Board targets dilapidated property

Long a matter of interest to the Board of Health, the Kilpi family home at 15 Pond Road has been the subject of complaints that began well before the death of Margaret Kilpi. The Board of Health has contacted family members, who do not live in the area, to determine who is responsible for the cleanup of the yard’s contents, including an old sailboat, a moldering vintage truck, and cars under wraps.

Board members have lost their patience after being told by a family member that the weather has delayed their plans to clean up the property.

Ira Grossman, Nashoba Boards of Health sanitarian, told the board at its June 23 meeting to alert Town Administrator Tim Bragan if nothing was done over the following weekend. He recommended that the board make a formal request to Bragan for the Department of Public Works to clean the yard.

“Who pays?” asked member Jack Spero. No one knew the answer. “What about trespassing?” asked member Lorin Johnson. Chairman Tom Philippou answered that “The town can figure it out.”

Assistant working off the clock

Clerical Assistant Shanna Large reported that, as of the week of June 22, she had already worked the number of hours allowed by the town in June. Large’s hours were cut back from nine to four-and-a-half hours per week for the month of June.

Placing a stack of files on the Town Hall meeting room table, she said, “I have a list of things I haven’t gotten to.” Large also said that occasionally she works “off the clock.”

“If you’ve put in any hours beyond what you’ve been paid for,” said Philippou, “I need to let the town know so you can be paid.”

Board urges selectmen to fund H1N1 readiness

Board members signed a letter on June 23 to the Board of Selectmen citing “the recent extraordinary and unforeseeable events surrounding the expected H1N1 [swine flu] pandemic.” The letter requests funding for an additional six hours per week for Large “to ensure our town’s continued readiness for such a crisis.”

On June 10 the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the pandemic threat to phase 6, its highest alert level, and the first in 41 years. A pandemic is defined as an epidemic, or sudden outbreak, that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, continent, or the world. WHO describes H1N1 as a global pandemic.

“[T]he Board has expended countless hours developing and refining contingency plans,” the board’s letter says. “We expect this need will be self-limiting and will return to our more usual staffing level [of nine hours per week] as conditions dictate.”

The board is particularly concerned about the type of swine flu that may begin to emerge in the fall, which it expects to be more dangerous.

“The real concern is that a mutation will hit, which makes the strain more virulent and resistant [to drugs],” said Chairman Tom Philippou, who is a pharmacist. “Mutations are fairly common, and the wrong combination could make this a super-bug.”

Philippou is planning to distribute information to residents and to “tie in with emergency dispensing at the [Bromfield] school,” he said.

Johnson wants to hold meetings with both fire and police chiefs to discuss the possibility of a pandemic affecting Harvard “and to get the community organized.”

Large said she doesn’t work enough hours to handle the additional responsibilities that readiness for a pandemic would require. “I have labels and no time to do the mailings,” she said.

No interest in chairmanship

The three board members bantered among themselves briefly about choosing a new chairman; however, none of the them expressed interest in the position. They decided to take up the matter at the next meeting on July 14.

Water Commission liaison named

Water Commissioner Curtis Howes contacted Spero to ask to have a liaison named to the commission. Spero was promptly “volunteered” by the other two members. He accepted.

Jurisdiction over noise limits in question

Resident Deborah Skauen-Hinchliffe complained about late-night music at Fruitlands Museum.

Spero brought up the subject of noise limits in town, and asked what the board could do. Philippou said the board should investigate if it can craft noise regulations, but pointed out that there are “jurisdictional difficulties.”

—Kathy Bunnell