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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-02-08-BOH-min - 1 -. Lexington Board of Health, February 8, 2006 - Meeting Minutes Police Station Guard Room, 1575 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA : Attendees Wendy Heiger-Bernays, Judith Feldman, Burt Perlmutter, Sharon MacKenzie, Deborah Thompson Health Dept.: Derek Fullerton, Susie Moser, Ann Belliveau Public: Diana Bartenstein, John Bartenstein MAHB: Cheryl Sbarra Heiger-Bernays called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. There was no public participation. Heiger-Bernays introduced & welcomed the new Public Health Nurse, Susie Moser and asked her to tell the group about her background. Minutes of January 2006: Heiger-Bernays asked the Board to review the minutes of the January 11, 2006 meeting. Perlmutter motioned to approve the minutes as amended. MacKenzie seconded. All approved. Heiger-Bernays recommended discussing the issue of teenage smoking before discussing the January data reports. Heiger-Bernays said the Board received a letter from Diana Bartenstein with concerns about teenage smoking (letter attached). Heiger-Bernays said in order to address this in its most complete form, she asked Ms. Cheryl Sbarra to attend this meeting to discuss the status of regulations related to teenage smoking in Massachusetts. Ms. Sbarra J.D. is the attorney for the Massachusetts Association for Health Boards and is well versed in this area. Heiger-Bernays asked Diana Bartenstein who attends the Windsor School in Cambridge, MA and resides at 46 Sanderson Road, Lexington to present her ideas. Ms. Bartenstein informed the Board of a school project called Take a Stand and her passion to reduce teenage smoking. Bartenstein’s research found that Attleboro had passed laws and fined students who were caught possessing and smoking tobacco. In Attleboro, the Health Director said that teachers were allowed to give out the fines as well as the town officials. Cheryl Sbarra stated that she is the senior staff attorney for the MAHB and she directs the tobacco control and prevention program. Sbarra indicated that right now we have a State Law which is the smoke-free workplace law is in effect which prohibits smoking in all enclosed workplaces including schools. Prior to this law which is currently in effect, there was the Education Reform Act which prohibited smoking in all schools and on all public school grounds, and at school sponsored events, etc. Sbarra said the Education Reform Act was not being enforced and both students and staff were smoking on school property. Several local Boards of Health then passed regulations with an enforcement mechanism for students, staff and visitors. This occurred in several cities and towns such as Attleboro and Amesbury. Tickets would be written and the individuals would go through the court system and many times they would be offered cessessation programs. Sbarra indicated this required a lot of resources and over time, the resources dried up and no one was able to do the ticketing and enforcing on school property. There is always a - 2 -. bill before the legislature that would make possession of tobacco for a minor illegal but it would be very difficult to enforce. Sbarra said a regulation is only as good as your ability to enforce it and if you cannot enforce it, then it is a negative. Sbarra indicated that the tobacco industry is behind legislation because it would take the burden off the retailer who should not be selling to a minor and puts the burden on to the minor. She also said she believes that the numbers for minors smoking in Lexington and Massachusetts are very low. Heiger-Bernays asked Sbarra what is the best approach to decrease teenage smoking. Sbarra said getting smoking out of public buildings and doing a counter- marketing campaign because kids want the truth. th Sbarra mentioned about the youth summit to be held on April 8 at the Crown Plaza in Worcester. This program is open to any young person concerned about tobacco control issues. This is a collaborative effort between Tobacco Free Mass, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and DPH. Fullerton then updated Ms. Bartenstein on the recent successful Lexington tobacco compliance check. These checks are conducted quarterly. Sbarra informed Bartenstein of the upcoming Kick Butts Day to be held on April 5, 2006 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston on 3 p.m. This event is organized by Bold Teens from Codman Square and the leader of this group is Cynthia Lush who received the national award from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. The Board thanked Ms. Bartenstein for coming to the meeting. Data Reports for January 2006: Heiger-Bernays asked the Board to review the data reports beginning with the inspection tracking. Heiger-Bernays said other towns are requesting that the inspection tracking indicate the number of critical violations identified and then on the reinspection, numbers of critical violations and category. Heiger-Bernays would like the inspections reported this way, with critical violations and categories identified. Heiger-Bernays asked Fullerton if he has heard anything about blood lead levels in Lexington. Fullerton responded he had not. Heiger-Bernays was concerned that extreme cases are not getting addressed. Fullerton will check with Linda Dube at the State to find out the process of obtaining that information for Lexington. Thompson said that she would look into the lead prevention program at DPH to determine when blood lead levels get reported back to the Town for follow-up. Pool Inspections Fullerton stated the letter to the pool owners had been sent and these inspections will be done at the end of February or the beginning of March. Heiger-Bernays advised Fullerton that the letter should have stated the purpose of what was going on, why we are going to do this, what the authority is to do this so that the owners of pool are very clear that this is health issue, what we are testing for, how the Health Department would implement closing if samples fail the standards, what measures could be taken to assure compliance, and how long it would take to get the results back for the retest so the pool facility could reopen. The facility managers need to be advised that additional - 3 -. disinfectant should NOT be added and that filters & pumps need to be maintained and education for users should be revisited. Fullerton stated that he would write this letter for review by Heiger-Bernays before sending the letter to the facility owners. Bacterial Pollution Fullerton advised the Board that the warning signs and posts have been ordered for public notification of bacterial contamination of waterways. Fullerton then informed the Board of a letter received from the Mystic Valley Watershed, which arrived after he ordered the signs, advising him that retesting in January resulted in lower levels of bacteria (below the standard) because original tests may be false positives for the waterways in East Lexington. Fullerton said Engineering is working on proposals with outside firms to do investigation work on Vinebrook. Other areas will then investigated after Vinebrook. Building Permits Fullerton checked with Kevin Batt to see if the Board of Health can hold up a building permit. Basically, unless it is an issue related to the actual regulations, then the Building Commissioner needs to issue the permit. If the Board of Health has issues that are enforceable through their regulations they can go that avenue and enforce, but according to Attorney Batt, the Board of Health cannot hold up a building permit. Fullerton cited Fletcher Avenue as a good example of this process because he had advised them of the health concerns related to the site and the owner did everything the Health Department / Board of Health requested. Educational Program for Landlords Heiger-Bernays reported to the Board about the previously discussed educational program to educate landlords about legal pesticide application use. She reported that the program is moving forward and the person who is working on the program will be presenting at the Board’s next meeting. Miscellaneous Heiger-Bernays requested in the minutes that any agent of this Board who is doing food inspections, housing inspections, pool inspections or anything else, really needs to have robust certification. Heiger-Bernays said the local towns around here would not hire anyone to do these inspections without the RS. Emergency Planning Fullerton advised the Board of the newly appointed Region 4A Coordinator, Archana Joshi. Ms. Joshi worked previously with the CDC in Atlanta. Fullerton began a discussion on Emergency Planning. Fullerton has previously given the Board his after action report and asked for the Board’s comments, suggestions, etc. A debriefing had been conducted with the Harvard School of Public Health. Fullerton mentioned that it was good that all of the people communicated from all across the Board including people who were not part of the Incident Command Center. Fullerton felt all - 4 -. people within Town Hall should have been briefed each day because they were receiving calls from the public. Fullerton also recommended getting the whole organization trained in the Incident Command System instead of just the frontline personnel. This is important because if a much larger event occurs, more people will be required and it would be better if they knew the levels of command such as the Incident Command Officer and the Public Information Officer. Fullerton read Harvard’s summary of the debriefing. Some recommendations included in the debriefing are: make provisions for command center with more space where planning could take place since Keyspan took over DPW as their command center, planning relief for workers, designate key communication roles and someone to monitor media reports, develop a written emergency response plan, strengthen internal communication lines, involve senior management, establish mutual aid with other communities and implement reverse 911. Fullerton felt the local community television network did an outstanding job during the incident. The Board recommended Fullerton pursuing a LEPC. Burlington and Bedford both have LEPC. Fullerton informed the Board that he has completed 90% of the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). It is estimated that Lexington will be one of the first towns out of 34 communities to have a completed plan. This plan will ultimately be adopted by the Board of Health, Selectmen, Town Manager, Emergency Management Director, the Police Chief, the Fire Chief and School Department. Fullerton mentioned the huge response to the medical reserve list. Approximately 1,000 letters were sent out and 400 responses have been received. Unfortunately, when we join the regional medical reserve corp., these 400 individuals will be recruited for the region. Heiger-Bernays motioned to adjourn. MacKenzie seconded. All approved.