Board of Health

CITY OF GARDNER OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH ROOM 29, CITY HALL GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS 01440 (978) 630-4013 FAX (978) 632-4682 To: Jennifer A. Susen-Roy, BA. - Health Director Dr. John Mulqueen, Chairperson Susan Avallone, Member Atty. Geoffrey Tobia, Member Minutes for the Board of Health meeting held on Monday, July 24 2017 __________________________________________________________________________________ 5:00 Meeting called to order 5:02 Reviewed minutes dated April 24th, 2017 minutes were approved and signed. Reviewed minutes dated May 15th 2017. Clarification on meeting minute dates. No June 2017 Board of Health meeting. 5:15 Budget for fiscal year 2018. Jennifer reported a new truck will be purchased for the transfer station, the department of public works will be buying the old truck. In Fiscal year 2017 the line item for nursing services budget was at $5,000 dollars, Jennifer increased the amount by $10,000 for fiscal year 2018. The Budget for fiscal year 2018 with the cost of the new truck and the increase to the line item amount of $15,000 for nursing services was approved by the Mayor and the Council. Councilor Morgan wanted to know why there was $15,000 that rolls over every year for the “pay as you throw bags”. The reason is that it can roll over as it is an enterprise account and the money has to roll over in that account to cover when we need to order more pay as you throw bags. 5:25 Tops Market @ 372 Timpany Plaza: Emergency evacuation due to a refrigerant leak. Jennifer informed the board she met the fire department and the state hazmat unit at Tops where the refrigerant leak was found. The building was evacuated until it was determined what the cause of the thick fog was in the building. The building was cleared by the fire department and the Hazmat unit, it was determined that there were no dangerous chemicals released. After about 4 hours, Jennifer was given the ok to go into the store. Jennifer did a walk thru of the store with the manager to make sure that there was no residue of any chemicals on the produce. Jennifer ordered them to dispose of the frozen food from three freezer units that had started to thaw. The temperature in those freezers had increased to 55 degrees while the power was turned off. The building was cleared by the state hazmat and fire department and Tops reopened later that day. 5:40 Jennifer informed the board that she has been busy with perc tests, well testing, and inspections of septic installations. Lauren has been busy with yard complaints as well as housing issues. 5:45 Jennifer up-dated the board regarding the Waste Management and the trash/recycling pickup issues. Jennifer met with the Mayor, and Public Safety, as well as Council to let them know that she was going to meet with Waste Management and instruct them to not pick up trash at residential locations that are over stuffing the toters. This is to enforce the city code that is in place regarding “over stuffed” toters. The Mayor, Public Safety and Council were in agreement with Jennifer. Waste Management is to affix a sticker and not dump any toter that is over stuffed and the lid is not completely down. The sticker explains why their trash or recycling was not picked up. This is being done, Jennifer explained, because: 1. The city looks awful when there is trash or recycling sticking out and over the top of the toters and blowing all over.  2. Ten years ago the residents in the trash program were given a 48 gallon trash toter and that is what the residents are paying for. When the toters are over stuffed it costs the city more to have the trash removed then the residents are paying. By enforcing the ordinance the hope is that the residents not in compliance will become compliant, and the cost of trash removal will not have to be increased for all the residents. This will also help the city look much neater when you drive down the street. Jennifer sat down with Andrew Mansfield, from the Gardner news, to inform him of this. An article was written to inform the residents of this information. A “Code Red” call went out to any resident that has signed up for the code red. The information was on Face Book and all other social media avenues. Every year the residents receive a brochure by mail letting them know when their trash and recycling day is. The information about over stuffing the toter is on that and has been for many years. A flyer was inserted with every water bill explaining about not over stuffing the toters as well. Jennifer reported that there were a few people who were not happy about the enforcement of the code. However, there were many that said it’s about time. It has been about a month since this went into effect, and it seems that residents are starting to comply. 5:50 House Hold Hazardous waste Day sponsored by Waste Management. There is a reciprocity agreement with Fitchburg, Westminster, and Gardner. So Fitchburg, Westminster and Gardner residents can use any of the three city’s HHHW days for no fee. There was a time when the Templeton BOH director, Phil, and Bernie Sullivan had an agreement that Templeton residents could participate in our HHHW day in Gardner. The Templeton BOH director would work at the HHHW day, collect the fee from his residents and then would reimburse the City of Gardner. When Phil left the BOH of Templeton, Bernie just stopped it. Now any community can access our HHHW day for no fee. Because of this change, the cost of HHHW day from last year to this year has doubled and it is no longer cost effective. Jennifer spoke with HHHW and the Mayor, regarding other communities that are allowed to use our HHHW Day. The problem is it’s hard to know what to charge for and how to charge for it. The Mayor is in agreement that only Fitchburg, Westminster, and Gardner are to access the HHHW Day in Gardner, no other communities can access our HHHWD. The company, Clean Harbor that is in charge of removing HHW for us, along with Waste Management can check ID’s to verify that only the residents from Fitchburg, Westminster and Gardner are dropping items off. This will be implemented starting the spring of 2018 HHHW day and the flyer sent out by Waste Management will reflect the change. Jennifer explained that this is no different than us not letting other communities use our Transfer Station. This decision will not affect the HHHW day coming this fall on October 14th 2017. 5:55 National Night Out is coming up. The side walk sale is next weekend, inspections will be done on the food vendors. Susan asked about the Cricket endeavor? Jennifer received a memo that it is going through the Zoning board of appeals to see if she can get a variance to set up her business on Barthel Ave. There is some concern that if the crickets were to get out and there is an infestation, the BOH would have no regulatory authority or jurisdiction over the matter according to the state laws. But, Jennifer said that she could site under the nuisance code. 6:00 The Police Department asked if the Board of Health could get a sharps container depository for them. Jennifer reached out to the MPHN, they voted to pay for the depository to be placed at the police station. This would be a good addition at the police department since the Police Department has the med take back box already. 6:05 Next meeting: Monday, August 28, 2017. Meeting Adjourn Recording proceedings were preserved and are available upon request. ________________________ _______________________ _________________________ Dr. Mulqueen MD, Chairperson Susan Avallone, Member Atty. Geoffrey Tobia, Member All conversations are documented on recording identified as B.O.H July 24, 2017