WMPHA Pre-Rental Housing Inspection Workshop, DEP Notice, Totally Title 5 date, and more!

MEMBER UPDATE

5 MINUTE ADVOCACY ASK #1:

SUPPORT LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE STATE BUDGET!

The House and Senate funded Local Public Health at $5 million and $15 million, respectively. The budget is now in conference committee between the two chambers, and we need to make sure that we maintain the $15 million in the Senate budget. Our ask to you:

Contact your state representatives and ask them to urge the conferees to support adopting the Senate line-item funding level of $15 million.
Here is a link to a call and email script. While calls have the most impact, emails are great too!
After you have conducted your outreach, please let MPHA know by completing this form.

Thank you for your support on this issue and for all you do for local public health every day.

5 MINUTE ADVOCACY ASK #2:

The SAPHE 2.0 Bill to modernize and fund local public health in Massachusetts has cleared all the hurdles except the final one -- a final vote in the House and Senate. WMPHA asks you to take action to support the SAPHE 2.0 bill! As a local public health official, your voice is critically important. Follow these quick steps to raise your voice:

1. Find your Representative/Senator by clicking here.

2. Contact your Representative and ask them to support the passage of SAPHE 2.0 (H.4328). While calls have the most impact , emails are great too Here is a link to a call and email script.

3. Let us know that you took action by following this link.

Photo: WMPHA members and Public Health Committee Senate Chair Jo Comerford at the State House Rally for SAPHE 2.0 Bill in late May

Pre-Rental Housing Inspection Regulations Workshop

June 29 @ 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm

Health Agents, Board of Health Members, and other are invited to learn how to:

(1) pass a local pre-rental housing inspection regulation
(2) start and run a program to inspect and certify residential rentals *before* the tenants arrive.
(3) Work with local landlords to avoid problematic and unsafe situations

Examples of regulations, documents, and tools from Massachusetts communities will be shared.

Speaker: Jeff Kennedy, Health Inspector, Williamstown MA

Workshop co-sponsored by the FRCOG and the Western MA Public Health Association, with support from the Massachusetts Community Health and Healthy Aging Funds.

Click here for Pre-Rental Housing Inspection flyer

Health Education Resources to Share:

Tick Prevention, Removal, and Testing information from FRCOG

COVID 19 Quick Reference Guide developed by Greenfield Public Health Department

Have a resource to share? Send it to Walker@frcog.org.

SAVE THE DATE:

TOTALLY TITLE 5 CONFERENCE

10/25/2022 from 8:30-4:30 at the Log Cabin

IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM DEP:

Notice to Local Boards of Health

Dear Board of Health and Health Agent:

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Drinking Water Program annually provides local Boards of Health (BOHs) with information of interest, reminders of annual form submissions and an inventory of public water systems in the Commonwealth for review. This letter addresses topics where we continue to receive consumer questions or have important updates for BOHs.

Please find the information we have prepared for public water systems on COVID-19 at: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massdep-covid-19-resources-for-water-suppliers-and-wastewater-operators#water-supplier-resources-. Here you will find Frequently Asked Questions and other guidance for public water systems including information on the importance of flushing buildings after closure or low flow resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Please share the Flushing Guidance with all facilities in your communities that have closed or experienced low flow operations during the COVID-19 Pandemic or hybrid operational schedules. Please update the Official Email Address & Emergency Contacts List. This year we will continue with our commitment to reduce paper use and use email to provide you with copies of routine enforcement correspondence sent to your local public water suppliers. To ensure you receive copies of our enforcement correspondence please update the ‘Official Email Address & Emergency Contacts List’.

How is this mailing organized? This mailing is organized by topic. Items requiring your action are in Part I: Action Items. The forms for responding to these items are on MassDEP’s website in the links provided. For your convenience you may create a PDF of your response and send an electronic copy to us at Program.Director-DWP@mass.gov with the name of the form in the subject line. If you prefer, you can return the forms through the regular mail. However, during this COVID-19 pandemic to ensure our timely access to your responses, we encourage you to respond by email. If you are unable to access or print the attached forms or need additional information you can contact us at the email above or at 617-292-5770.

This notice can be found online at https://www.mass.gov/lists/drinking-water-information-for-boards-of-health. If you are looking for information on a topic that you do not see in this year’s letter, please refer to the list of Drinking Water Program resource links at the end of the letter.

Please remember, if you have a public drinking water emergency that occurs outside of normal working hours (nights and weekends) please contact MassDEP at 1-888-304-1133 (24 hour toll-free).

Thank you for continuing to work together with us to protect public health.

COMING SOON:

WMPHA Workshop on Drinking Water with DEP -- Date TBD

WMPHA JOB BOARD

Send your postings to walker@frcog.org for inclusion.

Registered Sanitarian Study Supports!

Are you interested in taking the Registered Sanitarian exam? WMPHA has study guides available for free to help Health Department staff from Western Massachusetts attain this important credential. They can be checked out for three months at a time. If you are interested, contact Executive Committee member Bri Eichstaedt.