2022-02-15-BOH-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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• Teresa Wright, 35 Reed Street, stated she supports to lift the mandate and allow Lexington to be mask optional at the end of the month in alignment with other Towns like Bedford and Department of Public Health of Massachusetts. • Michael Bruce,7 Stetson Street,stated he is also in support of making Lexington mask optional community, which should be consistent with the Department of Public Health guidance that was issued on Feb 15Th 2022. • Susan Buckley Kingsbury, 9 Middle Street, requested that Lexington move from a mask mandate to a mask friendly environment for the Town. She suggested it goes to mask optional status and to rescind mask mandate immediately. • Jeff Sparks, 9 Saddle Club Rd, suggested to urge people to use N95 mask as an effective public health measure, if they are vulnerable or live in households with the vulnerable,rather than try to enforce a mask mandate across the board, particularly with masks that aren't all that effective. He thought the Town would certainly support funding for N95 masks for anyone who needs them. • Lana Panasyuk, 28 Saddle Club Rd,proposed the change to mask optional, in accordance with February 15Ih's guidance of Massachusetts Department of Public Health. • Lee Manning stated she was in favor of rescinding the mask mandate as soon as possible. She mentioned a study of children was impacted by Covid-19 and wearing masks. All public comments were taken under advisement. Cheryl Sbarra, JD. Executive Director, Senior Staff Attorney and Director of Policy and Law. Massachusetts Association of Health Boards (MAHB) Discussion Re: Appointment of Staff as Agents of the Board of Health Cheryl Sbarra, the Executive Director and senior staff attorney for the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, provided information on the concepts and approaches that are used to grant authority to health department staff to carry out the daily work of the Board of Health. Dr. Heiger-Bernays inquired about the phrase that refers to allow the Board to grant the authority. Ms. Sbarra stated it's written in case law and in general common law. It's a part of contract law that states the Board can delegate authority, so health director is able to enforce as authorized by Board of Health. The Board has to authorize someone as an agent unless you're going to do the work yourself, so it's a combination of contract law, common law,regular regulatory requirements and statutory requirements. Mr. Flynn reinforced that this discussion is about the legal authorization and the designation of responsibilities in terms of an agent. The Board fully recognized the health director and her staff as responsible parties. The question is what is the appropriate delegation of authority in perspective of legal viewpoint. Ms. Sbarra stated it was clear that the health department is working on behalf of the Board of Health and with its authorization. Mr. Flynn stated the new revised version of the memo is an incredibly significant improvement, and suggested to approve it as it is. Ms. Wolf-Fordham inquired about the correct language on whoever has the authority to do the daily work. Ms. Sbarra explained the reasons why they were separated out. 2