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Date: 4/17/2023
LUDLOW — At its April 6 Board of Health meeting, Public Health Coordinator Paulina Matusik expressed that she felt disrespected at a recent visit with the Board of Selectmen.
Matusik met with the Board of Selectmen on April 4 to discuss a recently approved Board of Health director position.
The Board of Selectmen approved a request from the Board of Health to fund a new health director position but mentioned that they did not have enough money in the budget to fund a director and public health coordinator.
Matusik visited the Board of Selectmen to answer any questions they had about the new position while also lobbying for her current position to not be eliminated completely.
The Board of Selectmen approved the Board of Health director position after a lengthy debate but based on the budget, certain selectmen were looking to eliminate the public health coordinator position instead of defunding it.
The Board of Health director position is currently being advertised and Matusik is serving as the interim director.
She said another reason she wanted to see continued funding for the public health director coordinator position in case she is not selected for the job of health director.
“It was honestly embarrassing for myself and it was honestly embarrassing the way the Board of Selectmen acted. I just don’t understand how people can act that way,” Matusik said.
On April 4, Matusik said the Health Department has not had a department head for the past nine months and would like to see the position added to the department.
Selectman Tony Goncalves agreed that the Health Department should have a director but said he would rather eliminate the public health coordinator position instead of the current idea of defunding the position.
Goncalves added, “I don’t trust [the Board of Health] right now that if I leave that position there isn’t going to be a way that somebody is going to try and backdoor the position.”
Some selectmen were concerned about the Board of Health using money from other areas in their budget to fund the public health coordinator position after hearing comments made at one of their past meetings.
Selectman Bill Rosenblum said, “The comment from [the Board of Health] was, ‘No, we can do what we want on it.’ The comment was they could move the money and do what they want with it. I have had the conversation and said that you still have to come before this board and human resources, and it has to be approved.”
Goncalves said the money for the public health coordinator can be used in other places like possibly adding another nurse, firefighter or keeping a teacher.
He added, “The public health coordinator position has been how long? I have never gotten a piece of mail at home, or direct notice. Neither have my parents and I checked with my 17 people at the office and no one has gotten a notice. The department is running fine. We never had a supervisor in the past or a public health coordinator in the past. We had nurses and an inspector.”
During the Board of Selectmen meeting, Matusik began to get emotional and shed some tears because she said she has been doing a lot of hard work as the Public Health Coordinator and adding a director to build up the health department.
Selectman Manny Silva said, “I know you are emotional and quite honestly, I am kind of perplexed why. Do you think that adding this new position will eliminate your current position?”
Silva added, “Hopefully by being put in this position, hopefully you will be able to step forward and do this position. I do not know if you have credentials or if there is an issue with that so you will be able to do that position.”
Even though the Board of Selectmen did not vote to defund the public health coordinator position, Town Administrator Marc Strange said the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget does not include funding for that position.
After the meeting with the Board of Selectmen, Board of Health Chair Kelly Lamas and Matusik discussed a communications guideline memo and shared it with the Board of Health at its April 6 meeting.
Lamas was not happy with how Matusik was treated by the Board of Selectmen and said, “I drafted the memo because they should only be board to board communication and that is typically policy.”
The Board of Health added they were not requested to be at the selectmen’s meeting.
The letter read: “The Board of Health is writing to inform the Board of Selectmen that effective April 6, 2023, any and all communications to the Health Department from the Board of Selectmen must be directed to the health director and the current Board of Health chairperson. If the Board of Selectmen request the presence of any Health Department staff at a Board of Selectmen meeting, requests must be submitted to the Board of Health chair two weeks in advance of said meeting request.”
Lamas continued, “Furthermore, no Health Department staff member shall present or be requested to present to the Board of Selectmen without presence of the Board of Health chair. The Board of Health will not take into consideration any meeting requests that do not follow the above communication guidelines.”
The Board of Health approved the letter to be sent to the Board of Selectmen.
Board of Health member Tony Tavares was hesitant to approve the letter because he didn’t think the board should “get into anything with the Board of Selectmen” but eventually agreed.
Lamas added, “How [the Board of Selectmen] treated her is unacceptable. It is abhorrent and downright shameful. What [Matusik] deserves and what I am requesting is that she deserves a public apology. If they wanted to publicly berate her, then she needs a public apology at the next selectmen’s meeting.”
On April 6, Matusik explained the duties of the health director position include answering directly to the Board of Health. All other Health Department staff will answer to the health director.
She added, “This is something that staff have not had in the past and something they are not use to. The Board of Selectmen were extremely disrespectful, and I feel like staff in the health department has also been extremely disrespectful.”
Silva said that he heard from three Health Department members that it is not necessary to add another position.
Lamas added, “Staff members, if they are calling the Board of Selectmen, what it sounds like is they are conspiring against the Health Department and the [Board of Health] which is collusion. The health department staff reports to the health director and everyone reports to the board. They don’t report to the selectmen.”