So it is March 9th, 2016. We're at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto. I'm interviewing Patricia Dillon. My name is Eric Weidenhammer. So I guess we'll start with the basic questions. So could you tell us your name and age? I'm Patricia Dillon and I'm 63 years old. Where were you born? I was born here in Toronto. What did your parents do? My mother, well, I'm the oldest of five children. And basically, once she found out she was pregnant with me, that was the end of her career. And she was a stay-at-home mom and my dad was in sales. What did he sell? Oh, he's different things over the years, but he ended up with a company called Premium Forest Products. So it was Doors. I see. As a child, what did you do past the time? Well, I enjoyed swimming. I was very fortunate. My parents were into the cottage every summer for a month. And so I enjoyed swimming. One of the best memories I have as a child, there were many, many children who were on a street that was essentially a dead end. And to pass the time in the summer, we'd get together and we would organize a performance of singing, dancing, and plays. And we raised money for the Star Fresh Air Fund. So that was a lot of fun. It took up a lot of time in the summer. Other than that, during the year it was school. Did you have an early interest in the world of science? Yeah, well, early, high school. Certainly by high school, I had an interest in science. I was very fortunate. I lived in the east end of Toronto and I went to Malvern. And at the time I was in high school, there was still the opportunity to skip a grade in high school. And so a number of students had that opportunity between grade 9 and what would have been grade 10. We went to summer school. We had to study Latin, French, and mathematics. And I went right into grade 11 and so I was able to get more into the sciences earlier in terms of my teenage years. So where did you go to school? And what classes did you particularly like? Every time I went high school. Yeah. So I went to Malvern Collegiate and the sciences really were my focus. It was unfortunate that you had to make so many choices early in your high school career. So things like geography and history got dropped from my curriculum rather than so I could pursue chemistry and biology and physics. How did you come to study geology at the University of Toronto? Well, that's a funny story because back in the time that I started university, which was in 1970s, you had got a big book, a calendar, of course, descriptions and I knew I was going to take physics, chemistry, math, and biology or zoology as it was. But you had to have five courses and flipping through the calendar. I thought geology and I thought, well that sounds like an interesting complementary course to my other so I gave it a try. How did you find your education at the University of Toronto? Well, I wasn't as smart as I thought I was and in first year I didn't apply myself. I thought this was great fun and I didn't do that well but fortunately I passed on probation and geology was my highest mark and I took that as a sign that this is maybe a field I should stick with as I knuckle down and then after that and developing the focus I really, really enjoyed the geology, all the courses and I enjoyed the camaraderie of the smaller environment at U of T which is a huge school to be in a course like geology. We were able to develop deep friendships that have lasted for decades and decades. When did you join Tech? So, I was fortunate in 1972 to get my first job in the field working with Imperial Minerals and I did field work in Ontario and subsequently the next year I did field work in Nova Scotia and then when the year of my graduation Tech had acquired the Newfoundland Zinc Mine in Newfoundland and they were looking for geologists that had experience in carbonate geology and because I had worked in Nova Scotia around the Gays River deposit I had that background and so I was hired as I was graduating from U of T with my specialist geology degree and so I started as a summer student in 1974 and went to Newfoundland. Do you remember anything particular about your first day then? Well, not so much about my first day but my husband had had the interview after me for that summer job and at that time Matthew Black who was the exploration manager when I rather aggressively pointed out that my fiance was the next interviewee he said, do you think the two of you could work together and we were subsequently hired together as a field team and sent to Newfoundland and Ted was my field assistant so I remember that sort of early willingness to look at really quite innovative hiring practices and we were able to work together so that's a wonderful memory for me and off we went to Newfoundland. What did you first work on at Tech? Well, as a summer student it was at the Newfoundland Sink Mine so it was a field mapping project we were five teams of two and we had a very, very large concession to explore in and around the mine site looking to extensions of the deposits so it was great fun. What sort of equipment did you use at the time? Boots, hammer, repacks, bug repellent, compass of course we had air photos back then there's no GPS topographic maps so that was the main equipment and of course we had various testing materials for mineralization the standard basic field geological tools Can you describe what the company was like and the period that you joined? It was a very exciting company to work for very entrepreneurial it was active across the country Canada all over young group it was just amazing I was the first I don't know if I was the first female geologist ever hired by Tech but I was the only one at that time and I stayed working with Tech through the summers for a number of years I subsequently went back to school and did a Bachelor of Education but even as a teacher high school teacher I had the summers off and so I continued to work with Tech in the summers so I didn't actually go full time with Tech until 1979 Did you enjoy that field work being in the outdoors? Yes, that was the most exciting part of it to be outdoors mind you the days treaching through the swamps weren't always the most fun but the excitement of the hunt and then the discovery especially when you came across outcrops was mineralization and then you were waiting for the sample results and putting together the puzzle of the geology to understand the structures it was challenging it was interesting it was fun How has the company changed since you joined? Oh my goodness well my career spanned almost 40 years so there were tremendous changes including the shift of the head office from Toronto to Vancouver all of the different deposits and projects that were acquired and developed over the years just the merger with Kaminko many years later just the expansion into South America but the entrepreneurial spirit of the company never seemed to waver especially under the leadership of Dr. Keeville Sr and subsequently Dr. Keeville Jr so How did you become interested in education and advocacy? So as I pointed out I had a degree in in education with Patan also being in the mining business we decided very early on as a married couple to diversify our family skillset so that's why I went back to school but I only stayed teaching long enough to get my permanent teaching certificate so I always had an interest in education so in 1994 when Barry Simmons was a member of the board of directors at the PDAC he took over chair of the education committee and at that time he looked across the country for best practices in mineral education he identified a program that was being carried out of BC under the leadership of Maureen Gubkiewicz and the model for that education program was getting teachers to design resources that took advantage of curriculum opportunities and help teachers feel confident in delivering this subject matter because most teachers don't necessarily have a geological background or much knowledge about the minerals industry so that's how that all started so it came as a PDAC initiative that my boss was involved at the time and knowing that I had an educational background and a geological background it was a natural fit for me Can you tell us about that decision to go back and get your teaching degree was that unusual for people in industry at the time? No, because I really wasn't in industry at the time I had graduated in May of 1974 Ted and I got married in October we went to Europe for a honeymoon for five months and we went back to work for Tech in the Summer and at that time I had already decided to go to get at that time it's not true now it was one more year at school well a year at school was eight months September to April, I got another degree I got the opportunity to work professionally in a totally different sector it was a very conscious decision to diversify opportunity and skill sets and in fact a couple of times through my career when the industry went into great slumps and we were in periods of layoffs fortunately I never got caught up in those periods but I always felt I had my teaching as something in my back pocket it was also at a time where as a woman in the industry I felt that that was going to continue to help opportunities as a woman in the industry because there was a recognition that we can bring value it didn't always have to be the brawn but at the same time in education they were looking for more and more women role models in the fields of science and technology and engineering and mathematics and I had that background so I was pretty confident I would have had the opportunity to go back and be successful as a teacher Have you experienced a merger of two Canadian mining giants Tech and Kaminko in 2001 what was that experience like what was the merger like I was of course from the tech side of the merger I knew many of my colleagues in Kaminko they really changed the company quite a bit because it brought together the best of both worlds my feeling Kaminko had the trails melter so they had that sort of side of the business whereas we had been mine operators and explorationists it was a wonderful marriage and of course we had the interest in Kaminko from the 1986 sale of the shares from CN so there had already always been a bit of a relationship and awareness so when the actual merger took place always the integrations of systems and cultures can be a bit challenging but I think in that particular case it was a lot smoother to lead long association prior to the actual integration Have you traveled a great deal for your work? A great regret actually most of my travel with tech was in Canada other than the odd conference we used to have our exploration conferences in different locations around the world but I never had the opportunity to work in the United States or work in South America tech expand had considerable operations in those countries and I never got that opportunity I did do some traveling when I was president of the PDAC but in terms of comparison with many of my peers who worked in traveled international I had quite less experience in that and I think it was because of the nature of the way my job evolved as well I didn't actually stay in the field of exploration geology for many many years I moved into what was sort of considered at the time an administrative geologist so I worked with the legal side the financial side we had the digital and self light syndicates and so I was providing those kinds of services to those projects rather than continuing to be out in the field banging on the rocks which would have and of course when I became a mother I was in fact less interested in that kind of long term travel or postings mentioned the self light syndicates could you tell me about that arrangement so the digital and self light syndicates were consortiums of companies that were brought together to actually take advantage of propriety technology developed by a subsidiary at Tech Digim Ltd. at the time and so they were international syndicates the self light syndicate I represented was coming from Germany and Japan and eventually from Otokunpo and it used this geophysical technology to identify prospective areas in Canada conduct the airborne surveys and then follow-up programs for the anomalies and the Digim syndicate was the predecessor of the self light syndicate and it was responsible for discovering the Moncombe deposit so it was quite quite interesting at the time a lot of the way exploration was being structured through the undertaking identifying target areas undertaking the geophysical surveys and then doing the follow-up based on what you saw in the field what were the technologies involved airborne geophysics so starting out in the mining business in the late 70s you would have witnessed the recent history of the modern environmental movement how has the industry's relationship to the environmental movement changed over time well first of all we're very close to the environment by the nature of our work and I would argue that geologists were probably some of the first environmentalists they didn't want to leave their garbage or messes behind when going you know I mean just terrible so but I think the general the laws grew and changed and I think the industry were early adopters and happy to raise the attention to environmental stewardship and responsibility so from my own experience I know that there is the issue of orphaned and abandoned mines some of the issues are very very complex from the point of view of what has happened historically but I think now certainly in my experience and the organizations I work there's the highest attention to environmental stewardship so in particular interest to the history of Canadian military which has a long history of environmental controversy how has tech who has inherited this facility addressed some of these long standing issues well I think I think always the company has paid attention to the issues I think the company has demonstrated it's very very responsive in the case of spales being transparent and all of their activities to take responsibility to initiate cleanup to keep communities involved but you've got to remember this was a hundred year operation and just as safety rules and environment rules have changed over time so the company has adjusted in response as a matter of fact the trail smelter is using a portion of its facilities to look at the whole recycling opportunities right and I think it's providing a great service there and making investments to even improve the opportunity to recycle more metals particularly from the electronics industries so can you tell us about the industry's relationship to the Aboriginal community and how that has changed over time well as you know the Canadian MINDELS industry is the largest employer of Aboriginal people in Canada and we have more activities in close proximity to Aboriginal communities in fact tech was the leader and it's a relationship with respect to the communities in and around the red dog line and the nano organization so I mean tech I think has shown that it's always been very respectful and taking a leadership in that of course was in particularly Kaminko initially prior to the merger you also have the situation and you can look to Sudbury and Highland Valley where the Aboriginal community has not necessarily historically been incorporated and engaged in the operations as much as would happen now but those things are changing I know for a fact that the tech has reaching out around all its coal operations and Highland Valley in particular to the Indigenous community at Hemlow we worked with the Pick River and the Pick Moberg First Nations looking at ensuring that there are benefits flowing to the community and negotiating participation agreements so it's really really changed and with the change in the regulatory framework the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous people the focus on free prior and informed consent companies realize now that although you have the support and the willingness of the community to welcome you on to their land and to develop the resources and partnership it's not going to happen and I would say tech was a leader in this particularly because of their experience at Red Dog in the early days before this topic even was on the minds of many Can you tell us about that the Red Dog mind and what you're referring to well in the case of the Red Dog mind the local Indigenous people own the land on which the deposit was discovered so right from the very beginning there were conversations and commitments with respect to local hiring local procurement training this was this partnership approach was established because the Indigenous community they owned the land the Alaska natives owned the land so it was very very clear whereas in other parts of Canada where when you're working on traditional territory and you have situations where traditional territories of a number of First Nations overlap it's a little bit more complex but it's that willingness to listen and to understand what are the priorities of the community and this sharing the shared value the sharing of benefits but identifying what are the values and what are considered benefits just because we think it's a benefit the local community is going to most likely have different ideas now tech is one of the last Canadian owned majors in mining and metallurgy especially outside of precious metals can you give us your opinion on how foreign ownership has affected geology and mining in Canada well affected it in the sense that first of all foreign ownership recognizes the value of investing in Canadian expertise, Canadian opportunities so I think it's a recognition of our excellence in mining and in mine management and mine leadership so for me that's a difficult question to address really maybe the president of both CIM and the PDAC in fact I think you're the only person who's been president of both institutions how do the two institutions compare and how do they interrelate well I was the only person who had been president of both organizations up until this week actually when Bob Schaefer has just taken over as president of the PDAC so there are two great national organizations with different mandates and focusing on really different segments of the industry whereas PDAC is very much an advocacy group on behalf of really the early stage prospectors and developers the CIM with its structure of technical societies and divisions focuses on you know ensuring that professionals within the organization are kept up to date with best practices latest developments and technologies PDAC does that too but it's in a different it's in a different space CIM doesn't doesn't advocate the way that for example the Mining Association of Canada does in the PDAC organizations both national in scope but with a different a different strategic priorities I think I would say can you tell us about the Mining Millennium conference that you co-chaired in 2000 well that was that was a wonderful experience the mining industry likes to see its resources deployed efficiently and the question always was well why can't the PDAC and the CIM get together because at that time the CIM conference would periodically rotate in Toronto would be held in May PDAC is always in Toronto and it's always in March so why to mark the millennium can't we see if we get together the challenges for both organizations their annual conference is a major fundraising activity to support their annual priorities so there was a lot of concern around if we bring it together can we just demonstrate that we're going to be able to generate the kind of revenues that both organizations need but there was a group of the willing to give it a try we got the authorization of both boards to give it a try but the way we structured it was it wasn't a full integration of two conferences we ended up structuring that sort of PDAC was the first few days of the week and CIM was sort of the second half of the week and then a number of the social events and the awards events were integrated in the middle of the week the challenge was it meant that if you wanted to be there for the whole time it made for a seven day conference and that was exhausting there were revenue implications for both organizations but we were glad that we tried and that we were able to demonstrate to our constituents that we could be successful with bringing everything together but it also did highlight the fact that they do have whereas they do overlap in a number of areas they also are quite separate in other areas but it was a wonderful event and I was glad we gave it a try you headed the Toronto branch of CIM can you tell us what sort of work goes on in the branches of CIM so the branches are the leadership in the branches of the local area so they know what the interests are of the professionals within that area so the Toronto branch would organize talks and events that would bring together the local mining community and we also had very much a mandate about reach to local students who are interested in the mining area and of course Toronto is a world center for mining so it was one of the largest branches and I was very honored to be the first woman chair. What are some of the messages that you're trying to pass on to young people through the Mining Matters Initiative? So the Mining Matters Initiative it has a number of pillars and our first mandate really was to focus on providing quality resources to teachers who are required to teach about rocks minerals and specifically earth processes and earth sciences okay we at the time the Mining Matters was initiated the goal was to provide information about the industry so that people could make informed decisions in the future and our original focus was the urban areas of Toronto and although of course over the last 22 years we've expanded across the country now the messaging is around the ideas that when we're in Aboriginal communities and working with Aboriginal youth the messages, the minerals industry provides opportunities and wide variety of opportunities right in your area but also globally it's a technologically advanced safe profession to work in but to advance within it staying in school is very very critical so that's some of the messaging now it's around career awareness and back when we started Mining Matters within educational systems you must remember that education is provincially mandated so one size doesn't fit all the opportunity to teach rocks, minerals and mining is going to vary in different grades and different regions of the country so we've had to adjust and adapt our resources depending on where we are in the kinds of communities we're going into but it was a number of years ago that educational authorities they need to do a better job in helping students become aware of career opportunities it's not just doctors, dentists nurses and teachers there's a whole bunch of other options out there so we've expanded into that career awareness as well so we have a lot of fun with them because we build off young people's natural interest in the sparkly bits and pebbles and rocks their inherent curiosity so How and when did that project start? Well we started in 1994 and we produced and tested our first resources in 94 and we became a charitable organization in 97 and I've been very fortunate as I mentioned Barry Simmons who started it under the auspices of the PDAC education committee he was a tech employee at the time and tech has been a tremendous supporter of the initiative through not only the time Barry and I spent into it throughout our day to day but also financially tech made its offices available for kit production it helped us in providing resources for the kits and as have many many other companies and we're so proud of the fact that we now can attract funding from foundations, individuals corporations, governments and through PDAC membership we get donations from many of their members around the globe to support the advancement of minerals education generally How has your work with the PDAC changed over time? Well so with PDAC I started initially through the committee structure so I was working on committees I worked on a number of committees I ended up chairing the communications committee for a while and then when I was approached to ask if I would allow my name to be considered for president I didn't shy away from that I didn't seek it out but when I was asked to give it a shot I had the support of tech to go forward with that and so then I moved into the role of president and now as past president we're I'm sort of in an emeritus role in as much that I can represent past presidents on like I'm on the governments and nominating committee and of course I continue to have money matters so it's run the whole gambit but still very much involved. Tell us about your role in the minerals and metals industry sector study steering committee. So there is a meeting in Toronto that was being convened at that time by an organization called Mitac which was the mining industry training and adjustment council and they were looking to see how they could evolve to meet the needs better of industry so that meeting included representatives of unions, associations and corporations and it was being held here in Toronto at an apartment airport hotel so because I've been involved with CIM because I've been involved with BDAC and because I also was employed by TAC I got asked to go to that meeting and wear all those different hats so just what does this group want to do what's going on and then to report back to the various organizations so at that time they were looking for people to chair to chair a study the study that you refer to and I got approached again I'm I don't know if you can tell but I'm one of those people that when invited to speak or offer an opinion I don't sort of shy away from it and so they asked me if I would be involved representing industry because of the many hats I could wear as co-chair of that committee and then my other co-chair at that time represented the educational institutions and then we were working with this group and that was the seminal study that first started really identifying and putting numbers around what the HR challenges were going to be in the mining industry going forward and then subsequently as a result of that study the organization involved into the mining industry Human Resources Sector Council and I'm currently past chair of that organization and we're doing a tremendous amount of work in gender equity outreach to Aboriginal communities through our Mining Essentials program but we provide the labor market intelligence for the mining industry across this country on what are the needs and where are they going to come from and where are there opportunities to meet the human resources needs in the industry and we're doing work. And you're now teaching at a business school, is that right? Yes, about five years ago Richard Ross who used to be the CEO of INMAT he had retired at the time he was approached by CIM to consider developing a leadership educational program after CIM had assessed there really wasn't anything currently in the academic environment that supported developing leaders for the mining industry so he started developing the global mining management program and after the first year he approached me and it come to light that I was also retired at that time and I had a background education broad experience in the mining industry and so we started developing more of the courses and there are currently five courses in the program one at the first year level of MBA which is like a mining 101 which helps students because not all the students come from mining backgrounds so that's sort of their mining 101 orientation to the industry and then in second year courses there's value creation in the mining industry there's financial fundamentals in the mining industry I teach a course called Towards Sustainable Mining and the fourth course is Managing Mining Companies so I've I'm in the middle of my fourth year teaching that course but teaching is a bit of a misnomer here because we bring industry subject experts a little bit more of the administrator organizer identify the key subject matter experts and last night as a matter of fact at our class we were exposing the students to indigenous perspectives on the mining industry in Canada and we brought in three indigenous leaders from First Nations and the students had the opportunity to explore the topic of free prior informed consent and the focus of IBAs the concerns in First Nations community with respect to mineral development so it's very very exciting Have you ever worked in a particularly dysfunctional job or organization? Actually no it's very interesting because yeah no the answers no I mean I've worked in organizations or I've worked with groups or I've worked with committees and organizations that have been engaging tasks and had evolving demands and expectations but dysfunctional no and I think sometimes that it's how you approach people it's how you engage people it's how you bring people around having a common goal now we've had some difficult situations to deal with and some really odd situations in a higher organization being dysfunctional no What are some of the challenges that you face? The challenges while being so passionate about the mining industry not having enough time in the day to maybe be involved with as many things as you'd like to I think sometimes making a misstep in identifying somebody to maybe work on a particular project or on a committee who doesn't maybe have the same kind of commitment or passion or necessarily background so I think that that sometimes can be a challenge What was the most difficult project that you've worked on? Difficult project I'd have to say fundraising is difficult generally and it's hard when you run a charitable organization and for example we're in a downturn right now in our industry and I believe in the value of what we're doing for example at mining matters and it's hard sometimes to go out there and have people say just really I can't support you right now or I don't doesn't happen often but some people shift their priorities and the kinds of things they want to support which is sometimes hard to hear so What's your fondest memory that relates to your work? Oh Wow Fondest memory I think when I had the support of tech senior management to represent the organization and international for at the time of the global mining initiative I had I had the opportunity to go to London and represent the company and knowing that somebody had that much faith and support in you the other time in which I felt very very honored was after the the difficult time that tech went through through the downturn and we went through a layoff we laid off of 13% of our employee and contractor base at that time and then very quickly through Don Lindsay's 13 point plan the company was back on track the debt issues had been resolved they attracted the Chinese investment and everything was great and the mines ministers wanted to hear the story how did it happen that that tech in such a short period of time with terrific senior management you know what was the sequence of events that led to us being in that very very difficult situation and I got selected to be the person to go the mines ministers to tell that story that was an incredible opportunity again because of the support and the faith that the senior management had in my ability to be effective in that environment and to deliver the story What sorts of social activities have you been involved with at work or after work with co-workers at work or after work with co-workers well at Mining Matters we organize a hockey tournament every year I can remember back in the day when tech rented the Maple Leaf Gardens to have the tech versus prospectors golf a hockey tournament skating at Maple Leaf Gardens with Dr. Kievel I remember that clearly and when I was in Vancouver tech would organize events where we'd go up Grouse Mountain to ski or snowshoe I think one of the really exciting times was when tech produced all the metal for the 2010 Olympic medals and we brought in our excellence award winners from around the country and then we got to mix and match from all over the world to go and witness Olympic events proudly aware of the fact that our mantle from our minds all over the world was in those beautiful Olympic medals so that was really really exciting In your line of work as geology are there any particular social problems that you witnessed over time drug abuse, infidelity these sorts of things I didn't see it but a question that often comes up as a woman in the mining industry through the 70s and 80s was difficulty with with respect to you know gender equality at the time I was first hired with tech we had a mine manager at our LaMac mine which was underground gold mine and he was very much old school and at that time even though I was an employee of tech I would not have been allowed to go underground because I was a woman but that mine manager moved on and I got underground at LaMac so you know I am aware of the fact that a number of women had difficulties in the industry in terms of the difficult social issues again my infield career was very early on before for example we didn't work as closely at that time with our indigenous neighbors and you do hear of some of the difficulties in those communities here at the convention of course you know a couple of times you you would maybe indulge a little bit too much in alcohol but I was never approached ever about drugs or anything like that maybe because people could tell I wouldn't be interested in anyway and just go running the other way How present or absent have other women been in your workplace over time and has that changed? Oh yes that's changed tremendously and I'm a great advocate for women as you know from my background I've been the first woman or the second woman in a number of situations but once I get in there I'm a great advocate for the skills and the talents of women and the men so for example when I was chair of the CIM Toronto branch or before I became even chair of the Toronto branch there was one other woman involved at that time Elizabeth Gardner who worked with the Ontario Mining Association but through the course of my involvement in tenure I got a lot more women involved and so it has changed far from ideal but women I think are being more supportive of women and generally I think with the new generation of young men coming up who got more experience dealing with women as equals through their educational environment I think that's happening I think the fathers of daughters are a lot more sensitive to supporting their daughters in their careers and achievements in more male dominated roles but we've still got a long way to go but we've all got a role to play and times are changing and some of the old boys they're fading into the woodwork but I've always believed and I know a number of my colleagues wouldn't necessarily agree I always believed in my heart of hearts that if you got in and you did a good job and you maybe weren't too aggressive I mean you were present you were forceful, you sit at the table you don't sit back I do believe that men and other women will recognize our abilities and our willingness and capability to contribute effectively How was the field of geology in general doing in Canada compared to when you started? Well it's right back where I started the year I graduated there were so few jobs we're now in a situation where there are so few jobs it's the frequency and you can count on the cycles and we're in a down cycle and it's tough right now I've got students at the Shoe of School of Business and they're saying where are we going to get a job hey we're at the bottom of the down cycle build your networks learn about the industry get connected stay involved in things and it's going to turn around so it was very difficult in 72 when I was a second year student only three of us in my class and that was the class of engineers and the class of geologists got summer jobs so it was unfortunately the commodity cycles Who's been your greatest mentor or who has had the greatest impact on your career? The man who hired me at Tech, Matthew Blacka and at the time his boss John May they made sure that I had opportunities always to participate they always introduced me they always showed that they had confidence in my perspective even though I was a young and didn't have a lot of experience I remember very well being in a Sulfide Syndicate meeting as it was and the meeting was all over and we were caucusing after and I said to John at the time I said I don't understand and I laid out my question and he looked at me and he says Pat he says I will guarantee you if there was something you didn't understand in that meeting probably 50% of the other people in the meeting didn't understand it as well please do not ever hesitate to ask the question feel free and as a result I've never been afraid of asking a question that I would be ridiculed and so that support that confidence in putting me in situations believing in my ability letting me stumble I can be I remember a number of times when I was told that perhaps I had strayed a little bit this way or the other but it was always done in a constructive way and so I would say Matthew Black and I worked with him for many many many years at tech and so I had no women mentors so and I think that's going to be true for most women in this industry for a while men are going to be very very important mentors we need women as role models it's true but most of the mentoring is going to come from them what are the most important lessons that you've learned in life when opportunity knocks even if you're feeling unsure put your say yes I can remember when I was asked if I would consider running to be president of the PBAC when I was approached to be president of the CIM when I was asked if I would be an ambassador for keep mining in Canada when I was approached and asked to be a co-chair of a committee I always thought well you know this opportunity is coming my way for a reason and don't run the other way trust in the future even when it's uncertain even when you maybe can't see how things are going to play out have confidence in your ability and have confidence in the people around you who care and want to see you succeed most people want to see people succeed there are fewer out there that want to whack you down but generally that's not the case what are you proudest of after my children and my relationship with my husband so many things but I'd have to say mining matters the fact that it's attracted support from so many individuals so many corporations nationally over so many years it's been sustained over so many years I would have to say that's something that I'm very very proud of us as an accomplishment the chance to have had my entire career with a company such as tech I mean that's been incredible and the opportunities I also do this a comment to the University of Toronto at the time Pierre LaSanne made his transformative gift to reestablish mining engineering and that went right to Dr. Keevel to say yes we'd like Pat to be involved in this project it was a bit of a start-up not in terms of like a corporate start-up but still an educational program start-up and for two years tech supported me while I was not precedent tech but actually had an educational institution I mean that was an amazing opportunity the fact that after we went through a terrible downturn and I came off that's a comment I continued to be supported in my role here in Toronto the fact that I was invited at the time they were considering putting together the transition team had the INCO acquisition been successful I mean I was tremendously honored by that the fact that in the latter stage of my career I had the opportunity to move to the head office and take on new roles the support I had to work with the Mining Association of Canada through the early development and growth of the towards sustainable mining initiative which is now a national incredible program that is driving performance improvements in our industry so much really and your biggest contribution to the field of mining and geology I don't know I don't know I hope I hope there's been a contribution I hope that a number of young people that I've interacted with over the year have seen and realized opportunity and success in the industry because of something I said or encouragement I provided when I was President of CIM I was very much student focused so I hoped that that's what the contribution has been anything else you'd like to add it's a great industry a wonderful run I'm very pleased even as a retiree that I've been able to stay involved through the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame I love the fact that the industry through the PD's the Sue the CIM and through the Hall of Fame and the Mining Association of Canada we recognize excellence in our industry and we use that as a way to tell our story more broadly to Canadians and internationally about how the industry has evolved and grows and will continue to do so I love the collaboration I see within the industry on issues that are of critical importance to performance particularly safety performance and I I really am impressed with all the people I've met in my career it's a small family well thank you for your time thank you


being recorded. Meeting's being recorded and pursuant to chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so by logging in through the Board of Health website. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts, we will post on the Board of Health website an audio recording and the minutes of the proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting. Meeting will open and with a roll call. So, Lauren. Are you here? Yes, I'm here. Great. Tim. Here. Steve. Here. Maureen. Here. Nancy here and we're joined by Jen Brown and Ed Smith. So the first item is to view the minutes of the November 18th meeting. And I had two comments. One is on the, and I don't know where to put it, the second to the last paragraph under the refuse collection of mandatory recycling that it was pointed out that Amherst residents can already choose to have biweekly curbside pickup and recycling of organics. But it was noted that it is not advertised by the USA company. So people have to know about it. It's not well advertised. That was brought up. I don't know how to put it in there. I get that again. That was true. Yeah, I'll fix that. And then the other one is under the board of health statement on racism. So it was health director Jen Brown and Nancy Gilbert. We'll meet next week with members of the UMass. It was both Jen and I were meeting. Got it. Got it. Okay. Okay. Yep. Yep. That was all I saw. Minor things. Anybody else? I did see a few typos, but I don't think I don't know if we're supposed to comment on those. Yeah, tell Steve if you see a typo. Well, you're muted. You're muted. Sorry, I have to find it again because I don't have it open right on my computer. So if you just give me a minute, but I could just let I could just email it as well, not to hold. No. Okay, but I think it was. It was at the end. Okay. So let me know as soon as you can. I'm not going to get it open.  So let me know as soon as you can. And I'll accept. May have a motion to accept the minutes. I'll move to accept the minutes. Second. Second, I'll second it. All in favor. Maureen. I. Tim. Hi. Steve. Hi. Lauren, Lauren and Nancy. Okay. Yeah. Yes, it's good too. Yes. Next on the agenda is the recombinant DNA regulation, the update. From Steve and Maureen and Steve sent out. The, the. How would you describe it? It was with what we want to change possible. It's a list of sort of possible proposed changes, although, you know, we're still trying to work out exactly. What we should be doing here. It's not, it's not simple. I mean, I think a case could be made that if we didn't have these changes, we wouldn't be putting them in now. Because, you know, there's that situation has really changed quite a bit since they were put in. On the other hand. There's a reason or the risk is not zero. And so, you know, I guess. If we take them away completely, it kind of suggests that. We don't care about it. And so I suppose we're going to keep them in some form. But then the issue is that really there's only one institution now that's not effective and that's Amherst college. And Amherst does some work at what's called BSL two. So, you know, they're these four levels. And BSL two is a case where there are pathogens or, you know, there's the potential for disease, but it's low, you know, there. If a lab worker were to get exposed, they might get. It might have some slight problem, but it's not life threatening or anything like that. That's the highest level that is now being performed. And so, you know, I think that would be very welcome. Any institution that we have control over in Amherst, but then you could say, well, what if a company, you know, what if a pharmaceutical company wanted to start up here? I think that would be very welcome by the town. For you to say a research branch of a pharmaceutical company. And in that case, they might well be doing something at level three, which is that those are, those are pathogens that could cause a serious illness, and so if that were the case, we would want to make sure that that organization was conforming to the national guidelines. So I guess you can make the argument that we need it for that reason. And if so, there are still are some changes that we were thinking of putting in, which are in this list, and we're not going to vote on them today, but I just thought before going through all the work of really redrafting the entire thing and including all the definitions, we would just give everybody a chance to look at it and either make comments now or sometime in the next couple of weeks. And then if, then we would incorporate that or consider that in trying to draft the complete set of revised guidelines. My concerns have been if we have these regulations, we should be following them. You know, I think we had, I don't know what's happened. And I don't know that they are have been the inspections the requirements to get minutes from the, the biosafety committees at the colleges. So I think it's probably worse to have a regulation that's not being followed. And then also, I mean, if we, you know, we, Steve and I talked about, well, what maybe we shouldn't require inspections or reporting, but if we're not doing that, we don't know anything either. So I guess it's kind of a balance is do we, I feel like the colleges are generally trustworthy. We're the agents with their, that are risk averse, but should we be making sure that they are following these federal guidelines in addition to that and just being aware of what's happening on the campuses. You know, if there was a fire in a lab or if there was, I don't, I think it's sort of a remote issue that could come up, but I think we need to think about whether we want to have them. And, and if we do, then we need to think about how we would follow up on them. I just want to add something about the inspection so that the current regulations say that they would be inspected every year. And, you know, the inspections are something we would not, you know, I'm sure that our wonderful health inspectors could learn to do this, but it's a huge technical issue. They have lots to do. It's not going to be the health inspectors that would do this. So who is going to do it? Are we going to pay an expert and outside expert to do it? The way that, you know, medical labs have to be inspected. And so I think that that inspection thing is very questionable as to what it would really happen. If one of us, even I know something about it, but I'm not, that's not the work I did exactly. So I couldn't walk into a lab and know what I was inspecting. If they were breaking some rule. So it was a very technical kind of inspection that would be needed if we're serious about it. So I just had a couple of thoughts. And one thing is, one, you have the board will monitor labs and I thought, well, how and who is going to monitor it. I think it would be important for us to know where these labs are. And that we have some sense of where they are. In case there's a safety issue. But us monitoring them, I agree. You know, who would do it? I mean, Ed Smith, do you want to start monitoring research labs? And so I, so my thought is let's keep it as simple as possible to know where these labs are. And a report if, if, if something happens to them. And then they make an error, which occasionally happens. The other thing I remember when we were looking at it a while ago or talking about it. When it was with Julie or epi. The thing is, if there are any spin off labs from the university or something that are then in town, but the way they've been going is they've been going to Hadley more than here. They've been going to Hadley more than here. And so if there's a spin off lab that comes out of the university into the community, just to have some, to know where this stuff is. And if there is a breach of safety that it gets reported to us, but you know, us going in and monitoring, we don't have the staff for the knowledge. You know, if I can make a comment, you know, I don't know if it's appropriate or not monitoring, not oversight, but I spoke to the fire chief, Tim Nelson, and I said, how are you guys involved?   But my idea is to just keep it as simple as possible that we know where they are. And they might send us a little report, even a written one that we've had no accidents or leaks and everything is fine this year. And keep it in a notebook.  And that's simulation and bed baths and things like that. Do you have something more? Yes, I probably have more questions and answers. But I think I mentioned last meeting that where does the liability lie, like if we have this information and we're being updated on the information, are we like, is the, is the board of health or somehow the town liable if something happens, like I still don't understand, you know, where that balance is going to be if we monitor, monitor or get information from the colleges. You said Amherst College and Smith College. And then there's the, I looked at the notes that said, the board of health municipal municipalities do not have the jurisdiction over UMass Amherst, but that's a big university here. And I'm just like, well, if we're doing this for, you know, these smaller schools or colleges, like why wouldn't we find a way to monitor what's going on in UMass? So I, to me, I just, I don't, I don't know why we're going into this, this area of monitoring what's happening on a college campus. We might be liable for that. Well, we've had these regulations from two, two oh eight. So that's part of reviewing them. And as I said, the idea is to know where this is going on in case there's a breach and for the fire department to know there's a fire. And it's really, and anybody else can chime in. It's to know where they are and to make sure that, that they're sticking with the government regulations. And to report anything that is untoward. If it happens, but does that cap put it in the capsule? Steve, is that what? All right. By the way, you know, just in terms of reporting, you know, the labs are already under, they are essentially required by the rules they accept to report to the NIH and CDC. Any certain kinds of spills. Now the current regulations say that they would have to report any release, any release. Of course, that is not, you can't detect any release. So any release would be one virus particle or something. You can't detect it. So that's kind of not very serious. But we would want to know, of course, and we'll put that in. If they are required to report the accident or the release to the NIH or CDC, of course, immediately the health department should be informed of that. That'll be in there. I think about liability is, yeah, I just want to say, Laura, that's a very good question. I don't know anything about that. I really don't know whether we, it makes us liable. I don't know. I'm sure there must be some general rule about that for all the regulations that we put in. But I don't know the answer. Tim, are you going to say something? Yes. Especially the research labs are already monitored, managed. They also have, need to have a emergency plan for any spill or even any accidents. And also some of the management plans and even CDC develops a database of all types of research which involves any type of a biosafety agency. So, I think if we are drafting something, it should be some sort of a guidance in addition to what they might be already having from CDC and NIH. What I mean by guidance is, for example, having an emergency plan in place, notifying us as a board of health, if there is any type of an accident or emergency activity, I mean those are some things, you know, like some sort of transparency might be something we could document in this one. Just as a team player, as Jen was mentioning, that transparency need to be there. So, Steve and I talked about this a couple of times. And one point that you've made was maybe we should address things at level BSL biosafety lab level three, just in a stronger way just to have that on record in case there is some sort of institute or lab offshoot of a more commercial type of venture that is an offshoot of the university or a pharmaceutical company here. I suppose that could be developed when that was happening, but maybe there should be provisions in case that might happen. I was looking through some things in Boston and it's always interesting to figure out why and what happens when. And they just allowed some changes at the level four. And the reason was so that they could do virus and vaccine, vaccine research and these mRNA vaccines actually. And this was in 2018-2019. So the BU developed this national emerging infectious disease facility. And so the city responded by changing their regulations and allowing that to happen. So I suppose it could go in that direction, but that was one thought that we had. You know, we don't expect Amherst College or Hampshire College to move to that level, you know, basically because they use students as a lot of their workforce and that is, you know, not something that's realistic at that level. Even level three, you realize there's no level three research under our jurisdiction right now. No, there's no level three. And we, we eliminated the idea of level four in the old, old regulations and probably wouldn't go back there, but that was another thought. So I think if people would look over that list and just if you have any specific reactions, send a marine or me an email within the next couple of weeks, it'll be before January 1st, certainly, and then we'll plan to have a draft of the whole thing in time for the next meeting. Steve, I have a quick question on one of the suggestions you make. Prohibit all work at BSL4. What do you mean by all work? You know, right now most of the work is lab work. Do you think that research in social studies should not be done? No. So in other words, there's two kinds of research. For these purposes, there's just the regular research where you take, you know, let's say a germ and try to see how to kill it or something, but there's also recombinant DNA research where you deliberately put a gene into an organism that didn't have that gene before. So that's this recombinant DNA and the previous existing guidelines say that only recombinant DNA research at level 4 is prohibited. But I was saying, you know, there's no reason in the world we should have level 4 research in the town of Amherst. I don't care how many pharmaceutical companies would come in. It's just not suitable for this area or environment. It's just, it's never going to happen anyway. And it's just clear to say no level 4.  And we just, there's no reason Amherst, the town of Amherst needs to have that. There's, but my thought. That's like studying Ebola, you know, so it's really high level stuff. And I mean, Boston just, they just changed their guidance in these areas. So we are talking about lab research, not policy research or other type of security type of brainstorming. It's only research, right. Only research that comes under these BSL biosafety level guidelines. So it's entirely biological research. And effectively it is research on germs, pathogens. I just have to say a funny note. When I made the comment before I meant, I didn't mean to say Smith. I meant to say Hampshire and Amherst, but I was coming home when I was coming home today. And I was like, I don't know where I was coming from. I was like, there was like this real strong, like sewage smell in the air. Like when I was, you know, I take the bus and I was coming off the bus and it was like really every, everywhere, like all the way down the street. And so I was just like, that's really odd because I never smelled that before. But I mean things like that could, you know, I don't know where it was coming from, but it was spreading manure. And that comes back. Okay, that was probably it. One question, Steve and Maureen. So under section six, B would remove all that whole section of, about permits. Is that what you were suggesting? Yes, I feel strongly about that. In other words, the current regulations say that the board of health will act like a granting agency. And that's a big part of it. That's a big part of it. But you know, people will be able to do the content. You know, what, what, I spare, but they're trying to do what exactly the chemicals are the whole thing. I just wanted to make sure that. That's what you were saying because. They said, Oh my God. Why is this here? Yeah. So yes. I completely agree with that. Keep the registration, but that away away from the permitting part of it. Yeah. And inspecting. We can't inspect. And if they don't, they report it. Yeah. Okay. So you'll get back to us, but thank you for all that work. Any other comments, thoughts about it. Yeah, I was playing that game of what was what from. Yes. Okay. So the regulations on a refuge. I don't know if we have any guests here today, but. Yeah. Due to the staff in all departments are overtaxed by the poet COVID pandemic and our town's response. I want to rescind my motion of November 18th. And I look back at everything and I want us to take into consideration that we want to move forward and support the zero number of employees coming to us. But looking back again at the board's. Actions in 2009 and 2014. We. What we did was related to related to the refuse and. Recycling. We responded. To town employees coming to us. We didn't do anything. We didn't do anything. We didn't do anything. We didn't do anything with Jen. And I would really like her to talk with Paul to identify the best steps to take to move forward with his pilot project. Maybe Paul should get that recycling and refuse management committee. Going again or a subcommittee of the sustainable committee that works with zero waste. 10 employees are all too stressed out to work on it. So that motion I made is not tenable. Jen, do you want to say anything or anything to respond to it? You know, I agree with what you said. I think this is, I think we've identified or we know it's really important work. I know from my point of view, I need to really be focusing on COVID. Just the next few weeks, months, that's where the focus needs to be in this health department. So I think it's really important what we've done and where we are right now. I think, you know, for us to move forward, what were the next steps? I don't think we know, but what I can do or, you know, with your help, you guys let me know, is what can I do to move this to a good home? So I'll tell you, I did speak to Stephanie Cicerella, Cicerella from the Conservation Commission. And she just listened to me and she's this expert and she's sort of echoed what we said that there's a need, this is such a valid issue. You know, is there a solid waste master plan and where can this important issue live?  Who can work on it and bring it forward? Any other comments? Oops, ooh, I did something here. So quick comment, I know many cities have sustainable Northampton, you know, sustainable Springfield type of committees which are having a much more broader goal of moving the city or town towards sustainability in all aspects. You have a sustainable committee here in Amherst. No, I'm just saying, you know, they might be someone who could take this leadership role, especially in this one, because solid waste is a huge aspect, you know, especially in the future sustainability of the city town itself. And I think that might be someone they could be involved and be a, you know, I think any master plan related to sustainable development should have this zero waste policy into it. So what we want to do is we still want to support this, but we need other people to do the work and bring it back to us the way all the other amendments to the regulations happened. But we did have a kind of formal vote on this. I think we have to do something other than, you know. Right, so I would like to, I can make a motion to rescind my motion of November 18th and have Jen talk with Paul Backelman to identify the best steps to take forward to support this pilot project. Why don't we just, wouldn't it be just easier to just rescind the motion? And then I'll do the minutes, they'll say all the stuff that you just said. If you try to put that into motion, then every word of it goes. I just want to rescind the motion of November 18th due to the everybody being overtaxed by the COVID pandemic and our town's response and then that's our priority right now. I'll second it. Okay. Any further discussion? I would just like to know in the proposal, in the pilot proposal, there's two members of the Department of Public Health. Do we want to talk about that at a further meeting or talk about that now to figure out like, would a member of the Department of Health still have to be part of the pilot or do we want to be part of the pilot project? That's all being rescinded. That's all being completely rescinded. And we'll, in January, we'll try and identify next steps with the help of Jen given that we're dealing with COVID. And we still want to support this, but we look at how we're going to support it. Does that answer your question? Okay. No further discussion? I'll call a vote on rescinding the motion of November 18th. Steve? Aye. Tim? Aye. Maureen? Aye. Maureen? Aye. Nancy? Aye. So it's been rescinded. Okay. So we'll take that up in January. We do want to move forward with it, but how we do it is still to be determined. Okay. Toxic waste, toxic chemical regulation update. Tim and Maureen, you said you were going to get this to us in April. Do you need anything further? Just any comments? So we started off with the old document and we are looking into, we are just starting. We haven't made huge progress on that, but we are thinking about what type of aspects in the schools and what additional changes need to be made. So we should be having something by April. Perfect. Do you need any more support from any of us or Jen?  Great. Thanks, Maureen. Not at this time, not at this time. We're still in the early stage. Great. Thank you so much for your work. Now we're moving on to new business, the well application for 389 Bay Road, a flag lock. Nancy, you know, I apologize. I sent a new agenda. I think it was yesterday. And is it item, is there item number four on the new agenda? Yeah, but you put it under director's updates. So do you want me to just move it up? I did, I apologize. I'm looking at it a little bit. Nope, stay on track. Yeah, because I thought it was going to be there, but then I saw it was under director's report. So we'll just take it up there. Thank you. Ed's business and I think the contractor is also on this call so that we can... Right, Rich Gale is one of the attendees. Yes. So I looked at the map. Ed, you want to make any comments? This seems like a very straightforward application. There's plenty of room, no wetlands nearby, no prior history that would be concerning, I think. There is town water down on Bay Road, but it's a long uphill climb, a lot of piping, and the opportunity in the space is there to do a private well. The plans are moving forward for a single family house on the property and they are willing to connect to town water if necessary, but the preferred option is this well. So I really don't anticipate any issues from this. It should be a straightforward installation. There's an abutting property that's already built. Does that have a well or does it connect to town? One I think at the base of the road is connected to town water and I think the immediate abutter has its own well. Yeah, it's way up there too. It is, yeah. And how deep is the well proposed well? Is it going to be shallow or deep? I don't know. I don't think we really will know until it's built. They often go between two and 400 feet, but I didn't look into other wells in the area here to see if there was a pattern or something we could use to answer your question. Yeah, that should be a part of the permit, right? How deep it's great as to go or it doesn't involve. It's part of the reporting afterwards. We get a detailed drillers report from the well company about what materials they've passed through and how much casing they used and at what level do they find sufficient water? And then the testing that shows that the water settles is clear and is insufficient volume for the purpose they intend, in this case, to supply one house. So the pumping rate will be moderate, right? Because it's a one household. Yes, yeah, that's part of that pumping report. There'll be a water test submitted to the board and ultimately you'll grant a, if everything passes, you'll grant a water supply certificate, which will show and prove that it's put up the water for this purpose. Any other questions? Okay, seeing that they know further. I always have questions. I'm sorry. How do you know if the water is drinkable? Like do they, if they're using it for drinking, how do you know if the source is drinkable water? Part of the Amherst Board of Health's regulations require a pretty extensive water test to be done at an environmental lab. And then those results are submitted to you, to the board for your review. But in the north part of Amherst, we have some water sort of aesthetic issues, but no other than that in town, generally we've had a really high success rate with water for drinking purposes. Thank you. Sure. Can I have a motion to accept the well-off application for Bay Road? I can do that. I will make a motion to accept the well application on 389 Bay Road. And a second? I'll second that. Okay. All in favor, Maureen? Aye. Tim? Aye. Steve? Aye. Lauren? Aye. And Nancy? Aye. Okay. That is done. Great. Okay. So anything else you need to say to us, Ed? No, I don't think so. Unless you anticipate that it would be helpful for me to say I'll exit now if that's okay. I think it's fine. Thank you. Thank you for all your work. Thank you. I appreciate it. Happy holidays, whatever one you celebrate or don't celebrate. As many as possible and thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Okay. The director's update. Reviewing food insecurity. The documents from 2013. Yeah. Thank you. So I mentioned this. I just, you know, I'm thinking about being the director where we're going and obviously the focus is gonna be on COVID. But Lauren, I brought this up and I wanted to look into it because you mentioned it last month about food security. And I thought that was such an important issue. And so I think really what I wanna say today is that it's something that we looked at in the past. In 2010, the director had a grant, a social justice grant and we looked at our Merce Market and the electronic benefits card. 2014, we partnered with Healthy Hampshire and we did some really good focus groups. We've been looking at them in the department. Focus surveys in English and Spanish and really saw there was some significant transportation barriers. 2015, there was a report. 2017, 2018, Survival Center came in. So there was some really solid work. I'd like to, you know, my job, I'd like to look at, see what's happened since then. And then maybe Lauren, I can bring you in and we can look at this together if you want with a new racial equity lens. So I just wanted to offer that. Also the Cress Report addresses it and it came up in the listening sessions too. So and I hope hopefully it will come up when we do the community assessment. So that's great. So like these things I don't know, I'd love to get up to speed but I just wanted to offer that to the board. Thank you. Any questions? Okay, next flu. So I'm just putting flu in there because I don't want people to forget flu. Since September, we've had eight cases. So they came in a little cluster about three weeks ago. And, you know, it's respiratory season. We're all inside now.   So anyhow, I just wanted to let you know that I've started doing some flu shots at Craig's Doors. I went to the ILC and the University Motor Lodge and given some flu shots. And I'll be going to restaurants this week. And I get it, I want to say free from the state for uninsured or underinsured. So that's all I have to report on flu. And your COVID update. Now I think I may have a different agenda. Do you have tobacco handlers quiz there or no? I printed something else out. Oh, you had it in the other, I reprinted this one today. You had it in the other agenda. I was combining yours and mine so next time. Anyhow, I just want to let you know that I'm still working on the tobacco handlers quiz. And I think that's going to be a January project. I had a student working with me and she's unable to help me now, but we're going to dig into that. I think that's a really important thing. Thank you. So now talking about the COVID update. So I think people know that we've had a really substantial increase in our cases here in Amherst. Steve George provided the board with some data, but if you go to the state DPH website, there's that interactive map that's phenomenal. There's a lot of different resources for getting this information. I get our raw data from Maven, the Massachusetts virtual epidemiological network. Then I also check the CDC to see where we are with transmission. But I can tell you since yesterday, we have had 62 cases come in. In the last week, 185 cases have come in. These cases, if we take a peek, I don't know what percentages UMass students, staff and professors, but I'd say two thirds are. I can get better numbers for people, and I apologize for that. If you take a peek, you can see that most people are vaccinated. Also, just to let people know that the age group for Massachusetts, the highest case rate increases in the age between five and nine. So those are young kids getting sick. Hispanic race ethnicity is the highest. And if you look at clusters, it goes through households and through childcare. And I did some contact tracing last weekend, and it was almost to the day after Thanksgiving. It was Thanksgiving's day zero, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, fifth day, people get symptomatic tested on Thursday. So that was a lot transmission after the holidays. Now we might have some cases popping up with people leaving the area and getting tested before they travel. So they may not be symptomatic, but those PCRs stay around for a while. In Hampshire County, our percent positivity over the last two weeks is up 1.4%. In Hampton County, South of us, it's 5.7, and North of us, Franklin County is 4.1. So we're up, but less so. So I'd like to think maybe it's our vaccine rate of 93%. It's calculated at 93% for at least one dose and maybe our masking policies help towards that. Well, I think so because you all know I have this little cottage in Wolfboro, New Hampshire. They had to close the library because of COVID and they had to close one of the two grocery stores because of COVID last week. The grocery stores because of work there? Because too many people who worked there got sick. Worked there got sick. Yeah, they couldn't keep it open. And their positivity rate was 10. something two weeks ago. I think we're doing a good job here. I think we are too, but I'll tell you when you make those contact tracing calls you talk to people and I know we all know this but all those numbers, I've talked to those people that are sick, it's really tough stuff. So with that, the mask order is gonna stay in place. And I have asked Paul Backelman to keep the Zoom, the meetings in place. So the AG's extension of remote webinars like to extend at least to January and we'll see if it goes further. So January's meeting will be remote. Okay. Other COVID topics? We have our community COVID PCR testing with UMass. Thank you so much UMass, they're great partners. We go grab our test kits, our PCR, we bring them back. I think we're going through 500, 600 here at the Amherst Fangs community and the library per week. So very successful. So get your kit in before 9 a.m. you get your tests at 4 p.m. Typically 24 to 48 hours. So we're not doing testing now on Friday or the weekend and UMass is not going to be testing through the, December 25th to January 3rd just to let the community know that. COVID clinics continue. Thank you again, Steve George for the calculations that are, our vaccine rate for at least one dose is calculated to be 93%. I think we're still 60% in the schools. I don't want to say still because that's a high number for the students with the five through 11. We're doing clinics here at the Fang Center and then we'll be doing them to the 23rd off for one week and then we'll pick them back up January 4th. And thank you Amherst College for letting us use your ultra cold freezer where our Pfizer is stored. And the first week in January, like January 11th will be the first anniversary of doing vaccine clinics for a whole year. Oh boy. Yeah. Isn't that something? Because I think Steve and I volunteered at the first or the second one. And it was January 11th. Wow. One really well. We have great volunteers. We downstairs right now, we have the COVID ambassadors that are working. So we're happy to have them. And we have some paramedics from the Amherst fire department and they're still plugging away. I can see the count as a vaccinate going up. So that's my COVID update. Is the demand up for the vaccine? Is your sense? We are seeing some first dose, second dose that vaccine mandate has pushed some folks into accepting the vaccine and boosters. We're only offering Pfizer now. I think we're going to get Moderna afterwards. But we're filling up clinics. So the 62 cases we have right now. You said that they are fully vaccinated. Is that right, Jen? No, no, Tim, I looked. And out of. So that's 62 new cases from yesterday. And I didn't give you this number. There's 160 people in isolation now. So when I looked in Maven, it said 44 were not vaccinated. I don't know if that means that the data has not been entered. But that's what it says. Any other questions for Jen? Okay. So somehow the community health assessment. Plunked down. Jen and I. Met on zoom with faculty and the main coordinator is Amy. I don't, I think that's how you pronounce it. She is the director of internships. So we met with them two and a half weeks ago to talk about. Is this possible and what roles would people have? It's the end of the semester. So it's hard for them to work, but I got an email back from her. I sent an email the end of last week asking for an update. If she could be for our meeting. She's been talking with Eliza Johnson, who's the chair of the health and policy and practice. And Beth cook, who's the director of the MPH and epi program. Program. They're very interested and we're Jen's looking for stipend and they, they did report back to me that two faculty use the University of Kansas toolbox in their program evaluation and that was part of the tool that I use that when I put the assessment tool together. So that made me feel good. They are using it and we were using it. If we have faculty oversight, because I asked if we could have faculty oversight, it costs money. And we can find out exactly how much. I don't know if you opened it. Jen, but it's like 170. I don't know if that's one shot. If that's per hour. I couldn't quite tell from that chart of what it was. And then I thought, well, okay, can they give us a break because town gown. And treat us as if we're faculty and at the university and not a private corporation asking for help. And then I put forward that we could have another Zoom meeting with Amy to talk about it. That's we're moving forward. They want to partner with us with graduate students. Exactly how it's going. It is up in the air. I don't know if you have any other questions for us or Jen, do you want to hop in and say anything that you remember from the meeting? No, you know, I just, I remember sort of thinking how valuable this is going to be. If we can use them incredible, you know, I'd rather use them than, you know, a firm or somebody that we might hire. And whatever form it takes, I'm really sort of open to it. If it's, if it's a class for the one semester, if it's someone's dissertation, they're going to be great to work with and we can figure out what, what we need as it sort of unfolds. And I'm probably going to audit an epidemiology course because that's one of my weaknesses. And one of the faculty teaches one. And I asked her if I could audit it and she said yes. So I might be going back to school auditing so that I have better skills in this process because what we would do is put a team together. That the board. So I would represent the board and anybody else could write the board and we might have some other community members. It's all to be worked out, but we're waiting to find out what level graduate students and other students would be working on this. And then move forward to how we can get this started in January or February. So for grad students, if you can find some sort of a practicum or independent study possibilities, so we need some sort of a willing faculty to just to supervise them. And that will be the much cheapest option for us. And then the students get great for it. So it's not, you know, so I think that, you know, that is possible. The only thing is we need a willing faculty to just to supervise that, you know, the practicum of. Yes, we have willing faculty, but we have to pay them. That's what they're saying. I don't get paid for doing it. I don't know why someone should be paid for that. Because it's a part of the coursework. Right. Because they are all listed coursework in public health and other areas like independent study and practicums. And I know from nursing and I'm thinking the public health might be using this. A business model where. We're a nursing that kind of like drop students off and have employees of the agency or the hospital or whatever. Do all the teaching and whatnot. And then the faculty member sort of drifts in and drifts out. So I'm not sure. And we can meet and find out, but I got the center. We have to maybe pay this drifting faculty person. From that last email, but we can get. Clarification in another meeting. I think Jen, maybe you and I should just meet and. Then get back to, I just got this email from. Amy and I. And so. Okay. Yeah, I did mention it. To. To some folks here about getting maybe ARPA funds for payment. And they were open to that, but it just needs to be discussed further. We can maybe meet the beginning of next week and then get in touch with Amy. Okay. So that's all I have to update on. That. Then topics. Not anticipated by the chancellor. So. I have a couple of topics to bring up. One is. I emailed Liz. I kind of looked over our minutes of the past year. And. I sent an email to Liz. Why not to get an update on the tapestry van. And she said, she's beginning to go with the vans beginning to go regularly, regularly to Amherst. And they almost have their full compliment of necessary staff. And once they have all the staff, they'll be coming to Amherst. Every week. And then she's trying to schedule meetings in mid-December. With key stakeholders. Such as Craig's doors. She's been in contact with survival center, Elliott homeless services. To introduce people to the service and work with them on how the tapestry van can go to those sites to provide services. And so that's where the van is. I don't know if you know anything else, Jen. Yeah. I think this sort of ties into me thinking about the Amherst human service network and kind of kickstarting that again. I thought that was such a valuable network of people. I know how important they were during COVID getting supplies to people. So I'm trying to decide, figure out what's out there. And you know, I don't think this is a duplicate of services, but you know, what services do they offer? Is there anyone else doing it? I'd love to just find out more about everything in Amherst. So I'd like to speak to them. They used to be here, right? Wasn't there a tapestry? No, it's always been in North Hampton. I thought there was. There was one on pray street. There was an office. I didn't know that. 20 years ago or 17. Maybe not even that long ago. I don't know. I don't know. Everything's mixed. Yeah. I mean, I'm used to trying to refer students to tapestry for various services and. You know, they're little bits of time in different places around, around the valley at one point in time. They're great. I want to support them. And I'd love to meet with. I'd love to meet with them. I'd love to meet with them. I'd love to meet with them. Liz. Why not. And the other thing I wanted to bring up is now that the town council is changing. I don't know, Jen. If you ask Paul, or if we write a letter or contact Lynn. For our new liaison. Because George Ryan had been our liaison. And I'm unaware of his. During COVID. And I think it's important to have a liaison. Who will go back and tell the town council what we're doing. In the past, when Diane Stein was a liaison as a select person, she came to probably three quarters to maybe 90% of the meeting. And also with Connie. I can't remember her last name. She came to most of our meetings. I know it's on zoom. And I remember last winter, George came to a couple, but I'm unaware of him. Seeing him as a participant. Maybe he listens to the recording. Sometimes I don't think so, but really. So that the town council knows. What the board of health and the health department are doing. I think it's important to have a. More proactive liaison to get our. What's happening with us to the town. Town council. I don't know what other people think about that. You know, George is my neighbor. So we've, I've talked to him a few times, but you know, he, you're right. He has not been coming to the meetings very much. I don't think so. Yeah. I think after January one, just contact. They're assuming she'll be the chair. Of the council and. Remind them. A role. I can do that. Yeah. Okay. I think that the board has reached out to you. As our agent. To make sure we have a more. Proactive liaison. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't just new.  Newly. Because you're just not. Right. Yes. And then, uh, I should have brought this up when Ed was there. I read in the newspaper that there was a house condemned on Allen street. It was a fraternity party. Do you know anything about, and I, I missed my golden opportunity when it was here to ask him about it. I saw it in the newspaper to. It was sort of an offshoot fraternity party. And that's all I have for topic. It's not anticipated. And public comment. I don't know if there are any participants who. There are, but no hands are raised. No hands are raised. Okay. There we go. Our next board of health meeting is the second of. The second Thursday of the month, which is January 13th. And that we always meet on the second Thursday, unless it's a national holiday. And anything else before we adjourn. I want to make a quick question. This is not a topic is not anticipated. I know the winter cold weather coming up. I'm just curious how our resources for handling. Homeless and other shelters. Needs and I'm just wondering if we usually keep in touch with that. So are you referring to, you know, I'm, I'm speaking with Bob Horowitz who's the physician with Craig stores. I'm not sure if I'm going to communicate maybe twice a week. So I'm going back for COVID and flu shots next Thursday. So, you know, I'm aware of what's going on there, the number of folks there and at the UML there was something, and I'm sorry I didn't bring this. I don't know, but they're looking to have a warming. Center at the VFW. I think they're still looking at if it's. I'm sorry, standards. But I'm not sure if I'm answering your question. No, I'm just asking for general needs that we could help help them. You know, in terms of there is a critical resource need or space needs or even any type of a specific things we could do to help them out and especially during this time. Yeah, I mean, that's a great question.  They're so supportive of our whole community. I could also call either Kevin Noonan or Jerry Weiss. I know I've been going through clothes and washing coats and getting boots and cleaning them all up and bringing them to the resource trailer and women's clothes to the university lodge. And I put them in bags with what it is and the size of it. And they've been very receptive to that. Last year I bought gift cards for everybody there. This year I'm not going to do that. But I can, I can also contact them and ask them if there's anything that we as a board can do. I know the beginning of the week I was in Holyoke and there was this person with a sign and I handed them a dollar. And then I said, do you know about, I said, do you have a place that's warm to stay? And he said, well, I have a tent. And I said, do you know about Craig's doors? And he said, no. So I drove around, wrote all the information on the piece of paper in the, in my car and I handed it to him and my husband said, I was a sucker. I gave him five dollars and take a bus to Amherst to get to Craig's doors. But I saw him, he was reading all of it and he said, thank you. He didn't know about Craig's doors. So, I don't know. And I walk around town with hand warmers and toe warmers and, and hand them out and ask people. Oh, yeah. I don't know. And I said, it's really close cold and I asked them and sometimes I have granola bars and asked them if they have a warm place to stay. And then my husband says, well, what are you going to do if they say no. I'll say, well, go to Craig's doors and he's, well, what if they say I won't go there? And I said, I don't know. I'm just doing the best I can. So, but that's a good idea, Tim, and I'll contact Kevin and Jerry Weiss. Okay. Yeah. If I could just add. Again, trying to gather information just like all of us. You Jennifer. As well. Is there, is there as the board of health is there like as we do the public health assessment. Is there like a particular clinic that we work with or. I know personally I go. To the Masante clinic that's in. The senior center in the banks center. And like, to just kind of get a. A more like just understanding, I guess, of what. The town is going. What's going on in the town health wise. Like, is there. Like if we're concerned about the homeless or concerned about people getting access to. Health care is there like. Like a way that we can connect with like these health clinics that can give us some understanding of, you know, it has COVID impacted people going to seek care or, you know, because I think for me, that's really where. You know, things are important for me is that, you know, we have social circumstances like food access or homelessness, but that can impact someone's house. But, but do we know like how to make that connection to like.  And I know we're putting the zero waste thing on hold, but if, if, is there a way like when we have the, the pilot program, is there a way to like work with one area of Amherst, like maybe North Amherst or South Amherst, like I, I know I seem to like kind of go off on a tangent, but I just, I feel like I haven't seen the, the data. And I know that the health assessment is like something that's in the works, but I just don't know where are these, where are these places that we can actually get like the actual like information to know that people are accessing health care or acts or not accessing. I don't know if that made sense, but. Lauren, your heart is in the best place ever. Part of this will get the data from the community assessment also Jeff Harness from Cooley Dickinson hospital because of the Affordable Care Act. Cooley Dickinson has to do every five years a big community health assessment, but it's very broad and it just tells us a lot of what we already know it doesn't go down. And with the health assessment that we're doing would be doing it by census tracks in small geographic areas. So like we would look at South Point, but we would also look at the census track that South Point is in. And I think there's, I can't remember off the top of my head. There's seven, seven census tracks in Amherst. So we would be doing small group analysis in the town and then bringing that all together. But as you said me, Santy is a big issue. And there was a problem. I think they don't have the person who helps with insurance. It came out at the listening session. There were big gaps during the pandemic. And I don't know if they've pulled anything more together. It's a tremendous resource. But COVID really made everything very difficult for providers. Do you have any more comments? Quick question. I know that there is an infrastructure bill which usually is going to pump a huge amount of money into the state. I'm just curious if you are prepared for some sort of a proposal or anything. Keep it ready because I think they might be looking for shovel ready projects. There's going to be a huge amount of money coming in. I'm just curious because we had a proposal last year or the year before. So it would be good to actually keep something ready. This is for Jen's idea. I'd love to have a big infusion of money. I'm ready. Okay. Well, thank you, everybody. Any more comments before we have a motion to close and I want to wish everybody a thank you for all the work you've done during this past year. It was very difficult. Whatever holiday you may celebrate, may you have a wonderful holiday. So may have a motion to close the meeting. Move that. Okay, Steve has a motion to close. I second it. Thank you, Tim. Tim. Hi. Maureen. Hi. Lauren. Hi. Steve. Hi. Nancy I. And thank you, Jen, for all your work. Thank you. Get in contact for meeting next week about the assessment. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all so much for all the work you've done this past year. It's been a real difficult year. And I really thank everybody for all they've done. So thank you very much. Okay. Happy holidays. Bye. All right. I'm going to stop recording.


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