Board of Health

Easthampton Board of Health Meeting Minutes September 20, 2023 50 Payson Ave., Easthampton, MA 01027 PRESENT: Maggie Hebert (MH), Beth Rist (BR), Aimee Petrosky (AP), Allison Egan (AE), Director of Public Health, Brian Chapdelaine (BC), Health Inspector, Jackie Sienkiewicz, recorder. Also Present: Donna Bowman (DB), Lisa Stevens (LS), Merridith O’Leary (MO), Riddhi Patel (RP), Thomas Truax (TT). Meeting held remotely by Google Meet. Motions A motion to open the meeting at 5:30 PM was made by AP and seconded by MH. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call. A motion to accept the meeting minutes of August 2, 2023, was made by BR and seconded by MH. All in favor – 2, Opposed – 0, Abstained -1. Vote was taken by roll call. Public Speak: None ● Director Update: AE presented the Director’s Update, see attached, including the hiring of the new Public Health Nurse who will start in October, staffing changes to the Healthy Youth Coalition and the use of the Public Health Corps. AE also reviewed the approval process needed to add a part-time inspector to the department. AE gave the dates and locations to upcoming flu vaccine clinics and discussed the option of being a vaccine provider. ● Health Agent Update: BC presented to the Board the Health Agent Update, see attached. BC stated he was shifting his focus back to inspections with the completion of camp season. BC noted that two new food establishments, Valley Art Supply and Starbucks had recently opened and were permitted. BC said that temporary food event permits were also issued for such events as Mill Side Live, Arcadia Folk Festival and more Food Truck Fridays. BC discussed inspecting body art establishments. A motion to suspend the BOH meeting at 5:56 was made by BR and seconded by AP. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call. A motion to open the public hearing for the Valley Farms tobacco violation at 5:56 was made by AP and seconded by MH. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call. MH stated that the public speak portion of the hearing was to allow time to Valley Farms to express their thoughts and views on the topic. MH stated that the Board would not be responding to the public comments but would be listening. When the public comments have finished, the Board would then discuss amongst themselves without input from Valley Farms. TT introduced himself as an attorney here today on behalf of Mr. & Mrs. Patel. TT stated that he had reviewed the information provided to him by BC and reviewed this with Mr. & Mrs. Patel. TT stated that he has known the Patel’s for over 20 years and they have about a dozen stores in middle and central Massachusetts. TT said that this was the first time he had to appear for a violation. TT said that the Patels had a clean record as it related to violations for any licensees including liquor. TT stated that again, he has known the Patels for many years and they usually run a tight ship and were unhappy with this situation. TT explained that Mr. Patel was unable to be at the inventory after the closing or at the store opening. TT said that a manager was given this responsibility. TT explained that the tobacco in question was part of the inventory inherited from the previous owners and should have been removed. TT said that Mr. Patel admits that this did slip through the cracks but takes full responsibility for the violations. TT stated that corrections regarding the signage have been made and could send pictures as proof. Pioneer Valley Tobacco Coalition provided the signage that should have been there.The flavored tobacco has been removed as well and again could provide pictures. TT stated that Mr. Patel was aware that these products should not have been available for sale and apologizes. TT discussed the documentation needed by the manufacturer violation. TT said he was not aware of this regulation and has reached out to the local distributer for food and tobacco for this documentation and would present this as soon as he received it. TT stated again that in his 40 years of doing this type of work, he had not come across this before. TT said that he looked at the regulation Section 665.045 E and takes issue that as he reads it should be only one day on this violation and should be as a first offense, which Mr. Patel is willing to take care of immediately. The chair recognized LS, director of Tobacco Control from the Massachusetts Municipal Association. LS stated that she provides technical assistance to tobacco control programs across the state in terms of enforcing and different parts of the law, especially under the new law. LS stated that there are other towns that “stack” violations, where each violation type at a single visit is fined separately. LS said that while not the majority of towns and cities site this way, it has help up on appeal before. LS is aware that the local distributer used by Patel, J Polep, has documentation and it should not be a problem for the Patels to get and have for the future. The law has been in effect since 2019. The chair recognized Mr. Patel. Mrs. Patel stated that the store was under new management; all products that were there from previous owners have been taken down. Mr. Patel said all required signage is now up. Any tobacco products that were not supposed to be there have been removed. Mr. Patel said that the employee that had been employed previously had been replaced. The chair recognized DB, the compliance officer for the Pioneer Tobacco Coalition for the last five and one half years. DB stated that she entered the store to do a twice yearly, education check. This education check is to check for signage, look to see if they have any products that should not be in the store and speak with clerks, managers and /or owners about some of the products that they have. DB said that there was a manager on duty at the time of her visit. DB also wanted to make note that the time of the visit, the establishment was serving a suspension of their electronic nicotine delivery systems via the FDA, so there should not have been any electronic cigarettes on site at the time of the visit. Upon arrival, DB found many ends that were on the counter being sold, which were all flavored, many of these were over the 35- millimeter maximum. DB also found cigars, under the minimum, flavored chewing tobacco, flavored Juul pods, including mint, were being sold. DB found that there were items offered that would not ring up when the clerk was asked to check pricing. DB said the clerk was not sure why these four or five items would not ring up or how much they were. DB said that when she asked to purchase some of these items the clerk refused because he realized they were not supposed to have them at that point. DB said that she discussed with the clerk the items being sold and the price minimum signage that should be displayed. DB provided the signage needed. When asked by MH the date of the visit, DB replied, August 12th. MH asked if there were anyone else that would like to use the public speak time. With no response, MH closed recognized AP. AP asked LS how long the requirement to have the manufacturer’s notification has been part of the Massachusetts law. LS stated that there was an executive order under Charlie Baker in 2018. Then a 2019 law that adopted most of that executive order and finally, 2020 regulations that DPH put out, that are part of the law. LS stated that the 2019 law is unique in asking for the manufacturers or retailers stating that the products they are selling are legal to be sold in Massachusetts. If a product is being sold in a general retail store, not an adult only retailer, than they have to have under a certain nicotine content. AP clarified that the law was in effect for four years. AP said to TT that if the Patel’s have multiple stores across the state, she was surprised that they were unable to provide this letter when asked to provide it for this facility. AP also said that while TT had stated that the Patels had no past violations, the store was serving an FDA suspension at the time of the visit. The chair recognized BR. BR asked for some clarification on the violations and the timing of the change in ownership. AE responded that while many cities and towns do not usually stack the violations in this way, AE and BC chose to because there were a total of eight violations cited on that date. The chair recognized Merridith O’Leary, coordinator for the Pioneer Valley Tobacco Coalition, which has 34 communities in the coalition. MO stated that it varies from town to town how they write their violation reports. MO said that there has been precedence where one inspection had a total of $29,00.00 in fines based off all the egregious violations found at that one inspection and it has help up. While MO has seen the violations written both ways, she is recommending standardizing it for the future.MH asked TT how products were not recognized by the payment system. TT could not speak to this question. MH then asked Mr. Patel. Mr. Patel stated that these items were probably items from the previous owners. They have been taken down. AP asked DB about a customer trying to purchase an item that should not have been for sale. DB said that the customer seemed to be a regular looking to purchase Banana Backwood Cigars. The clerk told the customer he could not sell them at this point. BC noted for the record that the sale of Valley Farms occurred in April with a permit issued to the new owners. The letter from the Department of Revenue was dated May 16 and the date of the suspension was to begin on June 15 for 60 days regarding their electronic nicotine products. TT told BC that he did not have a copy of that letter; he asked what the date of the violation was. BC answered May 9, 2023. BC said that the Department of Revenue seized untaxed electronic delivery systems products from the premises. AP stated that there was sworn testimony by the tobacco compliance officer of the violations. AP said that the Patels and their attorney are not arguing the facts of the violations. AP said that she believes it is now up to the BOH to determine if the violations should be stacked or not. BR questioned how much the state suspension should way on their decision but also stated that these violations came at a time when their license with the state was suspended already making these local violations seem worse. AP said she believed the state suspension to be relevant because the state had previously come in and removed untaxed items that shouldn’t have been sold and were not able to be rung up. MH agreed with AP, stating that while these items were different tobacco products, they were tobacco products. MH said that even if the Patels were the new owners of this store, they own several other stores in Massachusetts and should be aware of the state regulations and laws about tobacco products. AP stated that as a Board member, it is their job to protect the youth of our community in a variety of ways. These products are known to specifically to target the youth in our community and the inspector while on site saw someone coming in trying to purchase these items. BR stated that at this point, owners should know what you are not supposed to selling and if they are selling it, they know it is illegal. MH stated that she would like to vote to hold the owners responsible for the stacked violations with fines of $8,600.00 and a 30 day suspension based on the information heard tonight. These owners own other stores in the state and should be aware of the laws and regulations of selling tobacco products. A motion was made by AP and seconded by BR to uphold the cease and desist order dated September 12, 2023 as it stands. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call. A motion was made by AP and seconded by MH to close the hearing for the Valley Farms tobacco violation at 6:35 PM. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call. A motion was made to reopen the Board of Health meeting at 6:35 by AP and seconded by MH. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote was taken by roll call.  ● Outstanding Housing Issues Update (Federal Street, Everett St): BC explained that the ownership of 140 Everett St was taken by the City due to unpaid taxes. After the City requested an inspection, the property was condemned due to unsanitary conditions and animal hoarding. The property has been sold last month and the condemnation will stand until an inspection is done and concerns have been addressed. BC said that 2 family home on Federal St has also been sold and is waiting to hear from the new owner to address the issues that will need to be corrected. BC did say that at his last visit to the property, he witnessed a decrease in the fly infestation. ● Healthy Youth Coalition Transition/Hiring: AE explained that due to the firing of a Coalition employee concerning an incident that took place at the Easthampton High School, a letter of apology was written by the Mayor, school superintendent and AE to the individual harmed in the incident. AE said that they are working to once again partner with Safe Passages where this individual worked. ● Items not reasonably anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance of the Board of Health meeting: None A motion to close the meeting at 6:41 PM was made by BR and seconded by MH. All in favor – 3, Opposed – 0. Vote taken by roll call. NEXT MEETING: October 18, 2023 at 5:30