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Lauren Saunders, finalist for Gardner City public health director, prioritizes hoarding task force and landfill fixes
Summary
In a final-round interview, finalist Lauren Saunders told Gardner City interviewers she would spend her first months restoring department licenses and compliance, pursue a multi-agency hoarding task force, and seek permanent fixes to landfill erosion and pump problems. The panel moved into executive session to decide.
Lauren Saunders, a finalist for Gardner City’s public health director position, told interviewers she would immediately work to restore licenses and bring the department up to speed, while prioritizing a hoarding task force and permanent solutions to ongoing landfill erosion and pump failures.
Saunders, who previously served in the city’s health department, said she left the job three years ago for financial reasons but has since reprioritized and returned to apply. "I feel like this is where I'm supposed to be," she said, adding that her first quarter would be spent "tackle everything, get everything back up and running" including completing continuing education requirements and reviewing a changed budget.
Her priorities, she told the panel, include confronting long-standing operational problems at the city landfill — citing spots of erosion and a pond that need a permanent solution — and getting replacement pumps fully operational. She also described plans to build a multi-agency hoarding task force that would bring together mental-health and social-service providers, building and fire departments, the council on aging and animal control to coordinate help for vulnerable residents.
"When it gets brought to light, they need a lot of help," Saunders said of people who hoard. She proposed beefing up the department’s list of social-service and mental-health partners so staff can connect residents with services during visits.
Saunders detailed past work in the department, including leading operations early in the COVID-19 pandemic and organizing vaccine and testing clinics. She highlighted regulatory work — revising local rules for tattooing and microblading and advancing litter regulations — and said she helped hire a prevention coordinator who now does community outreach.
On staffing and operations she emphasized standard operating procedures and staff retention. "I'm a big team person," she said, describing morning check-ins or regular briefings as tools to keep staff aligned and supported. She also said she has remained engaged with local partners while away, citing ongoing involvement with GCAT (Gardner Community Action Team) and regular contacts in public works.
When asked why the panel should choose her, Saunders cited her prior experience as assistant director and director, her budget and grant-writing experience and what she called strong people skills and de-escalation abilities from years of frontline work.
The interview concluded with the panel planning to adjourn into executive session to discuss the candidates. The moderator told Saunders the panel hoped to reach a decision quickly and would follow up with human resources; the transcript records a motion to adjourn to executive session and a call for a voice vote but does not record the vote result.
