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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-02-071 1 Sewage Disposal Permits: R. E. Andrews Co. - 2 trucks Electric Sewer Cleaning Co. - 2 trucks Sewer Man A A Cesspool Co. Suburbanite Cesspool Service - 4 trucks Sewer Reamer Service Rubbish Disposal Permits: Middlesex Disposal Charles Lee Disposal Paone's Disposal A. H. Beauchamp & Son - 3 trucks S C A Disposal Service of N.E. P 2 trucks Meeting adjourned at 9:00 P. M. BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING FEBRUARY 7, 1979 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, February 7, 1979 at 7:00 P.M. in loom G-15 of the Town Office Building. Members present were Dr. William L. Cosgrove, Chairman; Mr. James W. Lambie, Dr. Michael S. Erdos, and George A. Smith, Director of Public Health. Minutes of the January 8, 1979 meeting were approved as typed. Mr. Smith reported that the sewer connection for Burrough's Inc. had, BURROUGHS after all this time, been started. There had been a delay because the :ngineer INC. on this project had neglected to obtain the necessary permits from the Town and the State. This project will be very costly. Dr. Erdos said he thought the sewer surcharge problem in the Saddle Club SEWER area was coming very close to a law suit for the Town. He said the residents SURCHARGE of that area feel that all building should be curtained until this surcharge problem is corrected. Mr. Smith said he thought there were laws which would protect the Town on this matter of the surcharge. Dr. Erdos said the residents were not upset with the Board of Health so much as they were upset with the Planning Board for permitting more houses to be built in the area. Mr. Smith said this past storm is being classified as a 500 year storm and all the surrounding towns were having trouble during this storm. Mr. Lambie said he felt that this problem is not beirg corrected even in regular storms and he felt that we should be very concerned about it. Mr. Smith said some of the work which had been done must have helped some because the surcharge went down very rapidly. The Board agreed that this was something they wanted to keep after and hopefully a permanent solution would be resolved. i26 BROOK CLEANING BY-LAW ADDITIONAL WELL ELDERLY CLINIC upon that Mr. Smith reported that the Board of Selectmen had looked favorably the brook -cleaning by-law as suggested by him. It has been indicated this would be submitted as an article for Town Meeting. At, 7:30 p.m.. Mrs. Joan Melcher, coordinator for Council on Aging, and Mr. William Sen came before the Board to discuss another "Well Elderly Clinic" to be held at the "drop -in -center" on Meriam Street once a month. Dr. Cosgrove explained that we could not undertake any new programs which would increase the costs to the Town because of the austerity program the Town has placed each department on. He said maybe the present Budget amount could stand another clinic and if they wanted a central location maybe we should look into having it at St. Brigid's Church. Mr. Sen explained that unless the people lived in the "villages" they would not go to the Well Elderly Clinics held there. He said that outsiders were not made welcome by the Villagers and he also felt that people felt a stigma going to these places, he explained that they saw themselves a few years from now. Mrs. Melcher said she felt that the C. 0. A. headquarters would be the best place to hold this clinic because older people did not like change and they were coming into the Center now for various things. This clinic would be once a month when they held their "Open House". Dr. Cosgrove said if we held this clinic and funded it with present funds there could be no segregation. Mr. Sen said of course there would be no segregation, he went on to say that they also hoped to put in an educational program with this. Dr. Cosgrove said we had found that the educational Programs have not been too well received by the Senior Citizens. Mr. Lambie said he wondered if we were not putting too many of the same programs in a small area. He also expressed concern regarding the "Villagers" resenting outsiders coming to their clinics. He said he felt these clinics were for everyone and if there was trouble at the Villages he would suggest moving the clinics from there. Dr. Erdos said he had many patients that had to have their blood pressure checked often and he would welcome a clinic where they could go in order to release him and his office staff from doing this. Mrs. Melcher said she would like to give this program a try. After further discussion Mr. Sen said he wondered if this program was acceptable before he went to other sources. Dr. Cosgrove said we had so much money and we had no way of increasing the revenue available. Mr. Sen said he did not think we would need additional revenue, he felt that by cutting the hours at the clinics now being held we could use the same amount of hours to add this one. Dr. Cosgrove and Mr. Smith suggested we talk to Mrs. Tapia to get a few questions cleared up and then we would get back to Mrs. Melcher. The Board instructed Mr. Smith to ge in touch with Mrs. Tapia and discuss this program. Mrs. Melcher and Mr. Sen thanked the Board and retired. After the people retired the Board continued to discuss this program. Mr. Smith said he felt that this group had caused problems for the Health Depart- ment in the past. When we had the Flu Clinic they called and wanted a bus to pick un the people in the Villages and bring them to the Town Hall. He said we had quite a time explaining we did not have additional funds for a bus or any type of service such as that. Mr. Smith went on to say he resented the fact that technically the Tri - Community Health Services were our public health nurses but when any publicity is done it is always the Tri Community that receives the credit. The Well Elderly Clinics are Board of Health Clinics, we started them, ve conduct them and we use Tri Community nurses as cur public health nurses. Dr. Erdos suggested that a survey be done of the present Well Elderly Clinics to see how much use they are getting. Mr. Smith said they mentioned that many people did not want to go to the established clinics, he wondered why we did not get those calls at our office. He said he did not feel we should establish clinics all over town to service about 10 people at each one. He felt the elderly should put out something toward these clinics. Dr. Erdos said he wondered what other sources Mr. Sen referred to. If he was referring to the Health Council that is being formed, it will be an advisory council only and will control no funds for programs. After further discussion Dr. Cosgrove said he would look into this fur- ther. Mr. Smith asked the Board if they had any input on Resolution 8 regard- FORUM ON ing a forum on aging. AGING Dr. Erdos said he attended a couple of meetings regarding this but he did not have the time to continue to meet with them. He said what they want is to appoint a Lexington Health Committee whose purpose would be to publicize what resources are available to residents. Mr. Smith said there is probably a part for the Board of Health to play in all this but where are you going to get the man power to participate. We. have a man power shortage in the department now. He went on to say he felt that Mrs. Banks just wanted a comment from the Board of Health relative to Resolution 8. Mr. Smith explained that the Hayden Office Trust Building Kitchen plan was HAYDEN good and he could see no problems. OFFICE BUILDING The Board approved this plan. The letter requesting a sewer extension to Robinson Road was explained ROBINSON ROAD by Mr. Smith. This area was scheduled on the master sewer plan to be done in two or three years but they are trying to get the area moved up to next year. There is about six houses involved. All of them have had problems, I some have been repaired in what areas they were able to but there is no way these places can do any more extensive repairs. Our recommendations have been made but this area cannot go more than two years without the sewer connection. The Board agreed that Mr. Smith had made the right recommendations for sewer in this area. A letter has been received complaining about excessive smoke emana- AIR POLLUTION ting from 43 Farmcrest Ave. Mr. Smith explained that the resident at 43 Farmcrest Avenue installed a wood stove and the neighbor at 47 Farmcrest Avenue complained about the smoke and air pollution from the stove. He went on to explain that this stove was installed without a permit from the Fire Department or Building Department. Technically all wood burning stoves and all fireplaces are in violation of the Air Pollution Regulations. This stove could be smoking because it wasn't installed properly. This problem has now been resolved. According to the Mass. D.E.Q.E. any hand fired burning device which produces over 150,000 ETU'S could be considered in violation of air pollution regulations. However, because of the cost of fuel, enforcement of this violation could not be anticipated. OPEN BURNING "OLD RES" Mr. Smith stated that the open burning dates have been established from January 15 to March 15th. A permit must be obtained from the Fire Department. Mr. Smith said a letter had been received from the Recreation Com- mittee asking us to give what, in our opinion, the impact would be if the current number of people using the Center swimming pools were added to the bather load at the "Ole Res". They would like a report also on the bac- teria type and count, also the interpertation of bacteriological analyses as they pertain to the operation of the beach. The Board asked if there had been any complaints regarding the pools and the "Old Res". Mr. Smith said that he thought what the Recreation Committee was trying to correlate all the information available to present to the Town Meeting. He also said he had complaints regarding infection of the eyes, ears and nose and throat. Also the lack of showers and sanitary facilities. These complaints were about the Center Pools. As far as the "Old Res" was concerned we received complaints regarding conjunctivitis and swimmers ear. Also along with the disease problem at this facility there was a bad algae problem last year, the facility was closed for treatment and any added bathing load will increase these problems. The Board instructed Mr. Smith to give the Recreation Committee what- ever information was available. The request for an additional horse to be kept by Lisa Fitzgerald, LISA FIT?- 342 Bedford Street was discussed by the Board. GERALD - HORSES Miss Fitzgerald does not have enough land for the requested 4 horses but she has filed a note from a neighbor stating that he agrees to lease her an additional two acres of land. Mr. Littleton, animal inspector, reported that the barn at the time of his inspection, January 10, 1978 was found to be in satisfactory con- ditions and all the stalls were in good repair. He also stated that there 1 1 was enough corral area, and sufficient facilities to accomodate the number of horses requested. Mr. Smith said in the past we had a lot of trouble with the horses at this facility getting loose and becoming a hazard on Route 128. Dr. Cosgrove said as he remembered we had agreed to deny any person a per- mit unless they had sufficient area to accomodate the horses. This land must be there own land not leased or borrowed land. Mr. Lambie said he would like the records reviewed to see when this policy was adopted. it was agreed that if the records showed that we had adopted this policy regarding land usuage this one additional horse would be denied. The Board agreed with Dr. Cosgrove. Mr. Smith reported that there had been complaints of oil spills in the OIL SPILLS brooks. One in the North Lexington Brook is a recurring problem but it always seems to be in the winter at the time of high water table. He said he had trouble finding the source of this problem but after walking the brook a num- ber of times it would appear that all the establishments in the area were con- tributing to the problem. Dr. Cosgrove asked if there was any solution to this problem. Mr. Smith said there was no way to control this as far as he knew, as soon as the water table goes down the problem seems to abate. The next oil spill complaint was from Hardy Brook off Concord Avenue. When this was checked out it was found that one of the cellars in the areahad been flooded during the heavy rain and the oil tank line snapped so that when the sump pump came on it pumped the water out and the oil from the oil tank was also pumped out. At this time he contacted Waltham to let them know of the problem but they weren't too interested because they had so many high water problems of their own. Mr. Smith reported that the owner of an over -flowing septic system on 17 17 BOWMAN ST. Bowman Street had refused to correct the problem so he had to file a complaint in Concord District Court. This was corrected before the case came before the Clerk of Court but he still appeared in court so that the Court would order repairs bemade as soon as weather permitted. This property is on the Arlington line and will probably never have sewer to service it because of the location. Mr. Smith asked the Board to look at the new proposed signs for "No An- SIGNS ima.ls" and "No Bare Feet". The Board asked why we did not continue to use the same signs we had been using. Mr. Smith explained that the present signs were very expensive and he can obtain this new one cheaper. The old signs will run about $500. dollars and we can get the new ones for about $300. dollars. The Board after a short discussion approved the signs. 60 PROJECT Mr. Smith reported that the Suffolk County Extension Service and GREEN STOCK the E.P.A. had done a few soil tests on some of the community gardens LEAD & pH in various towns and discovered a high lead residual in the soil. This BALANCE IN lead residual tends to show up on the vegetables that are leafy such as SOILS lettuce and etc. The E.P.A. has been working with the Extension Service on this problem. What the Extension Service hopes to obtain is the support of Boards of Health to make soil testing for lead and Ph balance a State wide program. NO SMOKING PROGRAM MALARIA After further discussion Dr. Erdos suggested we table this report until there was more specific information available. Mr. Smith reported that the Cancer Institute had sent out a number of posters and some literature to introduce a "Help Smokers Ouit Program". He asked Dr. Erdos if he thought the physicians would be interested in re- ceiving some of this literature. Dr. Erdos said he thought it would be good but to send enough so that this can be placed in the waiting rooms for the patients. Mr. Smith also brought up the lastet advisory on Malaria Prophylaxis for travelers. He stated that he was going to send something to the pyhsicians regarding this. This literature already has been sent for. Mr. Smith reported that a meeting was to be held on a proposed change ARTICLE II in Article II of the State Sanitary Code "Minimum Standards of Fitness for SANITARY CODE Human Habitation". The State Building Code people had revised this Article and made it so stringent it was almost impossible to enforce. The meeting coming up will hopefully revise this law to make it more manageable. Mr. Smith said since the incident where net poisonois snakes bit their owners we had received a few calls regarding the keeping of snakes. The POISONOUS Mass Health Officers Association and the Mass Environmental Association SNAKES were going to suggest adopting rules and regulations regarding snakes but what most people do not know is that this problem is covered in the General Laws, Chapter 131, section 23, which prohibits possession, maintenance, propigation, cultivation and dealing of all types of animals including including snakes without a State license. The meeting of January 29, 1979 with the Board of Selectmen, Mr. Jerry MOSQUITO Downing of the University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension Service and CONTROL Kevin Moran, Superintendent of the East Middlesex Mosquito Control project was discussed. No new information was presented. Mr. Smith reported that complaints relative to trash & rubbish were TRASH AND being received at an accelerated rate. The numbers of complaints are more RODENTS reflective of complaints that come in after the snow begins to melt in the Spring. This year, however, without any snow cover people notice these conditions earlier. The heavy rains of January have appreciably affected rodent complaints as well. The water from the rain appears to be forcing them out of their harborages. The following permits were signed by the Board: ANIMAL PERMITS Paul J. Rose, 748 Waltham St., 2 beef cattle Lisa Fitzgerald, 342 Bedford St., horses (see minutes) 1 1 1