Adams to Update Emergency Management Plan
The Board of Health has pushed for better communications between boards during emergency situations.
The move comes after a water-boil order that highlighted communications issues between governing boards and two storms that caused severe damage.
Kevin Towle, a temporary consultant working as an assistant to the town administrator, met with the Board of Health last week to discuss the efforts toward updating the town's emergency management plan.
"We are just waiting to get the documents together, so they know who has to be at the meeting," Towle said. "Then we will get everyone together and have this conversation."
After the boil water order was announced this summer without any input from the Board of Health, its members asked that the town's emergency management plan be updated to include them. This initiative was furthered after the two mid-September storms that flooded the town.
Towle said he most recently, in conjunction with the Emergency Management Director Richard Kleiner, inputted the town's emergency information into the federal and state emergency management agencies' new template. He said the plan was last updated almost eight years ago.
"Right now we are in the process of putting everything in the new template then get everybody together to look at that document once it is completed," said Towle, who had been the late state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi's legislative aide. "We just did wrap up a bulk of the documentation today and transferred the data around."
He said a meeting would soon follow to discuss the plan in general, protocol between boards and officials, and improving communication.
"There is definitely a sense of urgency among all of us to get this done," Towle said. "My goal is to at least have the communication protocol in place prior to winter storm season."
Board member David Rhoads added that it may be beneficial to have all involved people go through emergency training certification and possibly hold a training in town if possible.
In other business, the board approved Sayed Bokhari's request to operate a hotel in Adams.
"Congratulations, you are good to go," Rhoads said.
Bokhari renovated the former Dug-Out Motel on Howland Avenue a couple years ago and rebranded it as the Mount Royal Inn.
The Code Enforcement Officer Thomas Romaniak said he conducted his final inspection and all his minor concerns have been alleviated.
The Selectmen approved Bokhari's request earlier this month but said he still had to go before the Board of Health. Bokhari said there was some confusion among town officials when it came to the process because it has been so long since a hotel has opened in town.
Bokhari said he planned to open soon and the board wished him the best of luck.
"Thank you for getting this place and up to speed," Rhoads said. "Congratulations and I'll miss the name Dug-Out but that's OK."
Bokhari said he would not be missing the Dug-Out name.
"It should remain missing because it was a bad representation," he said. "We even tried to get it off of Google."
The hotel was closed in 2012 after an investigation found numerous code violations and a report of a rat biting a child.
Tags: board of health, emergency preparedness, motels, hotels,
