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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1970-10-13C DRUMMER BOY SUBDIVISION BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING OCTOBER 13, 1970 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Tuesday, October 13, 1970 at 7:00 P.M. in the Board of Health Office. Members present were: Dr. William Cosgrove, Chairman; Mr. :lames Lambie, Dr. Charles Ellicott and Robert Heustis, Director of Public Health. The minutes of the September 22, 1970, meeting were ap- proved as read. The letter to the Planning Board regarding Drummer Boy Subdivision was read and approved by the Board. This letter explained that the Board of Health did not have funds to do extensive drainage and flooding; studies on any property, and this subdivision could only be approved subject to the ap- proval cf the Department of Public Works and the Town Engineer. Mr. Heustis reported that a complaint had -'been filed. 18 GREENWOOD against Bruce McGee, Trustee of property at 18 Greenwood St., STREET for his failure to connect this property to public sewer as ordered by the Board of Health. A re -inspection after last Board meeting showed that the house had been rented again. Mr. McGee was again contacted and implied he had no intention of connecting this house to public sewer. Mr. Heustis said he had also heard that this property was for sale and that a buyer was now in the process of passing papers because of this he wondered if the Board wanted to put on record at the Registry of Deeds that a court complaint was pending so that the new buyer would be aware of the problem. Dr. Cosgrove said he thought we should check with Mr. Legro, Town Counsel before any action was taken at the Registry of Deeds. JEFrERSON UNION The Board agreed and instructed Mr. Heustis to check this situation out with Mr. Legro. The letter from Jefferson Union Co., stating that they had taken steps both permanent and temporary to correct the discharging of pollutants into Vine Brook was read by the Board. Mr. Heustis said he hadnst been back to check this situation but hopefully the corrections made would resolve the problem. 162 BURLING- The request from Charles D. Hufton, 162 Burlington St., TON STREET regarding a variance to our policy of connecting a house to public sewer when a septic tank problem arose was discussed by the Board. Yr. Heustis explained that Mr. Hufton would like to add an over -flowing cesspool to his present system rather than connect to public sewer. To connect this house to public sewer would /lean coming out of the back of the house, in- stalling a clean out manhole at the side yard and then out 1 1 1 6 to the street. This could be a costly installation. The Town Engineers have said this system could be gravity fed to public sewer but in some places the pipe would be approximately 12 feet deep. Dr. Cosgrove said he would net grant a variance until he had seen some estimates of the costs to connect this house to public sewer. He instructed Mr. Heustis to contact Mr. Hufton end ask him to submit to the Board estimates of how much this connection to public sewer would cost as compared to an over- flow cesspool. Also, the land for the over -flow cesspool should be checked. The letter from Robert Cataldo, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, stating that Dunkin Donuts may operate between the DUNKIN hours of 6:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. was read and placed on file. DONUTS Application for a permit to keep 2 horses by Patricia Goor, 131 Hartwell Avenue was approved by the Board subject 131 HARTWELL to the approval of the owner of the property, McDonald Realty. AVENUE Application for a permit to keep 2 horses and 1 colt by John Sellars, 430 Concord Avenue was approved by the Board subject to the approval of the abutters. Application for a permit to keep 2 ponies by Robert Rushton, 24 Marrett Street, was approved by the Board Sub- ject to the approval of the abutters. The clerk reported that a sum of $4,1.51, had been trans- ferred from the E c? D account to the Health Department Ex- pense Budget. This amount should carry us to December 31, 1970, if we do not have any additional patients admitted to Middlesex County Hospital. At 7:45 P.M. Dr. Newman, Donald Tucker and Mary E. MYSTIC VALLEY Welch, representatives from the Mystic Valley Mental Health MENTAL HEALTH Association Children's Clinic came before the Board to dis- cuss the Clinic's Budget for 1971. The Budget submitted has requested an increase from local tax money from 28¢ per capita to 62per capita. Dr. Cosgrove: This increase in your budget request is really quite a shock and I would say that is putting it mildly. 430 CONCORD AVENUE 24 MARRETT ROAD BUDGET Mr. Tucker: We agree the increase is dramatic, We would like to explain our budget, I have no idea how you would like to proceed so if you can lead the way it will be helpful. Dr. Cosgrove: When I received this budget I sounded out the Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and the Town Manager as to what the reaction of the Appropriation Committee would be to such en increase. They both said that es this budget stands now it would not be accepted, nor would they consider submitting it to the Appropriation Committee without a lot more information. Your increase request is better than a 1001 and yet the report of the services rendered show no sharp increase. The Legislature has voted to give you additional funds to hire more professional help, what will this mean to your service to 364 e Town compared with the work done in the past? My experience with the Appropriation Committee has been not just en over-all picture of what you hope to d3 but what you accomplished the previous year, what your service cost per patient, what percentage of the Town you are servicing. This item total patient hours should be broken down to the cost per patient. You have an item consultation to community agencies, I would presume that is churches, service organizations, schools and the like. What service are you giving here. Are you giving service to the schools and if so are they paying for your service. We know they have provisions in their budget for psychiatric consultations. If they use this clinic end pay for the service then this would be an over -lap of tax payers money. Mr. Tucker: First of all, let me say, our operation in all the communities is to give the best possible ser- vice to the citizens and the community. I feel that our service has always been misunderstood, we have always referred to our clinic as "Children's Clinic" in reality we work as much with the parents and adults of a community as we do with the children. I feel there has been a great lack of communication with the community and the clinic. How much drug abuse is there in this community, has the drug abuse committee ever made any overtures to the clinic for help? Dr. Ellicott: The Drug Abuse Committee Funds are in the Selectmen's Budget, this Board according to Mr. Legro, Town Counsel, cannot have funds for drug abuse. Legally it should be in the Police Budget under Juvenile Section but when we met with the Selectmen we did not want the Police Budget handling the funds, we felt at that time and we still feel that we would not be able to reach the young people if they associated us with the police. The Selectmen set aside funds in their budget under Youth Service to be used by the Drua Abuse Committee. Before the formal Drug Abuse Committee was formed we did ask for a meeting with Dr. Newman but through some misunderstanding we did not pet together. I have always felt that this Drug Problem should be handled by Mental Health, but I feel it could not be at your clinic, the drug problem youth will not reach out to the establishment. I feel that to reach this problem we should have a dirty store front type of place run by young hippie looking people that car communicate with these youths. Replace is a start, our Social Worker, who by the way was trained for awhile at your clinic, is doing a good job. Mr. Tucker: The services to the churches and etc. have always been free, we are trying to reach out into the com- munity, we would like to help with the drug problem. We also feel that if the school ccunciling service could identify early behavior problems we could do a better job for the community. Right now we feel that we must give the community a broader look at our services. 1 1 365 Dr. Cosgrove: Did ycu see the article in the Sunday Globe regarding the funds being set aside for Mental Health. Mrs. Welch: Yes, they will be running parallel projects. We hope to be working with "Replace" this year. Possibly they would be eligible for some of the State funds mentioned, our clinic would not. Dr. Cosgrove: Replace would be given the money? Mrs. Welch: If they found after investigation that they were eligible. Dr. Cosgrove: This item on your budget for professional help $70,915. The appropriation committee will question this, especially in view of the sum of money you are allowed by the State for professional help. Dr. Newman: The clinic is maintained on three basic sources of revenue, local tax money, fees collected and the State money for professional help. When we hire professional help in order to get the best we do bargain a little. The State salary scale is not high enough to get the best help so we offer additional work time and we pay for that time from the local tax money. The new addional professional help will enable us to broaden our services, but with the additional professionals we must add. additional clerical help. Dr. Cosgrove: We understand what you are doing but ycu talk in generalities, you must be specific in your facts and figures. What basis you used for your figures in 1970 and 1971. What more are you going to offer in 1971 than you offered in 1970. Mrs. Welch: '.de will be extending our service to the com- munity. Dr. Cosgrove.: You mast be specific, what is the program going to be, how many hours will it take, what is the cost per hour? Mrs. Welch: You do admit that you have a drug problem in this Town, this should be your first concern, 2;4 of the young people in this State are on drugs. When we treat a young person you usually treat the whole family. With the new staff we feel we will reach more families without the waiting period we now have. Dr. Newman: This is an expensive service. Dr. Ellicott: We realize it is en expensive service, but the increase was a shock. I realize State funds are not adequate for good help and 1 can see the increase in professional help would require an increase in clerical help, but rot only will the Appropriation Committee want facts, the Town Meeting Members can and will be tough. Mrs. Welch: Do you think we are doing our job? 366 Dr. Ellicott: You are delivering the goods. Mrs. Welch: But we should have better data. Dr. Ellicott: Yes and you must have a specific program project for 1971. Mr. Lambie: I would say that you must justify your added professional help, I really would question any agency that expands that fast. Mr. Tucker: Would you suggest we prepare fact state- ments for each community instead of an over all picture we have been submitting. Mr. Lambie: I would certainly say yes. You also say you have an unfulfilled potential but what guarantee do you have that this additional staff will fill this potential as far as Lexington is concerned. Mrs. Welch: We realize the increase is great but we feel that the cost to the community will be cheap in the long run if we can stop the vandalism in the schools, etc. and stop the drug and emotional problems in the young. With the additional staff we will be able to offer 600 more patient hours. In order to keep our clerical staff we had to bring our salary schedule up to within 105 of the State clerical help. We de use volunteer help whenever possible, but their services are limited. Dr. Cosgrove: What is the average. fee, how long are the sessions. Dr. Newman: We have a fee scale according to income, it usually averages out to about $7.50, Sessions range from about 15 minutes to an hour, usually an hour. This as I have said is expensive treatment, it is hard to show what is gained in dollars and cents. After further discussion it was agreed that more data would be submitted to the Board and possibly another meeting with Town Manager and Selectmen arranged. The following permits were signed by the Board: Animal Permits: Patricia Goor, 131 Hartwell Avenue - 2 horses John Sellars, 430 Concord Avenue - 2 horses, 1 colt Robert Rushton, 24 Marrett Street - 2 ponies Joseph Russell, 20 Sanderson Road - 1 horse Food Establishment Permits: ARA Service, Inc. 3e1linols Donut Shop Daniel C. Martinez Child Care Centers Lexington Nursery & Kindergarten School, Inc. Meeting was adjourned at 10:00 P.M. 1 Dorothy Jones, Clerk