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 Board of Health meeting held on Monday, September 24, 2018 __________________________________________________________________________________ 5:10 Meeting called to order. 5:13 Minutes from July 23, 2018 & August 27, 2018 reviewed & signed. 5:14 Old Business: There was a Receiver assigned to 142 Pleasant Street by the court, but there is an issue. Lauren Saunders, Assistant Director, will attend a meeting tomorrow morning with the Receiver to discuss the property. The Receiver was given a good size budget by the court, but now has commented to the Attorney General’s office that they just want to do the bare minimum, they only want to board and secure the building. This was not the purpose of the last 2 ½ years, because if at any time it gets foreclosed on, Alfred Fraumeni can buy it again, and we would be back where we started. The attorney from the AG’s office recommendation tomorrow will be that if the Receiver does not want to do what they intended, and what the Judge ordered with the budget, that she will dismiss them as the Receiver and go back to court for a new Receiver. New Business: Jennifer has been visiting Salvation Army every week as it has become a dumping ground. People are just dumping stuff on the ground. There have been reports of an influx of mice at Taylor Rental, which neighbors Salvation Army. Jennifer has met with The Captain, who is the person-in-charge, and he is aware that the sheds located on the property have to go, he has been instructed that they have to follow Unattended Donation Box regulations, which they are in violation of now. They need more signs, and someone needs to sit out there Monday through Friday to monitor donations, to prevent people just dumping all kinds of stuff, including junk and miscellaneous debris. Jennifer has spoken to the truck drivers who load these items, they report that they bring all this stuff back to their main warehouse in Worcester and it is sorted through and it is to be resold. Often these items have been exposed to the elements and sit outside for days. Jennifer expressed to The Captain that she understands the service they provide is needed, it’s a value to the community and the workers but we have to keep the public safe and that its’ current condition is a health hazard. Dr. Mulqueen asked if the frequency of the trucks picking up is an issue, but Jennifer states that they do come in several times a weeks, but because there is no enforcement, people just come and dump everything, instead of getting a transfer station sticker. The owners of Taylor Rental have actually caught people on their property at night dumping mattresses and other items over the fence onto the Salvation Army property. Due to the increase in dumping on the property that has been happening Jennifer mandated that they have someone sitting there that tells everyone what can and cannot be left. Jennifer had Waste Management in for another performance review last week, they have had a tough couple of months. In June, they had missed pretty much all Yard Waste in the whole city. Jennifer has received many emails when they have truck issues, and there was a call to cancel waste pickup for a day due to driver availability. Jennifer told them that was unacceptable and ordered they meet their contractual obligations and that they need to get their trucks in the city and they did. When the National Grid Substation on Park Street was built, it had to go through Zoning and Conservation and other departments for approval, there were concerns and some reservations as to the structure of the catch basins being built. They were allowed to be built as they met the code. Over the last couple of months what has been happening is that the catch basins are just holding the water and it’s not draining out as it is supposed to. Jennifer received a call from one of the City Counselors about the drains and concerns around the recent positive results of West Nile in a mosquito. Sue asks where they are supposed to drain too. Jennifer explains that they are supposed to drain out into the ground after they reach a certain level, but they are not doing that. Jennifer sent a letter to National Grid with the requirements that the basins need to meet as this is a violation of the State Sanitary Code and it is a harborage for mosquitos and disease. National Grid did respond and are working with us and Conservation, because it is in violation with Conservation requirements as well. Jennifer has been watching that closely as the property abuts many residents, Geoff asked where the substation is located, Jennifer advises that it is on Park St, near the Crystal Lake Cemetery and Napoleon Club. Septic: There have not been many lot Perc’s, but does have one scheduled for tomorrow, she has been busy with septic repairs and re-inspections, and there have been many D Box crumblings and repairs. Parking Ban: Public Service reached out to Jennifer to attend their meeting last week, about the parking ban. There is an amendment to change the current parking ban. This has gone to 1st printing. Jennifer states that tomorrow night there is a Public Safety Meeting where it will be discussed again. Basically, the ban will change the time that the cars have to be off the road as well as making it storm situational. Jennifer, as a resident has concerns about the newly proposed change in the current parking ban code. Sue states she has concerns as well. Jennifer says that as the Director of the Board of Health, she also has concerns about it. With her experience with Code Red, when it’s about the trash, it’s very difficult to get the word out to people even when it’s the day before, let alone when they wake up in the morning they all head out to work and leave their cars in the road and the forecast looks great but then 2 hours later we find out that we are getting 12 inches of snow. Their cars are going to be in the road, are going to get ticketed and towed, they’re going to have to pay for it, the residents can’t put their trash out with the cars in the way. Susan is concerned that even the plowing will be as mess with cars parked overnight. Geoff asks if it’s classified as a snow emergency, how is it classified in the regulation? Jennifer states that it is from a certain date range, from 11pm to 6am that cars can’t be on the road, now. They want to change the hours. Geoff asks how a snow event is defined, Jennifer has not seen the draft for the new regulation. Jeff states that it would be problematic at best, to try to define. Sue states that where we are the storm forecast may change. Jennifer states that the roads may be narrow for fire truck and emergency personnel to get through, Sue is also concerned about this. Jennifer states that the plows will take more time, as they will have to wait to have violators’ cars towed, so that they can complete their job. Jennifer stated that with Code Red with the trash, tenements and multi-family residents may have temporary cell phones or they don’t subscribe to it, so it is difficult to notify them in a timely fashion. She also mentions that we have had a lot of people who call and ask to be taken off the Code Red list after past calls so they would be tough to notify. Sue states that it would be very easy to for people to say, “I didn’t get the message” and Jennifer states that they do in fact say that now. Sue states that this will be tough, John asks if they will announce it on WGAW, but Geoff states that not everyone listens to that. Sue asks if there has been any Hepatitis A reports, Jennifer states that she has not had any reports from Dottie, the Montachusett Public Health Network Nurse. Sue asks about EEE in Gardner, and Jennifer states that there have not been any reports. Jennifer attended the Mass Health Officers Association annual meeting. The meeting was all about marijuana and cannabis, Cheryl Sbarra from the state was there to talk about the legal side. Basically, they do not have any more answers after all these months of the enacted bill and they still have the same 7 conundrums, not any more answers as to what can and can’t be enforced and who enforces it at the state level. Sue attended at the Legislative breakfast on Saturday, Sept 22 with Commissioner Jennifer Flannigan, Senator Jamie Eldridge, State Representative Jon Zlotnik and Natalie Higgins from Leominster, this was a School Nurse event at the Fruitland’s Museum in Harvard MA, and they talked about cannabis, marijuana and the youth impact. There are 2 new rack cards that they just put out and, are at the clearing house. One is all on the law, and the other one is what parents should know. One of the things Jennifer Flannigan discussed was trying to get away from the “recreational” term and to use “adult only”. Sue goes on to say that “adult only” means you cannot even bring a child in, even if it’s your own kid unless they are 21 or over. In the medicinal you can, but not the adult only ones. They discussed labeling them, shapes; gummies can only be squares, triangles, cube or block. Sue states that 1 block might be 10-12 servings. The blocks will be 100, 200, 300, 400 or 500mg, of CBD oils. One 500 mg block could be a lot of servings, it could be very confusing. Sue states that Commissioner Flannigan confirmed that Gardner had voted on the 3% revenue. That as a community, that if we did not vote yes we would not be able to accept any of the revenue from the adult only facilities in Gardner. Jennifer confirms that Gardner did vote yes, therefore we have to allow these establishments. Geoff asks what the warning label system looks like. Sue goes on to show the rack card samples warnings, but Geoff asks more specifically about the dosage, saying that adult sensitivity must vary greatly. Sue agrees. Geoff says that what could be fine for 1 person but might be borderline overdose for another. Sue states that this is why there are no recreational licenses yet, because they are trying to work out all the conundrums and the labeling is a big thing. Geoff states that he is surprised from a liability standpoint that they would individually package, which would imply that it is a single serving, and should be labeled so that anybody should feel safe to have one. Sue says that they do have to be labeled in a certain way, and that the marijuana companies are not happy that they are putting more stringent restrictions on them. They have learned from what Colorado didn’t do, and that is what they are trying to fix. Sue says that Jennifer Flannigan is going to another conference in Minnesota this week, to see if there is anything else that needs to be done, they are trying to put all of those things  together. From a health standpoint, there was a ballot question and it passed, but here was not forethought in any way on health safety for anything. Geoff states that you can probably overdose on almost any kind of chemical or nicotine, but you probably not smoke enough cigarettes or smoke enough marijuana to get to that point quickly. Geoff stated that when you are ingesting something that gives you no immediate response or feedback, it can then be all of a sudden. Sue states that is a big concern for the youth, because youth in general look for that immediate response, so they eat edibles looking for that immediate buzz, that high. Depending on what they have eaten, the time factor, absorption, their size, their gender, they may not get that buzz right away and may have more, and more and it probably won’t kill them but could make them very sick and buzzed for a few days. Sue tells the Board that the Cannabis Control Commission has a lot of educational material that she has been looking at to put in the schools and she has ordered some of the material and shows the board members. She also states that the CCC doesn’t have any revenue yet but the Governor did release monies to get print material out there ahead of time, because otherwise there wouldn’t be any materials out there yet, since there is no revenue yet. Jennifer states that Department of Public Health is getting a $30,000 non- refundable application fee and there is a $50,000 annual registration fee. John asks if the smoke shops are under the Boards purview, and wants confirmation that the shops are not selling CBD oil. Jennifer says that they are not allowed, but there are rumors that some stores sell it. John has heard rumors also. Jennifer states that she gives those complaints to Joan at Tobacco Control, and Joan has dealt with the corner store next to Alyssa’s Place. Jennifer has also heard that the place across from Alyssa’s Place sells cookies under the counter, illegally. John says that he saw an email that the police are supposed to do something with these reports. Jennifer says that Joan takes that information and gives it to the police, and the police are supposed to do something with that. Jennifer says that the edibles are not considered food under the State Sanitary Code for us to regulate. Sue says that the edibles are regulated where they are processed and manufactured. From what she understands, what they sell has to be manufactured by certain places that are licensed, so anything caught being sold under the table, would shut them down if they got caught. Jennifer states that it goes back to the CCC to regulate and enforce. Jeff asks for clarification about an email that Jennifer sent out, about alerts. Jennifer states that she sent an update about Health and Homeland Alert Network. Sue and John are signed up. Recently it has been mostly about EEE. Massachusetts Department of Public Health also has an alert system for recalls for everything from dog food to bad carrots. Sue offers to send him the link. Jennifer states that with the recalls on food, when we get those, if it lists the stores that has the products, then Jennifer or Lauren go to each of the stores in the city, to make sure that they have pulled them off the shelves. Sue does the same with meds in the schools. 5:40 Set next meeting for October 29, 2018, at 5pm, adjourn. ________________________ _______________________ _________________________ Dr. John Mulqueen MD, Chairperson Susan Avallone, Member Atty. Geoffrey Tobia, Member All conversations are documented on recording identified as B.O.H September 24, 2018.