Table of Contents
LWVM Observer: Tom Krueger
Members in Attendance: Public Health Director Andrew Petty, Tom McMahon, Tom Massaro and Amanda Ritvo
Minutes - Minutes from the meetings dated Nov. 10, Nov. 24, Dec. 9 and Jan. 3 were accepted.
Chair’s Report
Wellness Fair 2 - Another success, with congratulations to Tom and Andrew. There were more than 30 vendors and more than 200 participants. There was some discussion about when to hold the fair next year.
CAHM - Massaro presented a slide of one of the survey results, levels of stress by age decile. The slides had rows indicating sources of stress, including mental health, physical health, financial concerns, work-life balance, parenting and caregiving, and age deciles for columns. The causes and degrees of stress varied by age. For example, among those ages 40-49, work life and parenting were highest, with work-life balance high for those ages 18-39, 40-49 and 50-59. Given the high degree of stress related to parenting children, perhaps the BOH could provide parenting classes. When OB/GYN and pediatric practices were asked what the BOH and Health Department could provide, both recommended parenting classes.
The next phase of the project is focus groups to drill down on specifics. In March, four focus groups will meet, with one for ages 18-30, perhaps by Zoom, on April 1; one for middle age on March 26; and one for seniors on March 26. A fourth group, "youth stake holders," will meet March 27. The final report will be available by late spring or early summer.
One result that came from the CAHM survey was a request to make current community resources available. During the pandemic, when the MHTF was formed, it had a website, "Marblehead Cares," that included an extensive list of resources. The website suffered problems and disappeared. Massaro will soon talk to the website designer, who is optimistic that this material will be available again and can be expanded.
Paul Tucker (Essex County DA) - Tucker will come to the BOH meeting on April 14 and discuss underage drinking and social hosting. It is clear that Massachusetts state laws carry significant financial and other serious penalties, whereas the local MHD bylaws are less severe financially, shorter and would involve mainly public embarrassment. As noted before, there have been no penalties in MHD since 2017. The town attorney was asked to review the earlier MHD bylaws and have that done by April 14. The MHD police chief also will come April 14 if possible. For the BOH meeting on March 24, time will be spent generating questions for Tucker. There were suggestions that members of the Select Board also be invited to attend. It was noted that, with all the participants, it would be a "big statement" about the issues. There was some discussion about where to hold this meeting if a large number of people attended.
As an aside, there was mention of a program through the police department, Addiction and Recovery. This program is led by Gina Rabbit, a jail diversion officer who works for the MHD police, and another counselor from Swampscott. This program addresses the challenges of addiction within families. The first two sessions were well attended, and the leaders are noted for their knowledge, sensitivity and thoughtfulness.
Planning Grant Opportunity - Coyle from UMass Boston and chief collaborator on the CAHM survey alerted Massaro to an opportunity to obtain a grant from Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds. Such funds, if available, could be used for priorities identified by the CAHM survey. The request for proposals is due March 31. If the proposal were selected, $50,000 would be available for one to two years for planning, and if that went well, up to $100,000 or more would be available to do the project. None of these dollars could be spent on capital expenses.
Bills - McMahon read the bills since the last meeting and made special note of the LPR, or license plate reader, at the transfer station. The operator in the hut can immediately see who has a "sticker" and who does not. He can even see how often they have come in the past. If someone has not purchased a sticker, it can be done "on the spot" via cellphone. Another bill was for an LLC intercom system in the transfer station building. It is a high-tech system that has the potential to identify frequent commercial customers and their accounts.
Community Health - Ritvo reported on infectious disease in the state. There have been two cases of measles in Massachusetts, one involving someone from out of state and another tied to international travel. This prompts everyone to check immunity to measles. For those born before 1957, it is assumed they had measles. For those born after 1957, at least one dose of measles vaccine is recommended. For children, it is recommended that the first dose be given at 12-15 months and a second at ages 4-6.
In regard to respiratory diseases, influenza activity continues, with less A and more B strains. Ninety percent of cases have involved strain A. In Essex County, COVID is modest, influenza is low and RSV is high. This mostly affects children 4 and younger. Ritvo discussed prevention tools for RSV, including monoclonal antibodies and RSV vaccine. The vaccine is 70-80% effective in preventing hospitalization. Petty urged all to check their vaccination histories.
Transfer Station Update - Petty gave the update. The scale house is complete. There is some more interior work and, in the spring, some site work, including curbing, lines and signs, to be done. There are still a few change orders needed: ledge removal, water and sewer rerouting and communication cable installation underground. Aside from ledge removal, these total $9,200.
When these projects are completed, future projects could include residing the compactor building, installing large exhaust fans and completing the swap shed. Petty explained that the reason for proceeding this way was to complete projects, then take "small bites" and accomplish another project, while "saving up" money in the waste revolving fund, or WRF, to pay for them. No tax dollars would be used. Funds from the WRF will be used to purchase the carts for homes for curbside collection.
Curbside Collection Contract - Petty presented a comprehensive overview of the results of the bidding for the curbside trash, recycling and disposal contract. He said there were three top companies: Republic, Casella and Waste Management. It is now the industry standard to have single drivers, automated trucks with automated arms. There were no bids for manual collection. For MHD, it is a unique situation with the downtown area, and there will be a "quasi" manual collection.
He explained that under the current contract, which will soon end, the town paid only for trash and not recycling, a cost savings of about $300,000. Going forward, the town will have to pay for trash, recycling and processing. Republic has the largest, most up-to-date facility in the area. Petty discussed the complexity of recycling with the mix of glass, paper and aluminum, and how it can have blended value and related finances.
Petty went on to explain that he has the cost of each piece of this process. He handed out a sheet to board members with line-by-line cost comparisons. Included in this request was an extension of leaf pickup to eight weeks per year. As the sheet was reviewed, it was obvious that there is a substantial savings with every-other-week recycling pickup, about $300,000. In view of this, the HD will purchase 65-gallon carts for trash and 96-gallon carts for recycling. The cost of weekly pickup would be an additional $29.50 per household per year. In addition, Petty has the numbers for the cost of school collection and disposal.
In conclusion, he recommended that the board go with Republic. There are various cost savings based on the number of trucks, loads, nearness of the facility, lack of waiting to dump, the first 2,000 tons at $123 a ton and the second 2,000 tons at $110 a ton. In addition, although he understands the hardship from the strike, Republic knows the town, has a truck in town daily and has a route manager. It was noted that any company can go on strike, including municipal workers. Looking to the future, C and D, or construction and demolition, material will get more expensive to dispose of, landfills will be closing and C&D will need to be recycled. Sort and recycling will have to be explored in the near future. Currently, C&D costs $175 a ton to dump, whereas the TS charges $320 a ton.
In regard to the trash and recycling carts, the cost will be about $904,000, financed over five years using waste revolving funds. Maintenance will be handled by the waste department, at great savings. These carts will each have an MHD stamp, lids with recycling information and coding for each residence. These are only for single-family, two-family and three- to four-family residences. The carts will be distributed by Rehrig.
A question arose about trash and recycling for businesses in town. Petty is suggesting offering the service, but each business would have to purchase carts and pay monthly for the service. He suggested $100, an average reasonable cost.
As for the cost of the Republic contract, it would go up 5% per year for the five years of the contract. The contract would begin July 1, 2026.
After the presentation and questions, the board moved and passed a motion for Petty to pursue a contract with Republic.
