===PAGE 1=== LUNENBURG BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MINUTES Monday, January 4, 2021 The Board of Health met at 7:00 pm at the Ritter Memorial Building Roll Call conducted by Vice-Chairman, Perry Jewell: Perry Jewell, George Emond, Paul Fortin and Evan Watters. Agent, Jim Garreffi, was also present. Vice-Chairman Perry Jewell prefaced the meeting with the following reading. In accordance with the requirements of the Open Meeting Law, please be advised that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast over Lunenburg Pub lic Access and this meeting of the Board of Health is being conducted remotely. The Town of Lunenburg, in response to the COVID -19 (Corona Virus), is currently following the guidance from the Lunenburg Board of Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the CDC regarding the virus and steps communities can take to prevent the spread and all town facilities are currently closed to the public. In accordance with the Governor’s Order Suspending Certain Provisions of the Open Meeting Law, G.L.c.30A , Section 20, all public meetings are being conducted remotely. The Governor’s Order, which you can find posted on the Town’s website COVID-19 Information Center page, accessed through the Town Manager’s webpage allows public bodies to meet entirely remot ely so long as reasonable public access is afforded so that the public can follow along with the deliberations of the meeting. Ensuring public access does not ensure public participation unless such participation is required by law. This meeting will fea ture public comment. For this meeting the Board of Health is convening by video conferencing via Zoom and FacebookLive as posted on the Town’s website identifying how the public may join. For Zoom meetings, please note that this meeting is being recorded and that some attendees are participating by video conference. Accordingly please be aware that other folks may be able to see you and take care not to screen share your computer. Anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording. Perry Je well then covered the ground rules for effective business and to ensure accurate meeting minutes. All voting by Roll Call Votes. 33 BOUTWELL Dan Proctor was present to represent the owner. This syste m is in failure, the property is served by town water. A variance for groundwater offset to 4 feet is requested, soils tested at 2MPI. In addition, a variance is requested for distance to wetland from 100 feet to 68.5 feet. There are no wells within 100 feet of the proposed system. Agent Jim Garreffi stated that this is a strange lot and is made up of the leftover portions of the adjoining lots. He stated that the variances make sense and he had no issues with the requests. After discussion and on Motion by Fortin and second by Jewell, the variances were unanimously approved by roll call vote. 31 SOUTH ROW ROAD Dan Proctor met with the board on behalf of the owner. This system is in failure , but the owner is not selling . Variances being request are offset to groundwater to 4 feet, distance to wate r line from 20 feet to 5 feet and distance to foundation from 20 feet to 13 feet. ===PAGE 2=== This lots fronts on the lake and is a small, tight lot. The property is connected to public water. Agent Jim Garreffi stated that it is a small lake lot with a high water table. After discussion and on motion by Jewell and second by Emond, the board voted to approve the variances. All in favor by roll call vote. There is a well on the property , that was previously used as a potable source of water. This property h as been connected to public water and the owner would like to retain the use of this well for irrigation purposes . Dan Proctor stated that there are a lot of well still in service in this area. George Emond stated that typically wells are destroyed when connected to public wat er to avoid cross contamination with the public water supply. Inasmuch the matter of retaining the well was not on the agenda for discussion, the owner would have to come back to the board to retain the agricultural well. In doing so, a request, by letter would need to be submitted to the board and the particulars as to location, depth, etc. would have to be provided so that the board would be able to make a decision. 17 WEST STREET TERRACE Dan Proctor met with the board on behalf of the owner. This system is in failure. Testing showed 27 MPI soils. A Presby system with a pump chamber has been designed for this lot. This site is connected to public water, has high groundwater and is a fairly small in size. Variances requested are offset to groundwater from 4 feet to 2 feet, less than 12” on inlet and outlet tees. Jim Garreffi stated the design of a Presby system allows the groundwater offset of 2 feet. Because the level of the house is set, the inlet and out let tee variance is necessary. The system, as designed, is much better than the system that failed. There are no wetland or wells and he had no issues. After discussion and on Motion by Fortin and second by Watters, these variances were unanimously approved by roll call vote. MEETING MINUTES On motion by Jewell and second by Watters all minutes were unanimously approved by roll call vote. BUDGET Perry Jew ell stated that the Board has had an ongoing request for additional office hours for Administrative Assistant Andrea Schnepf. Mrs. Schnepf began with the board with 30 hours a week, but was reduced to 26 hours a week some years ago due to town wide budget constraints . In this last budget cycle, additional hours were included for Mrs. Schnepf but, due to Covid, were not acted on at Annual Town meeting in May. They were included in the November Special Town meeting. This is an increase of 6 hours per week. Andrea Schnepf stated that in addition to the hours for herself, a 5% increase was included for Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, both Nursing and Environmental. Nashoba has not had their meeting to determine the actual amount and won’t until the end of January The 5% increase is a “guesstamate”. In addition, line item amounts were moved, while keeping the overall budget at level funding of $1,750.00 ===PAGE 3=== After discussion and on motion by Watters and second by Jewell the budget was una nimously approved by roll call vote. RUBBISH PERMITS Administrative Assistant advised that board that the annual Rubbish Permits , which are due January 1 st, have been prepared. Typically, the members of the board sign the permits. Mrs. Schnepf is asking that she be able to sign the permits on behalf of the board, or type their name. Chairman George Emond stated that he would rather have the permits signed rather than the names typed. After discussion and on motion by Jewell and second by Fortin, the board unanimously approve d authorization to sign permits for the duration of the Covid crisis by roll call vote. 299 PAGE STREET Jim Morin met with the board on behalf of the owner. This system is in failure. The soils on this site are strange and they had difficulty getting good depth of soil. They tested by the old system but the soils were not desirable and ledge was found. Decent soils were found at the rear of the property with a 9 MPI Perc rate. There was also good depth of soil. Variance requested is offset to groundwater from four feet to three feet. Jim Garreffi stated that granting this variance helps with grading with the requirement of a poly barrier. After discussion and on motion by Jewell and second by Fortin, the septic variance was approved by unanimous roll call vote. The house is served by an artisan well. The owner of the house is asking to keep two wells as irrigation wells on the opposite side of the property. These wells were marked on the septic plan. These well appear to be concrete lined and do have covers although they are covered with brambles. After discussion and on motion by Jewell and second by Fortin, the request to keep the two wells as noted on the septic plan was approved with the condition that a deed restriction be place on the property, the wells have covers and are fully disconnected from the residence and are not to be used as a so urce of potable water. Unanimously approved by roll call vote. COVID UPDATE Jim Garreffi stated that there seems to be a spirt of complaints, including one from the state. Some of the complaints are second violations and Mr. Garreffi will be writing letters. The number of cases is up to about 51 for this last reporting week. Mr. Garreffi is seeing a lot of multiple cases within the same address. 40% to 45% of reported cases are home clusters. Mr. Garreffi has been meeting with the school superintendent and the schools are doing a great job of keeping the kids in school safe. Nashoba has will be receiving doses of the Moderna vaccine which will be given to first responders at a clinic on January 21 st or January 22nd. This will include fire, rescue a nd EMS. In order to provide this vaccine, new software was provided to keep track of scheduling, billing and second doses. Mr. Garreffi stated that as this point the distribution of the vaccine to the general public if very vague. As stated by Governor Baker, distribution will be in Phases with the first doses going to health care workers and those at greater risk. ===PAGE 4=== It might be late spring before vaccine is available to the general public. It is possible that vaccine distribution with be through pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens. Currently the vaccination rate is poor, between 25% and 30% of what was expected. Many are waiting to see what other experience as far a side effects are. There are some business that are not adhering to the guidelines as put forth by the Department of Public Heath with regard to capacity, mask wearing and reporting. When Mr. Garreffi was asked if any business are at a point where they should come before the board, Mr. Garreffi stated no. Chairman Emond, as well as other board members commented on what a great job member Even Watters is doing charting Covid numbers for the board. Having no further matters before the board and on Motion by Watters and seconded by Jewell, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm. By roll call vote, all in favor.