Board of Health

CITY OF GARDNER OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH 95 PLEASANT ST. ROOM 29 GARDNER. MAssAC[IusErrs DI 44(I-263() Members Present: Susan Avallone, RN Chairperson — Geoff Tobia, Esq. Member - Dr. Michele Parker Member — Angela DiPrima-Assistant Director Absent: Micah Blondeau-Agent for the Board of Health Attendees Present: Board of Health meeting held May 20, 2024 4:34 Meeting called to order. 4:36 The minutes from April 22, 2024 were reviewed for corrections and will be approved at the next meeting. 4:41 Old Business: For prevention, Gardner High School and GALT had their Health Fair on April 24th. The event was well attended. The Paw Walk fundraiser with GDTV was on April 27th. Veronika organized a pre prom speaker and that was on May 1st. It was geared towards the prevention of drunk driving and intoxicated or drug induced driving. Veronika was also working on Drug Story Theater at GALT which was held on May 14th. A Comedy Night was held for the AED foundation on Saturday this past weekend May 18th. Lt was held in the City Hall Auditorium. She’s continuing to do Game Changers and TAB training at Mount Wachusett Community College and that is a six-week program. Also, the planning continues for National Night Out which is coming up on August 6th. The transfer station hosted “Keep Gardner Beautiful” a nip hunt and trash cleanup on May 4th. The event was very well attended with a larger turnout than in the last three years. They also had a ribbon cutting for “Keep Gardner Beautiful” at the transfer station. There is a new metal container box there where Diane can keep KGB supplies like bags, vests, and her buckets and it’s where she’s storing nips in between collection drives. She continues to pick up our city week by week. She does get donations for the nips, so she collects them there. She previously had been storing them all in her home. We were able to secure a container where she could move all her stuff and be centrally located at the transfer station, so she doesn’t have people dropping off bags outside of her house or she’s not collecting litter at her house to then later bring down to the transfer station. It’s a more sanitary use of her property and better use of her time. Micah is still working on the grant applications to add structures at transfer station for more recycling capacity and a possible Swap Shop. He’s still in the process of being quoted for the landfill transfer station projects and has met with Dane from DPW. We just had a reminder for an extension on the grant application that came in today, so we’ll follow up on that tomorrow to see where we’re at in that process.  Now that we’ve hired Eddie as our primary Food Inspector, Angela has transitioned into doing primarily housing and nuisance inspections. There has been a significant increase in housing and nuisance complaints recently, but we’ve had no new condemnations. Two previous condemnations arc scheduled to be inspected for fitness for occupancy this month. Eddie, who’s currently still training, has been conducting some of his own inspections independently and has gone and done some follow-up on outstanding violations of food. He’s able to check the last report and mark it as corrected, or needs more work, and close out those reports when appropriate. He’s starting to do some inspections on his own, smaller establishments, little retail convenience stores which are more simple operations just to get him up to speed. Gardner seasonal food trucks have all been inspected and are all now open. There weren’t additional foodborne illness complaints since our last meeting. We’re still waiting on the floor plans for Chipotle and Jersey Mikes. Sawa will be relocating to the Southside Grille. The food truck festival preparations are still ongoing. Angela is coordinating with Mark Gallant from Woo Trucks to make sure the appropriate permits are in place for all the vendors participating. We will be receiving two sunscreen dispensers through MPHN. One will be installed at the pool and the other at the dog park. Beach water testing began today. They anticipate opening on Memorial Day at the Lithuanian Club. Weekly, from now until Labor Day, one of the health agents will collect a large sample and drive it to Nashoba Analytical in Ayer. Micah is in the process of completing his Title Five Soil Evaluator Certification. He had the field test last week and should have his results soon. 4: 53 New Business: Sue mentions that the city water testing pamphlet was delivered to residents recently. It was very informative. Sue also mentions that she had some concerns about a post that she saw on social media, about a resident opening a food pantry in a residential home. She states it’s a good thing that people are wanting to help but she is concerned about whether or not there’s sort of Health Department involvement. She states that there are reasons for why we have permits and inspections, it’s to help prevent foodborne illnesses and if a food foodborne illness was to erupt, we can quickly identify it investigate it and help prevent it from spreading. Angela mentions that the Health Department is aware of this food pantry and the Health Department was contacted by 2 different media sources for our comments. Angela did make a brief comment with Micah’s permission. She also wrote a determination and gave it to the media sources that requested it. It answers 2 questions that were asked. “Can you operate a food pantry at a private home location?” and “Does a food panty need a permit?” The answer is, according to the Food Code, you cannot operate a food pantry in a residential home. It’s prohibited, you cannot run any type of food service other than a ‘retail kitchen for home sales’ which is small bakeries in a residential home. We’ll talk about that next. And yes, food pantries are required to have a food permit under  Massachusetts General Law. Micah was out of the office today, so Angela says she will follow up with him tomorrow to ensure that the person involved in this case is aware of the requirements and responsibilities. Angela states that her concerns for the location and for the operation that’s happening right now would he protection from pests, such as insects and rodents. Also, she is concerned that the food storage is an open greenhouse which is unmanned; the food is just sitting out there for people to conic and take. While that makes it less embarrassing for those in need, it also lends to the possibility that somebody could tamper with the food, or that animals, insects or other pests could be getting into the food. This greenhouse sets up in the sun, which increases temperatures of the foods. Even food which doesn’t require temperature control is going to become impacted because it’s reaching temperatures that it should not be reaching if they were stored correctly. Angela has other concerns about the operation such as the availability of parking, the accessibility for ADA compliance, and for food code which is our component. The Massachusetts food code is for public health protection so it’s very challenging and frustrating to spend so much time and effort on somebody who does not want to follow the rules. Unfortunately, we must step in and do some enforcement which may require a hearing before this board or may require some citations to be written. The other issue, home bakeries are popping up on social media. There is a path to get a permit for a residential cottage kitchen that includes having an application and inspection. Angela states that she has opened three of those such kitchens this year already there are five total in Gardner. It’s encouraging that some people are coming in and doing it right. When the office gets a complaint or a report of an unpermitted situation, we send a cease-and-desist letter, and they are ordered to immediately cease production of food on their property until they have a permit and an inspection. This letter also tells them what the steps to obtain a permit. Angela would encourage the public to call the Health Department if they’re curious about whether the person that they found on Facebook has a kitchen license, they can call our office and ask. We’re happy to give them a list of permit holders so it can ensure that the food operation is safe and that they’re not supporting somebody who’s doing something that could not only be unsafe but they’re also doing it illegally they’re not operating as a proper business. Angela is planning to spend time updating the Health Department section of the City Hall webpage this summer to provide more resources for food and housing online; to add more links to the codes, laws and other agencies 5:09 Next meeting: Monday, June 17, 2024 at 4:30 PM here at Gardner City Hall in the Mayor’s Conference Room; adjourn. Susan Avallone RN, Chairperson Attyr ey obia, Nlembe? Michele C. Parker MD, Member All conversations are documented on recordings identified as 8011 May 20, 2024 Meeting.