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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978-03-07the statistics on how many Lexington families are using the services offered and how many hours are spent with Lexington people. He went on to say he felt they were doing a good job. Dr. Cosgrove said he could not understand why MVMHA thought it was so awful when we asked if they could reduce their budget by 5% percent. Dr. Isenstadt said that although monies for salaries came from the State and Federal Government some of the funds used to pay for extra work hours for the staff came from the Towns. Dr. Cosgrove questioned a few of the individual expense accounts such as; telephone, dues and membership fees. Dr. Isenstadt said if the dues were for a professional organitation then clinic funds were used but if it was membership for an individual then he used his own funds. Dr. Cosgrove said he did not see why MVMHA, needed a public relations account. Dr. Isenstadt said that MVMHA did not reach the average person to acquaint them with the services :available therefore they did use a public relations service. Dr. Erdos said we had been charged to reduce our operating budget and all the budgets under our jurisdiction bj 5% percent and he did not think that an unreasonable request. Dr. Isenstadt said he felt that MVMHA had done well to keep their budget at the same figure as last year. He went on to say he doubted that they could cut the budget by 5 percent and continue to give the Town the services they do. Dr. Erdos said he did not think we were asking a great deal by requesting a cut of 5% percent. Dr. Erdos also questioned how it was determined if a patient needed psychiatric help and how often a patient saw the psychiatrist. Dr. Isenstadt explained how the evaluation of a person was conducted when they first attended the clinic. After further discussion Dr. Cosgrove thanked Dr. Isenstadt and Mr. Lynch for coming in. BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MARCH 7, 1978 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Tuesday, March 7, 1978 in Room G-15 of the Town Office Building. Members present were: Dr. William L. Cosgrove, Chairman; James W. Lambie, Dr. Cichael S. Erdos, George A. Smith, Director of Public Health. Dr. Cosgrove reported that Mrs. Jean Wood representative of the Health Fair had withdrawn her request for the Board to approvepayment of the Tri Community Nurses for their services at the Health Fair, which is being planned for sometime in May. t7 HEALTH FAIR The letter from M.V.M.H.A. asking the Board to appoint a contact person to participate in their program under the Abuse and Neglect Committee was MVMHA discussed. CHILD ABUSE The Board agreed that they would have no way of knowing about Child Abuse. They felt the police or the physician/pediatrician would have more knowledge of these cases. Dr. Erdos suggested a letter be sent to MVMHA stating that we would have no contract with child abuse cases and therefore we felt it more appropriate that their contact person would be a pediatrician or a physician. The minutes of the February 13, 1978 meeting were approved as read. Mr. Smith explained that although the Fluoridation had been started it was discontinued when the Anti -Fluoride group took out an injunction FLUORIDATION against the State. The hearing on this injunction will be conducted to- morrow, March 8, 1978. There is nothing we can do at the present time and hopefully the judge will rule that they go back to fluoridation. Mr. Smith went on to explain thatlthis anti -fluoridation group will use every argument they can to stop the fluoride in the water. Mr. Wiggins of Spaulding & Slye Corporation came in to discuss with 1-5 FORBES RD. the Board the latest design for the septic system for the Office Building being planned for 1-5 Forbes Road. Mr. Smith explained to the Board that he, Mr. Wiggins and Mr. Martin, Assistant Town Engineer had met and gone over the plans for the lift pumps required for this system. Mr. Martin has approved the lift pumps, which are necessary whether they have a septic system or connect to public sewer. Mr. Smith explained that the buildings would be serviced by 2 leach fields with one distribution box and the lift pump station. An auxilary field has been located about 180 feet from the brook. He went on to say that he has asked for a few modifications on this plan but he felt that this system could be installed and would be workable. The Board asked if the system would be adequate for the two buildings. Mr. Smith said "Yes". A letter of certification will be required from Spaulding & Slye's Engineer stating that he supervised the installation of the system and that it has been installed as per the approved plan. This will be required before a certificate of compliance can be issued by the Board of Health and occupancy permit may be obtained. It was asked what would happen if there was a power outage. Mr. Wiggin said if there was a power outage the buildings would probably be closed because even the phones work on electricity. Dr. Erdos asked if once the construction starts would we be responsible. Mr. Smith said when the system was installed we would make periodic inspections of the tank and leach fields but the P.W.D. would inspect the pump injector station. Dr. Erdos asked if once the sewer moratorium ended would the building 79 be connected to public sewer and would this be mandatory. Mr. Wiggin assured Dr. Erdos that if the moratorium ended they would con- nect these buildings to public sewer as soon as possible. Dr. Erdos asked if the water table would cause any more problems. Mr. Smith said all corrections had been made. Mr. Smith warned that no solids should get into the pumps and therefore the tanks must be maintained. The installation of the beds for this system could be installed at a critical time. Dr. Erdos asked if this building would be apt to be rented to any firm using chemicals and therefore the beds and tanks would be subject to chemical wastes. Mr. Wiggin said they would not be leasing to tenants using chemicals and if this should happen the Board of Appeals would require further permits. There will be no kitchen facilities or any new drains while the building is on septic systems. Dr. Cosgrove said he did not want a repitition of what happened at the Burroughs Corporation with this system. Mr. Smith said the Burroughs system was very small and there was no way they could have that problem with this system because it was adequate. The Board approved this system and Mr. Wiggin thanked the Board for their time and retired. Mr. Smith reported that the water had been fluoridated for one day and FLUORIDATION then the MDC had to discontinue the fluoridation because of litigation by the anti -fluoridation people. The hearing on this will be heard on March 8, 1978. It will now be up to the judge to rule for or against fluoridation. He went on to say he was sure this would not be the end of the problem. Right now the EPA will be testing because of the increase in the sodium and the trouble maintaining the correct pH. The Board felt there was nothing they could do but wait. Mr. Smith explained that Mr. Hutchinson, Town Manager, had asked for the SEWER BOND Board's opinion regarding the request for a bond for 100% municipal sewer at this next Town Meeting. He went on to show the Board the list of streets which were not completely sewered. Many of these streets have short sections to be sewered. Mr. Lambie asked if this would make the Town 100% sewered. Mr. Smith said that it would be 100% sewered of all that could be sewered. Dr. Cosgrove said he did not think it was practical to go for 100% sewer with the way the municipal sewer system was at this time. Mr. Smith reported that the Selectmen had scheduled a meeting in May to discuss the moratorium. He again asked the Board how they felt about this bond. 80 KILN BROOK DEVELOPMENT Mr. Lambie said he didn't feel that we had enough information regarding it. Mr. Smith said a lot of the areas had been recommended for sewer in the past. We.also have a lot of complaints and there are a lot of "Rube Gold- berg" repairs around the town. Dr. Cosgrove said as he understood it this bond was so that the sewer problems would not have to come before Town Meeting every year. Sewers would still be installed with the usual recommendations and on troubled streets first. Mr. Smith said that was right. Mr. Lambie asked if we would have to go over each section. Dr. Cosgrove said he didn't think so, they would still be selecting just certain areas each year. Dr. Erdos said he felt that we should recommend: (1) Correcting ex- isting difficulties to eliminate health and safety problems. (2) Provide relief for existing and potential health hazards in non-sewered areas. and (3) Provide some cost relief to the town because it is clear that it will be more costly to complete this problem as time goes by. Mr. Smith said we could make recommendations of the most troubled areas but these have not been followed in the past. Dr. Erdos said if we supported the sewer project we should be more specific about the time people had to connect to the sewer instead of our present policy of a "reasonable" time. Mr. Lambie said he would be in favor of placing a time limit on con- necting. Mr. Smith said the Board could come out and require a hook-up to sewer as soon as it was available. He said the Board of Health was the authority on that and they could be more firm than they are right now. After further discussion it was agreed that the Board would vote for 100% municipal sewer where possible. Also it was agreed to look into a 6 months to one year time limit for connecting houses to the sewer. The Board signed the letter to the Selectmen relative to their concern of the surcharge of sewers and the backflow of sewage into homes in Lex- ington. The Board, in this letter, requested a workable contingency plan to eliminate the present health hazard. The Board also asked to meet with the Selectmen or to hear from them within the next 40 days to learn what remidial action was proposed. Mr. Smith reported that he had an appointment that morning with Mr. David Gompers, developer of Kiln Brook Office Park, and his engineers to inspect a site on Hartwell Ave. relative to determining the suitability of the site to construct an onsite subsurface sewage disposal system. 1 1 1 1 1 81 Mr. Smith said he met with Mr. Gompers' Engineer, Mr. Mark Donahue of Charles Perkins and Co. of Clinton, Mass. and Mr. Charles Vasiliou of Erland Construction Co. at the site to inspect deep test observation holes for water table determinations. W. Clifford Prentiss, Conservation Administrator and W. Jerry Martin, Asst. Town Engineer accompanied Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith reported that after making the initial observations and upon returning to the office he inspected the plans submitted to the Planning Board and found that the deep test observation holos had been made on the wrong prop- erty. Mr. Smith stated he immediately notified both the engineers involved on the project of the apparent error and a further detail check of the site plan showed that the deep test hole had been made on the wrong property. An ap- pointment was cancelled when it was found that it was impossible to get to the site with the equipment they had. No valid tests were made at that time. Mr. Gompers is planning to build on this site an office building similar to the one Spaulding & Slye have planned to construct on Forbes Road. Mr. Smith said the area was very wet and in order to service this building it would require a variance by the Board to grant permission to use a holding tank. Mr. Smith said he couldn't see a holding tank in this area. This problem was tabled until further information was available. Mr. Smith reported that a Memo from David Kinlock, M. D. Deputy Commissioner of Public Health stating that the Chapters of the Environmental Code concerning swimming pools, bathing beaches and family -type camping grounds would continue BATHING to be effective and enforceable by the local Boards of Health. REGULATIONS The letter (copy) to Mr. Hutchinson from Kenneth A. Tarbell, Chief of the LAND- Land & Water Use Section of Metropolitan Boston, Northeast Region regarding _FILL the Solid Wastes at the Hartwell Avenue Landfill was read by the Board. This letter agreed to extend the submission date of operation engineering plans until April 1, 1978. Mr. Tarbell stated that the 90 day extension did not provide enough time to gather the necessary data for the design of an ef- fective method of controlling or eliminating leachate at the landfill. The operational plan must include methods and schedules proposed for the necessary information regarding the leachate problem as well as when an appropriate system for leachate control can be designed and implemented. The following permits were signed by the Board: Rubbish Permit S.C.A. Disposal Service Food Service Permits Arno's Deli Folien Church kitchen Pilgrim Church kitchen Temple Emunah kitchen Pilgrim Congregational Church kitchen Hancock United Church of Christ kitchen Simon W. Robinson Lodge -Masonic Temple St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church