Board of Health

FITCHBURG CITY CLERK Dec 14 2022 2:05 pm Office of the Board of Health City Hall 718 Main Street Fitchburg, Massachusetts 01420 978-829-1870 This was a regular meeting of the Board of Health held at the Legislative Building at 700 Main Street and recorded by FATV Studios, Thursday, September 8, 2022. The meeting was called to order by Dr. Bogdasarian. Present: Stephen Curry, Director, Dr. John Bogdasarian, Chair, Sandra Knipe-BOH Member, Ian Murray-BOH Member, Sean-Michael Tantinarawat, Food & Milk Inspector, Victoria Selser, Epidemiologist, Catherine Hoover, Case Investigation Supervisor, Karen Membrino, Clerk Stenographer. Moment of Silence – Jeffrey P. Stephens (1971-2022); Dr. Bogdasarian requested a moment of silence to honor the former Director of the Board of Health, Leominster, MA Jeffrey P. Stephen who passed away recently. Dr. Bogdasarian thanked Mr. Stephens for his service for the work he did on behalf of Leominster & Fitchburg and in Central Massachusetts. Food Inspection Division:  Sean-Michael Tantinarawat, Food & Milk Inspector  Inspection reports and related discussion Inspector Tantinarawat stated he has been in this position since January 3, 2022, and inspected 233 establishments. There are 197 establishments in the city. There have been few complaints thus far. There was an average of 4 complaints a month in the beginning of the year and now there is about 2 this month. Inspector Tantinarawat stated there are a few restaurants coming into the city some of which have already opened. Roasted, John Fitch Highway, Delicious Dips, Franklin Road, Melao by Munchies, Airport Rd, & The Cellar, Mill St. There are 3 Food Trucks, El Sabor de Lola, off of Lunenburg St, El Diente Boricua, off of Water St, & Jay's Italian Ice which can be found at the Farmers Market and occasionally at the Fitchburg parks. Inspector Tantinarawat stated there are a couple of restaurants with new owners, Makarios Kitchen, Mike’s Pizza, Kiki's Kitchen & Fitchburg Diner. A few upcoming restaurants are Marty’s Eats, El Toro on River St. and Dario’s new location on Main St. Dr. Bogdasarian asked who typically makes the complaints. Inspector Tantinarawat said complaints are usually anonymous and are mostly regarding customer service type complaints. Sanitary type complaints are definitely on the low side. Communicable Disease Division: Victoria Selser, Epidemiologist a. Monkeypox discussion Ms. Selser stated out of the entire MPHN network which consists of 13 cities and towns there are 5 Monkeypox cases in Fitchburg. There has been a mix of mild illness to moderate to severe illness which did require outpatient treatment. There have been no cases in the past two weeks. The cautious optimism as the growth rate of the outbreak both in the United States and also globally is starting to decline likely the result of things like behavior changes of the most impacted population the vaccination efforts that have been going on since the outbreak started. Massachusetts has had 300 cases overall as of yesterday. Ms. Selser stated with regard to the workflow when a case does come in originally the Department of Public health was handling all of them on their own. DPH was handling the cases themselves and then they asked the local Health Departments for assistance with the contacts. Shortly after the week of July 18th they began asking the local Health Departments for assistance with the cases. At this point it's the responsibility of local Health Departments to take on the Monkeypox cases and complete the case investigation just like with many other communicables. Ms. Selser stated for now she has been handling those as they come in and in the process of training the case investigators that we have for COVID in the case that there is a surge in Monkeypox cases. This is to put systems in place in the event we become overwhelmed with cases. We would rather have people trained than not have people trained and then have a whole bunch of cases and not know what to do with all of them, so we are working on getting everyone trained. Regarding Outreach to cases there are some critical pieces to completing an interview in addition to the typical questions you would ask in a case investigation case. Testing is a big one for contacts as this is like the beginning of COVID. It's very difficult to access testing in many cases and difficult to access treatment even though there is treatment available. Ms. Selser stated all these calls to cases and contacts are generally involved in terms of helping people get access to these things because it's still in the very beginning stages and a lot of clinicians aren't familiar with it yet and we're learning as we go just like with COVID. b. NACCHO-PAVE (Partnership for Vaccine Equity) Grant; Victoria Selser, Epidemiologist; Ms. Selser stated the Partnering for Vaccine Equity Grant (PAVE) is a NACCHO grant funded by the CDC to support local health departments in identifying and also addressing inequities in adult COVID vaccine coverage but also influenza vaccine coverage as well. The MPHN was one of 12 communities or local health departments collaboratives selected for this grant. The kickoff for the grant is next week and goes until July of 2023. Currently we're involved in a lot of efforts relating to increasing vaccine uptake in Fitchburg and Leominster and surrounding MPHN communities and this allows us to continue those efforts and expand upon our efforts specifically to influenza as well. With flu vaccine season approaching there has been a lot of feedback from folks in the community wanting to get the flu and COVID vaccine together which is what the grant is for. Vaccination rate in Fitchburg right now is 64% fully vaccinated with the state being 77% fully vaccinated, so we're a bit under the state average for our surrounding communities. Vaccination rates range from 60% in Winchendon to 82% in Princeton and everywhere in between for the other 11 MPHN communities we have. Ms. Selser stated the vaccine efforts are partnering with local community’s places of worship, senior centers, and senior housing developments in particular. It’s important that we make sure we're continuing to support the higher risk folks in these efforts and that would include senior housing. We've done quite a few clinics at those types of locations and outreach to high- risk residents letting people know that they're due for a vaccine. The guidance is changing all the time and it is confusing therefore it would be helpful to walk these folks through and give them a hand where needed. Despite widespread availability of vaccines at pharmacies, barriers to accessing vaccines (not just COVID) still exist. Scheduling the CVS website can be difficult to navigate, and some folks don’t have access to that type of technology to get onto those websites. Transportation can be another big issue and senior centers typically have a van that they can bring people and that just makes it easy for folks who do not have the transportation or are not able to drive. Language barrier is another issue and having staff going out into the community and can speak multiple languages advertising in multiple languages makes it easier for these folks. Lastly convenience for people that it's much easier to increase uptake when the vaccine is available in a place that they're going to be anyways. Ms. Knipe asked if the Vaccine Coordinator in Fitchburg is working in conjunction with you as well. Ms. Selser said yes, she is involved, and we work together in all of the planning. Title 5 – LUA (Local Upgrade Approval) Request:  762 Ashby State Road -310 CMR 14.405 Minimum Groundwater Offset-4’ to 2’ -Graz Engineering LLC, Paul F. Grasewicz, P.E. Mr. Murray stated he will recuse himself from this discussion as he is a family member. Mr. Curry stated Paul Grasewicz is the engineer for the property located at 762 Ashby State Road. Mr. Grasewicz stated they are putting a new system replacement upgrade in the backyard where the existing system is. The new Presby system which is larger, helped on the square footage but the existing yard has already a slight mound where they are putting the system. We are asking to consider the following Upgrade requests as they pertain to the septic system upgrade plan. We are requesting a reduction of the offset from the groundwater to the bottom of the leaching field from 4’ to 2’. The reason for this request is to minimize the mound of the system, as its too high of a mound will result in drainage issues for the property and increase the risk of the house basement flooding during severe storm events Dr. Bogdasarian made a motion that we recommend approval of the Title 5 Local Upgrade request at 762 Ashby State Rd. Motion was 2nd by Ms. Knipe. All were in favor. Motion carries. Mass Commission Against Discrimination Complaint (MCAD):  August 4, 2022 Wehtje vs City of Fitchburg  Approve or amend and approve (if necessary) prepared response by the Director of Public Health Dr. Bogdasarian stated the Mass Commission against Discrimination Complaint of August 4th 2022 put forth by Jacqueline Wehtje versus the City of Fitchburg Health department, requires a written response. Director Curry, at the Boards request prepared a written response to that complaint. Director Curry stated he did send it to the Board on August 25th for review. We needed to respond within the guidelines of the MCAD Discrimination Board. Director Curry did prepare a response and the Board members did comment on it. Mr. Curry stated he did forward the response to the Commission so that we were within the time frame. Dr. Bogdasarian confirmed we have not heard back from the Commission about the response. Of the three Open Meeting Law violations complaints we have received response from two in our favor. Mr. Curry stated he did receive legal assistance from the Assistant City Solicitor Donna Pawlak and thanked her for her help. Meeting Minutes: Ms. Knipe made a motion to approve the June 23, 2022 meeting minutes as is. Motion was 2 nd by Mr. Murray. All were in favor. Motion carries.  Amend and approve (if necessary) meeting minutes of February 17, 2022 meeting Director Curry stated we received a complaint from Ms. Wehtje that the February 17, 2022 meeting minutes that were approved by the Board identified Deborah Wright as the St. Bernard’s High School Principal, and Deborah Wright is the Elementary School Principal. Dr. Bogdasarian made a motion to approve the February 17, 2022, minutes as amended. Motion was 2nd by Ms. Knipe. All were in favor. Motion carries.  Amend and approve (if necessary) minutes of October 14, 2021 meeting Director Curry stated the October 14, 2021 minutes also identified an error. Ms. Wehtje made a complaint that some of her language was not correct. Mr. Curry stated he did listen to the meeting minutes on FATV and there were some incorrect terminologies used. In the very last sentence, it says if the Board of Health imposes this mandate I think you will have some “was written as “leading” but it should have said “leaving” the public schools which will allow fewer than, the actual word written was “people” and it should say “pupil” reimbursement from the state to cover the fixed overhead costs in our schools which will have a negative effect on our finances. The two words leading in people need to be amended to leaving and per pupil. Ms. Knipe made a motion to approve the corrections to October 14, 2021 minutes. The motion was 2nd by Mr. Murray. All were in favor. Motion carries. Director Curry stated he didn’t feel there was a significant change in context to that language in the minutes however he will send the amended minutes to wherever Ms. Wehtje requests them to be sent. Amend Regulations of the Fitchburg Landfill Permits:  Landlord Permit-owner of a property in the City that does not reside in the City be eligible to purchase an annual permit to dispose at a cost of $50 + $20 per unit owned in the city. Dr. Bogdasarian stated the current regulation says a landlord permit owner of a property in the city that who does not reside in the city would be eligible to purchase an annual permit to dispose at a cost of $50 plus $20 per unit. Director Curry stated this would allow a non-city resident landlord who owns property in the city to have a permit. Over the years we’ve had a commercial permit and that's what these folks would utilize. Out of town landlords would pay $50 for the permit to the city and then they would pay the weight of their material which was approximately $130 a ton and a minimum $130 to visit the Landfill. In past years the commercial permit has basically dissolved, and nobody utilizes it anymore which has made it very difficult for anybody that owns property in Fitchburg to be eligible to get an annual sticker or a day pass, so we are looking to expand the permit program to a nonresident who owns a piece of property in the city. We proposed that individual to pay $50 for the permit as well as $20 for the number of units in any buildings that they own. The thought process behind that is we pay $45 a ton for any trash that is disposed at the landfill drop off, so basically the fees are intended or designed to cover the costs of the disposal of material. Ms. Knipe made a motion to approve the amendment to the regulations of the Fitchburg Landfill Permit. Dr. Bogdasarian 2nd the motion. All were in favor. Motion carries. Director Curry stated this will have to be posted in the Sentinel and Enterprise and we will need to purchase permits to begin this new program. There is a city ordinance stating any fees that are put in place need to be reviewed by the City Council, so a bit of research needs to be done here. Ms. Knipe made a motion to adjourn at 5:00. Motion was 2nd by Dr. Bogdasarian. All were in favor.