HomeMy WebLinkAbout1964-10-0589
Mr. Finneran reported to the Board that he had investigated'..
the request of Charles A. Walorz., of the Dump -All Co., to operate
a dump on land owned by Joseph Prestejohn on Bedford Street. The
traffic commission objects because the trucks will be making a left
turn in a 40 mile per hour zone. In the opinion of the Town Counsel
Section 16 of the Zoning By -Law does not permit the land to be filled
in this manner in a CH zone. Mr. Finneran said he objected to this
permit being issued because of the close proximity of the single family
dwellings on the opposite side of the street.
In view of the fact presented by Mr. Finneran the Board voted
to refuse to issue a permit to operate a dump on the property owned
by Joseph Pbestejohn on Bedford Street.
Two subdivisions were approved by the Board on the basis of the
Whitman and Howard engineerts report. Jackson Estates, dated July 18
1964 and the Extension of Bloomfield Street, dated June 29, 1964.
Both of these subdivisions will be on public sewer and the drainage
will be adequate if the Whitman and Howard reports are followed.
Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 P.M.
BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING
OCTOBER 5, 1964
The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday
evening, October 5, 1964 at 7:00 P.M. in the Health Department
Office. Members present were R. L. McQuillan, Chairman, Dr. William
Cosgrove, Mr. James M. West and Director of Public Health James
F. Finneran.
Minutes of the September 14, 1964 meeting and minutes of the
Special Meeting, September 28, 1964 were approved as read.
The Board discussed the revocation of B.L. Cummings license
to deliver milk in Lexington. At the Special Meeting, September B.L. CUM -
28, 1964, a temporary permit to deliver milk in Lexington was MINGS
granted Mr. Cummings pending this meeting of the full Board.
Mr. McQuillan: I do not feel we should re -issue Mr. Cummings
license at this time. I want to have our own
laboratory tests made every week and then a
review made of the counts we receive on these
tests. Possible at our next regular meeting
we could take further action but I really feel
we must not be too lienent with Mr. Cummings
this time. This is by no means the first time
Mr. Cummings has been before this Board and
I feel it is the duty of this Board to protect
the people of Lexington.
Mr. West: I certainly donit want to see this license
re -issued immediately and I am prepared to
make a motion to that effect. Motion is made
that this Board will take no action on the
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restoration of Mr. Cumming's license to del-
iver milk in the Town of Lexington tonight
other than that which has already been taken
at the Special Meeting, September 28, 1964.
This license will be kept in suspension and
the temporary permit will be in effect for
an idefinite period of time, the length of
which will be determined by this Board at a
latter date. During this period, through our
Milk Inspector, Mr. Finneran, samples of milk
will be taken from Mr. Cummings trucks at
least once -a week at any time or place he so
choses and an analysis made of this sample by
our own laboratory.
Dr. Cosgrove: I second this motion.
Motion made and seconded. Vote unanimous.
Mr. Todd, Attorney for Mr. Cummings, came into the Board to
request the complete restoration of Mr. Cummings License to deliver
milk in Lexington.
A reporter fromthe Lexington Minute Man also attended this
meeting.
Mr. Todd:
I have come to this meeting to show this board
I am interested in getting Mr. Cummings license
back so that he can carry on his business in the
Town of Lexington.
Mr. McQuillan: We have voted to allow Mr. Cummings to deliver
milk in Lexington on the temporary permit granted
Him on September 28, 1964, for an indefinite period
of time, during this time Mr. Finneran will pick up
Samples of milk every Meek and they will be tested
by our laboratory. If these tests prove okay we
will then review this case and the license will be
restored.
It disturber this Board a great deal the way Mr.
Cummings "pooh poohs" the action of this Board. He
seems to feel that he does not have to submit to any
rules; whether it is the action of this Board or the
standards required of any milk distributor by the
State. I am very much disturbed also by Mr. Michaels
criticism of this Board's action. He has made no
contact with this office to question our action or
talk to us about this case. As you know it was not
just the Bacteria Counts that were very high but it
was also the test that showed improperly pasteurized
milk or we could say raw milk being delivered to
the public. That is very dangerous and I believe
there is a law regarding the selling of raw milk to
the public.
Mr. Todd:
This has been an unfortunate situation all around.
I must say that the unfortunate publicity of this
matter has hurt Mr. Cummings business very much.
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Mr. McQuillan: As you know the minutes of any Public Board are
available to the public and we must submit these
minutes or excerpts of these minutes for publica-
tion if a request is made.
Mr. Todd:
Board:
Mr. Todd:
Mr. West:
Mr. Todd:
Is this gentleman from the newspaper?
Yes, this is an onen meeting as you know.
I think we have said enough about the milk. I will
ask the Board that on the basis of the tests that were
submitted at the meeting a week ago that full restora-
tion of the license be granted to Mr. Cummings. If
the milk does not meet the requirements on any given
day during your testing period you do have the power
to revoke or suspend the license right away.
I know you feel Mr. Cummings behaviour was contempuous
but I also feel that Mr, Cummings is a much wiser man
now, and the Town will profit by it.
The Board does not want to take any further action
on the re -issuing of this license at this time. The
temporary permit has been extended and Mr. Cummings
may deliver milk here in Lexington.
A great deal of unfortunate publicity was created
and now Mr. Cummings competitors are using this as
a soliciting argument. They are also using the
argument that there is no permancy in this temporary
permit therefore that is why I am requesting full
restoration of the license knowing that you have the
power to revoke the license any time, even the next
day.
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Mr. West: The current tests have met the standards. Were any
tests made by our own laboratory?
Mr. Finneran: No, we have taken no tests since August 28. I don't
see how we can restore the license until we have on
record a series of our own tests to back-up our action.
Mr. Todd: The current tests have been okay.
Mr. McQuillan: We do not like to take any action that will affect
a man's business but we do have a duty to the people
of this Town.
Mr. Todd:
Mr. West:
I understand this but the tests we have submitted
since your August tests have net all the standards
and you are allowing Mr. Cummings to deliver milk
on a temporary basis or temrorary permit. Therefore
I do wish that you could lift the revocation and give
Mr. Cummings back his license.
We can see your point but we feel we must have a
testing period before we can restore this license
completely, six or seven weeks or possible at our
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Mr. Todd:
next meeting we cantake further action but the -
people in this Town would have a perfect right to
question us if we gave this license back without
first conducting our own tests and have proof on
record that this milk was now meeting the State
Standards.
You will be testing Mr. Cummings milk every week?
Then we could say that Mr. Cummings will have the
best protected quart of milk in this Town for the
next few weeks.
Board: Yes, you could say that.
Mr. Todd:
Our appeal to the State could be dropped if you re-
stored this license. The law reads revocation or
suspension, if this license could be suspended in-
stead of revoked we would not need the State appeal
at all.
Mr. West: Revocation or suspension it is both the same and we
have granted an extension of the temporary permit so
that Mr. Cummings may legally deliver milk in this
Town, but we do need our testing period.
Mr. Finneran: You are concerned about your hearing on your appeal
Mr. Todd. You could ask for an extension until we
have completed the tests and made a final decision.
If we restored this license now without results of
tests on file in our records we would have very in-
complete records and nothing to show that we have
proved to ourselves that the Standards were being
met. Anyone asking to see the records would find
quite a gap in them from our initial action and
any action taken here tonight to restore that license
It just cannot be done that way.
Mr. Todd:
With the appeal pending a complete restoring of the
license would be better, Even if you found a high
count in your testing period you still have the power
to revoke this license again.
Mr. Finneran: You can delay the hearing, just request a postpone-
ment. We must have this testing period for our
records.
Mr. West: We realize that Mr. Cummings livelihood is at stake
but we must as our duty to the townspeople have
proper records to back up any action taken by this
Board. The temporary permit and the extended pro-
bation period is as far as I will go.
Mr. McQuillan: If this was a restaurant we would close the door and
there would be no chance for the owner to open or do
business until we gave our okay. We have given Mr.
Cummings a temporary permit so that he can deliver
his milk legally.
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Mr. Todd:
Mr. McQuillan:
Mr. Finneran:
Mr. West:
Mr. McQuillan:
Mr. West:
Mr. Todd:
Mr. West:
Mr. Finneran:
But in view of the tests we submitted full restora-
tion could be granted.
We have said Mr. Cummings could deliver milk in this
Town under certain conditions. We will examine his
milk and make our tests every week and thenwe will
have to review this again at a latter date,
We could not use the counts submitted lo-„ your client
for our records. We were able to issue a temporary
permit on those tests but to dissolve the revocation
we must haveour own records on file.
The vote we have taken will be in the minutes of
this meeting and we must stand by that vote.
If we revoked a license and then restored it without
proper proof on record it would be an action that the
townspeople we represent could well question.
As a result of our tests we revoked this license.
Mr. Cummings ignored our action and continued to sell
milk illegally, we then took him to court and he was
found guilty and fined. The next time in court for
this charge could mean a stiffer fine or imprisonment.
We know it has been difficult for Mr. Cummings to hold
his customers. The ideal solution for you would be
for us to restore this license with norestrictions
but we are charged to protect the people of Lexington
therefore any other action than what er have taken
would not be right on our part and certainly would
not be understood by the Town.
You are right the ideal solution is full restoration
of this license. A temporary license or permit has
no permancy and that is what Mr. Cummings competi-
tors are using as a sales talk. If the tests are
all right for three or four weeks then the license
can stand but if these tests are bad then you have
the power to revoke this license again. At least
if Mr. Cummings can say to his customers I have
a permanent license he has a fair chance to beat his
competitors.
We have made the statement that Mr. Cummings was now
up to standard. We hope he will keep it that way but
we must go along with a temporary permit. When Mr.
Finneran reports back to us the results of the tests
then we will review this case and make a final
decision.
To back-up the review of this case we must have our
own tests. The reason for our action on the 28th
was so that Mr. Cummings would not have to go to
court again. If this Board had not granted the temp-
orary permit I would have to take Mr. Cummings to
court again and again. At least he has been able to
deliver his milk in Lexington without further punish-
ment.
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Mr. McQuillan:
Mr. Todd:
The harm has been done. Now we must have our proof,
that the license may be restored.
I will have to leave it up to Mr. Cummings to assure
his own future, it now rests with him 100 per cent.
After you take your tests what would be the probable
time before we may ekpect your decision.
Mr. McQuillan: This matter will be brought up at our next regular
meeting.
Mr. Todd thanked the Board and retired.
MAPLE, HILL
POST OFFICE
CLINICS
FLU CLINIC
MENTAL
HEALTH
ASSOC.
SEWERS
EDMUND
HOXIE
Mr. Finneran reported to the Board that copies of the
milk analysis taken by Waltham Health Department from Maple
Hill Dairy were still not satisfactory. The State had also
reduced the bacteria count allowed from 10,000 to 5,000
colonies per c.c. for pasteurized products.
Mr. McQuillan reported that the men in the Post Office
had complained about the conditions in the building due to
the construction of the addition.
Mr. Finneran explained that we had no authority over a
Federal Building their complaint would have to be made to
the United States Public Health Service in Boston.
Mr. McQuillan asked Mr. Finneran about the clinics he
has seen advertised in the surrounding towns.
Mr. Finneran explained we did about the same with the
Clinics we run here in Town. At these clinics that are being
sponsored by the Middlesex Central Medical Society no records
are kept and we prefer to keep records on all our clinics and
we are giving the same service with the clinics we run through
out the year.
Mr. Finneran said we had about 340 doses of Flu Vaccine on
hand and we were planning to hold a Flu Clinic for Town and
School personell late this month.
Mr. West reported that he had been to a Board meeting of.
the Mystic Valley Mental Health Association and they would be
sending in reports and figures in anticipation of next years
Budget.
Dr. Cosgrove asked if Mr. Finneran had received a report
of the petition filed for public sewer on Red Coat Lane. Mr.
Finneran said not as yet but if it was filed he would be notified
and would inspect the area and make recommendations.
The copy of the letter sent to Mr. John Carroll, Superinten-
dent of Public Works, by Mr. Edmund Hoxie in reference to the
street light in front of his home on Massachusetts Avenue was
discussed by the Board.
Mr. Finneran explained that as John Carroll worked with
the Boston Edison Company in regards to the placing and etc.
of all street lights there was not a thing we could do about
this complaint.
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