Board of Health

CITY OF SALEM BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MINUTES April 10, 2018 MEMBERS PRESENT: Paul Kirby, Chair, Dr. Jeremy Schiller, Mary Lauby, Kerry Murphy, Geraldine Yuhas ABSENT: Beth Gerard, City Council Liaison OTHERS PRESENT: Larry Ramdin, Health Agent, Suzanne Darmody, Public Health Nurse, Maureen Davis, Clerk of the Board, Dr. Kimberly Waller, Salem State University, clinical rotation students at Salem State University present to observe TOPIC DISCUSSION/ACTION 1. Call to Order 7:00pm 2. Approval of Minutes M. Lauby moved to approve minutes. K. Murphy 2nd. All in favor. (February 13, 2018) Motion passed. 3. Chairperson Communications P. Kirby welcomed Geri Yuhas to the Board and congratulated J. Schiller on his reappointment. P. Kirby met with Michele Sweeney and Patrice DeLeon from Salem State University. L. Ramdin met with one of their students and stated he is always willing to help in any way he can. 4. Monthly Reports-Updates a. Public Health S. Darmody shared that flu rates are finally matching up with last year’s Nurse’s Report now. In January, the flu rates were significantly higher than last year. We used most of the flu vaccine we purchased, except for pediatric. Will most likely order the same amount for next year. The state only supplies vaccines for under 19 years old. Vaccines are shipped directly from the state to providers (pediatricians). Copy available at the BOH office. b. Health Agent’s The Health Department is moving to 98 Washington Street next Tuesday, Report April 17th. Next month’s meeting will be held there in the first-floor meeting room. Meeting rooms will have built-in presentation equipment. Janice Orta is attending Registered Environmental Health Specialist/Sanitarian credential review classes. Liz Gagakis and Jeffrey Barosy are attending on-site waste water disposal systems training. Jeffrey will also attend lead determinator training. L. Ramdin will meet with the City Council Finance Committee on June 5th to discuss the department’s budget. P. Kirby will try to go. P. Kirby asked about North Shore Shared Health Services. L. Ramdin explained it is a collaborative of eight communities. They use  grant money for such things as signs about ticks, etc. They developed an Operations Manual for health departments. He will share it with the Board. He would like to add the MAHB Guidebook and the Operations Manual to the members’ flash drives. K. Murphy asked what the story was with the Palmer Cove garden. L. Ramdin said some geology students found suspect findings in the soil. He met with a student, who seemed more concerned with contaminant uptake by nut trees. Cornell University gave them guidelines; they took some samples and had no concerns. Raised beds are best as they are not affected by the ground soil. Not sure of the impact of the sea water from the flooding during the storms. Alyssa Rosemartin and Patricia Hale of Salem Community Gardens are putting together a letter of best practices, which L. Ramdin will ok first. Pequot Highlands water main break affected the heat in the building, during the visit L Ramdin observed the pipes were labeled incorrectly – “in” labeled as “out”, etc. They will fix the problem. L. Ramdin asked for two additional inspectors to be added to his budget to help with the increase of Certificate of Fitness inspections. He also requested a Public Health Programs Coordinator, but was told no. Emily Chi is preparing to apply for a 5-year Healthy Communities opiate use reduction grant. It takes about a year to prepare for such a grant, and that is an example of what a programs coordinator could do for us, along with research. L. Ramdin recently went to a slam poetry session of mostly young people. They really expressed their pain and hurt. A lot of them said the poetry helps with healing. M. Lauby is a grant writer and said she is happy to help L. Ramdin any time. We work together with community agencies. Social determinants of health should be used as a guideline. We need a planning process with needs and hard data from many sources. We can use Mass in Motion’s data. M. Lauby is moving and therefore resigning from the Board. May will be her last meeting. She would like a person of color to replace her. L. Ramdin will give her some contacts. M. Lauby said she knows faculty at BU and is happy to call to see if they have people to provide us with social determinants of health. The gateway cities data is not an asset-based approach and seemed to have just problems. Copy available at the BOH office. c. Administrative No comments/questions. Report Copy available at the BOH office. d. City Council B. Gerard not present. Liaison Updates J. Schiller moved to approve the reports. K. Murphy 2nd. All in favor. Motion passed. 5. Update of Regulation The amendment is moving from city trash pick-up for homes only to now 7 – Solid Waste include multi-unit housing and businesses. There will be an increase in cost but will eventually save money through less waste. People can put out as much recycling as need be and can use any other containers to do so in addition to the recycling totes provided. Anyone on city trash pick-up must recycle. L. Ramdin stated the regulation changes must be passed by the June meeting because of deadlines for the grant. By the Board accepting the regulation tonight, it opens it up for discussion. At the next meeting in May we will invite public comment and vote. We are sending notice to multi-unit housing owners and agents by mail and business owners through the Chamber of Commerce. J. Schiller motioned to accept the amendment to Regulation 7. M. Lauby 2nd. All in favor. Motion passed. M. Lauby moved to place on the agenda for the May meeting a period of public comment. K. Murphy 2nd. All in favor. Motion passed. A local advisor from DEP and the City Solicitor will be asked to attend the public comment meeting. 6. Recreational L. Ramdin said marijuana is legal for retail sale on July 1, 2018. Marijuana Currently there is one license in Salem, the dispensary. L. Ramdin will get the Board zoning relevant to marijuana. This is state law, so we are bound by it, but are concerned about edibles and consumption (smoking) in closed spaces and shared spaces. J. Schiller pointed out that the Cannabis Control Commission has not weighed in on social consumption yet. Beverly included no smoking on beaches, including marijuana. It was a case of smoke free vs. tobacco free. J. Schiller commented that we should consider the fact that 70% of Salem voted for marijuana. There is reduced opiate use and deaths in communities with legal marijuana. We need to be data-driven. The Cannabis Control Commission will begin retail sales and recreational use on July 1st. It will be a year for social use, so people can’t use it where they purchase it. Denver wanted to know what chemicals were being used in the growing of marijuana. Traces of chemicals were found in edibles. Per the FDA, marijuana is not approved as a safe substance. G. Yuhas asked if the Board would get involved in regulation of growing of marijuana. L. Ramdin said no, because that is covered under a state regulation. L. Ramdin pointed out that most local boards are changing their tobacco regulations to say “smoking”, not tobacco. P. Kirby felt there is no need for us to take any action at this time, but asked Larry to keep the Board informed as the issue develops. 7. Board of Health program planning a. Kimberly Waller – Presentation on Health K. Waller stated there was a lack of information on health boards. Department organizational She called the Governor’s office and was told there is a MA DEP task models force for establishing standards for boards of health and they are creating a database called FIT, by town. She showed a PowerPoint presentation comparing Lynn, Chelsea and Salem. She reviewed three boards of health/health departments with inspectional services divisions (ISDs). J. Schiller said the building commissioner does not know about health. K. Waller stated it takes communities five to seven years to put together an inspectional services division. J. Schiller asked if the Lynn people are new to ISD. . We run the same grant programs as Lynn. K. Murphy noted the loss of oversight and communication with health inspections for both Chelsea and Lynn. K. Waller pointed out the public health side became more isolated and diminished. L. Ramdin said the skill sets required of the building inspector and health inspector are very different. Health inspectors need a bachelor degree and other credentials. The building commissioner has no public health training. J. Schiller said we need to understand the rationale of looking into ISD. P. Kirby said the decision of ISD is with the City Council. We would have an advisory role J. Schiller agreed but said we do have an opinion. P. Kirby feels Mayor Driscoll is looking to improve government. J. Schiller asked if there is a model that shows a very successful, positive ISD model. K. Waller said she is looking at different dynamic models, not just ISDs. P. Kirby said there is not anything for us to do now. If the City Council votes on it, we will give our opinion. J. Schiller suggested we ask the Mayor to come to a meeting some time and share her concerns. M. Lauby said it seems like it’s an assumption that we would have more time for public health. L. Ramdin said we have to look at authorities of building inspectors. One cannot make a building inspector into a housing inspector. P. Kirby said he will invite the Mayor to the July meeting. He will let her know we have started the discussion and need some clarity. If it’s hard to get resources as an independent department, it wouldn’t be any easier to get more as an ISD. K. Murphy suggested we consider re-staff as opposed to reorganization. 8. New Business/Scheduling of future agenda items Put on agenda for next month period of public comment for Regulation 7 and written comment to be received by May 18th. M. Lauby suggested we look into stand-alone departments and what they  are doing. L. Ramdin said Barnstable has a good program. Their population increases significantly in the summer months. They have temporary inspectors for pools, etc. We should also look into Newton and Brookline’s programs. L. Ramdin will call Sharon in Peabody to have our members’ names added to the letter of support for gun violence. 9. MEETING ADJOURNED: M. Lauby moved to adjourn the meeting. K. Murphy 2nd. All in favor. Motion passed. 9:45pm Respectfully submitted, Maureen Davis Clerk of the Board Next regularly scheduled meeting is Tuesday, May 8, 2018 at 7:00pm At City Hall Annex, 98 Washington Street, 1st Floor, Salem, MA