By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The Select Board unanimously approved an inter-municipal agreement for a Public Health Excellence for Shared Services Grant during a recent meeting.
Middlesex-Essex Public Health Collaborative Shared Services Coordinator Annette Garcia said the collaborative was established in January 2023.
“We are a grant-funded public health collaborative that aims to enhance public health services in the communities we serve,” said Garcia. “Lynnfield has joined on as one of our six communities.”
Garcia said the Middlesex-Essex Public Health Collaborative works to “establish regional resource sharing.”
“We share equipment and have shared staff that helps fulfill the core functions of what a local public health department does,” said Garcia. “As part of this grant, we are required to establish an inter-municipal agreement that just outlines our governance structure and what is expected of each of our participating communities.”
Garcia also said the inter-municipal agreement also “outlines any potential financial requirements from the towns.”
“There are no financial burdens for any of the communities participating in this collaborative,” said Garcia. “It is 100 percent grant-funded by the state. You just entered the first year of a three-year contract. This inter-municipal agreement aligns with that three-year contract. Now that we have the full grant funding established, we will see how the three years go. We will reassess the inter-municipal agreement at the end to see if there are any changes that we need to ensure we are efficient and are using those resources.”
In response to a question from Select Board Chair Dick Dalton, Garcia said the other five communities that are part of the Middlesex-Essex Public Health Collaborative are Andover, North Andover, North Reading, Reading and Haverhill. She said North Andover is “the fiscal agent.”
Select Board member Phil Crawford expressed his support for the inter-municipal agreement.
“I have reviewed it and it looks fine,” said Crawford. “I don’t see any issues. Dick and I both work with grant-funded organizations and they usually work pretty well.”
Select Board member Alexis Leahy also said she supported the inter-municipal agreement.
There were no residents who weighed in on the inter-municipal agreement. After the discussion, the Select Board unanimously approved it.
“Good luck with it,” said Crawford.
According to the Public Health Excellence for Shared Services Grant inter-municipal agreement, the Board of Health from all six communities will appoint one member and one alternate member to the Middlesex-Essex Public Health Collaborative’s Advisory Board. The pact states that the Advisory Board “shall be convened not less than quarterly.” The pact states that each municipality will have “one vote” on the Advisory Board.
“One representative from each municipality shall be a full voting member whose term shall be determined by each municipality’s local Board of Health,” the inter-municipal agreement states. “The voting member shall be a Board of Health member or designee of that municipality’s Board of Health. The second representative shall be an associate member who shall sit on the Advisory Board as a full member and may vote only when the full member is not in attendance. Each municipality shall maintain its individual local Board of Health, which shall retain its own legal authority and autonomy as provided by law. ”
Additionally, the agreement also required North Andover to hire and employ Garcia as the Middlesex-Essex Public Health Collaborative’s shared services coordinator. The agreement states that Garcia will be tasked with performing “all necessary fiscal and administrative functions necessary to provide the services” included in the inter-municipal agreement.
