Open Meeting Violation or a Total Fabricated Lie
These are supposedly the Massachusetts towns currently mandating face coverings in public places: Bellingham, Belmont, Billerica, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Chicopee, Essex, Everett, Falmouth, Framingham, Lawrence, Lynn, Medford, Needham, Northampton, North Reading, Peabody, Plymouth, Providence, Reading, Salem, Somerville, Sudbury, Uxbridge, Wakefield, Waltham, Winthrop, and Yarmouth.
The City of Arlington is waiting for their city’s Board of Health to vote on a regulation or accepting the measure, which most likely meets during the week of May 4, 2020.
Ninety-five (95%) of the above cities and towns had their Board of Health meet and vote on such measures, or had regulations that allowed their town/city leader to place an order mandating the use of facial mask, or any rule that would allow the protection of the population’s health and safety.
Upon Rumbo receiving the City of Lawrence’s two page Mayor executive order, we immediately knew something was erroneous and possibly dishonest. On the executive order, which was sent by the Mayor’s Office, Mayor Rivera states that the Board of Health and he agreed on a mandatory facial mask.
I became suspicious because the Executive Order from the Board of Health (BOH) was printed on the mayor’s letterhead, not theirs, and it was not signed by the mayor or the members. If they had met, there was no record of it. The Board of Health has not met during April or May (as of May 1) to take a vote on such order.
First, the Mayor can’t implement an executive order on its residents (executive orders are only for its employees). Second, the BOH never met to take a vote, so basically, he lied. But if the BOH met, then they violated the Open Law Meeting because a posted notice is required 48 hours prior to any meeting taking place. We found no notice, no meeting that took place, and no conversation that has taken place with members of the board.
I made a few calls to make sure I was correct and Mike Armano, director of Inspectional Services called me back. He explained that they had not had a meeting, not even a videoconference in which the public could participate, but on the telephone, it was agreed that the mayor should act as their agent. Since Mayor Rivera cited Massachusetts General Laws pertaining to board of health issues, I decided to check it out.
MGL 111, Section 30 states “Boards of health may appoint agents or directors of public health to act for them in cases of emergency or if they cannot conveniently assemble, and any such agent or director shall have all the authority which the board appointing him had, but he shall in each case within two days report his action to the board for its approval, and shall be directly responsible to it and under its direction and control.”
We have found no evidence that the Board of Health has appointed Mayor Rivera to act for them. The BOH is able to meet in the manner that the governor has allowed through teleconference and as other boards, committees, commissions, and councils have met. Even if the BOH wanted to appoint someone else to act on their behalf, these laws do not give Mayor Rivera that task as an agent.
Additionally, in the first paragraph of the executive order were listed a few general laws and regulations of Massachusetts. Those listed laws and regulations looked pretty intimidating and for the most part, they do allow towns and cities some liberty to protect its residents. However, there is so much that the laws stated versus what the city is saying will be implemented.
On the city’s executive order it has listed MGL 111, Section 104. Basically, this portion on the listed law says “board of health shall use all possible care to prevent the spread of the infection and may give public notice of infected places by such means as in their judgment may be most effectual for the common safety” and that “Whoever obstructs the selectmen, board of health or its agent in using such means, or whoever wilfully (sic) and without authority removes, obliterates, defaces or handles such public notices which have been posted, shall forfeit not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.”
So that $300 fine that Mayor Rivera placed is incorrect. Also, if one gets fined (by the masks police), 310 CMR 11.05 states, “He shall be granted a hearing as soon as possible. The procedures for such hearing shall otherwise conform with the hearing requirements which would have existed had the order been issued under non-emergency circumstances.” Let me state for those of you that do not know. The City of Lawrence has yet to hire a traffic violation hearing officer. What’s to say they have a facial mask hearing officer? I’ll bet 50 to 1 that the city had no hearing officer on the date that Mayor Rivera released the bogus executive order.
Please don’t get me wrong. Maybe a mandatory facial mask may be Mayor Rivera’s only opportunity to reduce the positive COVID-19 cases in Lawrence because everything he has done until this point has not worked. Lawrence is in 5th place (of all Massachusetts cities and towns) in COVID-19 positive rates. That means that for every 100,000, there are 1,7,47 people positive.
Mandatory facial mask so late in the game is like taking birth control after you been pregnant for 5 months. Maybe that is a bad analogy for me to make to you, but you do get the point. One thing that Mayor Rivera should have done is allow all of his essential employees to be covered under the President’s CARES Act. By making almost the city’s entire workforce exempt, he has basically told his employees that the city is not paying for their salaries if they or their family member falls ill with COVID-19.
In the meantime, most of his unions are upset that he has allowed paying more than $58 to hire nurses when he has not had a solid contract with his own unions or is not paying hazard duty pay. He knows what hazardous duty pay is – he was in the Army. They pay hazardous duty pay when soldiers and sailors go into combat. Is this not combat? That’s why he’s paying the Homeless Initiatives Coordinator Sandy Guerrier, an additional $25,000. President Trump surely calls this a war.
…and now Mayor Rivera will be part of a team to report to Governor Baker on the re-opening of the economy. Well, I hope he uses a facial mask and makes recommendations on how to stand six feet apart in some of these bodegas that with three people will be filled to capacity. Still, your Economic Development Director (that’s missing) has not funded for businesses that are again at a loss of business. Did he not learn anything from the gas explosions? Yes, he learned to ask the state for money while never creating some sort of savings for that kind of economic disaster.
Just wait for the news that the money that was going to be used for street repairs (from Columbia Gas) will be used to pay for the Hotel and Esha House homeless projects, a project that was essentially pulled out from under the rug from the Psychological Center.
Then, this morning, Governor Baker issued a new policy has ordered all residents over the age of two to use a face covering or mask in public places where maintaining proper social distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are not possible. This statewide order goes into effect on May 6th with a potential $300 fine but he is leaving the enforcement up to the individual cities.
Future changes
We have to wonder how different the culture of this country will be once the pandemic is over, however long it takes. Businesses had to adapt rapidly to new ways of doing things and employees experienced something new as well. Working from home turned out to be a nightmare for some while other found ways to manage the household and children.
The most noticeable change for hospitals is that families are no longer using the emergency room for any ailment, fever, stomach pain, etc. This is very expensive (whether you have insurance or Medicaid) and doctors always recommend going to a primary care doctor, instead.
The new way of communication via Skype, Zoom or GoToMeeting, was so practical that I’m sure it will become common. It has been funny watching television programs (including the news) with the hosts reporting from home. Today’s technology is allowing us to be more creative and productive.
I welcome these changes but after 5 weeks with no visits and going nowhere, I’m ready to try again the old ways.
Social distancing
Don’t you think that “physical distancing” is more appropriate? We continue to be social with everyone by telephone or video; it’s only the physical aspect that has been restricted – 6 feet.
So let’s keep the physical distance until this whole period goes away.
