Board of Health

Easthampton Board of Health Meeting Minutes March 15, 2022 50 Payson Ave., Easthampton, MA 01027 PRESENT: Maggie Hebert (MH); Aimee Petrosky (AP) Beth Rist (BR); Bri Eichstaedt (BE), Health Director; Brian Chapdelaine (BC), Health Inspector; Jackie Sienkiewicz (JS), Recorder. Also Present: Jean Pao Wilson (JW), Scott Callahan Meeting held on Zoom and recorded. Motions A motion to open the meeting at 5:03 PM. was made by BR and seconded by AP. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call. Public Speak: JW thanked the Board for making masks now optional and for listening to residents. JW also wanted to note new information concerning Pfizer. JW said that news reports stated that Pfizer was trying to hide information from the public concerning their vaccine for COVID-19. JW questioned why KN95 masks that were not approved of by the CDC were accepted as donations and distributed to children. ● Review FY23 Budget Proposal: BE shared her screen to show the budget proposed for FY23, see attached. BE quoted figures for food and housing inspections and complaints in FY22. BE stated there was 19% increase in inspection numbers over FY 21. AP asked if this increase was due to fewer people being out in 2021 and in fact were more in line with pre-pandemic numbers. BE said she would get those numbers for the Board. BE stated the Mayor’s Office asked departments to prepare a 1, 2, and 3% increase for operating budgets. BE stated she increased the amount in the line item for training due to increase in staff. BE said that money for travel also increased due to more in person meetings and trainings. Additionally, the city vehicle being used by staff for local travel was not safe for long distances. BE noted that the medical expense line was small at this time but medical supplies such as PPE were abundant due to funding by grants and federal money. BE explained the separated funding for the full-time health inspector and public health nurse in FY22 due to partial funding by FEMA money due to COVID. BE noted that the public health nurse’s hours were being deceased to 25 hours a week due to a decrease in COVID reporting numbers. BE said that they hoped to be able to start more educational programs with a continued decrease of COVID. A motion to approve the FY23 budget proposal was made by AP and seconded by BR. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote taken by roll call. At this time, AP left the meeting. A motion to close the meeting at 5:26, was made by BR and seconded by MH. All in favor – 2, Opposed – 0. Vote taken by roll call. NEXT MEETING SCHEDULED APRIL 5TH, 2022 AT 5:30.