Board of Health Meeting
Board will receive a Public Health Excellence (PHE) grant update and discuss public-health events and communications, including the Lake Gardner Festival (May 31, 2025), a preliminary IED discussion, and syndicated CDC health information.
The Board received staff updates from the local health agent, the newly hired regional health inspector, regional public health nursing staff, and grant administrators. Reports covered routine inspection activity (septic, restaurants, pools), abandoned-property investigations, onboarding and MAVEN reporting work, and public-health outreach planning (Lake Gardner Day, tick/insect-safety items, CPR certification). Grant administrators reported that Amesbury’s total PHE grant award is $486,497.32 (through Fiscal Year 2027) and described recent purchases and hires funded by the grant, including inspection-support software, branding and credentialing investments, and development of a PHE website.
The Board discussed the impending expiration of the RatTrap contract (June 2025); members emphasized a preference for humane, environmentally safe pest-control methods and noted that demand for traps has declined since COVID. The Board directed staff to investigate local pest-control vendors and asked the regional inspector to survey other PHE-participating communities about their needs. The City Council voted to reorganize the Health Department into a Department of Public Wellness to consolidate public-health staff and move certain grant-funded programs; the Board also voted unanimously to approve a budget for summer public-health education events at Lake Gardner and for Kids Day in the Park, and accepted the 2025 meeting calendar. No public comments or contested items are recorded in the minutes.