Board of Health

CITY OF GARDNER OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH 95 PLEASANT ST, ROOM 29 GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS 01440 Members Present: Lauren Saunders – Health Director Susan Avallone, RN - Member Atty. Geoffrey Tobia – Member Michele Parker, MD – Member Minutes for Emergency Board of Health meeting held Monday April 27, 2020 ________________________________________________________________________________ *Pursuant to Governor Baker’s March 12, 2020 Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L. c. 30A, §20, and the Governor’s March 15, 2020 Order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place, this meeting of the Gardner Board of Health will be conducted via remote participation. The transcript of proceedings will be posted on the City’s website as soon as possible after the meeting. 4:30 Meeting called to order. 4:35 Minutes from the February 24, 2020 meeting were reviewed, discussed and approved with the revision that was suggested at the previous meeting. 4:40 Old Business: Transfer Station status – The Transfer station closed on March 30th due to concerns surrounding the Coronavirus. It reopened on April 14th with limited hours of Fridays from 9am-3pm and Saturdays from 7am-1pm. The reopening has been going well. There is a discussion if the Transfer Station will continue to be open 2 days a week or if it should return to a full schedule. There is 1 staff member that is available to work but the other would need medical clearance prior to returning to work. The Board discuss the safety of the remaining worker who could potentially have more exposure by increasing his hours. The 2 days a week that the station is currently open are very busy. Also, some of the businesses that remove items from the bins, like Raw Material Recovery, are currently closed. Some of the disposal bins are full. The Board decides that the Transfer Station will remain open part-time until further notice. Curbside Waste Removal Contract – The 5 year waste contract is about to expire on June 30, 2020 and Lauren has been reviewing proposals from 2 companies. One of the challenges is that the city currently has an acting mayor so the city solicitor suggested that it might not be appropriate to have the acting mayor enter a 5 year contract. Waste Management has given a 1 year proposal which Lauren is considering now as she feels that it is the best option given the pandemic and the situation with the acting mayor. This will give Waste Management an opportunity to continue servicing the city without disruption…. Funeral Director Licenses – Annual Funeral Director licenses have been processed and are ready for the Board Member’s signatures, they make arrangement to come to the office to sign them. 5:00 New Business: Community Tracing Collaborative – Sue shares the information about the Governor’s Community Tracing Collaborative.  Betty Spring Rd – During a recent walk, Sue noted that there has been a lot of dumping along the road including bathroom fixtures, bags of trash and increased litter. Lauren and a few other volunteers recently did a litter pickup on that road and removed 27 bags of trash. They discuss notifying the police department and posting signage. Next meeting set for Monday, May 18, 2020 at 4:30 PM and will be a remote/teleconference meeting. 5:39 Adjourn. ___________________________ _______________________ _________________________ Susan Avallone RN, Member Atty. Geoffrey Tobia, Member Michele C. Parker MD, Member All conversations are documented on recording identified as B.O.H April 27, 2020