COVID Safety in Community Hall

On Dec 29, 2020, at 10:48 PM, Heath Connects <heathconnects@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you to those who showed support tonight, it continues to have a positive effect. There was only 1 public comment and it was civil.  That said, the show of support was especially needed due to an apparently malignant email sent to the Select Board. Brian strongly expressed his offense and was supported by both Robyn and Gloria. I have seen one of this type of email and it makes me wonder why our Select Board keeps working for us in the face of this type of communication.  
Here are my personal notes from the meeting:
·       The railings are up for the Sawyer Hall stairs, they just need time to set before use.
·        COVID Safety for Sawyer Hall was discussed at length and beyond (for those who hung in there):
§  Work was done to finalize list of essential employees
§  There was discussion of the difficulty to get people to comply to COVID safety rules in Sawyer Hall.
§  Robyn pointed out that these are government mandated COVID safety rules,  and Gloria offered to call two persons not complying.
§  There was a looong brain storming discussion about how to make the  second floor town offices COVID safe with the following being implemented:
§    Town committee and employee mail slots will be moved to the office counter,
§  The town office door on the second floor will be locked.
§   People will be required to call ahead for items to be picked up.
§   Bathrooms will be locked.
§   More signage to be put up.
·       Brian indicated that the safest location for the town offices would be Jacobs Road, due to the space, ventilation, the staggered use, accessibility, the ability to keep the doors locked (unlike Sawyer Hall where they must stay open for the PO). Robyn appeared to agree but was willing to try measures at Sawyer Hall first, but that failing, a decision needed to be made.  Gloria was unable to see the possibility that Jacobs Road would be safer.
·       Post Office Congestion
§   If the Post Office continues as a problem, then perhaps there would be a need to start ticketing. This would be a cost to the town for police duty
§  Brian feels we should discuss safety practices with other Post Offices. Gloria offered to visit Charlemont and Colrain lobbies.  There was talk of putting boxes outside. There is a concern that any change might cost us the Post Office.

• Green Community Grant project: the insulation bid for Community Hall is out  
• Town Coordinator Report:
  • Northeast IT went to Jacobs Road to check internet wiring. The conclusion was that for a temporary move it’s fine, but for longer term use new cables might be needed so that people would not experience a slowdown in internet speed.
  •  Doug Mason had proposed doing landfill inspection with a drone. This is pending a decision by another agency.
  • Heath was awarded a grant jointly with Hawley for low to moderate income housing renovations

Email:
Apparently, there was a very abusive email thread included in the email for review.  It cast a pall over the end of the meeting with all Select Board members commenting.
Fortunately, it was offset by a very positive contribution from Bob Viarengo.

Let's look forward to a new year where we all work together for the common good the way Heathans used to.
Pat McGahan on behalf of Heath Connects
pmcgahan75@gmail.com
HeathConnects.org