Eileen McAnneny, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a commission member, said she became aware through that work of the variation in public health services. “You can compare and contrast Boston, that has a robust public health department, to small towns in Western Mass. where they might have one public health official serving numerous towns,” she said. “And if you also look at what we expect public health officials to do, it’s everything from inspecting restaurants to looking at contaminated drinking water to smoking cessation programs.”