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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-06-30BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING JUNE 30, 1980 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, June 30, 1980 in Room G-15 of the Town Office Building. Members present were: Dr. William L. Cosgrove, Chairman; Mr. James W. Lambie and George A. Smith, Director of Public Health. Minutes of the last meeting were approved as read. The Board discussed hazardous waste disposal. Mr. Lambie said he thinks Mr. Smith should write a letter before too much time goes by inquiring what HAZARDOUS police duties are with hazardous waste disposal. WASTE DISPOSAL Mr. Lambie said there is information available from the attorney general's office and also a list on what trucking companies are licensed to carry this. He also stated that the federal government controls hazardous waste and are instituting a control program and are setting up some new regulations. It has to be traced and followed up wherever it goes. The State has also passed a law and is instituting it. People have been illegally transporting and disposing of it. Mr. Lambie said there is no good way of doing it right now. He stated the State needs help in policing it. He also stated there are two phases to be dealt with. 1. How to clean up past wastes 2. Dealing with future disposal of hazardous wastes. From Lexington's point of view it is not a big problem right now. Police, fire and Board of Health should be aware of any illegal trucks or dumping and see what procedure to take if there is any illegal dumping. Someone should check companies in town for any chemicals used and where, if any, dumping takes place. If people know they are being watched it makes them aware it is being patrolled. Captain Lima of the Lexington Police will be in charge of the policing of hazardous waste disposal in this area. Mr. Smith said before he goes on vacation he will sit down with Mr. Lambie to discuss it further. OSGOOD Mr. Bernard D. Osgood of 573 Marrett Road came before the Board at 7:30 p.m. ANIMAL PERMIT Dr. Cosgrove said, "You have been keeping a pony without a permit"? 2. You don't have enough land and 3., you don't take very good care of your property. What do you have to say about that? Do you have a permit? Mr. Osgood said, "No I don't". "Someone left a pony with us for awhile and we've had it every since. I don't have enough land in my name but Mr. Lawless of Lawless Motors has agreed to let me use his property to make up the difference, approximately two acres. In answer to question three, Mr. Smith said he was out there a month ago and it wasn't in very good shape, plenty of manure. Mr. Osgood said that they take very good care of the pony. He can give to Board the name of the veterinarian if they would want to check. Barry Littleton, Animal Control Officer for the Town of Lexington, said he was there today and the only problem he saw was an excessive amount of manure in the corral area. He said they have recently started to put the manure in containers. Mr. Smith asked if there was any debris around there now. Mr. Littleton said it had been cleaned up. He suggested the Board give the permit contingent upon their fixing the fence and cleaning up the manure. Mr. Smith said he would go over on Tuesday and check the situation out. Mr. Osgood thanked the Board and retired. Mrs. Tapia came before the Board at 7:45 p.m. She said the "team leader" for Lexington is Terry Huluchyji., R.N. and Mrs. Tapia wondered if Terry could come to a few meetings and see what the Board does and perhaps enlighten the Board to what the visiting nurses do. The Board agreed that it would be a good idea for Mrs. Huluchyji to do this. Mrs. Tapia asked permission to raise the hourly rate from $12.00 per hour to $13.00 for services to the town. The Board agreed to that. Mr. Lambie asked how that compared to their budget. Mrs. Tapia said they have spent under their budget for 1979-1980. Mrs. Tapia brought the new contract in to be signed for the 1980-1981 fiscal year budget. Mrs. Tapia also discussed a disbetes discussion group they will be having at Vyne- brook Village in conjunction with the Diabetes Society. They will be held on August 21, 28 and Sept. 4th and llth. Mr. Smith requested that he would like a written report after the group finishes to put into our annual report. Dr. Cosgrove asked if Mrs. Tapia had done much with summer programs at Hayden or at the Bridge School this year. Mrs. Tapia said, "No". She said usually the Recreation Department has them giving the first aid course but this year they did not call them. Mrs. Tapia then spoke about a lady at Vynebrook Village that needs daily dressings. It will be for an indefinite period. She wanted to know if the Visiting Nurses could bill the Town for one visit a month. Mrs. Tapia said she cannot pay very much and really needs the care. The Board asked if she couldn't get welfare or medicaid. Mrs. Tapia said that the woman didn't want to apply. Couldn't the Board pay for one visit a month. The Board said that she should apply to the Welfare Office and try to get Medicaid, that is the purpose of Medicaid to help those that are in financial stress. Mrs. Tapia said she would see what the social worker can do as the woman doesn't want to ask for help. Mr. Smith said that Mrs. Tapia should put her request in writing to the Board and they will take it from there. Mrs. Tapia said she would try the other way first. She thanked the Board and retired. At 8:00 p.m. representatives of the Village Food Stores attended the Board Meeting by invitation of the Director of Public Health to discuss the rubbish, debris problems at those store located at 189 Bedford Street and 93 Mass. Ave. Mr. Arthur Zeitler, Present of Village Food Stores; Mr. Tom Bush, Supervisor of the stores, Mr. Ed Murphy of the Bedford Street store and Mr. Jack Zisk of the Mass. Ave. store and Sgt. Philip Taylor of the Lexington Police attended. Dr. Cosgrove said the Board had reveived complaints from Wally Weisinger about the conditions outside the store; trash, rubbish and debris, around the dumpster. Mr. Murphy said Mr. Weisinger had complimented him about the way they tried to keep the area clean. 1 Mr. Zeitler said that people pull up in cars and put their trash in his dumpsters I instead of going to the dump. Mr. Zisk said he takes pride in his store and he felt he had the respect of the young people in the area. He said a lot of the problem stems from the broken glass from beer bottles in the back area behind the store. Mr.. Zisk said they sweep up out there every morning and again at night. Mrs. Gabriel said she had made an inspection there today. Mr. Zeitler asked what she had found. Mrs. Gabriel said there was litter around the perimeter and also broken glass. Mr. Zeitler said they had put up a fence and maintain it but they have found local residents putting their trash in the dumpster. Sgt. Taylor said one of the bigger problems is the young clerks that are employed at the store. He said that the police go down there to disperse the crowd of young people and the clerks call them into the store and there is nothing they can do. He stated to Mr. Zisk that they had one of his clerks in court last week for stealing with his friends. Sgt. Taylor said the young friends of the clerk's are the ones doing the littering outside of the store. Mr. Zisk said he would be glad to work with Sgt. Taylor to improve the con- ditions. After further discussion, the gentlemen thanked the Board and retired. 1 1 1 At 8:30 p,m. representatives of stores at Marrett Road/Waltham Street came before the Board, also residents of the area attended. A representative of each store including Dunkin Donuts had been invited to attend. Only the owners of Upland T.V. Service and Royal Pastry Shop attended. Mr. Arthur Pennel represented Upland T.V. Service and Ernest and Gloria Coppola represented Royal Pastry. Sgt. Philip Taylor was also in attendance. Mr. Smith said the only two business that he did not have a problem with attended and the others whom he meant this hearing for did not attend. Mr. Smith said he called the store owners in to see what could be done about the trash and debris problems in the area. He said the Highland Food Mart is the biggest offender but there also is a large number of beer bottles strewn behind the stores. There are barrels overflowing, dumpsters overflowing, it needs regular cleanup every day. Mr. Smith told the Board that the owner of the Highland Food Mart is not very cooperative. One of the residents said the owner of the block of stores was so tired of com- plaints from the owners of the brown house about litter that he bought the house from the owners so when all the trash blew he would not get complaints. They said the house now sits there with the grass not taken care of. Another resident said they get all the trash blowing down Grapevine Ave. Another resident complained about the open, overflowing dumpster at Dunkin Donuts. They said the rubbish blows across Waltham Street and down Grapevine Ave. The owners of the Royal Pastry said the residents of Grapevine Ave. complain to them about the beer drinking that goes on behind the stores. They said they take something and smear words and pictures all over the back of the stores. They break the lights out back that light up the parking space. One of their employees had their car vandalized. Sgt. Taylor said calls to the station would help out the police to know when this goes on. Mrs. Coppola said they close their store at 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. but this all takes place after that hour. Sgt. Taylor said this goes on all over Town and they are constantly on the go. He said Chapter 27716 of the General Laws was recently changed to raise the cost of a fine for littering. He said now the maximum is $1000. and a minimum of $200. He went on to state that people do not litter in frontof police officers but they do in front of other persons so if any information can be available to the police it would be helpful and court action could be taken. Sgt. Taylor said about the aspects of drinking. There is a public drinking law but they have to catch them with a can of beer in their hand. 207 The Sgt. said putting up "No Loitering" signs would be a help and then that gives the police something to go on - to disburse the youths but with young clerks in the store they call their friends inside. We need coopera- tion between Board of Health, police and by the owners of the Highland Food Mart. Mr. Smith said more dumpsters are needed at Highland Food Mart. He said the dumpsters at Dunkin Donuts gets left open - papers blow everywhere. He said it is a problem all over town that they have to keep right after. Mr. Smith said they may have to suspend the permit of the Highland Food Mart. Sgt. Taylor asked who owned the block of stores. A resident of Grapevine Ave. said the owner of the Minute Man Auto Supply owned the block, a Mr. Frissel, and also owns the house next door. Sgt. Taylor said the police will cruise the area more but he said the residents do have to get involved. The police will do the best they can. He said court action would be the best way and the police will be willing to cooperate. He said that they will have to build a case, picture, noting time and place, etc. and the police will prosecute but people have to have the facts because they will cross-examine. It was the general feeling Highland Food Mart is the largest contributor to the problem. Dunkin Donuts is another contributor to the trash blowing all over the place. All the store owners and residents of the Marrett Road/Waltham Street area thanked the Board and retired. The members of the Board thanked Sgt. Taylor for his cooperation and for coming to the meeting. MILLBROOK Dr. Cosgrove asked Mr. Lambie if he had heard from the M.D.C. about his letter. SEWER Mr. Lambie said it had just come in the mail today. He had glanced at it this morning. It was pretty good although there still are questions to be asked. Mr. Lambie said he was going to read it thoroughly. He said the letter indicated that Bedford and Lexington were right on track but he's not sure about Arlington, they would be the lagger. MRS. Mr. Smith said he had Mrs. Gabriel come to the meeting and he would like her GABRIEL, to report what she does as our part-time sanitarian. Said he would like her SANITARIAN'S to get to know the Board. REPORT Mrs. Gabriel told the Board that she likes the work she is doing and also likes the people she works with in the office. Basically, Mrs. Gabriel told the Board that she has been doing food service inspections - restaurant, implant cafeterias, church kitchens and schools and some mobile canteens. Mrs. Gabriel told the Board that she has also inspected swimming water testing from the pools and has done some swab testing from She said most of the restaurants, are pretty good but there are a continuing problems, one being the LeBellecour Restaurant at the pools, did the restaurants. couple with present time. 1 1 1 1 1 t)O9 Basically, it is general cleaning that they don't want to do. Mr. Frans VanBerkout is not very cooperative. Mrs. Gabriel said that Mr. VanBerkhout is not there all of the time and he wants her to let him know when she is coming. Mrs. Gabriel told him she couldn't do that. Mr. Smith said Mr. VanBerkhout seems to have a "chip on his shoulder" and he doesn't want him to take it out on Sandy. Mr. Smith told Mr. Lambie if things didn't get better, he would have to set up a meeting with Sandy, Dr. Erdos, Mr. Lambie and himself. Mrs. Gabriel told the Board Mr. VanBerkhout never shows any improvement in his restaurant. She said when you go into inspect other restaurants and tell them what should be done they take care of it but not the LeBellecour. Mrs. Gabriel reported that she has checked out "complaint" calls at convenient stores, restaurants, etc. and spot checks for rubbish disposal conditions at various facilities. She said she is looking forward to the carnival coming to check out their food setups. Dr. Cosgrove asked if there are any problems with the schools. Mrs. Gabriel said she had been to about a half dozen schools and there were no particular problems Mr. Smith told the Board that there was a sewer break at the Sheraton -Lexington last week and he took Mrs. Gabriel up there with him. He said he had been introducing her to housing inspections mostly in conjenc- tion with the Section 8 housing, and has been showing her lead-based paint inspec- tions also. He said he had Mrs. Gabriel go to Framingham on housing inspections for one day so she could see some real shabby houses being inspected that she would not see here. Mr. Smith said he also had Sandy go on a tour of the Hood's plant in Charlestown. Mr. Smith told the Board that Mrs. Gabriel represents the Board of Health in a very high fashion. Mr. Smith told the Board that there isn't too much to be said about mosquito MOSQUITO control that hasn't already been said. He said he has a copy of the program of CONTROL Spring and Summer larvaciding and dusting. They won't be doing any adulticiding. The Board told Mr. Smith that his minority report was excellent. Mr. Smith said Dr. Williams from Harvard said it was the better of the two reports. The Board agreed that the Pest Control Committee has been biased about mosquito control from the beginning. Mr. Smith said that Kevin Moran was terrific in his field and knew mosquito control inside out but no matter what he said the pesticide control committee was against mosquito control. Mr. Smith told the Board that the Selectmen have to write to the Reclamation Board to get back into a mosquito control program but there is no guarantee that the Reclamation Board will accept them. Mr. Smith said the Selectmen had voted to go back to East Middlesex Mosquito Control. Mr. Smith told the Board that Mr. Andrews indicated that his committ wanted the Board of Health to approve the pesticides but he did not want the Health Director involved and he also indicated that he wanted an "input" from the Conservation Commission but he did not want Cliff Prentiss involved. Mr. Smith told the Board that Mr. Moran, in conversation with Mrs. Miley, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen; told her that he would use pesticides that are already in his programs for use in other towns. He will not buy other pesticides that are not in use at this time. The Board discussed the mosquito control further in regard to whether the Town will have other surveys taken. The Board feels enough surveys have been conducted throughout the years for this purpose. The "Old Res" was discussed briefly. Dr. Cosgrove asked about recent counts taken. Mr. Smith said the counts were in line with other years. The coliform is high and the algae is higher than usual. This is due to the lack of not enough snow this past winter. Mr. Smith said the water has been treated and the algae is dying now. He said he had the beach rototilled, the sand did not look good and he asked the Park Dept. to put in more sand. Water was put in Res last Thursday. Mr. Smith told the Board the best thing that could happen would be to have a good rainfall. Mr. Smith said that they are getting a large crowd at the Res every day because of not having a pool as yet. Dr. Cosgrove asked if there are any products available that would kill the algae. Mr. Smith said that there is a product called Aquazine that they put in the water at the Res. He said 12 hours after it has been applied to the water the Res can be used for swimming. LANDFILL One of the Board members asked what they are going to do with the landfill. KITSON PARK ESTATES Mr. Smith said that they will be working on the landfill for quite awhile. Mr. Smith mentioned to the Board that the lanfill needed baiting. He said that there are rats there. The plans for Kitson Park Estates were reviewed by the Board. This sub- division will be build on high land, there are no drainage problems and no retention pond. It will be connected to town sewer. Dr. Cosgrove said it doesn't seem to have any problems. 1 1 1 The Board signed the following permits: SWIMMING POOLS & WADING POOLS Five fields Pool 21 Barberry Rd. Sheraton -Lexington Motor Inn 727 Marrett Road Paint Rock Swim Club 13 Partridge Road Living & Learning Center 80 Maple Street FROZEN DESSERTS Mother Earth Natural Foods - Frozen Yogurt 10 Muzzey Street MOBILE SERVERS Philip F. Doherty 5 Guild Rd., Burling, Mass. FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS Grace Chapel, Inc. Worthen Rd. Seilers Corp. for MIT Lincoln Lab. 244 Wood St. - Cafeteria "D" Seilers Corp. for MIT Lincoln Lab. 244 Wood Street - Main Cafeteria Woburn Vending, Inc. for Hewlett Packard - 32 Hartwell Ave. Lexington Wild Acre Inn 50 Percy Raod Lodging House Cafeteria/kitchen Servomation Corp. for W.R. Grace Co. 55 Hayden Ave. Yangtze River Restaurant 21-25 Depot Square MARKETS - RETAIL FOOD STORES Hancock Market 6 No. Hancock St. Concord Hill Market 2219 Mass. Ave. Catch Penny Chalet Motor Inn 440 Bedford St. Paint Rock Swim Club Wading Pool 13 Partridge Rd. Five Fields Pool, Inc. 21 Barberry Rd. Dwight D. Robinson 41 Dragon Court, Woburn Village Food Stores, Inc. 189 Bedford St. Christo's Restaurant One Meriam St. Peking Gardens 27 Waltham St. Hancock Street Market 6 No. Hancock Street LeBellecour Restaurant 10 Muzzey St. Howard Johnson's Restaurant Route 128 James V. Hanley for Arp Instruments 45 Hartwell Ave. Alexander's Convenient Food Stores 335 Woburn St. Doran Greenhouses, Inc. 150 Grant St. Permits signed by the Board - continued MARKETS - RETAIL FOOD STORES Colonial Pharmacy 1754 Mass. Ave. Mother Earth Natural Foods 10 Muzzey Street Maunder's Meat Market 1768 Massachusetts Ave. Cumberland Farms 189 Mass. Ave. Gloria Food Stores 137 Mass. Ave. Highland Food Mart 321 Marrett Rd. Stop & Shop Companies, Inc. 36 Bedford Street 1 1 1