Board of Health

FITCHBURG CITY CLERK Dec 14 2022 2:04 pm Office of the Board of Health City Hall 718 Main Street Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420 978-829-1870 This was a meeting of the Board of Health held at the Legislative Building at 700 Main Street and recorded by FATV Studios, Fitchburg, on June 2, 2022. The meeting was called to order by Dr. Bogdasarian. Present: Stephen Curry, Director, Dr. John Bogdasarian, Chair, Sandra Knipe-BOH Member, Ian Murray-BOH, Victoria Selser, Epidemiologist (Virtual); Jacquelyn Wehtje, Resident; Petitioner, Ms. Knipe opened the Board of Health meeting at 5:00pm on June 2, 2022. Ms. Knipe stated she will chair the meeting this evening. Dr. Bogdasarian joined the meeting virtually and stated he will not chair the meeting and appointed Ms. Knipe as the temporary chair for this meeting only. Dr. Bogdasarian made a motion that Ms. Knipe will serve as pro tem chair for this meeting. Motion was 2nd by Ms. Knipe. All were in favor. Motion carries. Ms. Knipe stated for the record, and this being recorded in the minutes that she is doing this only as a temporary chairmanship for this evening and that Dr. Bogdasarian will remain the permanent chairman from here on and moving forward. Public Forum: Ms. Wehtje stated since the last meeting on April 9th Dr. Anthony Fauci said people must weigh their own personal risk when it comes to COVID mitigation rather than the government issuing mandates. On April 11, Dr. Ashish Jha, the new White House COVID czar said there is no reason for concern despite rising COVID cases because 95% of Americans have identifiable COVID antibodies in their blood according to the CDC. The Board of Health shall recognize the COVID-19 is endemic and shall not impose any further COVID-19 mandates. The Board shall not issue any mandates relating to any other virus or illness, but instead shall advise the Mayor and the public. The Mayor is elected by the voters and is accountable to them at the ballot box. The Mayor takes a holistic view encompassing economic, civil liberties and other considerations not just the health concerns of the most risk averse. Other communities in Massachusetts successfully give this responsibility to the Mayor or Select Board with the Board of Health serving only an advisory function. Therefore, going forward the Mayor shall be responsible for deciding whether to issue any health mandates in the city. Ms. Wehtje stated she did discuss this with the Mayor at a ward meeting and he did not rule it out. Mr. Mayor if you were watching at home the buck should stop with you. Dr. Bogdasarian stated no one can make any promises or can predict what might come to us in the future. Mr. Curry stated in regard to Ms. Wehtje’s petition, it’s important for the Board to know and all of us to know that we are mandated by the State of Massachusetts to respond according to Mass General Law. The Board of Health is mandated by MGL law to respond to public health issues including communicable disease. The Board itself does not have the authority to absolve itself from these mandates in mass general law. Ms. Wehtje stated as a petitioner, she believes Mr. Curry is mistaken because other communities such as Springfield & Greenfield have the Board of Health performing advisory function. Ms. Wehtje asked Mr. Curry if he is saying they're all wrong. Mr. Curry stated he doesn’t know the charter and set up of those communities Boards of Health but Fitchburg follows those state laws and mandates. Ms. Knipe made a motion not to honor Ms. Wehtje‘s petition at this time. Motion was 2nd by Dr. Bogdasarian. All were in favor, motion carries. Michelle Orphanos (Virtual) stated this is a great petition and the citizens are coming to you the Board of Health with their concerns, and it would be nice if they were acknowledged by saying they may have a point. She understood Mr. Curry stating they are mandated by Massachusetts General Law. Massachusetts law authorizes the BOH to do two things and a mask mandate is not one of them. Ms. Orphanos stated the Board does not have the authority to do that and it would behoove the Board to stay within their scope of practice. Citizens are gearing up for lawsuits and is this really what the Board of Health in Fitchburg wants. Stay within your scope of practice and listen to the concerns of citizens. People are responsible to do their own due diligence, they can put on mask if they want too however that is not within the authority of the Board of Health to mandate a mask mandate. COVID-19 update: Victoria Selser, Epidemiologist, Virtual: Ms. Selser stated currently there are 122 cases of COVID in Fitchburg for the week 5/23 to 5/29/2022. This number seems to have stabilized. There were 117 cases for both weeks prior. 117 cases for the week of 5/9/22 and 117 cases for the week of 5/16. 122 cases for the week following. The positivity rate in the City of Fitchburg as of today at 5pm is 7.23% The state positivity rate is at 7.29%. The City of Fitchburg is just below the state average positivity rate. This positivity rate is influenced by testing at home and there's a lot of home testing going on. Ms. Selser stated regarding wastewater data going on in the City of Fitchburg, there are four samples analyzed per week. Wastewater data should be taken as a trend and not by specific one by one data points. See diagram 1 Hospitalization as of May 31st there are 9 patients hospitalized at Health Alliance in Leominster and none of them were in the ICU. Vaccine rate of fully vaccinated individuals in the City of Fitchburg for eligible people that are over the age of five years old is 67.3%. This is in comparison to the state average 81.5%. The vaccination is lower than the state average we are continuing to make sure that our residents have access to vaccination should they want it especially focusing on our elderly population. There are pop up clinics to make sure that 65+ population can access vaccination very readily. The MPHN response team continues to move in a different direction as the COVID pandemic is changing. The response team is continuing to notify contacts when they have positive cases. Contact notification is important as well as social support is a big focus of home calls. Calls to residents who have tested positive also includes anything from food, financial assistance, housing, primary care doctor, or health insurance transportation. Helping the residents with these things while they currently have COVID is making a positive impact on their wellbeing. The MPHN response team also makes sure our residents have access to treatment should they be interested in pursuing that option. There are people who don't have a primary care doctor and it may be tough for residents to access treatment when they need it especially those that are higher risk for severe illness. The response team can help them access it should they need that type of support. Request for Hearing:  Update-Brian Mahoney, 8 Taft St – Resolved. Meeting Minutes: Ms. Knipe made a motion to approve the April 7, 2022 meeting minutes as is. Motion was 2nd by Ian Murray. All were in favor, motion carries. FY23 Department Budget Discussion: Mr. Curry stated the initial budget was presented to the City Council on Tuesday evening. The City Council members have a week or two to make their proposal for cuts and/ or have discussions with the department heads. Health Department changes from FY22 versus FY23. In Personal Services a Housing Inspector retired last year and at that time the Inspector were in union negotiations. Mr. Curry proposed to the SEIU, Local 8888 Inspectors Union to remove that Inspector’s position and make it a Management Position, Deputy Director or Assistant Director of Public Health to assist Mr. Curry in running the department. The department is growing exponentially and that person would also be responsible to assist Mr. Curry with overseeing all the inspections and duties and making sure all the mandates are being met. The salary has not changed it would be based on the actual retirement of the previous inspector. Mr. Curry stated Inspector Michael Burns left us a year ago and he contributed 27 years of service to the Health Department and the City of Fitchburg. Mr. Curry also proposed to add a Principal Clerk to help out with all the expanding duties of the clerks in the last year. There are currently several grants that we are managing and the clerks have managed to handle it on their own but it's growing and technology is picking up. Mr. Curry stated about 80% of that position is grant funded so there is not a lot of expense to the city. Another change is the Public Health Excellence Grant which was received this week requires us to hire a full-time Inspector. This is a Regional Inspector that would be covering the 13 towns and that's a full time position per grant requirements. Other changes are Emergency Personnel Services line item which was used for the nurse’s overtime in FY22. There was time spent on contact tracing and various COVID-19 activities and was broken down so that the city could get reimbursed by FEMA. In FY23, we will no longer utilize that $20,000. In FY23 other changes are in the Grants. We not only have Code Enforcement CDBG funds we now have CDBG Street Outreach funds. This is dedicated to a couple of individuals that we have contracted with now and they're out addressing Substance Abuse issues as well as homeless issues in our population. This program has really taken off and many people have accepted treatment or housing however it's going to be a constant problem and we will continue to address it. Another new grant in the list of grants is the ARPA funds from the state which is $100,000. This supports Street Outreach. There is also $128,000 of local Fitchburg ARPA funds that is also dedicated to Street Outreach. There is also the Community Foundation grant for $30,000 and that is geared towards homeless folks and trying to get them into housing and/or temporary housing. Health Expenses changes from FY 22 to FY23 proposed, we are still seeking Weights and Measures Inspector. The State of Massachusetts Division of Standards was able to cover us for this year however they no longer want to do that. This position was posted a couple of months ago didn't get a lot of interest in it then but it will be reposted again very shortly. There is an increase in Mileage for the Inspectors. The department has been down an inspector for a year now and including the Weights and Measures position funds were not spend but are still being requested for FY23. That is the difference in mileage from FY22 to 23. Public Health Nurse line item no drastic change. Also in the budget is a School Nurse who serves the parochial schools in the city. Dorothy McNamara also receives a stipend to cover the regional cities and towns as part of the MPHN to cover communicable disease. The Vaccine Coordinator is now in the budget. We are funded for that position beyond FY22 to the end of FY23 so a full year for that position and that position is 100% covered by the Best Value Grant. There is also the COVID-19 response unit which includes the Contact Tracers and an Epidemiologist. The State has informed us this will be funded for $240,000 beginning in FY23. Rubbish Collection and Disposal as well as the Closed Landfill Maintenance fund are the next line items in the budget. The Contract fees are the collection portion however there has been an increase in this budget as well as the Disposal line item in Contracted Services. This is to be expected because of the increased gas prices. This is not uncommon to any community as all the waste haulers have raised their rates. There is a 7% increase in the Contract fees which is rubbish collection as well as a 7% increase in the Contract Services which is disposal at the landfill. We are in the final year of the collection contract so hopefully things will improve either way we do go out to bid in FY23. Mr. Curry stated he is forced quite often to cease yard waste collection at times but it’s more important to get the trash and recycling off the streets, which is top priority. The Closed Landfill fund was cut by the Mayor in FY23 but Mr. Curry thinks after further review it may be returned. Announcement from the BOH members and Health Department: Mr. Curry stated on June 11th is the first of two 2022 Household Hazardous Waste Collection days. This is a free service and happens twice a year. The hours are from 9 to 12 and it's located at our Fitchburg Westminster Landfill which is Route 31 South, 101 Fitchburg Road in Westminster. The second announcement is the upcoming Narcan and Overdose Prevention Community training. This is an in person training and it will be held on Thursday June 16th at the Legislative building. There will be resource tables and light refreshments at 6:00 PM and at 6:30 the training begins and it's open to the community. No pre-registration required. Any questions please call 978-829-1870. Vaccine Clinics are available at the Fitchburg Public Library on the 2nd and 4th Friday of every month 2:30 or 4:30. Pfizer is available to folks and do not need to pre-register. Walk ins are welcome and bring your vaccine card. Folks will also receive a $25 Market Basket gift cards available on first come first serve basis to those who get vaccinated. Next meeting is August 4, 2022 at 5:00pm. Ian Murray made a motion to adjourn. Motion was 2nd by Ms. Knipe, all were in favor. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned at 6:05.