Health Department

The meeting convened at 1:05 PM. Present were Chairman Louis Fazen, III, Members Nancy A. Sacco and Richard H. Seder, Public Health Director Paul C. Pisinski, Public Health Nurse Leslie Chamberlin, Sanitary Inspector Dennis Costello and Administrative Assistant Barbara M. Luther.

The minutes of the March and April 2008 meetings were approved with some corrections.

Members were briefed on the agenda and any scheduled appointments.

It was discussed that the first order of business was to hold the annual vote of officers. Dr. Fazen moved that the board add a Clerk position to the board’s other nominated positions of Chairman and Vice Chair. The motion was seconded by Nancy Sacco, and a brief discussion occurred to clarify what a clerk’s responsibilities might be. Dr. Seder made the vote unanimous to create a third position on the board. Dr. Fazen advised that, as the current Chairman, he would like to give a “State of the Board” address to the other members before the vote occurred.
As part of the briefing Mr. Pisinski pointed out the items under new business which included his contract, Mr. Costello’s contract and the possibility of creating a new position of Administrative Agent.

“State of the Board Message”
Dr. Fazen asked the other board members if they would object to him reviewing the past year as the fiscal year is ending and a new one begins. The other members agreed that this would be a good thing to do. Dr. Fazen began reviewing major landmarks one by one.
First he spoke about the transition that the Board of Health has been going through with the shift in Paul Pisinski’s position, saying that it went very smooth with Dennis Costello coming on board. He said that the Board of Health had gotten through the budget process with the help of Mr. Pisinski and the other board members Mrs. Sacco and Dr. Seder. Dr. Fazen noted that the transition period is still going on and that Mr. Pisinski will be of great help there. He advised that the Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC) is in the process of finishing their report on their review of the town and its general health. Mrs. Luther advised Dr. Fazen that the Selectmen’s Office had requested the report be completed before June 30, 2008, because, if it is not complete and presented before then the member’s terms will have expire and all members would have to be reappointed and sworn in before the Selectmen could accept the report. Dr. Fazen said that one of the things that came out of the PHAC’s review of the Board of Health is a confirmation of the need to continue “Working with Other Departments”. Mrs. Sacco agreed saying that she has had success working with the recreation department, planning and police regarding the international walk to school day that will be held in October. She also advised that she and Dr. Seder had gone to the January, 2008 Panning & Health presentation. Mrs. Sacco also went to the Southborough Master Plan meeting and shared her belief that the Board of Health should be represented at any meeting with a town wide agenda. Dr. Fazen said that the Board of Health office move to Cordaville Hall is being worked on by Mrs. Luther. Dr. Fazen stated that he believes that Southborough should continue to be involved with Region 4A Emergency Preparedness. Mrs. Sacco added that the board has worked more with other departments this year than in the other years she has been a member. Mr. Pisinski said that he wouldn’t have thought that this would work because the board has been so focused on septic systems and Title 5 issues, but feels that the new combined direction seems to be working well.

Vote of Officers
Mrs. Sacco nominated Dr. Fazen to continue as Chairman of the Board of Health; Dr. Seder seconded the motion and Dr. Fazen’s acceptance made it unanimous. Dr. Seder nominated Mrs. Sacco as Vice Chairman; Dr. Fazen seconded the motion and Mrs. Sacco’s acceptance of the position made the vote unanimous. Dr. Fazen nominated Dr. Seder as Clerk, Mrs. Sacco seconded the motion and by accepting the position Dr. Seder made the vote unanimous.

Next Meeting: It was decided that the next meeting will be held at noon on June 11, 2008 in the Hearing Room. The July meeting will be held on July 16, 2008, beginning at 1:00 PM in the Hearing Room, and if the board feels it is necessary to meeting in August a tentative date of August 13, 2008 was chosen. For September the tentative date of the 10th was chosen.

Sharps Compliance: DPW Superintendent Karen Galligan is in the process of locating a sharps kiosk for the transfer station. She is looking for a “tamper proof” kiosk that will not have to be monitored. However, Mrs. Galligan believes that the deadline for compliance will be extended until July of 2009. This, she hopes, will provide the Board of Health with time to educate the residents of Southborough regarding sharps and their disposal. She expects to place the removal of them into the DPW budget, but would very much like the Board of Health to do the educational component of the program. Public Health Nurse Mrs. Chamberlin explained that sharps are not priced for pick up by the weight, but by the number of pick ups made. She has a contract with Stericycle for two pick ups per year at $95.00 per pick up at the Senior Center. The board asked that Mrs. Chamberlin look at the program as a whole, where we are now and where we will be in one year. There was discussion about having a drop off at the Board of Health’s new office location and at Walgreens. Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs. Luther will report at the next meeting regarding pick up and education. Mrs. Chamberlin will invite Mrs. Galligan to the next meeting to review the program.

REPORT ON CORE DIRECTIVES
2:00 PM Fire Chief John Mauro, Police Chief William Webber, Officers David Hagen and Kevin Landry - Public Safety/Public Health Discussion Officer Hagen provided the Board of Health Members and staff, as well as the officials from the police and fire department with a Draft for “Comment on Public Safety Strategy Concept of Operations/Flowchart”. He said that he believes that the group is at the fifth position of the chart “Identification of Common Objectives” and hopes that a working group would be developed by the end of the meeting. Dr. Fazen suggested to the group that there is an advantage in being an elected official. That is the requirement for the board to go public with all their programs including this program. The public has the final decision on any program or direction of the board deciding whether it is good or bad, by voting members in or out of office. The more we involve the public the more support we will find for the budget. Officer Hagen agreed that public support may assist in getting the support of the Advisory Committee regarding the budget. One clear advantage is that this program will have three-way funding with all three departments agreeing to cooperate. Officer Hagen said that the LEPC is more at the tactical level and he hopes that this group would find and develop a more strategic approach.
It was noted that all three members of this collaborative desire the same outcome, but use different terminology in working towards it. Dr. Fazen explained; a Primary Objective is prevention, i.e. construct a system to prevent an accident. The Secondary Response won’t stop the accident, but keeps it from being too severe. Tertiary Response includes all the disciplines that react to an incident and with optimal treatment generates minimal negative results. Officer Hagen advised that the police department calls this the Primary Objective strategy. He would like to form a “working group” to meet in between Board of Health meetings and to develop a strategy with the guidance of department heads. Dr. Fazen said that he would like to participate in the working group. Office Hagen said that as the group works and develops, more people and departments may want or need to be a part of the group. This will also bring in additional funding. Officer Landry said that he believes that the schools will want to get involved and will bring a good perspective because they already have a system and trained personnel. When asked what contacts he has with the schools and at what levels Officer Landry advised that he is the liaison between the police department and all the public schools in Southborough. A discussion ensued about the issues facing even our young students and the behaviors that accompany some of the unfavorable aspects that present themselves in schools. Dr. Seder asked if anyone was involved with the private schools. Officer Landry said no and Chief Mauro said that now it is only when absolutely necessary, but that is not the way it used to be. Dr. Seder said that he believes that we should still consider the private schools and educate the administration about what this group will be doing.
It was suggested that this group is separate from the LEPC and has a different deliverable. The LEPC responds and prepares for emergencies, whereas this group would locate funding and programs. This is uncharted territory and may look totally different as we get into the process. Officer Hagen asked Officer Landry to see if an Officer from the Northboro Police Department would be willing to report to the working group or the Board regarding the high school. Officer Landry said that most incidents of drug abuse are handled at the nurses’ level with the principal and the parents, in an effort to manage the children themselves. Mr. Pisinski reported that years ago Southborough was involved with the Rte 9 East Tobacco Consortium and their educator was able to garner a lot of information from the schools, however, all that information was lost when the state stopped funding the program. It was also reported that both Holliston and Ashland did surveys asking kids what they used in the way of drugs. Officer Landry advised that they have not done a survey because they can’t get one approved by the Superintendent’s Office. Dr. Fazen advised that there are national statistics from the health perspective on this issue. Officer Hagen reported that even if the police sat at the transfer station handing our surveys and the parents filled them out, the parental perspective is very different from what is actually occurring. Education should start with the parents. Officer Hagen suggested that a working group be developed to meet and look at all the ideas that come to mind; the meeting will put everything out on a white board, so to speak, eliminate some and work on others. Dr. Fazen said that he would like to be the representative from the Board of Health and it was decided that the next meeting would be on June 4, 2008 at 2:30 PM in the Hearing Room in the Town House.

Emergency Preparedness
Table Top Exercise: Ms. Chamberlin reported that the Table Top Exercise scheduled for May 29, 2008 will be based on a pandemic flu scenario. It will be run by the Department of Public Health who will make a presentation and then hold a question and answer drill after the presentation.

Public Health Nurse’s time: Ms. Chamberlin asked for direction on choosing which meetings the Board wanted her to attend. This question has arisen because of the increase in the numbers of meetings possible to attend. Region 4A will be meeting twice per month, LEPC meets often and some of the Region 4A meetings conflict with her Senior Center responsibilities. It was reported that Region 4A may begin having only quarterly or semi-annual meetings, which Dr. Fazen may be able to attend. Ms. Chamberlin was asked to accompany Dr. Fazen to the local 4A meeting in Hudson on June 3rd because there will be a scheduled discussion on establishing MOUs between approximately 8 contiguous towns in the Region, as well as meeting the TAR deliverable.
$2,000 “Training Grant” – Dr. Fazen has learned that this money doesn’t have to be use only for training. ($670 left after MHOA Conf. registrations to date). With approximately $670 remaining in the Training Grant money the Board decided to purchase as many mats are money allows. A reminder that office supplies, water and syringes still need to be purchased was discussed. These are items that would have to be rotated, and an account would have to be set up for Dr. Fazen to approve the purchase of syringes.

Andy Gleckel has asked to have Sherri Lajeunesse formally appointed as MRC Assistant Coordinator: The Board heard from Mrs. Luther, regarding Mr. Gleckel’s request to have Sherri Lajeunesse appointed by the Board, but believe that the Board’s role is only to oversee the funding and purchases for the MRC. Being a separate entity from the Board of Health the MRC has the right to appoint their own officers. A copy of the first monthly report from Mr. Gleckel regarding the MRC was read by the members. The report included the date of the next MRC meeting which is scheduled for Monday, June 2, 2008 from 6 to 9 PM. Dr. Fazen reported that at the Region 4A meeting it was decided that Board of Health members should not be members of the MRC but should be well informed about its activities. The Board also wants to continue the duplication of tracking and collecting information on the volunteers.

ISCU (Intermediate Service Care Unit) Dr. Fazen and Ms. Chamberlin attended a meeting in Wellesley regarding ISCU’s and believe that there is more work to be done in coordinating their function. There was discussion about taking preventative measures during a pandemic such as having the phone numbers for families with children and for homes with elderly living in them. It was thought that this might be a good use of reverse 911. The Chief Executive Officer of the Town would have to give permission for the Reverse 911 system to be use. Another way to work at prevention would be to educate people and close down theater, school, etc. where many people congregate and “share their virus’”.

Water Quality and Board of Health – Report from Dr. Seder & Dennis Costello
Dr. Seder reported that he first spoke with Town Engineer John Woodsmall. He spent about one half hour with questions regarding the water quality in Southborough. He learned that the Town performs some quarterly, semi-annual, and annual testing along with monthly point distribution tests as part of a report regarding the water throughout the Town. The biggest concern is end pipes, and Dr. Seder agrees that closing loops to keep water moving should be accomplished where ever possible. This would prevent many of the higher than normal total coliform counts that are sometimes found during testing. After speaking with Mr. Woodsmall, Dr. Seder was able to meeting with DPW Superintendent, Karen Galligan, who at first questioned why the Board of Health was interested in the town water distribution. Dr. Seder explained that the board wanted to make their expertise and support available, especially during town meetings. They discussed cross connections and a concern about backflows. The DPW would first concentrate on large industrial areas whose systems can have water sucked back into the town system when pressure is low. There are cross connection back flow devises that prevent the water from the buildings from being sucked back into the Town’s system.
It was noted that the MWRA performs water quality tests monthly as well as the testing that the Town does. Mr. Costello reported that he spent some time talking with Superintendent Galligan and discovered that the DPW would love back up from the Board of Health if a high concentration of lead is discovered and/or with presenting the need to provide loops in the system to the Public and Advisory. She would like the board to speak to the public health aspect of the need. Mr. Pisinski explained that there are several areas in town that the DPW would like to construct a loop, or may be in need of repair due to broken pipes and the DPW could use the assistance of the Board of Health in promoting the public health aspect of such projects. Dr. Seder said that he asked Superintendent Galligan if there was any documentation of health hazards in Southborough. She said that whenever the total coliform count is reported as high, the area is immediately retested and usually the second test comes back normal. Mr. Pisinski advised that in years past the water department and the Board of Health jointly sent an annual letter regarding the quality of the Town’s water. Mr. Pisinski reported that sometimes the reports created more consternation and fear in areas not affected, than was necessary, but he does believe that some proactive input from the Board of Health may assist in getting some of the loops closed to provide a constant flow of water.
Mr. Pisinski was asked to invite the DPW Superintendent to the next meeting to discuss the water department and the sharps disposal issue. Dr. Fazen asked if there was any additional concern about pharmaceuticals in the water supply. Mr. Pisinski explained that the issue developed because of gravel packed wells in some towns. Even when pharmaceuticals were found they were found only in 1 part per billion. This doesn’t have an effect directly on people, but can effect the food chain. MWRA has done a test and found no pharmaceuticals in their water supply. Dr. Fazen suggests that the Board of Health take a pro-active approach and send out educational flyers when people are hearing about these types of water quality issues.

NOTIFICATION OF ACTIONS BETWEEN MEETINGS
A. FYI - April Rabies Clinic vaccinated 12 cats and 29 dogs

B. Licenses Issues
Harlow Clark Clark Excavating Co., Inc. 12 Flagg Rd. Installer
William J. Harrison St. Mark's Golf Club 32 Cordaville Rd. Food Establishment
Jack Cullina St. Mark School Pool 25 Marlboro Rd. Pool License
Luke Duplessis Benchmark Deli 150 Framingham Rd. Food Establishment
Helen Smith Walgreens #11387 24 Newton St. Food Limited Retail
Pearl Hatch Epicurean Feast 136 Turnpike Rd. Food Establishment

C. Septic Permits
St Name Applicant Name Map # Parcel# # Bdrms Explanation Plan Date Engineering
2 Reservoir Dr Keith Ackley 46 02A 4 Complete Replacement 4/23/2008 GREEN HILL ENGINEERING
41 Oregon Rd. Llewellyn & Beverly Rogers 16 12 3 Complete Replacement 4/17/2008 GREEN HILL ENGINEERING
34 East Main St. Kelly Furey 55 108 4 Move 2 Trenches 11/17/2006 CONNORSTONE, INC.
97 Mt. Vickery Rd. Kathleen Walsh 20 55 4 New 4/24/2006 CONNORSTONE, INC.

BUDGET
$2000.00 in FY 08 Budget can purchase items for the move such as : plan table, typewriter, whiteboard, wire plan file, phones, etc The board members approved these items for purchase with the addition of mats to cover the stains in the carpet at our new office site.

Issues with Gleckel Stipend – resolved, but discussion is needed for next year. Mrs. Luther explained to the members that the stipend was paid to Andrew Gleckel, but not without some difficulty. If the board chooses to continue using Mr. Gleckel next year, he will have to be paid as an employee, not a contractor. His pay can still come out of any grant money we may receive, but it will have to be processed through the payroll department with a special account set up.

New Business
Transition/Reorganization of Staff This issue will be discussed at the June 11, 2008 meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM

Respectfully submitted by: Barbara M. Luther, Administrative Assistant to the Board of Health