Minutes

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Winthrop Board of Health Meeting
August 10, 2021 630
REMOTE PARTICIPATION BY ZOOM
Call to Order: 6:35 pm
Roll Call: Bill Schmidt, Chair; Marianne Dalton, Member; Jeanne Holgersen, Member
Attendees: Karin Chavis, Leila Smith, Kurt Millar, Wendy Millar Page, Meredith Hurley, Jillian Shaponick, Donna Alioto
Public Comment: none
Review of Minutes-July 13, 2021: approved 3-0.
Past Business: items concerning Inspectional Services report deferred to next meeting, as Al Legee, Commissioner of Inspectional Services, was not able to attend tonight.
COVID-19-Town of Winthrop, Board of Health, etc: Meredith Hurley, Director of Public Health and Clinical Services announces that she is now also serving as Interim Town Manager.
Meredith reports that Winthrop COVID cases are trending upward; 7 cases reported yesterday (the highest number of daily cases reported during the pandemic was 41). 50% of cases reported in the past 5 weeks were breakthrough cases, age range >25 years old. 1.9% positivity rate (up from 1% in early June).
Meredith reports that parents are calling inquiring about getting their children vaccinated prior to the start of school. A mask mandate has been issued today (August 10) for all town employees when indoors; exemptions will be made for either medical exemption (with letters) or with proof of vaccination.
Schools are still deciding on mask protocols. A policy subcommittee meeting will be held Thursday to discuss this issue.
Meredith shares via screen-sharing the spreadsheet detailing vaccinations in Winthrop, categories listed by age, gender, numbers with at least 1 dose. This spreadsheet enables Meredith and her team to better pinpoint and address vaccine hesitancy among groups.
Currently the state is requiring Pfizer vaccine requests to be no less than 500 doses to be used in a 2-week timespan. Meredith states that this number is too great for Winthrop to utilize; the transfer of smaller numbers of vaccines from East Boston Neighborhood Health, City of Revere, or Cambridge Health Alliance would enable further vaccine clinics here in Winthrop. Jeanne Holgersen adds that the Massachusetts Covid-19 Vaccine Program has recently reduced the minimum ordering quantities of vaccines to more reasonable numbers, which the Town would be better able to utilize.  The question still remains on the problem of vaccine hesitancy, and Meredith and her team continue to work on this.
Meredith reports that a large grant application ($448,000) was submitted last week to DPH: Equitable Approaches to Public Safety. This grant would enable the CLEAR (Community and Law Enforcement Assisted Recovery) program to add a peer recovery coach, add 2 embedded mental health clinicians to the Police Department that would work off-shift hours. Currently there is a social worker working in Meredith’s office M-F. The grant would also fund an in-house behavioral health clinician who could see residents. This would address the lengthy wait-list at area hospitals/facilities for mental health services. If the grant is awarded to Winthrop, it is unclear if it would be funded yearly, as this would be determined by the state budget.
Meredith reports that Meredith Daly, the Public Health Program Manager is leaving, leaving the position open for new applicants.
The North Suffolk Public Health Collaborative has obtained 2 state grants from Regional Shared Services, and will be hiring an epidemiologist and a (shared) public health nurse position.
MRC Update: Jeanne Maggio, Coordinator of Medical Reserve Corp (MRC), sent an email to Bill updating on MRC activity, which Bill summarizes:
The vaccine clinic are winding down, but the fall will bring flu clinics. Rabies clinic information is still pending. Jeanne states the MRC is always on standby in case of emergencies.
Epidermis and Co Services: Present are co-owners Jillian Shaponick and Donna Alioto. Bill Schmidt, Chair explains the need for 2 licenses: one for the body art practitioner and the other for the establishment itself.
Jillian explains that Karen Walsh, RN performs both botox and filler services, under medical director Dr Jennifer Wheeler. Francille Archango does permanent makeup and microblading/pigmentation.
Questions are presented by Jeanne Holgersen, Member concerning what is allowed under the Board of Cosmetology, advertising, and requirements for establishments offering services such as Epidermis offers. Jeanne will consult the Board of Nursing if the regulation requiring an MD or advance-practice nurse practitioner with at least 2 years experience to be on site, to oversee practitioners, could be fulfilled via Telehealth.
The Board will forward the list of required documentation to both Jillian and Donna, for the establishment permit as well as the body art practitioner permit. Bill emphasizes that the duty of the Board is to protect public health, and this is the goal of the requests being asked of Jillian, Donna and all practitioners working in their place of business.
Jillian and Donna agree to assemble the requested documentation and send to Sharon Sicurella for the Board’s review. Jeanne will first send the list of needed documentation to Board members for their review.
Mosquito Spraying: Marianne Dalton, Member reports on the past few weeks’ requests for nuisance mosquito spraying.
Marianne explains that the Town of Winthrop subscribes to the Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District (NEMMC), an entity that performs surveillance of mosquitoes and adulticiding and larviciding in the communities that subscribe to its services.
The spraying requests came from residents living in the vicinity of Point Shirley, Pico Beach, Revere St, Shirley St by Lewis Lake, Corinha Beach Road, and Fishermen’s Bend. Additional requests were received from a resident who contacted Steven Calla, Director of Public Works for Ingleside Park, the four cemeteries, and the area surrounding Lewis Lake, which was not sprayed last week d/t wind direction.
All requests for spraying must be submitted to BOH prior to Wednesdays at noon, and spraying will take place Thursday evening, weather permitting. The technicians will not spray a street or location if near an open body of water, or if the wind will take the pesticide that way, as this is the law.
The Best Management Practice Plan (BMP) is an agreement between the Town and NEMMC, and details the procedures for requesting adulticiding and larviciding, as well as surveillance for West Nile virus and EEE (eastern equine encephalitis).
Bill Schmidt, Chair comments that he had heard that spraying is not that effective. Marianne reports that the spraying needs to be done with tight parameters, including not spraying until 1/2 hour after sunset, to protect pollinators. Also, the product NEMMC uses does not last longer than 15 minutes in the air, and needs to come into contact with flying mosquitoes to be effective.
Despite the limited effect that spraying may have on nuisance mosquitoes, Marianne states that it is a service that residents of the Town may find helpful considering the alternative of doing nothing.
Marianne states she will inquire about who needs to approve changes in the BMP the Town has with NEMMC to include more widespread spraying. She will bring this information to the next Board meeting.
North Suffolk Public Health Collaborative (NSPHC): Bill reports no meeting this month. An email was received from a resident asking about air-quality monitors. Bill replied to the resident that Winthrop belongs to the NSPHC, a shared service initiative between the Town and the cities of Chelsea and Revere, that addresses air quality issues caused by Logan Airport. The NSPHC seeks to enhance public health programming and improve public health outcomes in those municipalities. NSPHC is looking into funding to address mitigation of particulate matter from jet engine emissions from Logan Airport, including grants for air-quality monitors.
Single-Use Plastic Bags: Inspectional Services is currently conducting its biannual inspections of business establishments in Winthrop, including checking compliance with the regulation passed May 2020 banning the use of single-use plastic bags. Implementation of this regulation was delayed for 6 months due to the pandemic. Exceptions were granted for an additional 6 months from then to help businesses put plans in place. The Board anticipates updates on compliance from Inspectional Services in the next few months.
Solid Waste Disposal: With the advent of the Town’s trash fee and new recycling containers, the need for new solid waste regulations has arisen. At the Board’s request, Wendy Millar Page, Zero Waste Committee Chair, has submitted many recommendations concerning trash/recycling management, gleaned from the City of Revere’s solid waste management plan, among other sources. Bill Schmidt has produced a first draft of the regulations working from Wendy’s many recommendations and the current regulations already in place. The Board and Wendy have had some limited time to review this first draft, and the Board votes to pass the first draft of the revision, with the ability to continue to revise until passed.
First draft approved 3-0.
Bill outlines the procedure for processing the draft: Town Council will review and provide input. Then the Board will have a public hearing to receive resident input. Finally the Board will draft final regulations with the effective date, at September meeting.
Wendy stresses the time sensitive issue of passage of new regulations, as the trash fee goes into effect October 1, 2021. Wendy states the town is paying differently for waste management now, and it is critical to begin re-education of the public to begin to look at new ways to re-use, recycle, and re-purpose. This will keep the fee at a manageable level. Currently Winthrop has one of the lowest trash rates in the state: around $13/month per . For comparison, other towns pay as much as $50/week. Wendy explains that skyrocketing costs for trash disposal and recycling have necessitated the discussion on regulations, to address the implementation of overflow bags, ordering them, and having a plan in place by October 1 to ensure a smooth transition to the fee-based trash collection.
Marianne asks about the rationale for setting a time before which trash cannot be put out the night before. Wendy clarifies that currently the regulations state no trash may be put out until after 6:30 am on the morning of collection. This is subject to revision, as many residents of the Town are blue-collar shift workers, and the early morning trash put-out time is a hardship on the 11-7 and 3-11 workers.
Overflow bags, means of using them with lidded barrels, and extra barrels not issued by the Town for recycling are all issues that will be discussed and reviewed during the process of approving the regulations.
The Town Council has already voted on the $160 fee for trash collection, and will decide the cost of overflow bags. The BOH will be responsible for levying fines for scofflaws. Education will need to be done and a grace period take place before any fines will be levied.
The title of the first draft of the regulations Bill Schmidt sent for Board members’ review:
“Regulation Relative to the Storage and Collection/Removal of Trash, Recycling and Solid Waste Disposal.”
Next BOH meeting will be 9/14/21, when we hope to conduct the public hearing and either vote that night or at another special meeting shortly afterward, prior to deadline of 10/1/21.
Agenda items that emerged after agenda was sent out:
The BOH has received a request from Maryalice Sharkey, Mothers Out Front, to consider endorsement of pending legislation on a statewide schoolchildren pesticide prevention act. Email will be sent to MOF requesting that they appear before the Board to present their request, and will be officially put on agenda for 9/14/21.
An email was received by Bill Schmidt with a complaint about Blink Royalty advertising teeth whitening on their website. This is a service reserved by the Board of Dentistry to licensed dentists only, and is a violation. The Board votes unanimously, 3-0, to issue an email to Blink Royalty informing them that the performance of teeth whitening is a violation and must stop.
Adjournment: unanimously approved 3-0, 8:14 pm.
Respectfully submitted by Marianne Dalton, Member