Rochester’s Board of Health on August 2 signed on to a Southcoast Public Health Collaborative Inter-Municipal Agreement that will allow Rochester to share healthcare resources with five other area towns: Westport, Mattapoisett, Marion, Lakeville and Freetown.
The vote to join, however, came after board members asked critical questions about what autonomy the town might lose by becoming part of the pact.
Board of Health Chairperson Sarah Tisdale Eby asked the first question: When will the collaborative’s grant funding run out? Board member Glenn Lawrence said the town entered into a similar cooperative agreement years ago, and in that case, promises didn’t come through. “I’m just very nervous about a ‘collaborative’ like this,” he said, asking for assurance that wouldn’t be the case this time.
Matt Armendo, director of Public Health for the Town of Westport, assured the board that no control will be lost because the collaborative will remain locally controlled. Westport will be the lead community, not any state entity. “You are autonomous,” he emphasized. “You may withdraw at any time.”
Armendo said the pact and its grant funding will last until at least 2033. The initial grant last year was $300,000, he said, and another $300,000 was received this year. A total of $132,000 will be added to that amount for 2024. A Shared Services coordinator, an administrative position, has already been hired. Shared inspectors will also be hired. The grant will fund salaries and other expenses. Each town will send a primary representative and an alternate to the collaborative board that will have public, posted meetings.
Armendo said before the final approval vote that there will be no cost to the town to withdraw, except not being able to share its grant resources anymore.
“The positive is we will get backup with our workload, our heavy workload,” Rochester Health Director Karen Walega said. “Knowing that I will have backup resources is worth its weight in gold.”
In a recent meeting in which the Select Board agreed to the pact, Walega said her department would be able to hire a food inspector to replace one who is retiring.
Next, the Board of Health met with state Tobacco and Marijuana Program Director Megan DaCosta to tweak the preferred version of state regulations regarding retail tobacco sales that the town will adopt.
Highlights include deleting the regulations regarding blunt wrap cigarette wrappers as a way to discourage their sale in Rochester. DaCosta and the board also agreed that there shall be no more than seven tobacco-product sales permits in town at one time. New permits shall not be allowed within 500 feet of an existing tobacco retailer, nor within 500 feet of an elementary or secondary school. Cigar bars, flavored tobacco and electronic, nicotine-delivery-system products will be prohibited. A tobacco-sales permit shall be suspended for seven days upon a second violation of regulations; 30-day suspension for a third violation.
DaCosta said she will have a final draft of the regulations in time for the board’s September 6 meeting.
The Rochester Board of Health scheduled its next two meetings for Wednesday, September 6, and Wednesday, October 4, at 4:00 pm at Town Hall, 1 Constitution Way.
Rochester Board of Health
By Michael J. DeCicco