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Town hears regional public-health briefing; agent offers outreach on nuisance manure storage
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Summary
The board hosted Ryan Paxton, the new regional public-health director, who described shared-public-health staffing funded by a state grant and recommended outreach — not immediate enforcement — to a farm storing manure that neighbors say is causing flies and runoff concerns.
The Select Board heard a presentation from the Eastern Hampden shared public-health director, Ryan Paxton, who described operations, grant funding, and options for handling a resident complaint about an adjacent farm’s manure storage.
Paxton said the shared-services arrangement is supported by a state Public Health Excellence grant that supplies roughly $393,000 a year to fund staff across four towns; within that grant the town’s share covers about 20% of his position and fully funds a health inspector and a public-health nurse who serve the participating towns. He explained how Maven, the state’s electronic disease-reporting system, feeds workload and case follow-up.
On a separate public concern, residents reported flies and possible stormwater impacts from a large manure pile. Paxton recommended initial outreach to the property owner and building the town’s observational inspection record before considering enforcement. He noted Massachusetts nuisance law gives boards of health broad authority but contains a carve-out for customary manure spreading, and said legal counsel might be needed to determine whether the situation fits a nuisance enforcement pathway.
Paxton offered to contact the property owner with the town’s representatives and said early cooperative engagement is often the most effective first step. The board agreed that staff should pursue outreach and gather inspection-level observations before escalating to formal enforcement.
