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Date: 5/19/2022
EAST LONGMEADOW – Resident Justin McCarthy brought a petition to the East Longmeadow Town Council to amend the charter, making the Board of Health (BOH) an elected body.
“The power of local health boards has increased significantly,” said McCarthy. He said that not only is the BOH not elected, but they are appointed by the town manager, another unelected position. It is the “least democratic” method of choosing a BOH, McCarthy said.
McCarthy argued that despite this, the BOH has the authority to declare states of emergency and impose public masking mandates. McCarthy shared that, of the 23 municipalities in Hampden County, only three had states of emergency declared during the winter of 2021-2022. He also said only Holyoke and Springfield had mask mandates in effect as late into the season as East Longmeadow.
He also asked for a method of public redress for BOH decisions with which residents do not agree.
Seven members of the public spoke during the public hearing, with four in favor of McCarthy’s amendment and three against it. Resident Philip Abair said the BOH should not be a “popularity contest,” and Soraya Edwards Tobiasz said it created a “bad precedent” and that the town manager also appointed the police and fire chiefs.
Meanwhile, Samuel Stoughton said he was in favor of the change to allow the public to “scrutinize candidates.” He added, “Today, it might be a mask mandate, tomorrow it might be something else.”
Councilor Connor O’Shea countered McCarthy’s statement about other towns electing their BOH, saying that East Longmeadow has a different form of government from many other local municipalities. He also said there were recent vacancies on the board and, “I don’t think there was an outpouring of applicants.”
Regarding the request for a method of recourse, O’Shea said the council has the power to veto a BOH appointment or remove them if it is deemed necessary.
Councilor Marilyn Richards pointed out that when she was a member of the Board of Selectmen – and therefore a member of the BOH – she and her colleagues had little knowledge of medical issues. She said were the coronavirus pandemic to have occurred at that time, she did not know what they would have done.
Councilor Ralph Page, who sat on the committee that drafted the charter and the charter review committee, said the BOH was made an appointed board specifically to make sure the people making health decisions had backgrounds in health-related fields.
Councilor Kathleen Hill said she “appreciates” McCarthy’s disagreement with the mask mandate, but asked him, “where was the harm done?”
McCarthy responded that 226 residents and 30 businesses signed a letter asking to end the mask mandate. He said the business owners lost customers to nearby towns without mask mandates and were “afraid” of being fined.
Councilor Sidney Starks told McCarthy that an elected board could have made the same decision as the appointed board.
Councilor Donald Anderson said there was a lack of interest from the public in running for elected positions.
The charter amendment was voted down unanimously.
Heritage Park Renovations
The council approved $495,075 of community preservation funding to begin renovations of Heritage Park. There is currently $1.9 million available, and Jonathan Torcia of the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) said there were three other big-ticket projects that were under review from the CPC.