Norwood Hospital needs one more final push

The Norwood Board of Selectmen met on Tuesday evening at the Town Hall and got an update from Town Manager on the Norwood Hospital.

The short version is that he is encouraging all residents who have not yet signed the hospital petition to do so – https://gvimes.link/hospetition

Mazzucco said since the Massachusetts House of Representatives recently passed the state’s eminent domain bill to take the hospital from its current owner, Medical Properties Trust (MPT), it’s now up to the Massachusetts State Senate.

The idea for the taking is to get the hospital in the hands of another, nonprofit healthcare entity, as MPT is a financial holdings company and has shown mild interest in finding an operator to bring the hospital back online.

So Mazzucco said the best thing to do right now is push the senate to take a vote on the bill so that it can get to Gov. Healey’s office before July 31, when all the legislation would have to be refiled.

“We need folks to contact (Massachusetts Senate President) Karen Spilka’s office – positive and encouraging messages, of course – but that’s where our efforts need to be,” he said. “Call, email, or write, and do it every single day, not just once. That’s so the senate president knows just how widespread support there is. If you operate a business in the community, a nonprofit, a church, whatever it is, you should send in letters in as well. Send them in every day.”

A refile would be a problem, Mazzucco said, and while the Town is pursuing its own eminent domain path to take the hospital, Mazzucco said in the past that the state taking would be the preferred option.

Mazzucco also advocated that anyone who has friends or family in her district should reach out and ask them to also send correspondence to Spilka’s office as well. In fact, any State Senator you can think of should be hearing from you on the hospital.

“I think we need to call every senator in the state and just blow up their phone lines,” said Selectman Michael Saad.

“This is an issue that’s bigger than Norwood, it’s bigger than our region and it affects the entire Commonwealth,” Mazzucco said. “Do we allow the pillaging of our healthcare to continue, or do we stand up as a state and say ‘No.’”

Also at the meeting, the Board met with Norwood Recreation Department Director Sam White and mostly discussed the ongoing issues at Hawes Pool.

The new pool, which came online last year, has had some wintering problems. White said that two pumps failed. The first was the pump room’s sump pump, which was supposed to be keeping groundwater out of the pit. He said the outflow pipe probably froze and broke, which led to water recirculating back into the pit, which led to the sump pump shorting out.

This led to the pool pump being submerged and needing to be replaced. The problem is that they were unable to find a particular, necessary piece for that new pump system until last week. White said that the pump is working great – however they ran into the very problems the pump was supposed to take care of in the off season.

“We had so much algae and pollen buildup just from the pump not running that we’re in the process of clearing that out,” he said. “Obviously it’s not ideal, and we’ve been on it every single day. We’ve been getting closer and closer, and we anticipate an opening tomorrow.”

Selectman Bob Donnelly asked about possible compensation from the contractor who installed these systems. Mazzucco and White said they are looking into it, as well as installing several systems to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Those measures include checking on the pump room twice a month during the winter months, putting in sensors on the pumps themselves, and putting a wire heater around the sump pump outflow to prevent any similar incidents.

“Personally, I’d like to never speak to the contractor or the designer ever again,” said Mazzucco. “But we’re working with Town Counsel to make sure they fulfill any obligations they have with the warranties of their work.”

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Lastly, the Board heard from members that the committees, originally chartered earlier this spring – https://gvimes.link/cmmtts – are forming up. Selectmen Chair Matt Lane said the Cofsky Committee, set up as a way for residents to figure out the highest and best possible use for the properties Town Meeting voted to purchase this spring in the Cofksy Farm purchase.

Lane said he, Mazzucco, and Selectman Amanda Grow met with some of the applicants last Saturday and they hope to have a committee formed by the Board’s next meeting.

“We might need another Saturday to get through all the applications,” he said.

“There are about eight or 10 more of them to review,” Mazzucco said.

“The people there care very much that we purchased this land, and they have some great ideas,” he said.

Donnelly said the Housing Committee is also nearly complete. The Housing Committee was set up to explore ways the Town could have more affordable housing. The affordable housing in and of itself is one of the goals, but looming over any such enterprise is the specter of Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B, which, if a municipality in the state has less than 10 percent of its housing stock and less than 1.5 percent of its land dedicated to affordable housing, a developer can come in and ignore local zoning laws.

The Town has a history with this, and so many members are keen to keep an eye on the housing stock.