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Clarksburg Latest to Join Public Health AllianceBy Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
11:07PM / Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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Thomas Matuszko of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission explains the countywide health alliance to the Clarksburg Selectmen. |
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Selectmen on Wednesday voted to become the latest town to join the Berkshire Public Health Alliance.
Some 21 communities have now signed on to the initiative to collaborate on public health needs, including North Adams and Williamstown.
Assistant Director Tom Matuszko of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission said the intermunicipal agreement is much like a mutual aid agreement but "for the purpose of promoting public health."
"It's entirely voluntary and it provides options for services but not obligations," he said. Those that join can take advantage of health and inspection services not easily available because of qualifications, time or staffing.
Board of Health members Gregory Vigna and Paula Wells voted unanimously to recommend the town join the alliance at the joint meeting with the Selectmen.
"We're lacking in experience and training that we could definitely take advantage of, like restaurant inspections," said Vigna, who was elected to the board in 2010. Joining the alliance could provide networking and training; the town, in turn, could provide expertise in other ways. "I'm a soil evaluator so ... we could bring something to the table.
"I don't think we can lose."
The alliance will have a governing board made up of representatives selected by each participating board of health and an alternative selected by each board of selectmen. Vigna was nominated by Wells to represent the BOH and Wells was named the alternative by the Selectmen.
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Paula Wells displays the certificate she received from the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards for completing its governance program. |
Matuszko said the governing board will set policy, any fee structures for services or, in the future, staffing. The working group has been meeting for months but the governing board's first meeting is set for Nov. 10.
The BRPC is applying for a multiyear Centers for Disease Control grant in the next few weeks to fund the establishment of the coalition and needs to get those towns interested in joining signed up. While withdrawing is easy, getting into the coalition once the agreement is finalized will require going back to each participating town for permission to add another name.
"What we're finding in the public health field is that the various grants that are available require larger than one community, so this will make us competitive," said Matuszko. "You can't live on grants but it will make us more sustainable."
In other business:
:: Selectwoman Lily Kuzia praised Clarksburg School teachers, staff and students for their conduct during a mock drill earlier on Wednesday. The students were "evacuated" from the school and walked down the road to the Senior Center, which is being designated an emergency shelter.
"They should be commended for the way everyone followed orders and do what they had to," she said. "It just made you feel so good and so proud of your school."
:: Town Administrator Michael Canales gave an update on road repairs from Tropical Storm Irene. The culvert has been replaced on Cross Road, though it cannot be paved until there's a few days of dry weather, and work has begun on the damaged culvert on Daniels Road that has kept it closed since the August storm.
Canales said there was a possibility of opening one lane on the East Road bridge because the slumping on the south side appears to have stopped. The state bridge inspectors have reviewed the bridge but have not relayed their findings. In any case, Canales said the bridge will be fixed in the spring and all paperwork for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding has been submitted.
Berkshire Public Health Alliance |
Tags: BOH, public health,
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