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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-03-02BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MARCH 2, 1971 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Tuesday, March 2, 1971, at 7:00 P.M. in the Health Department Office. Members present were: Dr. William Cosgrove, Chairman. Mr. James Lambie, Dr, Charles Ellicott and Robert Heustis. Director of Public Health. Minutes of the February 2. 1971 meeting were approved, Tho stabling regulations for the keeping of horses were STABLE again discussed and changes and additions made. REGULATIONS Mr. Lambie suggested that Section 6, paragraph "h" b- changed to read: "...a dry w.?11 or to provide some other method of drainage acceptable to the board of health." Section 7, paragraph "d" to read: ",,.shall be valid and may be re- newed subject to...". The proposed addition to Section 6, paragraph "k" was changed to comply with zoning regulations. The following sen- tence was added to Section 7, paragraph "a": Tho application shall also show the location and dimensions of fencing. Dr. Ellicott said he would like to have the fencing regulation made a little more rigid and explicit but after further discussion it was agreed to accept the regulations. A motion was made and duly passed to rescind the Vaote of the Board made March 2. 1970, which adopted the stabling; regulations as submitted at that time. Notion was then made and duly passed to adopt the stabling regulations with all changes, additions and corrections which have been made since March 2, 1970. The clerk was instructed to send a cony of these r=gulations to Town Couns31. Mr. Lanro, for his final approval, Tf Mr, Legrc has no further changes for these regulations they are to be printed in the 1 -cal nap=r one. and a copy sent to Town Cleric. Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Parsons, 65 Allen Street camp; before the Board again, to discuss the location of the fence as re- PARSONS� quir'don their permit to keep a horse. HORSE Mr. Parsons: I really do not have much to add to what we have already said at previous meetings with this Board. I would like to explain that the area we want to use is the only level area suitable for a riding ring for my daughter to practice showmanship exercises. The horse would not be in the ring area unless my daughter is riding the horse or unless the horse was tied in that area for short periods of time. The horse is a docile animal and has only gotten loose once. I would like to leave the fence line where it is at the present time. 1 agree with you that the atmosphere in the neighborhood is poor but this area is the only place suitable for a ring and 1 promse this Board that this area will be used with discretion. As I plan this if the ring is there we will be giving better protection 384 than you required T agree that the ^ttitudo and the har•rass- meet with the Hopkins family is a hard thine tove li with but 1 do not seg how the rine' situated where T want it will limit the use of the Hopkins property. Mr. Huestis: I feel there are many things attributing to the issues in this neighborhood and unless you people over there can come to some compromise you will continue to have problems. land Mrs. Parsons: You people are depriving us the use of our and harnessing us. Dr. Cosgrove: You say we are depriving you the use of your land, you both very well know that after the initial hear- ing we had on this permit Mr. Lambie and I were not in favor of granting you a permit to keep a horse. We did not have just the Hopkins family complaining but we had several other neighbors who objected because of the excess flies and odor. Dr. Colburn,. then a member of this Board, said you had the required amount of land therefore he felt we should grant a permit but in view of the objections by the neighbors he felt if we made the location of the fence a condition to the per- mit we would be protecting your neighbors from any health nuisance and still let your daughter enjoy her horse. I say you people have not cooperated with this Board since this permit was granted., We gave you the permit in December 1969 and it wasn't until September or October that you put up any fence for this horse. That would indicate that this horse has been on your property close to a. year and the conditions of the permit have not been adhered to. Mr. Parsons: We got our permit in December 1969, I then had to build a barn so we left the horse where she was stabled until June when the people moved away. I started building the barn and then we went on vacation to Maine for 3 weeks, so the harse was in the yard, I would say, about 1 week in June and then some of the time in August while I was working on the barn. I spoke to Mr. Heustis about putting the fence line along the lot line and I also spoke to you, Dr. Cosgrove. After our meeting with you in December or January we got a letter stating we had to go back to the original condition of the permit before renewal of our permit in April. Dr. Cosgrove: You admit then that the horse was on your property in violation of your permit. Mr. Parsons: The horse was not fenced for a period of 2 months all told. Dr. Cosgrove: Where does the harrassment come in from this Board. Mrs. Parsons: Your restrictions, disposing of the manure and fencing. Every time we move Hopkins calls Yr. Houstis and complains and then he is right ov.-r there ch-ckirg up on us. Dr. Cosgrove: That is not harrassment, that is his job. He must investigate every complaint that comes into this office. 1 1 1 385 The handling of the manure Is a standard nr•ocedur with the is- suance of any permit for horses. Mrs. Persons: Everytime we do anything in our yard Hopkins is right there. W- nut the f=nce straight across t.e the lot line Mr. Heustis said it was all right, then Hopkins complains and now wo are notified we have to move the fence. We aro beim_ dis- crimirsated against. Dr. Ellicott: We issue these permits and expect the owners to cooperate so that the animals will not be an annoyanee to the neighbors. Mrs. Parsons: You people think your Go Dr. Ellicott: All we are asking is that you cooperate with us so that your daughter may enjoy her horse. Mrs. Parsons: We have suffered for 2 years with this thine, my health is being effected by it. Dr. Ellicott: You cannot blame your ill health on this Board, we have been very reasonable. The harrassment you speak of is not a health matter but a civil matter. T really don't think you can blame your illhealth on the horse and this Board. Mr. Lambie: Your neighbor relations could be the cause of your ill health. The fence line as originally stated was a con- dition of the permit. We have pointed out to you time and time again that the location of the fend was a condition to this per- mit because we had se much objection at the hearing we held. We. felt if we Nave you a permit to keep a horse we also had to offer some protection to the neighbors and that is the only basis we issued this permit. Mr. Parsons: I feel the fence as it is now, with the ring will give batter protection to the neighbors. We keep a clean yard and I won't let the horse graze in this area too much be- cause of the grass. There is a hedge along the lot line. Mr. Lambie: I feel you and Mr. Hopkins will have tc come to a compromise before this thing can be settled. Your lot is narrow and that was why the fence was set et the angle it was. You have room at the back ofthelot away from your neighbors, as I re- member that was fairly flat. Mr. Parsons: It is rocky and there is ledge there, she fe1.1 there once and the horse fell down the embankment. Mr. Lambie: Then you really don't have the full acreage of usable land. Mr. Parsons: I have taken some of the rocks out of there but it would be impossible to get it in shape for a ring. Dr. Ellicott: You do not seem to realize that the keeping of e horse on a lot of land in a residential area is a privilege rather then e right. I suggest you make peace with your neigh- bors. 3146 P".rs.Parsons: We will not make peace. Y think this Board is In with e Realty Trust and you are trying to ..rive all the horses out of Lexington. Dr. Cosgrove: Now wait a minute, we have spent more time with you people than anybody else. We have over 100 horses in Lexington now and other than you people we have no trouble with them. If we have an occassional complaint of manure or en excess of flies in the area we check it out and after Mr. Heustis speaks to the owners things are cleaned up. You people are the only ones who are not satisfied with the conditions of your permit. Mrs. Parsons: You have driven many people out of Lex- ington because of their horses. I know because it has hap- pened to my friends. Dr. Cosgrove: You are referring to McFlman's. Now you know the McElmans had no right to spread manure on the ground and leave it. If I remember correctly McElmans were part of the problem when this permit was granted, that is why this Board was so careful when we issued this permit. The fly and odor complaints and the horse getting loose all had to be considered. McFlmans did not help your situation any. Mrs. Parsons: There Hampshire. was the Rosas' they went to New Dr. Cosgrove: We could not grant them a permit. they did not have any land. They wanted to take a part of the garage right next to their house and make a stall in it for the horse. They did nct have a yard as wide as this room for the horse. Mrs. Parsons: You keep talking about flies, do you imply we are dirty. We have flies, they come from Carroll's Farm. but we don't run down here complaining, we spray. Dr. Cosgrove: At your hearing we had one woman say she caught a jug full of flies in less than a week, another said they could not use their back door because of the flies. Mrs. Parsons: We keep a clean place. Hopkins calls the police every time we turn around. I didn't call the police when holes were punched in 2 of our canoes. Dr. Cosgrove: We have told you that those things are a civil matter not a health matter. Flies are a health matter. I say you should stay with our original ruling on the fence. Dr. Fllicott: You must realize you can not, create a nuisance in the neighborhood. T suggest you make peace with your neighbors. Mrs. Parsons: decision. We will not compromise, What is your Dr. Cosgrove: You will get it. 1 1 1 1 1 1 Mrs. Parsons: How long before we hear from you. last time we waited a month. My health is breaking now, T cart stand this waiting. Dr. 71.licott: You will have to wait for a decision, Mr. Hopkins has the weight of law. Mr. Parsons: It is very hard waiting a.nd checking the mail each day. I hope you can see that we get a decision es soon as possible. Mrs. Parsons to Mr. Parsons: What do you think, I wontt accept a compromise. Dr. Cosgrove: We have offered you many suggestions on how to make this thing work, but I feel no matter what decision we make you will not accept it. You had that permit e whole year and you knew what the conditions were and yet you did not come to this Board once during that year. Ir. Parsons: I came when we got ready to put up the fence. Dr. Cosgrove: You had no right to have the horse there at all until the fence was put up. We could gat very technical and revoke your permit. Mrs. Parsons: You people don't want horses in Lexington, you make it very hard for anyone to have a horse. We have the required acreage. I'r. Lambie: Dimmensions of lot lines, neighbors and many other factors enter into the granting; of a permit to keep a horse. We cannot group them together just because they have the required acreage. We have suggested you use the land up in the back and you say it is not suitable for riding. there- for. . we can assume you do not have the required acreage of usable land. Nr. Parsons: There was one other thing, you stated we had to keep the manure in closed containers and cart it away Last summer I dug a hole and put the manure in that, would that be all right. Mr. Heustis: We do accept alternate plans for the hand- ling of the manure providing they do not create a nuisance. A manure pit must be covered and treated. Mr. Parsons: You will let us know of your decision in a couple of days, it is hard waiting. Mrs. Parsons. looking directly at Dr. Cosgrove: When you send this letter. I,went you to sign it so you cannot deny writing it or knowing about it. Dr. Cosgrove: You will get your letter, but I still feel you people should make a compromise. 388 C.i Mrs. Parsons: I will not make a comnrcm.se. When wei get your decision, depending on what it is. you might hear from my attorney. Mr. & Mrs. Parsons retired. After Mr. & Mrs. Parsons retired the Board discussed this matter of the fence line for Parsons' horse. Dr. Cosgrove: Well Gentlemen, I don't know how you feel but as far as I am concerned those people will not make any compromise. They want it their way and that is it. Dr. Ellicott and Mr. Lambie agreed but the Board thought if they could suggest a fair fence line the concerned parties might come to some agreement. Dr. Ellicott: If we suggested that they put the fence line in such a way that at no point would the fence be less than 100 feet from the Hopkins dwelling. I would think that would give them more space. show Mr. Lambie: Let us look at the plot plan. The certified plot plan was checked and a line drawn to where 100 feet from the Hopkins dwelling would be. Mr.. Lambie: If these people could compromise on a. fence line similar to this (indicating on plot plan) I would think that would be enough space to give them the riding ring they want. Dr. Ellicott: They really should come to some agreement themselves. Dr. Cosgrove: Aro we agreed that we suggest to each party that they try to make a compromise and suggest that if the fence is kept 100 feet from the Hopkins dwelling and both parties agree this Board will be satisfied. We'll send a letter to the Parsons with these suggestions and send a copy of that letter to the Hopkins family. I feel we have boen very reasonable with these people and now it should be up to them. MYSTIC Mrs. Mary Welch, Executive Director of Mystic Valley IALLZY Mental Health Clinic dropped into the, meeting and asked the MEP'TAL 3oard if she could have a few minute to discuss the budget F7ALTHI again. BUDGET Dr. Cosgrove said the Board could give her a few minutes but it was late and the Board still had a full agenda. Yrs. '..'el.ch exp'isined that shehad talked to Fr. Perry, Comptroller and haa given him financial information that he seemed to accept. Evidently this information did not get to Mr. O'Connell, Town Manager, before the meeting with Clinic Personnel and the Selectmen. Yrs. Welch left a copy of this information for th- Board. 1 1 389 She explained that at the end of 1970 the Clinic was using some of their savings, money paid by Replace and other assets not paid by the Town to meet their budget. Mrs. Welch said she would explain anything the Board did not understand about the services at the Clinic. Dr. Ellicott said he felt that the hours spent in Staff consultation should not be billed to the Towns in his opinion this was overhead expense. He also said that when any hospital or clinic used trainees it was an expensive service. A trainee can interview patients and. then he must go back to the professional for consultation. I feel this service is necessary but it is expensive and using trainees can be inefficient. Mrs. Welch said we have to interview families separately. A disturbed child will not talk_ to anyone if he or she feels the person is also seeking* one of his parents. Dr. Cosgrcvo said he felt $33. dollars per hour was ex- pensive. also we have no way of knowing how many hours a person is seen by a professional or a trainee or whether they are seen by e psychiatrist, psycholdgist or a social worker all this could make a difference in the ever -all picture of the clinic. Mrs. Welch said if the Board would take all the professional hours spent on each patient and break it down they would see that the service was only costing 19.81 per patient. Dr. Cosgrove said this clinic has requested more money from the Towns each year. I should think you would reach a plateau and start stabelizing instead you seem to be accelerating. You have a great deal of help for the number of patients. You keep speaking of working with the schools, now we know Lexington has a number of trained psychologists in the schools, the school budget also has 33 thousand dollars set aside for psychiatric consultation. The Drug Abuse Committee has 10 thousand dollars and out of that they pay McMannus. Replace has just received a grant of 10 thousand dollars and then your increased budget makes it quite a sum for the tax payers to pay for mental health. Mr. Lambie said maybe we should have a committee to study this problem. Mrs. Welch again cited individual cases being treated at the clinic. and also talked about the out patient care for Metropolitan State Hospital patients. She said she did not think that Dr. Ellicott cr Dr. Cosgrove believed too much in the work being done at the Clinic. Dr. Cosgrove and Dr. :llicott said they did feel there was good being; done at the clinic but they also felt there Has a great deal of help for the number of patients treated and that the costs should be studied very carefully. After further discussion Mrs. Welch retired and the Board again discussed the amount of money requested by the Clinic for 1971. oil Dr. Cosgrove said he was in favor Of staying with the same amount as last year which Was $859. He said he c uld not agree t.c the $17,870 dollars requested.. 1 would really like to stey with last years figure and let the Town Meeting Men- bers take it from there. Dr. Ellicott said he was in favor of recommending about $12,000 dollars which would allow for a cost of living raise and also pay for additonal_ staff hours. Mr. Lambie said he did not know how effective the Clinic was and he agreed that it was an expensive service but he did not feel that he wanted to cut the budget request this year. He asked to see the copies of the letters from the other Board of Health from the surrounding towns using the clinic. Dr. Cosgrove pointed out that the letters Mrs. Welch filed with us are from Boards of Health not the finance committees or appropriation committees of the Towns, therefore, there is no proof that the other towns will give them the full amount they are asking for. After my meeting with the selectmen I would say neither the selectmen or the appropriation com- mittee will go along with the full amount. Mr. Lambie said we could not prove that the clinic was being run inefficiently and he did not want to do anything to destroy the organization. He said he would recommend the full amount but with strings attached such as payment be made contingent on the audit and the services rendered by explained in more detail. He went on to say that this year a better underttanding should be developed with the clinic no that another year we would clearly understand what was needed. After further discussion the clerk was instructed to notify the Selectmen that a majority vote of the Board recommended a sum of S12.000. be submitted to Town Meeting for Article 27. Tt was pointed out that Town Meeting could increase this amount by taking action on the floor. The Board agreed to hold a public hearing. Narch 16. 1971 for the 611 additional units to be built by the Chalet CHALET Susse, Inc, at 440 Bedford Street. Mr. Heustis said the SUSSE'plans for the restaurant had also been submitted for ap- proval, but the restaurant did not require a public hearing. Dr. Cosgrove instructed Yr. Heustis to check with Town Engineer to make sure the pumping station on 128 will be able to handle the added amount of sewage from this addition also with this addition if it will be able to handle the addition of Drummer Boy Subdivision. The questionnaire on Family Planning was shown to the FAMILY Board so they would be aware that Federal Funds were available PLANNING for this program. GRANT Dr. Ellicott said he was sure the L.V.N.A. had received this questionnaire too. 1 1 1 91 The advertisement for an emergency Cardio -Alert System was shown to the Board. M.r. Heustis said he wondered if the Board CARDIO - was interested in checking; with e civic organization to see if ALERT they might be interested in installing this system in the am- bulance. Dr. Ellicott said before any action was taken it would be best to check with Chief Spellman. Symmes Hospital and Mt. Auburn Hospital because the system would not be of any use unless the hospitals were equipped to receive the data from this machine. Yr. Heustis said he hadrecoived plans for the new housing FF0"SINCx for the elderly and he would like permission to have Mr. Lucas FOR from Whitman & Howard. Inc. chock the plans. Permission was ELDERLY granted. The clerk informed the Board that this year because of the RABIES building program the Rabies Clinic would be held at the Central CLINIC Fire Station. Mr. Heustis reported that the State Health Department had refused permission to the Town to burn the demolition material CENTRAL from the Central Block at the Town Sanitary Land Fill. The BLOC; material will be taken to the Land Fill but it will have to be REFUSE covered and not burnt. Dr. Ellicott asked about commercial refuse depots. Yr. Heustis explained that the Town ByLaws state that the Town must provide a place for the disposal of household and commercial rubbish in the Town, therefore the Town is responsible The copy of the letter to the Sheraton Motor Inn from the SHERATON State Health Department regarding the proximity of the sewage MOTOR INN overflow at the Tnn to the Cambridge water supply was read and placed on file. Yr. Heustis explained that the manager at the Inn was watching this problem very carefully and permanent repairs will be made as soon as the weather permits. The license for the Gredler Day Care Center was not signed sREDLER by the Board. Mr. Heustis was instructed to check this Day Care DAY CAPE Center with Mr. Irwin Building Inspector, to see if the safety DENTE; ropairs that were noted on a previous inspection had been made. The letter from Reverend Hall requesting a reduction of the ATTIC fee for P. Food Establishment, Permit be r•educo _ from :x25.(,0 was discussed. it was agreed the Attic should be classed as a soda fountain and therefore the fee of $5.00 should be charged. The application to keep 1 horse at 39 Robinson Had was tabled until the abuttors were checked. HO`� E x_C r, PERMIT The clerk reported that the Expense Budget for the Health Department had beer cut by "3995. Changes are as follows: BUDGET