FEMA Awards Mass Funds for COVID-19 Hospital Cleaning Costs

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BOSTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $1.4 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse it for the increased cost of cleaning at state-run health care facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The $1,401,885 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the cost of contracting for daily cleaning and disinfection of state-run medical facilities between July 2020 and January 2021 to allow them to safely operate in a pandemic environment.
 
The four facilities were the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Jamaica Plain, Tewksbury Hospital, Pappas Rehabilitation Hospital for Children in Canton and Western Massachusetts Hospital in Westfield.
 
"FEMA is pleased to be able to assist the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with these costs," said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. "Providing resources for our partners on the front lines of the pandemic fight is critical to their success, and our success as a nation."
 
FEMA's Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.
 
So far, FEMA has provided more than $1.6 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.

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Lanesborough FinCom Chair Resigns After Warrant Approval

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — With a new fiscal year comes new leadership for the Finance Committee.

Chair Jodi-Lee Szczepaniak-Locke officially resigned on Monday and the panel decided that Vice Chair Stephen Wentworth would assume leadership for the time being.  

A few months ago, Szczepaniak-Locke announced that she would be vacating her post and the committee after the FY25 budget season. On Monday the committee endorsed draft warrant articles for the annual town meeting, its last responsibilities before the close of the fiscal year.

The former chair was brief in her departure, confirming her resignation and leaving, but has previously stated that the decision came from an attendance issue with a member not being resolved.  

"I believe in truth and honesty and a lot of you know me and you've known me for years and that's what I think is the most important thing," she said to the Select Board in February.

"So you all can have at this. I am done and I wish you all the best of luck but it's not worth it. It's not worth it to me to participate in this anymore."

Town Administrator Gina Dario clarified that the warrant articles are being finalized and it is possible that numbering could change.

"Certainly, we do not anticipate any changes of a financial impact and nor do we expect any new articles entering the current warrant," she said.

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