Select Board dub comfort dog program a howling success – Woburn Daily Times

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Updated: September 1, 2022 @ 8:32 am
DOG DAYS – Comfort dogs Cooper and Rusty, two of the newest members of the Reading Police Force, were introduced to the Select Board Tuesday night as part of a department update to the board. Front left to right, Comfort Dog Rusty with Officer Matt Vatcher, Officer Brian Lewis with Comfort Dog Cooper. Back left to right: Chris Haley, Karen Herrick, Fidel Maltez, Jackie McCarthy, and Chief David Clark.

DOG DAYS – Comfort dogs Cooper and Rusty, two of the newest members of the Reading Police Force, were introduced to the Select Board Tuesday night as part of a department update to the board. Front left to right, Comfort Dog Rusty with Officer Matt Vatcher, Officer Brian Lewis with Comfort Dog Cooper. Back left to right: Chris Haley, Karen Herrick, Fidel Maltez, Jackie McCarthy, and Chief David Clark.
READING – With all due respect to the Select Board, it was a ruff night in Town Hall.
Cooper and Rusty, two of the newest members of the Reading Police Force, were introduced to the board Tuesday night as part of a department update to the board. For the record, each is an officially trained comfort dog with Cooper a black Labrador and Rusty a tan Lab. The two were joined by School Resource Officers Brian Lewis (with Cooper) and Matt Vatcher (with Rusty).
On a night in which the board honored Sally Hoyt, praised the Town Manager, and had a spirited discussion on banning those plastic containers we all get for leftovers at town restaurants, the three-hour meeting belonged to the dogs.
“It’s been an enormous success,” said Chief David Clark of his four-legged hires. “It’s done exactly what we wanted it to do school wise. We probably have two of the best school resource officers in the Commonwealth anyway. They’ve done a tremendous job of breaking down barriers, interacting with students and working with staff. The comfort dogs have just brought it to a whole other level.”
Cooper and Rusty spend most of their time in Reading Schools but have also visited the Senior Center and assisted living facilities in Reading. When the Pearl Street center had to be evacuated in June when a pipe burst, Cooper and Rusty were there to lend a paw.
“The seniors, while waiting to be evacuated, got to play with the dogs, pet them, and it calmed everybody down,” said Clark. “That’s exactly what we were hoping to do. The program is working exactly as we wanted.”
Cooper and Rusty arrived in early spring and came from the comfort dog program for Boonefield Labs in Rindge, N.H. Cooper and Rusty have company in the department. The third dog “employed” by Reading is Tango and when finished with training, Tango will assist police in search and rescue missions.
Not all the police news was dog-related. The Reading Police Department is budgeted for 46 sworn officers, 11 public safety, three administrative staff, three Coalition staff, and one parking enforcement officer. Currently, there are three open police officer positions and two open public safety dispatcher positions.
There were more numbers during the presentation, most of which give a glimpse into some of the issues Reading residents have had during the past year. As of last week, in the past 365 days in Reading there were:
• Mental Health related calls: 312
• Suicides/attempts/threats: 37
• Domestic disputes: 65
• Domestic assistance: 142
• Overdoses: 12
• Arrests/Summons: 185
• Motor vehicle crashes: 282
• Section 12 filed (emergency restraint and hospitalization of persons posing risk of serious harm by reason of mental illness): 33
• Missing persons: 20
• Suspicious vehicles/people: 318
Looking ahead, residents will soon see more officers on two wheels with the return of the motorcycle unit and the Mountain Bike Unit, which will have six bikes. As for four-wheeled travel, two hybrid cruisers will be on the road this fall and the Coalition received a $50,000 earmark to purchase an electric car.
The most impressive part of the presentation may have been the level of community outreach the department has done. From the Honor Guard Unit, to the department’s longest running program, the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) training, police are seemingly everywhere, and not just when you’re driving a little too fast. They’re in the schools (Lunchroom Take Over and High Five Days), on the streets (Bicycle Helmet Citations) and at your favorite morning café (Coffee with a Cop).
Looking ahead, the next Coffee with a Cop is Oct. 20, the Citizen’s Police Academy runs from Sept. 13 to November and still has openings, and the next RAD program is Sept. 19.
And with the Police Chief in the room, there was one last question to answer. When are the traffic lights on Main Street next to Cal’s Creamery going to start working?
The answer? Not even the chief knows. As you may recall from the Road Diet days, Main Street is a state highway and the town doesn’t control those lights. When Clark asked the state, he was told, “not yet, not sure, we’ll let you know.”
With the dogs gone, the board also paid tribute to a former Select Board member who just celebrated a milestone birthday. Sally Hoyt turned 100 less than two weeks ago and her contributions to the town were recognized in an event Aug. 18 at the Senior Center. The Select Board added one more honor Tuesday with their resolution that ended with:
“Sally Hoyt is and always will remain an integral part of the Reading community, and created a legacy of positive change and tenacity. Now, therefore, be it resolved, that we, the Reading Select Board, joins with Sally Hoyt, her family, and the Town of Reading in wishing her a happy 100th Birthday.”
The board heard a proposal from the Climate Advisory Committee to eliminate the use of polystyrene food service items by the town’s food establishments. You might assume the push for a clean environment would be met with applause but CAC chair David Zeek got pushback from two members of the board who felt it would hurt the town’s small businesses.
The proposed bylaw change/regulation:
“Food establishments within the Town shall be prohibited from using or distributing disposable food service containers made from foam polystyrene or rigid polystyrene, or polystyrene cutlery or other polystyrene single-use disposable products.”
Polystyrene comes in two forms as described by the CAC. The rigid form is used for clear food containers, plates, bowls, beverage cups and lids, utensils, and straws. The foam form (including Styrofoam) is used for plates, and insulated beverage cups among other things.
According to the CAC presentation, “Polystyrene is based on styrene, a neurotoxin and probable carcinogen. Polystyrene is the only plastic used in food packaging that is based on a carcinogen. Polystyrene resin usually contains a small percentage of residual styrene. Styrene leaching increases with temperature and with certain foods (alcohol, oils or fat).”
Polystyrene harms wildlife, is not biodegradable, and is almost never recycled. MassGreen.org lists 47 cities and towns in the state that already have polystyrene regulations.
Despite that evidence, there was significant resistance to the CAC bylaw.
“The way this stands now, I am whole heartedly against it,” said Chris Haley, who thought it was wrong to ban Styrofoam use by area restaurants while Stop & Shop was allowed to use it to package hamburger and other meats. “It should either be an all-out ban or nothing.”
Haley was joined by Carlo Bacci in protesting the idea, saying it was a bad time to bring the idea up.
“Everything that we touch in our establishment has gone up,” said Bacci of his own business. “Five percent, 10 percent, 20 percent, 50 percent. And of all those items, packaging is the biggest problem as far as cost … If this was in front of us now to vote on, or at town meeting, I would vote no 100 percent. Very bad timing for this.”
Zeek and the CAC will investigate the costs of their proposal and speak with business owners before reporting back to the board.
With the departure of Town Treasurer Endri Kume, the Select Board approved by a 4-0 vote (chair Mark Dockser was absent) the hire of a new treasurer, Diane Morabito. Most recently, Morabito was self-employed as an accountant. She’ll be paid $99,625 a year and is scheduled to start Sept. 6.
At the six-month mark of Town Manager Fidel Maltez hire, the board had nothing but positives to say of his work to date.
“You’ve been listening to us, you’ve been listening to the community,” said Karen Herrick, taking over as chair in Dockser’s absence. “There is a non-stop flow of communication from Fidel. I’m very happy at this check-in point.”
Other board members agreed.
“You and Dr. [Tom] Milaschewski are exactly what Reading needs right now,” said Haley of Maltez and the school superintendent.
The board approved the appointment of four new volunteers. Sally Hilgendorff (Board of Cemetery Trustees), William Hughes (Town Forest Committee), Annemieke Rice (Cultural Council) and Walter Talbot (Climate Advisory Committee) were approved with a 4-0 vote.
Human Resources Director Sean Donahue appeared via Zoom to discuss the changes to the town personnel policies, the first since 2009. Many of the changes were related to changes in the laws since the last revision. The board will hold a public hearing on the changes at their next meeting Sept. 13.
Also at the Sept. 13 meeting will be Reading’s state legislators, Brad Jones, Jason Lewis, and Rich Haggerty.
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