Watching water trickle through soil layers might not be a glamorous job, but it’s an important one. Good planning and comprehensive municipal oversight can mean the difference between zoning success and an engineering disaster. But not just anyone has the know-how to read the landscape and understand engineering designs. Hiring someone who’s qualified and experienced enough to oversee such tasks as perc tests takes a lot of money — a commodity that’s in short supply in most of Franklin County’s small towns.
The Franklin Regional Council of Governments’ Cooperative Public Health Service, a regional health district, provides an answer to this challenge by combining resources like health agents.
The contributing towns pay less; everyone benefits.
According to FRCOG’s Director of Community Services Phoebe Walker, towns that are part of the health district have access to a regional public health nurse and health agents, which deal with inspecting restaurants, septic systems and more. Housing and community sanitation concerns can also be addressed through the district. Notably, Bernardston joined the district last month.
To accommodate the district’s needs, the Greenfield-based council of governments recently announced a new health agent, Lisa Danek Burke, an experienced engineer who has worked locally as a part-time health agent in Rowe for decades, who will work for 22.5 hours per week. Danek Burke graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and has more than 20 years of experience in engineering design, like designing septic systems, with agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation.
Her first day was Nov. 6, but it has been fast-paced from the start.
“There’s plenty of work to do,” Danek Burke said. “I haven’t even had much of a chance to think about being busy because I’ve been really busy off the bat.”
For duties like overseeing perc tests, Danek Burke’s experience both as an engineer and as a public health agent is extremely valuable, Walker said.
“She’s been on both sides of that interaction,” Walker said. “When an engineer proposes something, she will know if that really is the best fix for that situation.”
Going forward, Danek Burke says she is interested in other environmental challenges that FRCOG is tackling and how that may impact public health — even if it’s not that glamorous.
The new role is necessary, according to Phoebe Walker, director of community services at FRCOG, “for the boards of health to exercise their mandated duties — which are, essentially, to protect the public health of the residents of their towns. They are the feet-on-the-ground for the (local) boards of health.”
Time and time again, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments has proven its merit. One small town in rural Franklin County might not have the means to entice an experienced professional such as Danek Burke.
A coalition of towns can.