Lawrence staff reported Sept. 9 that the shared-services public-health grant with Methuen will provide substantial multi-year funding for joint public-health activities, staffing and training. The grant is structured as a three‑year contract with approximately $584,000 allocated in the current fiscal year and projected funds that together could exceed $2 million across the participating cities.

Staff said the grant will support a shared-services coordinator, two inspectors (one from each community), a half-time epidemiologist shared between the cities, and a prorated health agent for nine months. The grant also covers consultant services, health education, inspection supplies, software licenses, training fees and travel, and administrative support. The meeting record lists new hires funded by the grant: coordinator Jenny Otero, epidemiologist Allison (last name not specified in the transcript), and inspectors Vanessa Santillan and Carlo Frias.

Meeting notes described performance standards (disease prevention, community education and training), bilingual materials and outreach, and use of the community resource center at 1 Broadway. Staff discussed mosquito and tick‑borne disease monitoring (West Nile season) and consultant-pay limitations that make recruitment for some specialist consultant roles difficult. Octavian Spanner from the mayor’s office and Jordan Normandia from Methuen were named as co-chairs of the grant steering committee, and staff said the next shared-services meeting is scheduled for Dec. 10.

Board members supported continued reporting and outreach: staff will produce monthly reports, quarterly governing-body sessions, newsletters and an annual report; performance and training records will be maintained showing attendees, dates and locations. Staff also suggested using the grant to support restaurant plan review consultants and other targeted training to improve inspections and public-health capacity.