Health Board Votes for Interboard Code of Conduct

Board of Health · Meeting of August 4, 2026

SOUTHWICK — The Southwick Board of Health voted 2-0 to request a townwide code of conduct after a staff email rattled its chair. Chair Tricia Boniag said an email from the chief administrative officer's office, sent after she sought more input on a battery storage project, told her "bless your heart... before I start wielding Mass General Law at staff like a whip." Member Terry Putnam agreed the message was not collaborative and joined her in approving the request to the Select Board. Separately, the Health Director reported spending $261,000 of the district's $300,000 Public Health Excellence Grant and said a Southwick restaurant with repeat chicken-handling violations could face another closure, having already been shut twice since November for a combined six days.

The board also weighed raising its tobacco permit fee from $175 toward the $300 to $500 charged elsewhere and tightening rules on unpermitted mobile food trucks after at least two recent complaints.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,729 words

Source: the Board of Health meeting of August 4, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.