven Kahn gave a 15-minute presentation and discussion on the different tiers of training for food and housing. 1.​ Stephen and Steven gave an overview of the MVPHA's current progress in completing the tiered training compared to other SSAs. a)​ Steven stated that the group is not far behind with other SSA. However, no one has started their tier 1 and 2 housing training. Stephen is there to support housing training. 2.​ Stephen mentioned to the group that the Tier 1 courses on TRAIN count for continuing education hours for RS/REHS & CHO. 3.​ The training hub is also happy to facilitate informal or formal sessions to discuss certain topic areas or challenges inspectors face. a)​ Deb K expressed interest in virtual sessions. 4.​ The training hub will circle back in the new calendar year to share hoarding support information and group sessions for inspectors. 5.​ The contacts for the Northeast Training Hub: Coordinator: Steven Kahn - skahn@salem.com Hub Trainer, Housing: Stephen Casey - scasey@salem.com Hub Trainer, Food: Terrence Kennedy - tkennedy@salem.com IV.​ Website Vote a.​ Erika asked the group if there were any questions related to the website vendors and if folks were ready to move forward with voting. b.​ Chris asked if there were any differentiating factors between the vendors. 1.​ Erika stated that LadyBugz offers content writing. Slocum Studios is a standard PHE website and Revize offers a lot of autonomy on the back end in building the website the way the group chooses.  NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance 2.​ Mike mentioned that InTouch has been very pleasant to work with for the MAHB website. InTouch has taken care of writing and migrating the old MAHB site. a)​ Chris asked if we could ask InTouch to write content for the group. b)​ Erika stated that if we move forward with InTouch she can ask Jason about content writing options. 3.​ Chris made a motion for InTouch to be the official vendor for the MVPHA website development. Deb K seconded the motion. a)​ Amesbury, Merrimac, and Rowley all voted in favor of moving forward. West Newbury abstained from the vote. V.​ FPHS a.​ Erika gave a high-level overview presenting the foundational public health services rollout beginning in January. b.​ Erika informed the group that she would share a one-pager with the group to review FPHS after this meeting. VI.​ Community Updates a.​ Grainger Order 1.​ Erika shared with the group that there is a Grainger order from FY24 that was never officially ordered and contained inspector supplies. 2.​ Erika asked the group if folks were okay with moving forward with purchasing these items. The total is $2,851.97. a)​ Chris stated that if we have room in the budget then we should purchase these items. (1)​The group was in favor of moving forward with purchasing the inspector items.  NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance b)​ Erika informed the group that there are a lot of funds to be spent and for the group to continue to think about spending ideas and items that might want to be purchased. c)​ Erika shared with the group that we have only spent 6% of the current budget but hiring and strategic planning will help spend down some of the budget. b.​ MHFA and Hoarding training 1.​ Erika shared two training opportunities with the group. a)​ The Center for Hoarding and Training Clinical & Crisis Case Management Specialist - Excessive Clutter & Hoarding b)​ Mental Health First Aid Training Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) teaches you how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among adults (1)​Erika asked the group which training the group felt could be beneficial to themselves and their communities. (2)​Meghan stated that we have enough room in the budget to do both trainings in FY25. (3)​Both trainings are a flat fee for 30-50 attendees. Municipalities can invite other members of the health department, fire, police, COA, and housing authority, within their communities. (4)​Frank, Deb Rogers, Deb Ketchen, and Chris agreed that hoarding would be the highest need within their communities.  NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance (5)​Chris stated that mental health first aid training is needed as well. Chris then asked if we could do them both, just not at the same time. (6)​Erika will reach out to Marnie to schedule the hoarding training first and then will schedule an MHFA training at a later date. c.​ Turi Funding: Toxics Use Reduction 1.​ Erika shared a grant opportunity with the grant that focuses on toxic use reduction within the community. The deadline is December 20th 202. 2.​ The Funding timeline is Winter 2025 through Summer 2025. 3.​ The award will range between $20,000 - $30,000. 4.​ The requirement for the grant is to propose a project that describes efforts to reduce toxic use. a)​ Erika shared the idea of community outreach and programming on toxic waste reduction. b)​ Chris asked if we could use the grant to hold a hazardous waste day event and if not whether the municipalities would be interested in pooling funds to hold the event. (1)​Meghan stated that the PHE grant could assist in providing education, branding, and communication materials. 5.​ Erika will look into putting a grant proposal together for the TURI grant related to toxic waste education and whether we can use these funds to pay for a contractor for the hazardous waste day event. d.​ Ann Marie about the hiring status and if the group has received more applications.  NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance 1.​ Erika stated that we have not received many applications. Erika reached out to the candidates who passed the application criteria but has not heard back from any of the applicants. 2.​ Erika stated that it might be a timing issue with the holidays coming up. 3.​ Meghan stated that strategic planning will help the group identify the potential of hiring a third regional staff. a)​ Ann Marie stated it would be beneficial to have a translator or community health worker to assist within the communities. e.​ The next meeting will be on January 7th, 2025. VII.​ Adjournment a.​ Deb Ketchen motioned to adjourn the meeting. Frank seconded the motion, and the meeting was adjourned at 3:05 pm. VIII.​ Next Steps a.​ BME: 1.​ Erika will work with the training hub on future opportunities. 2.​ Erika will reach out to InTouch to work on the website's next steps. 3.​ Erika will work on placing the Grainger order. 4.​ Erika will reach out to Marnie to schedule a hoarding training. 5.​ Erika will reach out to Turi to ask about hazardous waste day events. 6.​ Erika will share hazardous waste day vendors with Chris. 7.​ Erika will continue to work on hiring regional staff. b.​ MVPHA 1.​ MVPHA to review FPHS Slides and one-pager. 2.​ MVPHA to think of FY 25 spending ideas. Please Note: There will be no public participation in speaking at this meeting. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​  NOTICE OF OPEN PUBLIC MEETING Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance PLEASE NOTE THAT THE BOARD OR COMMITTEE MAY ACT ON ITEMS IN A DIFFERENT ORDER THAN THEY APPEAR ON THIS AGENDA. ALSO, IF IT SO VOTES, THE BOARD OR COMMITTEE MAY GO INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION DURING THE MEETING. PERSONS INTERESTED ARE ADVISED THAT, IN THE EVENT ANY MATTER TAKEN UP AT THIS MEETING REMAINS UNFINISHED AT THE CLOSE OF THE MEETING, IT MAY BE PUT OFF TO A CONTINUED SESSION OF THIS MEETING, WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE.