HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/17/2020 Minutes for April 17,2020,adopted May 21
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` Town of Nantucket
3 East Chestnut Street
Nantucket,Massachusetts 02554
www.nantucket-ma.gov
Commissioners: Stephen Visco (chair), Malcolm MacNab,MD,PHD (Vice chair),James Cooper,Helene Weld,RN,Rita Higgins,
Select Board
Staff: Roberto Santamaria,Artell Crowley,Kathy LaFavre,Anne Barrett,Hank Ross
— MINUTES --
Friday,April 17,2020
This meeting was held via remote participation using ZOOM and YouTube,
Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12, 2020 Order Regarding Open Meeting Law
Called to order at 1:00 p.m. by Mr. Visco
Announcements
Staff: Libby Gibson, Town Manager; R. Santamaria, Health Director; Leslie Snell, Planning Deputy
Director;Jeff Carlson: Director Natural Resources;William Pittman, Nantucket Police Chief
Attending Members: Stephen Visco, Chair;Malcolm MacNab,Vice chair;James Cooper;Helene Weld;Rita Higgins
Select Board: Select Board Chair Dawn Hill Holdgate,Jason Bridges,Rita Higgins,Matt Fee,Kristie Ferrantella
Speakers: Dr. Diane Pearl, Chief Medical Officer NCH; Gary Shaw,President NCH; Gregg Corbo
Town Counsel: Gregg Corbo,K&P
Agenda adopted by unanimous consent
I. BACK TO WORK DISCUSSION
Discussion Gibson–Reviewed the proposed order, specifically what work is allowed. Start date for this order
would be April 27, 2020.
Ferrantella–Asked if this is for all buildings or only those that need to be made weather tight.
Corbo – There was concern about the original emergency order; this provision clarifies what is
emergency work and relates to the building that has a Certificate of Occupancy and what is necessary
to make it habitable.
Gibson – At the Select Board meeting Wednesday, there was question about a property with
multiple buildings. It was suggested it would go by the property.
Snell–The wording now would allow people to work on a second and primary dwelling that aren't
weather tight with no more than two people per building exercising social distancing.
Fee–You have to think of safety as well as equity.
Hill Holdgate–Her concern is site with multiple building permits;suggested keeping it at 4 people
per property.
Visco–Agrees it should be by property.
Bridges–Asked if the fine details are allowing more than one person per site.
Hill Holdgate–This is if two people are exposed to each other;she thinks we need to clarify what
we mean by one person per job site. Three items of discussion: expanding what work to be allowed
under waiver, structures to be made weather tight and limiting to 4 workers per site, and if one
worker could be on any site as long as they register their name and site they will be working on.
Gibson – Houses will be changed to "structures." Allowed work will be bullet points. Work on
following housing projects may be permitted subject to further site visits: workforce rental, year-
round use/employee housing–there is a question BOH.
Snell– She didn't know where the BOH review came on this bullet and what sort of work would
be allowed to continue. The wording requires an extra level of review by the BOH.
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Minutes for April 17,2020,adopted May 21
Corbo—He put that language in there more as a placeholder until it's decided who would determine
what work is allowed. If you want the Building Commissioner, he'll make that change, "any work
deemed specific to year-round housing,workforce housing,and employee housing as designated by
the Building Commissioner."
Higgins —Asked if it had been agreed to make Construction and landscaping separate documents.
Gibson—Yes.
Higgins— Under Construction Safety Stand Down, asked if there is a way to include homeowners
in signing off on the protocol.
Snell—There is a signature page for the homeowner.
Corbo — The primary means of enforcement will be against the contractor by either suspending
authorization to proceed or another way. There would be no rise to apply enforcement against the
property owner unless they are responsible.Another enforcement would be against workers for not
complying with safety protocols relative to COVIDI9.
Higgins — (1:38 statement regarding holding homeowners to an unrealistic standard.)
Fee—Asked where painters fall into this and if the four are assigned to one place or can they change
every day.
Hill Holdgate—She believes its four on any given day.Painters wouldn't apply to a structure which
is not weather tight except for exterior; they can fall under the one-worker.
Bridges—There needs to be some wording that a contractor can give to a client.
Corbo — Regarding the question of the same four people, no it doesn't but they still have to go
through the stand-down procedure.
Fee — This thing can live for several days on give surfaces; the 4 workers should be looked at
carefully.
Gibson—General on the job procedures to prevent exposure,provides for no workers leaving the
site during the workday. All supplies and materials are to be delivered by the vendor. No workers
shall commute from off Island.
Hill Holdgate—About people leaving for lunch and picking up supplies are more of a best practice
directive to minimize travel.
Corbo—He did more work on the travel restrictions. Now it says employees shall not leave the job
site except to go home and shall bring food from and not purchase from area vendors.
Higgins —The possibility of allowing food trucks to go to sites and if restaurants want to do that;
it is a way to get food to sites.
Cooper—Questions why the worker has to go home after work.
Fee — We're still under a 12-day stay at home order; he doesn't know if going to a restaurant is a
good practice. The goal is to have it tight to begin because this is a serious situation.
Ferrantella— Her concern is people's access to food while at work.
Corbo— If you open up to off-Island workers, these provisions are much more important because
you only want them there for work and then leave. If we're talking about Island residents,this is of
less concern. He researched if this order may limit to workers on Island;he couldn't find any cases.
Under the State Constitution, there is a fundamental right of travel; that right can take a back seat
to regulations that furthers an important governmental interest. Given the state of emergency and
that the regulation is narrow in scope,businesses are allowed to open with only using workers who
currently live on Island for the duration of the emergency.
Visco—Thought Order Nr. 3,which expired April 6,limited off-island people coming to the Island
essential reasons. He thinks Order Nr. 3 should be reinstated;it is a matter of public health.
Corbo—All travel on the Island except for essential travel is prohibited;it is within the Town's right
to restrict travel when there is a substantial public interest to be furthers.
Hill Holdgate—Suggested incorporating that into this.
Bridges —We've found we can't restrict travel to the Island.
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Corbo — Order Nr. 3 was much more extensive and quarantined the Island; now we are talking
about opening a limited amount of construction work and whether or not off-island workers should
be allowed to come here.
Hill Holdgate — She wants us to come more into line with the State to alleviate confusion. She
thought we were trying for a directive that if they come from off Island they must stay and self-
quarantine.
Fee — He doesn't agree that restricting travel is illegal in this case; we are allowed to protect the
community.
Pearl—This discussion was about populating a site with 1-4 people in a way that doesn't risk public
health and benefit the community. People travelling to and from the Island is another question.
Starting off with these proposals limiting work to island people is a low-risk step. We don't have a
treatment for this disease. She's concerned about on person on a site in the event they get injured.
With four people, she's concerned about hygiene.
Hill Holdgate—We'll be relying on messaging from the Builder's Association;if there are a lot of
people travelling,we'll close it off again. She doesn't want to get into a Constitutional fight.
Corbo—This is very different from the Outer Banks closure.This Order limits a certain practice to
a specific group; that is justifiable. If you open up to off-island workers, it becomes difficult to
enforce their restriction to the job site. Regarding enforcement,if you see someone you know is an
off-island worker at someplace other than the job site,you can issue a non-criminal ticket or through
the order they can be seen as a trespasser and if they don't move on are subject to arrest.
Higgins — She is uncomfortable with trying to idea someone coming off the ferry and identifying
their reason for coming here. Suggested an employee log from contractors with a list of names and
addresses.
Bridges—He sees something like racial profiling coming out of this;he'd rather see no work being
done before May 4. He doesn't like the idea we can arrest or ticket.
Corbo—Suggested saying,"preference shall be given to on-Island workers"and keep the provision
they can't leave the job site.
Cooper—If your limited to 4 people per site, a contractor is going to use his local employees.
Higgins—Likes Mr. Corbo's suggestion to give preference. It's up to us to self-regulate.
Hill Holdgate—She likes the contractor logging the four names of who will be working a job site.
Visco—He likes the preference wording.
Pearl—The surge has not yet occurred in Boston;it is inevitable that this will open up. One step at
a time is best and this is the first step.
Fee —His concern is in the future; he's not sure Boston will do the right thing for Nantucket in a
month or two. Travel will be the biggest issue. If this is still with us in the future, we will have to
discuss limiting travel and opposing Boston.
Hill Holdgate—We need to consider where we are at and monitoring every day.
MacNab — We wandered off onto travel; asked if the last paragraph was resolved. He likes
preference to Nantucketers.Agrees with Dr.Pearl about the one person on site. He thinks its overly
restrictive to say they can't go to a store to get lunch.
Higgins —A lot the trades that want one person per job site already do a lot of solo work.
Corbo —There's nothing in the document that addresses the one-worker situation; this document
is aimed at opening up bigger projects to a limited extent with proper precautions. Opening jobs to
a single worker is another discussion.
Fee — He'd prefer to start with one person per one job then open up to larger jobs or have them
happen at the same time. We would have the single worker sign the same paper as the larger
company.
Higgins—Wants to look at one worker per on site at another meeting. Doesn't want to hash it out
without guidance from Ms. Snell or Mr. Santamaria. Mr. Shaw said to look at the safest way to
introduce work back into the community.
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Hill Holdgate — Economically, people are coming up on the May 1" deadline on mortgage and
rental payments. Mr. Shaw said we can "take the breaks off" a little at a time.
Bridges — Wants to continue discussion about what weather tight looks like then go back to the
four people per site.
Gibson — There is a comment about the appeal process going to the BOH and Building
Commissioner; asked Mr. Corbo his thoughts.
Corbo— He didn't anticipate there being an appeal process. There is a statutory appeal process for
receiving a ticket. Asked what appeal is being talked about.
Snell— It is in the event the Building Commissioner denies a request or if a job site is shut down
due to COVID concerns.
Corbo—He will add a paragraph on that appeal process in the enforcement section.
Gibson — One-worker allowance remains outstanding. Off-Island travel is outstanding. There is
nothing in the Order about a worker log; that would have to be added.
Hill Holdgate—Suggested discussing landscaping.
Gibson—Revised landscape protocol from Mr. Carlson was sent to everyone today.The suggestion
is that should be a separate document. Safety protocols says, "construction safety stand down" and
references a daily log.
Carlson — After discussion, we created an initial list of allowable activities to include irrigation
related to water turn on. One exemption was one-worker per site. Mowing lawns, mulching and
such could be authorized by BOH for one week to ensure people are being compliant. Crews are
limited to 2 individuals. Another addition is a requirement for a daily log per employee and which
property they visited.
Higgins — It might be a good idea to consider logs for construction especially if we are doing an
Island preference. She's not fully comfortable with this. She doesn't think we've found the balance
between public rights and public health. She's more comfortable with one person per work site is
the safest way to move forward for a week or two. She wants a hotline for employees to call if they
fear their employer isn't taking care of them.
Weld—Asked when work will commence.
Hill Holdgate—that needs to be discussed. NCH said they are ready.
Macnab —We have to address the right of the worker. A person has a right to say they don't feel
safe going back to work.
Hill Holdgate — She feels people would not be forced to go back to work during this event; she
asked Town Counsel about it.
Corbo — He hasn't gotten a conclusive answer; we will provide an opinion on the rights of the
workers if there is anything above and beyond what the State does. We only require job sites have a
placard about social distancing;you could add a number if the safety measures aren't being met.
Discussion about protecting workers concerned about going back to work and whether a job is
considered essential or not.
Corbo—Landscapers are listed as essential under construction as far as the State is concerned.
Hill Holdgate —The Building Association talked about a hotline should workers feel they are put
in a precarious situation.
Ferrantella — Builders' Association is involved in construction, asked who is involved with
landscaping.
Carlson—We had a number of calls and he did research on guidelines from CDC.
Higgins — She wants the one person per job to go forward. The Martha's Vineyard draft has
wording about sanitizing a site.
HH—For interior work, proper sanitation needs to take place.
Corbo—We can add a requirement to sanitize a site between work team shifts.
Bridges—Asked Dr. Pearl about the April 27 start date versus May 4 start date.
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Pearl—You have a low level of COVID on the Island with no new cases for 14 days. We have to
move forward in the safest way possible: masks,social distancing,hygiene.We prepared for a larger
outbreak so are"super" prepared. She feels the consequences will be minimal as proposed.
Higgins —She was texted a question asking about"patients under investigation" and if they tested
positive. The texts were from Linda Williams and"Ava".
Pearl—They have not tested positive and are not high risk.
Higgins—She's confused about allowing people to go back to work while folks are
Pearl— Some people chose to take extreme caution and others would prefer to go back to work.
To maintain public health,you have to implement masks, distancing, and washing hands.
HH—Enacting this is ultimately a BOH decision. However,we still have some decision points.
Corbo—There are two categories;allowable activities aren't clear.
Carlson—The crews are limited under Job Procedures.
Corbo—He wants to go through this and ensure everything fits with landscaping.There should be
a decision on what landscaping is allowed, then he can come up with a document.
Higgins—Allowable landscaping work needs to be defined,which jobs can be done by one person.
Carlson—We focused on installation of plants. We can craft language that allows a single person
working alone.
Discussion about s single person per job per day.
Corbo — Four substantive issues need resolution: language for single worker job sites and
registration, allowing/prohibiting off-island workers or preference, workers allowed to leave site,
and lastly an effective date.Asked for a consensus on each at a time.
Consensus—On-island preference and registration with the building department.
Visco—Asked about the effective date and sign off.
Corbo—The effective date would require a vote of the board. On the four points he's looking for
a consensus on whether or not to add those to the document and how. Once that's done you can
approve based upon the final draft and allowing the chair to sign it.
Cooper—He'd like to go over the final draft as a board.
MacNab—Agrees.
Corbo—Asked for consensus on leaving the job site during the day.
Cooper—He doesn't agree with them having to go directly home at the end of the day.
Consensus—People will be allowed to leave during the day with a directive to minimize doing that.
Corbo—Asked about single worker jobs.
Carlson— For landscaping, the worker has to provide 24-hour notice that they are coming to do
work.
Consensus — Single-worker jobs okay with registration with the Building Department and no
overlap of people during the day. If the house is occupied, the worker has to comply with social
distancing and notify the owner 24 hours in advance.
Corbo—The last issue is effective date.
Cooper—Wants to provide the effective date when the BOH approves the order.
Discussion about the date for an emergency BOH meeting to approve the final draft to allow time
for contractors to apply to work.
Snell — The Building Commissioner has heard from people who want exceptions, we are able to
start processing applications and turn them over as quickly as possible. The emergency orders give
48 hours to review and provide a response. We know about most of the requests; they are waiting
to move forward. I/T will help us create a simple, on-line application form.
Continued discussion to include separating landscape from construction.
Carlson— On landscaping, up to two workers are allowed on site. He will put together a step-by-
step process for registering to do landscaping work;that will be ready for the BOH Sunday meeting.
Snell—We have a form for the waiver and will have an application.We can post online the process.
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Corbo—You don't need a vote at this time.He will finish the draft for a vote on Sunday.The Chair
can declare an emergency meeting;you need to set a time.
Action Motion to Hold an Emergency BOH meeting Sunday April 19th at 1 p.m. to review the draft
vote on the implementation. (made by: Cooper) (seconded)
Roll-call Vote Carried unanimously: Cooper-aye;Weld-aye;MacNab-aye;Higgins-aye;Visco-aye
Motion to adjourn the Select Board meeting at 3:52 p.m. (made by: Bridges) (seconded)
Approved via roll-call vote.
Motion to adjourn the BOH meeting 3:52 p.m. (made by: MacNab) (second)
Carried unanimously by roll-call vote.: MacNab-aye;Higgins-aye;Weld-aye;Cooper-aye;Visco-aye
Submitted by:
Terry L. Norton
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