TOWN COUNCIL CONTINUES TO MEET VIRTUALLY: COVID-19 EMERGENCY REMAINS THE MAIN AGENDA ITEM.
SPECIAL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING (3/30/20)
The meeting was conducted remotely via Zoom and was also simulcast on Amherst Media’s Channel 17. All councilors attended except for Sarah Swartz (District 1). There was opportunity for general public comment, but no one commented during the allotted time.
Upcoming Meetings
The Council will continue to meet on Zoom every Monday at 6:30 PM while the coronovirus pandemic restrictions remain in place. The next meetings are April 6 and 13. Town committee meetings will also begin next week and also will be broadcast on Zoom. Town Services Committee (TSO) will meet on April 6 at 9:30 AM. The Finance Committee will meet on April 7 at 2:30 PM. The Community Resources Committee will meet on April 8 at 8:30 AM and the Governance, Organization and Legislation Committee will meet on April 8 at 10:30 AM. (Details and updates can be found in the Town’s online calendar).
There will be a virtual Cuppa Joe from 8 to 9:30 on Friday, April 10.
A Joint meeting of the School Committee and Town Council to fill the vacant position on the School Committee will be held on Tuesday April 14 at 6 PM with an additional meeting on April 16 if necessary. Applications for the position were due on March 31. Applicants will be interviewed using questions chosen from a list of 12 that had been submitted by members of the Council and the School Committee. Council president Lynn Griesemer and School Committee chair Alison MacDonald will make the final selection of which questions will be used in the interviews.
It was not clear whether the responses are to be written, oral or a combination.
Coronavirus Pandemic
As in the previous two meetings, the majority of time was spent discussing the coronovirus pandemic. Town Manager Paul Bockelman and Town Health Director Julie Federman reported on the town’s efforts to curb impacts of the virus. Amherst’s core team consisting of Bockelman, Federman, Fire Chief Tim Nelson, Police Chief Scott Livingstone, Superintendent of Public Works Guilford Mooring, Comptroller Sonia Aldrich and Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek are now meeting virtually. The town posts daily updates on www.AmherstCovid19.org . In addition Bockelman and Federman were to host two hour-long sessions where residents can call in questions on Thursday, April 2 at 12PM and 5 PM. A report on those webinars can be found here.
In town news, two firefighters are on quarantine, but the five trainees from UMASS have started working , as well as a new hire in the wastewater treatment plant. There are two crews flushing sewers and pipes which have become clogged with wipes. Residents are reminded not to flush anything except toilet paper, even if wipes package say they are “flushable”. Road work is continuing on East Hadley Road and will begin on Belchertown Road, South East street and Henry Street when asphalt plants open.
Federman was joined by Cooley Dickinson Hospital (CDH) CEO Joann Marqusee and Director of Community Health Jeff Harness to answer questions from the Councilors. Testing for Covid-19 is still limited locally. CDH had performed 388 tests as of Monday. Fifty-one were positive and sixty are still pending. At least 12 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Priority for testing is given to inpatients and medical staff. Anyone wanting to be tested needs an order from their primary care provider or can call 888-554-4234 during work hours for more information. The hospital also has a list of resources on its web site.
The hospital is planning to double its ICU capacity, but is losing revenue from routine procedures such as elective surgery and procedures like colonoscopies. Marqusee encouraged donations of money to the hospital or to organizations which supply food and housing for vulnerable populations. Harness also suggested that those who could should donate blood. All of the hospitals in Western Massachusetts are in regular contact with each other to best coordinate care.
Councilors had a number of questions regarding the pandemic. Steve Schreiber (District 4) said he noticed that with students returning after spring break, there tend to be more parties despite the governor mandating no gatherings of more than 10 people. Bockelman advised anyone observing a party to call the police, though the response would be aimed more at education than punishment. There were a few questions about the value of wearing masks. Federman said that the CDC currently recommends masks only for those who may be contagious or for health care workers in contact with potentially ill people. There is currently no recommendation for masks for supermarket cashiers and others in close contact with the public. (Editors’ note: this recommendation has changed as of Friday April 3. The CDC now recommends wearing cloth masks in public spaces).
With a confirmed case of COVID-19 in Amherst, Federman reviewed that isolation means the person should be confined to their own room, preferably with their own bathroom. Those who have been in close contact with an infected person should be quarantined in the home for 14 days. In response to a question from Cathy Schoen (District 1), Federman said that the Department of Public Health was actively doing contact tracing for those who test positive for COVID-19.
Public Submitted Questions on Zoom
Dorothy Pam (District 3) noted that several people watching the broadcast were submitting questions via chat. Alisa Brewer (at large) objected to dealing with these questions, as the council does not usually answer questions from the public in meetings. She added that some of the questions seemed to be spam. Most of the other councilors agreed and Evan Ross (District 4) recommended that the council not offer public comment until this issue is resolved. At that point, the chat function was disabled. Griesemer pledged to work on solving the problem, hopefully before the next meeting.
Committees
Council committees each presented their action plans for the coming months. The Outreach, Communications and Appointments Committee (OCA), which will be disbanded on June 30, met earlier in the day to set guidelines and finalize questions to be used in interviews to fill some or all of the four seats currently vacant on the nine member Zoning Board of Appeals. Criteria and questions are listed at here. OCA hoped that the candidates can be interviewed in mid April, possibly April 16 if the School Committee interviews are finished on April 14. Then OCA will begin work on the three Planning Board seats up for reappointment on July 1.
The meeting adjourned at 8:55 PM