Campus And Community Respond To COVID-19 Outbreak
Photo: umass.edu
Report On The Town Council Meeting of 2/8/21
The meeting was held via Zoom. A recording can be found here.
Participating:
Town Councilors: all
Staff: Paul Bockelman, Town Manager; Athena O’Keeffe, Clerk of the Council
Highlights
- UMASS reports on campus COVID-19 situation
- Covid-19 vaccinations are available through the Town and at UMass
- Council approves resolution to oppose Palmer-Springfield Biomass Plant
- Energy and Climate Action Committee presents its annual report
- Recommendations for Community Preservation Act Funding Presenting
Designs for new wayfinding signs presented
- Reported elsewhere: Council debates new protocols for ending debate
- Reported elsewhere: Council approves resolution to support moving teachers up in vaccine queue
UMass Presentation About Covid-19 Testing and Vaccinations
Seventy-nine people were in the audience for this presentation, including State Senator Jo Comerford and State Representative Mindy Domb. John Kennedy, UMass Vice Chancellor for Community Relations, began the presentation by several officials from UMass. He stated that since mid-January, UMass has grown to 5,340 students on campus; 3,100 of these are first-year students. There are also 7,137 students living off-campus, 5,140 of whom are undergraduates. Six thousand students have in-person classes. Among the students who are new to the campus, many are the first in their family to attend college, he said. Also, he said, many college-age students were suffering from isolation, due to only having remote classes. All on-campus students were tested for COVID-19 twice in their first week there, and quarantined until their second negative test.
Despite these precautions, significant coronavirus positivity appeared on campus at the end of January and rose steeply in the week of February 1, totaling 399 cases among students and seven among staff on February 7. (See here).
The risk level on campus was thus raised to high, resulting in suspension of all classes, athletic practices, gatherings, and dining halls. Students can only leave their residences to get food or attend to a medical issue, until at least February 21. The University contacted the town and notified the State Department of Public Health of the situation. Contact tracing has also commenced.
Jeff Hescock, Director of Environmental Health and Safety, said that 16,923 tests were done from February 1 to 7 with a 2.46 percent positivity rate, as opposed to the state positive rate of 3.1 percent. Those students testing positive or with confirmed contact are offered isolation and quarantine spaces on campus, with meals provided. They are encouraged not to return to their hometowns (but see here on quarantine conditions )
Community coronavirus testing on campus has resumed three days a week by appointment on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Vaccination clinics are operating in the Campus Center by appointment. During the first four weeks, 4,000 vaccines were administered. The campus expects to administer 1,700 more this week.
Meanwhile, the University is conducting outreach to the student body to promote safe behavior. All students have signed an agreement stating they will abide by safety guidelines. As of the Council meeting, 354 students were referred to the Conduct Office and are facing suspension, removal from on-campus housing, probation, or reprimand. The University is continuing to conduct investigations to determine the sources of this rise in cases.
Amherst Director of Public Health Emma Dragon stated that there are 467 active Covid-19 cases in Town, an increase of 334 in the past four days. Due to this sharp increase, the Town is reinstating some safety measures, requiring early closing times for some businesses and restricting capacity to 25 percent. Bockelman met with Town officials in Sunderland and Hadley who are instituting the same precautions.
The Town has vaccinated over 2,000 residents, both in public safety and those over age 75. Comerford and Domb have lobbied the Governor to prioritize vaccination for public-facing essential workers and also to provide regional and social vaccine equity, but they doubt the Governor will move teachers and other essential workers up in the vaccine queue.
Public Comment
Ian Rhodewalt and Isolda Ortega Bustamante spoke in support of furloughed maintenance, custodial, and dining hall staff at the university. They are often immigrants with families. Also, graduate assistants must teach face-to-face without having proper protective equipment.
Resolution to Oppose Springfield Biomass Plant
Martha Hanner, with Council sponsors Darcy DuMont (District 5) and Dorothy Pam (District 3), spoke in favor of a resolution opposing the construction of a large-scale wood-burning biomass plant in Springfield on the site of the Palmer Paving Corporation. These plants are notorious emitters of carbon dioxide and contributors to air pollution. The resolution can be read here. Springfield is already known as the “asthma capital of the United States.” This resolution does not apply to residential wood-burning stoves or wood-burning plants, such as the one at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. The resolution was supported by the League of Women Voters, Mothers Out Front, and the Energy and Climate Action Committee. It passed unanimously.
Energy and Climate Action Committee (ECAC) Annual Report
The ECAC report was presented by Andra Rose and Ashwin Ravikumar. . They noted the climate goals put forward by the Biden administration, which specify a 25 percent reduction in carbon use by 2025, with 40 percent of funding aimed at vulnerable communities. Locally, all boards and committees need to consider and work toward these goals, they said.
Rose summarized ECAC’s initiatives. Community Choice Aggregation of electricity in coordination with Northampton and Pelham is moving ahead, as are a solar farm on the old landfill and the installation of more electric car charging stations in Town.The Committee has promoted sustainable farming and bringing local produce to communities through the Mobile Markets. (She noted that the Amherst Police Department spends $117 a day on gasoline for police cars. However, the electrification of the fleet has been postponed.) The Committee has conducted extensive outreach to underserved communities. They have worked with farmers to promote sequestration of carbon in the soil and farming opportunities for minority youth.
ECAC’s Climate Action, Adaptation and Resiliency Plan (CAARP) proposes 82 climate-saving measures. The plan will be presented to the Council in May, and Councilors are encouraged to provide input. The committee has requested funding to hire an intern for Sustainability Officer Stephanie Ciccarelli.
Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke (at large) asked the committee if it is going to develop procedural guidelines for when major repairs or replacement of building components, such as heating systems, are needed in Town buildings, which could also serve as a resource for Town departments considering a large purchase. The committee hopes to do this. Ravikumar pointed out that sometimes increased short-term expenses result in long-term savings.
Councilor Cathy Schoen (District 1) asked if Community Preservation Act money could be used to help low-income homeowners increase their energy efficiency or for solar panels in school parking lots. Rose said the Committee hopes to connect people to appropriate funding programs, including programs to help low-income owners and renters, and Community Development Block Grants that can be used to retrofit homes for energy efficiency. . Most of the appropriate school parking lots belong to the Regional School District, and ECAC is working with them to find money and apply for grants to enable the installation of the solar panels.
Community Preservation Act Committee Awards
CPAC Chair Sarah Marshall presented the decisions for FY 2022 funding. The report includes $25,000 for administrative funds. CPAC is considering creating signs that will identify projects that are CPA-funded. The report will be referred to the Finance Committee.
Councilor Alisa Brewer (at large) wanted to know what happens with money that has been allotted to projects that were never finished. She cited the basketball courts at Mill River Recreation Area, which were approved for resurfacing using CPA funds in 2017 but are not completed. Marshall stated that the Committee does not hear back on the progress of the projects, but Comptroller Sonia Aldrich said that the Finance Department closed out a lot of old projects in the fall, and that all projects older than 2017 have been dealt with. In the future, recipients might be expected to submit progress reports every six months.
Wayfinding Signs for the Downtown Area
In 2018, Town Meeting allocated $90,000 for wayfinding signs in the downtown area. Assistant Planner Ben Breger presented the current designs and proposed locations for the signs. The signs, designed by Seth Gregory Designs of Northampton, include four welcome signs and ten directional post signs, and possibly some arrival kiosks.. The designs have been approved by the Design Review Board, the Local Historic District Commission, and the Zoning Board of Appeals as necessary.
Councilor Shalini Bahl-Milne (District 5) wondered about including other languages on the signs, possibly using the changeable electronic SOOFA signs. Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek said that this is the first phase of the project. The plan is to bring similar signs to other parts of Town in the future.
Further discussion of the signs was referred to the Town Services and Outreach Committee (TSO) by a 10-3-0 vote, with Brewer, Pat DeAngelis (District 2) and Chair Lynn Griesemer (District 2) voting no.
Announcements
Finance Committee Chair Andy Steinberg (at large) announced that Finance Director Sean Mangano would be presenting the modeling tool the Department has been working on for the four large capital projects that have been proposed at the February 16 meeting at 2 p.m. Mangano will also be present at the February 19 Cuppa Joe with the Town Manager at 8 a.m.
The Joint Capital Planning Committee will be meeting every Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Jones Library Trustees will present their answers to the Council’s questions about the proposed library project at the February 22 Council meeting.
Bockelman reported that the Town’s vaccination clinics at the high school are going very well and will hopefully be expanded when more vaccines are received. The full Town Manager’s report can be found here and also in this issue of the Indy.
The meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.