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: Lauren Saunders – Assistant Health Director Dr. John Mulqueen, Chairperson Susan Avallone, Member Atty. Geoffrey Tobia, Member Minutes for Board of Health meeting held on Monday, May 13, 2019 __________________________________________________________________________________ 5:00 Meeting called to order. 5:03 Minutes from the April 24, 2019 meeting were reviewed, discussed, approved, 1 revision needed, will be signed at next meeting. 5:08 Eugene & Amanda Guerra from Main Street Tattoo were asked to come before the Board and are present tonight. There was a complaint by a resident that a tattoo artist without a license had been performing tattooing at the shop that they own. Eugene admits that Johnny was not licensed, but does have all certifications including his Blood Born Pathogen, Skin Anatomy, and First Aid & CPR. Eugene states Johnny had been tattooing at Main Street Tattoo for about 10 years, which is before he came to work at the shop. Lauren states that Johnny had recently come into the Board of Health Office, had spoken with the previous Health Director about getting licensed but was told there is no apprentice program in Gardner and he could not be licensed. As a result of the above mentioned complaint, Lauren performed an inspection of Main Street Tattoo on 4/18/19. Lauren also asked to audit Main Street Tattoo’s consent forms from the last 6 months. Eugene provided 131 consent forms for review. Her findings were that 24 forms did not have an artist name listed and on 16 forms the artist name was cut off the form. She found 2 forms that listed ‘John’ as the artist, 7 forms that did not have the ID of a client attached, and 1 form was completely blank but did have an ID attached to it. Lauren also stated that the forms they have been using are very difficult to read, they are blurry, and she wants them to update the document so that it will be clear and legible. The Board members told Eugene and Amanda that it is a violation for anyone without a license to perform tattooing in their shop and that they cannot allow anyone to tattoo in the shop without a license. Going forward, inspections will be conducted more frequently. The shop also needs to keep complete records of each client. Lauren will conduct a review of consent forms every 3 months for 1 year along with annual inspections of the shop. Failure to comply with Tattoo Regulations could result in fines or a suspension of his license. Amanda asks if there is any way that they can train an apprentice as it is difficult to attract artists to work in this city. There is a discussion about how Fitchburg does variances, and the Board agrees to look more at that process. Eugene and Amanda leave the meeting. There was an additional conversation about tattooing to see what could be done in the future when someone applies for a license. It is suggested that everyone should take a look at the tattoo regulations again to see what enforcement and licensing powers it contains. 5:52 Old Business: Dr. Mulqueen agrees to follow up with the City Solicitor to verify that Lauren can have someone from a Montachusett Public Health Network city or town accompany her on septic inspections until she had completed her certification. Tobacco letters were amended and sent out on April 25, 2019. 5:56 New Business: Gardner Educational Television has contacted Lauren, they would like to do a quarterly segment on Board of Health issues, such as recycling and mosquito control. Lauren has been in touch with Sue Christensen with Massachusetts Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative (MOAPC) out of Fitchburg to work on getting grant money to purchase more sharps containers as we have run low and have been getting them from Fitchburg recently. Lauren has been working on the Substance Abuse Prevention Collaborative (SAPC) West grant which Gardner holds. She has completed the Virtual Gateway training, she now has her password and access as the Grant Administrator so that she can distribute the funds to LUK. Lauren has gone on her first Perc test with supervision by a certified soil evaluator who is employed by the City of Gardner. He will work with her for the entire process for this site. FY 2020 Transfer Station stickers have arrived and are now for sale. The annual Trash and Recycle Calendar has been ordered and will be mailed to all residents in June. The Board of Health staff have been working with Community Development & Planning on the Food Truck Festival, which is coming up on Saturday June 8th. Lauren will be doing all of the truck inspections on that day. Lauren will inspect the pool at Ridgewood and that should be opened this week. She has started the beach testing for the season at the Kendall pond for E. coli, and the result was passing. Lauren lets the Board know that she spoke with resident Joan Gould again. Joan had come in to the BOH Office last month to ask to speak to the Board about a proposed project on Keyes Rd. Lauren called Joan after the last Board meeting to let her know that the Board had asked for more current information about how the project relates to the Board of Health. The information Joan previously provided for the board to review was information from many years prior. Since then, there have been public hearings regarding that information and the board questions if this is a matter for DEP. Lauren did reach out to Conservation and there are no new developments. The Director of Public Health position was posted and will remain open until May 23, 2019. John mentioned that Dr. Miller, who previously served on the Board, offered his assistance as a mentor if Lauren needs to speak with someone with experience. Lauren has been reaching out to other BOH offices, especially Fitchburg. She has found adequate help and the resources she needs. Lauren stated that there was a sludge landfill odor complaint recently, she visited and there was an odor present. Lauren has been in contact with Suez, they report they are working hard to remedy the issue. The recent heavy rains can attribute to increased odor. 6:10 Set next meeting for June 17, 2019, 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 May 13, 2019.