In a changing of the guard, a new biologist will take over the Island’s longstanding tick-borne illness prevention program.
Patrick Roden-Reynolds was introduced to the Edgartown select board Monday by Dick Johnson, who has spearheaded the program for the past decade.
Mr. Johnson studies tick populations, sweeps Island yards for the pests and studies the diseases they transmit to humans. Tick-borne illness, especially Lyme disease, is considered to be at epidemic levels on the Vineyard. The latest threat is from lone star ticks, a species formerly only seen in southern regions that is now spreading rapdily on the Island.
Last summer the state Department of Public Health announced a $300,000 grant for a collaborative public health initiative for the two Islands. The grant will pay for a full-time staff position to combat tick-borne illness. Funding will also go toward hiring a health inspector and combatting substance abuse. The Island boards of health and Island Health Care, the Vineyard’s only federally qualified community health center, are part of the collaborative.
On Monday Mr. Johnson told the selectmen he has been planning to step back from the work for some time.
Mr. Roden-Reynolds is a public health biologist at Island Health Care. He researched ticks while pursuing a master’s degree in natural resource management from the University of Maryland and has previously worked in the U.S. Deparment of Agriculture.
His new position will also include work tracking mosquitoes and cyanobacteria on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Selectman Arthur Smadbeck thanked Mr. Johnson and welcomed Mr. Roden-Reynolds.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done in the past and continue to do Dick, and I’d like to welcome Patrick,” Mr. Smadbeck said. “Maybe one day we’ll get ahead of it [the tick problem], but right now it’s a struggle just to keep even.”
In other business Monday, the board approved an energy efficient vehicle policy as the town takes steps to become a Green Community in Massachusetts, following the lead of other Island towns that have joined the state program.
Liz Durkee, climate change planner for the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, gave the board an update on the Islandwide Climate Action Plan, and announced the launch of a new website.
Town fire chief Alex Schaeffer will head an eight-member committee that will begin planning for a new fire station.
