Williamstown Board of Health Meets with New Health Inspector
Board of Health members Sandra Goodbody and James Parkinson participate in Monday's meeting.
Ruth Russell, who took over this fall for the retired Jeff Kennedy, held her first meeting with the Board of Health on Monday morning and provided an update on the enforcement order issued by her predecessor on the single-family home on Route 7 near the Vermont state line.
Russell said she conducted a reinspection with a representative of the Berkshire Public Health Alliance, which was helping the town cover its inspection needs after Kennedy's retirement.
"The inside of the house was in a lot better shape than the photos I'd seen from Jeff's prior inspection," Russell said. "We agreed it was back to a livable condition and reversed the condemnation order.
"It looked a lot better."
Community Development Director Andrew Groff told the board that the town's agreement with the Public Health Alliance remains in place until June. And the town reached an additional agreement with Great Barrington to have Russell mentored by Rebecca Jurczyk, who, coincidentally, was mentored by Kennedy under a similar intermunicipal agreement when Jurczyk was hired by the South County town.
"There are so many different parts of the job: barn inspections, food inspections, housing, wells and Title 5," Groff said. "There are lots of local professionals available to provide resources and mentoring as needed.
"Our agreement with Great Barrington runs, I believe, for six months. It allows Rebecca [Jurczyk] to come up at least two times a month, not more than four. And it allows Ruth [Russell] to go down to Great Barrington if, let's say, Rebecca has a housing issue we haven't had for a while."
For the benefit of residents looking in on the town's community access television station, Willinet, Russell said she was a 2019 graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a degree in environmental conservation. Prior to her post in Williamstown, she had been working in the hazardous waste field, she said.
"I'm excited to be here," Russell said. "I"m learning a lot, and I'm sure I'll be learning a lot for years to come. We're getting there, and it's going great so far."
Board of Health Chair Erwin Stuebner said the town was fortunate to be able to fill the position.
"Health agents are at a premium in the county and the state," Stuebner said. "We had a search that was not very productive, and, all of a sudden, Ruth came out of nowhere."
In other business on Monday, Stuebner provided an update on a dispute between neighbors over noise from roosters that came before the board this summer.
He said the complaining neighbor, James Abdou of 392 White Oaks Road, had taken his issue to the commonwealth's Department of Environmental Protection.
"We have maintained that our position is this is not a public health situation but a dispute between neighbors," Stuebner said. "We do not believe we should be involved. We did communicate back that if DEP tells us differently, we will honor that and do the best we can."
Devan Bartels noted that Abdou has other options for redress at the local level.
"We did encourage Mr. Abdou to pursue formal channels for submitting a new bylaw for the code of Williamstown," Bartels said. "Raising awareness, having a citizen's petition, putting something before town meeting for next spring — it's within his purview to do that.
"Noise is gaining ground as a significant public health concern. But, as a Board of Health, given the important interests on both sides, we didn't feel it's appropriate for our board to legislate on this. Once there is legislation from the town, we can help enforce it."
Tags: board of health, health inspector,
