Board of Health

FITCHBURG CITY CLERK Oct 11 2024 4:02 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 in the Legislative Building at 700 Main Street and recorded by FATV Studios, Thursday, August 8, 2024. The meeting was called to order by Dr. Bogdasarian. Present: Stephen Curry, Director, Dr. John Bogdasarian, Chair, Diane Tousignant, BOH Member, Karen Membrino, Clerk Stenographer, Steven Catalfamo, Plant Manager Greif Paper, Jodie Brighenti, Tobacco Control, Attorney Edward Grourke, Umar Iftikhar, Royal Smoke, Zuly Fernandez, MassCall3 Coordinator and Sue Christensen, Outreach & Prevention Coordinator. Public Forum: There was no speaker in the public forum. Announcements – Zuly Fernandez, MassCall3 Coordinator Sue Christensen introduced Zuly Fernandez to oversee the MassCall3 grant part of the Outreach and Prevention Division. This position is fully funded including benefits with no expense to the City. The position is funded by DPH-BSAS-MassCall3 grant. The goal of this grant is to assist with the implementation of data collection and community engagement regarding the first use of substances by youth. The City of Fitchburg is the lead community. Zuly Fernandez previously worked at Community Health Connections where she worked for 20 years as a manager and worked with the homeless population and is well-connected in the community. Hearing/Petitions Request: Greif Paper-100 Newark Way-Odor Complaints Update: Mr. Catalfamo stated he is here today to give an update on the progress with rebuilding the SBR's (Sequencing Batch Reactors). Since the July 11, 2024 meeting there have been personnel contractors, consulting engineers and other personnel on site to work on this project, Monday through Friday and weekends as needed. The team meets on a weekly basis to review the progress. We completed the entire rebuild of SBR #2. On August 1st we were able to pump the material that was in SBR #1 into #2 and #2 SBR is fully functional at this time. On the SBR #1 there's a lot of residual matter on the bottom and to calculate an estimate it would be about 375 cubic yards of material. To remove that we cut a maintenance hole on the side of the SBR and have a third party contractor there on site with two vacuum trucks pumping the material out of that SBR and loading into trucks to be brought off site to be incinerated. This 1 process will take 10 to 14 days and we're still on schedule. We (Greif) review any rebuild issues we have during the week, any modification requirements we need to make on the equipment but the plan is to bring both SBR's which number 2 is running now up to OEM (original equipment manufacturer) specifications and guidelines. Mr. Catalfamo stated they are also partnering with their suppliers to control the odor within the Mill and have made progress to reduce some of the VFA's (Volatile Fatty Acids) but that work continues on a day by day basis. The Environmental Consultant Company, Epsilon is reacting to the comments posted by complainants on See Click Fix, to investigate the complaints and report their findings regarding the complaint. Epsilon reported today there is a paper mill odor. Greif has promised to present the residents with the data that's gathered by Epsilon with a comprehensive report of their findings. Laura Nickerson of Ward St asked Mr. Catalfamo if pumping out the tanks will resolve the situation. Mr. Catalfamo stated pumping out the tanks is part of the process of the rebuild, in order to complete the rebuild we have to remove that material from the tank. Laura Nickerson asked if this process will resolve the smell from Greif and if they think the smell is coming from those tanks. Mr. Catalfamo stated he believes it is coming from the Mill. Bill Ewing, Ward St. stated he has noticed there are two distinctive smells one from the Wastewater Treatment area which is a sewage odor and the other is a chemical odor from the steam coming from the smokestacks blaring out steam that also happens at different times of the day. Mr. Catalfamo stated there is only one stack on the property which is coming off the boiler from the plant. There is only one steam generation point in the plant, from a steam generation standpoint emitting steam is only coming out of one area and that is the boiler. Mr. Curry stated he has noticed that chemical smell in the Monty Tech area but never pointed it to the stack and will look out for the next time out there. A lengthy discussion ensued the members of the Board of Health asked numerous questions to Mr. Catalfamo. 2 Royal Fuel Smoke Shop (Continued from February 15th) – Tobacco: Jodi Brighenti, Tobacco Control Agent stated she was the agent to perform the inspection. On December 19, 2023 there was a retail education inspection at Royal Fuel Smoke Shop and during that inspection she found 2 violations. One was a state violation and the other was a local violation. The first violation is offering for sale of flavored tobacco product or tobacco flavor enhancer. Previous violations within a 36 month period are as follows; 11/24/22, Offering for sale of flavored tobacco product or tobacco product flavor enhancer (Warning) 3/17/22 Selling a tobacco product to a person under the Minimum Legal Sales Age ($1,000 Fine, Paid), 12/14/21 Selling a tobacco product to a person under the Minimum Legal Sales Age (Warning), 10/11/21 Selling a tobacco product to a person under the Minimum Legal Sales Age (Warning). This violation would be the second violation in a 36 month period with a fine of $2000.00 with a 7 day consecutive business day permit suspension. The second violation was a local violation for sale of a blunt wrap. During the inspection there were two clerks at the store when a customer came in asking the clerk for a blunt wrap. During the inspection Ms. Brighenti found blunt wraps hidden in bags behind the register. She observed the clerk reaching into the bags that were hanging that people put their products in. Fitchburg has a blunt wrap ban. Attorney Grourke stated Mr. Iftikhar is planning on buying this business. Mr. Ahmad (not present) is the current owner of Royal Fuel Smoke Shop. Mr. Iftikhar stated in February they reached an agreement that he would be the new owner, then this violation took place. Mr. Iftikhar tried to back out of the sale but is not able to and is concerned moving forward with these violations and the outcome tonight. Mr. Iftikhar said the tobacco industry in Massachusetts banned flavors and a lot of companies try to come up with ways to sell flavored tobacco. Mr. Iftikhar presented various ways businesses try to get around this. Ms. Brighenti stated there is confusion about who owns the business and what Mr. Iftikhar’s role is in this situation. This only affects the current owner of Royal Fuel. Mr. Iftikhar stated this business has not changed hands and Mr. Ahmad is currently the owner. Ms. Brighenti stated for clarification that she found flavored products or flavor enhancers (including mint/menthol flavors), three types of blunt wraps and having 2.8% vape within customers reach, and multiple jars of hookah, flavored and hookah pop flavored tips. These are flavor enhancers which are not allowed to be sold in Massachusetts. Mr. Iftikhar stated because he is going to be the new owner he still has to apply for a new license and will be responsible if there were a suspension. He feels this would give him a bad reputation with a 7 day suspension. Mr. Iftikhar stated he would pay the fine because at this point it would cost him more than a $2,000 dollar fine because he financially is already invested in the business. 3 A lengthy discussion ensued the members of the Board of Health asked numerous questions to Ms. Brighenti and Mr. Iftikhar. Ms. Tousignant made a motion with the recommendation to levy the fine and the fine will be paid with no suspension. Dr. Bogdasarian 2nd the motion. Motion carried. Dr. Bogdasarian made a motion to put the third violation with the tentative $5000 fine and a 30 day suspension on hold. Motion was 2nd by Ms. Tousignant. All were in favor, motion carried. Announcements: Mr. Curry stated on August 22, 2024 @ 6:00pm in the Fitchburg Upper Common Gazebo there will be the annual Overdose Awareness Vigil. Health Resource Fair will be held Thursday, October 17, 2024 from 4:00-7:00pm. More details to follow. Meeting Minutes Approval – April 25, 2024 Ms. Tousignant made a motion to approve the April 25, 2024 & July 11, 2024 meeting minutes. Motion was 2nd by Dr. Bogdasarian. All were in favor, motion carried. Dr. Bogdasarian made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion was 2nd by Ms. Tousignant. All were in favor, motion carried. Meeting Adjourned at 6:35pm. 4