Minutes September 30, 2008
Salem Board of Health
Minutes of Special Meeting
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 7:00 p.m.
Meeting Location: Third Floor Conference Room, City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street
Members Present: Chairperson Paulette Puleo, Christina Harrington, Noreen Casey, Barbara Poremba, Carol Rainville
Members Absent: Martin Fair
Other members: Janet Dionne-Acting Health Agent
Recorder: Heather Lyons
Special Meeting called to order by Chairperson Paulette Puleo
1. Appointing A Special Agent
Paulette Puleo stated that appointing a Special Agent to the board is within the Board of Health’s legal jurisdiction as stated in Mass General Law -City and Towns Board of Health Chapter 111 section 30 and in Salem’s City Ordinance section 2-669 appointment of an agent. A copy of both was passed around to members.
Martin Fair was unable to attend this meeting and sent a letter to Paulette Puleo:~
Dear Paulette,
As you know, I am unable to attend the meeting tonight because it is my regularly scheduled Board of Health Meeting in North Reading.~ It certainly was my intention and the spirit of my motion at last month’s regular meeting to have the entire Board vote on the question of appointing a Special Board of Health Agent that works on the transfer station site assignment request for free.
There are three reasons I am not in favor of your proposal.
First, the Board should not be looking for people to work for free.~ I believe the Department is currently short 2.5 FTE positions.~ We should be making an effort to hire a housing inspector, a sanitarian or health agent and restoring the clerk’s position to full-time.~ It’s no way to operate a department and it sends the wrong message to the administration.~ All of the Board’s statutorily mandated responsibilities should be addressed in a timely manner, not just issues of importance to the administration. ~And with adequate staffing they can be.
Secondly, it’s not fair to Joanne, her family and her current employer.
Lastly, it’s a matter of perception.~ Joanne is a qualified professional who is respected by her colleagues.~ There are only three situations I can think of in which people work for free.~ They include work done for charities or ones religious affiliation.~ Interns are sometimes paid a nominal sum but do it for the experience and/or part of their training.~ And the third is one in which there is personal interest in the outcome of a proceeding.
Please accept this as my proxy.
Regards,
Martin
Paulette Puleo explained to members who were not present at the September 9, 2008 meeting when Martin Fair requested an executive session and it was allowed by the Chair, that it was questioned by the City Solicitor and deemed an inappropriate use of an Executive Session request. Paulette Puleo asked the members to review the Open Meeting Law.
A discussion took place regarding the appointment of a special agent. Paulette Puleo said that Joanne Scott has volunteered to work with the Board as a special agent in order for the Board to make an informed decision regarding the transfer station project. Joanne Scott has been very involved with this project since the beginning and has attended many meetings over the past year relating to this complicated project.
Christina Harrington agrees to keep Joanne on as a special agent. She thinks it would be very beneficial to the board to keep her on.
Noreen Casey~said this is a great opportunity for us and Joanne to volunteer as a special agent.~ She'd be a great asset.
Barbara Poremba~was in agreement with some of the things that have been brought up by Martin Fair. She thought we should discuss whether or not the Board wants a special agent and why we came to this conclusion on why we want a special agent.~ According the said regulation Boards of Health may approve special agents in cases of emergencies.
Paulette Puleo said~Joanne would be more available than any of us to meet with the Atty. on this project.
Barbara Poremba said Atty. would have to be available on our time. Joanne is already committed to a day job and doesn't see how she can be committed to us. Is this a case for the ethics board?
Paulette Puleo said we don't need to because the Mass General Law and the Ordinance states we can.
Barbara Poremba said it does look like there may be a personal interest. I am not comfortable unless everyone would be in agreement with it.
Joanne Scott raised her hand and asks if she could speak and her request was granted by the Chair. Joanne said she called the Atty. Cheryl Sbarra at the Mass Association of Health Boards and asked if there would be~a problem.~ Atty. said there would be No conflict of interest.
Paulette Puleo said she spoke with the Executive Director of the Mass Boards of Health and she said it was appropriate and legal to appoint a special agent to help with the decision making.
Carol Rainville agrees with a point that Martin Fair has as far as that it's sending the wrong message to the administration and that we are down positions.~ Joanne has invested so much time and effort.~ Joanne has the knowledge. I do not see that it's unethical. I would do the same thing in Joanne's position. Good idea to go forward because of her knowledge we won't muddle through this. Plus Joanne has a more flexible schedule to meet with Atty.
As a special agent to the board this job would entail the following:
-The special agent will assist the Board in its review of an Application from the City of Salem and/or Northside Carting for modification of its permit to operate a Transfer Station (APPLICATION) in accordance with 310 CMR 16.00 “site assignment Regulations of Solid Waste Facilities, which may include the following:
- Acting as a liaison between the BOARD, the Consultant Engineering Company hired to review the application and reports including those for Traffic Impact; Air Quality Impact; a Noise Study; and a Method 3 Human Health Risk Assessment, and the Consultant Attorney hired to ensure compliance with 310 CMR 16.00.
- Acting as directed by the Consultant Attorney regarding posting of public notifications and other legal notices.
- Providing general consultation to the Board regarding the application.
- Attending meetings and hearings related to the application.
- Assisting in writing the Board’s decision regarding the application.
The Agent has agreed to no compensation for the services she will be providing in the position.
Postings will be done by the Special Agent for the Board
A motion was made by Christine Harrington~to appoint Joanne Scott as Special Agent to the Board of Health according to the above guidelines.
Motion second by Noreen Casey. Passes 4-1.
2. Hiring Procedure for New Health Agent by Board of Health vs. Human Recourses
Paulette Puleo reviewed the Health Agent’s job description. (See attached description)
Changes made are: Masters in Public Health preferred or Bachelors with an agreement to obtain a MPH within 5 years. Salary will be starting at $65,000 a year.
Paulette Puleo told of a discussion she, Joanne Scott & Lisa Cammarata of HR had regarding who the resumes should be addressed to and how they should be handled: ~through HR or BOH.~ Paulette spoke with Marcia Benes, Ex. Director of Mass. Assoc. of Health Boards and Ms. Benes explained that the Board of Health has the authority to hire and have all resumes go through the Board. Resumes would be sent to BOH attention to Paulette Puleo, Chair.~ And the Board would form a subcommittee to review resumes. There would be a collaborative effort w/ HR.~ The Subcommittee would make the recommendations to the full board; Top candidates' would come before the full BOH.
All present members acknowledged receiving a letter from Lisa Cammarata of HR describing her feelings regarding the hiring process.
Christine Harrington explained how HR has not been involved in hiring for BOH in the past.
Barbara Poremba asked if HR is asking to be involved?
Joanne Scott acknowledged by the Chair explained that the past practice has been that the Board did all the hiring with no involvement of the administration. When Lisa came on board I offered to have her come to the interviews and she was very nonchalant about it.
The Board reviewed the hiring process steps written by Paulette Puleo for the Health Agent position.
The following changes were made:
#5 of the Hiring Process for The Health Agent - change HR will attend to “HR may attended” - suggested by Barbara and Carol
#2 suggested by Barbara - Board of Health clerk will date stamp and “stamp on sealed envelope confidential” (All copies will be shredded & HR should keep a copy for confidentiality purposes. Also she was concerned about the applicants we weren’t going to interview would their resumes be shredded or not or will HR keep all resumes on file on their department.)
Suggested by Barbara
#7 Change candidate to – “Candidate or candidates” &
#4 change to – Subcommittee will meet and review “all” applications.
The following was the result of the above mention changes:
The following was the result of the above mention changes:
1-Resumes to be sent to Chair c/o Board of Health
2-BOH Clerk will date stamp the envelope or email hard copy and place~resume in a
large manila envelope addressed to BOH Chair and seal manila envelope.
3-Chair will make copies of all resumes for subcommittee members and HR and place in
sealed envelopes.
4-Subcommittee will meet and review potential candidates.
5-Sucommittee and HR will interview potential candidates.
6-Subcommittee will make recommendations to full Board.
7-Candidate or candidates will come before the Board for an interview.
8-All copies of resumes will be shredded at the end of the process.
There was a discussion on keeping resumes on file.~ The Board was trying to decide if it was a breach of confidentiality to keep copies at the Board of Health.~ The Board will consult MAHB for proper handling of resumes.~
A motion was made by Barbara Poremba to follow the hiring processes per equitation of The Salem Board of Health and in accordance with Mass Associations of Health Boards.
Motion seconded by Carol Rainville. Passes ~5-0
A discussion regarding the posting of the Health Agent’s position took place with the following results:
This job will be posted in The Salem News, the Sunday Globe (only once because of the expense), online at the MHOA, MAHB, BU School of Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, DPH, Northeastern University, & UNH web sites. Also advertising in The Monday Boston Globe (in Health Section), possibly Monster.com, MPHA, & Salem website. This list will be delegated to HR for advertising.
There being no further business to come before the Board of Health this evening, a motion was made by Noreen Casey to adjourn the meeting,
seconded by Christina Harrington.~ Passes 5-0
The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
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