Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-09-141 1 1 83 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING SEPTEMBER 14, 1981 The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Monday, September 14, 1981 at 7:15 p.m. in Room G-1 (Revreation Office). Members present were: Mr. James W. Lambie, Chairman; Michael S. Erdos, M.D., Linda Roemer, Ph.D and Mr. George A. Smith, Director of Public Health. Minutes of the July 13, 1981 Meeting were approved as read. The Board welcomed Dr. Linda Roemer as the newest member of the Board of Health. Mrs. Jayne Tapia, R.N., Administrator of the Visiting Nurses Association COUNCIL ON came to the meeting to discuss the new council on Aging Elderly Clinic and AGING ELDERLY briefly discuss the upcoming flu and pneumococcal clinics. CLINIC Mr. Smith and Mrs. Tapia both agreed that it will be an advantage to have this clinic at the Council on Aging headquarters on Meriam Street. They both feel that more people will attend with this clinic added. It was decided to rotate the monthly clinics, having one a month at Greeley Village, one at Vynebrook Village, one at the East Lexington Church Hall and one at the Council on Aging Headquarters. This will reduce the clinics by one monthly. That money can be used to hire another nurse, if needed, at our clinics or for something else related to the clinics. The clinics would not be rotated until after the flu and pneumococcal clinics are completed. Dr. Roemer wanted to know when the rotation of clinics start how can a person that is not a regular user find out where they will be held at different weeks. Mrs. Tapia said she is going to put it in the Council on Aging booklet and people can also call the Board of Health Office or the Council on Aging Office. Mr. Smith told the Board that he has discussed the next year's schedule with Mrs. Tapia and that they have from now to the end of the year to iron out any bugs they have in scheduling it. Mrs. Tapia told the Board she is very pleased that this new clinic has been set up at the Council on Aging Headquarters and she is sure that more people will take advantage of this. She said it is something that really has been needed for some time. Mr. Smith discussed the upcoming flu and pneumococcal clinics that will be held in the Fall. He said he had been inquiring how we could submit something to the State and get re-imbursed for the vaccine that we have purchased and also for the administering of the vaccine by the nurses. The State does not allow public clinics to do this. This payment from Medicaid can only be re- imbursed to doctors. Mr. Smith said he is hoping to have the flu vaccine clinic in early October this year because the vaccine is already in our refrigerator. He said it takes six weeks for anti -bodies to build up after the immunization is given. 84 IMMUNIZA- TION SURVEY - SCHOOLS CHOATE/ SYMMES ADVISORY COUNCIL LETTER PROPOSED ANIMAL REGULA TIONS Dr. Erdos suggested that an article or two should be put into the newspaper to make people aware of the clinics. Mr. Smith said that he writes an article every year on these clinics to make the public aware of them. We also send letters to the churches and temples and ask them to include the information in any bulletins they have for their congregations. Mr. Smith told the Board that he had received a copy of the school immuniza- tion survey back from the State. The State does this survey every year and it takes in public and private schools. The Lexington Schools are nearly 100%. The children are immunized across the board in early child- hood diseases in this Town. He said the Lexington schools are in pretty good shape as far as immunizations go. Mr. Smith talked about the letter that the office had received a letter from Choate/Symmes Hospital looking for people to serve on the advisory council of the hospital. Dr. Erdos said he is essentially on it now. He has served on the first community task force that was set up initially to aim for certain goals and community related programs. He said he thinks they are looking for a lay person from Lexington to serve. Dr. Roemer said she is currently on the Board and on the long-range planning committee. Dr. Erdos asked Mrs. Crawford, League of Women Voters Representative, sho comes to our monthly meetings, if she was interested in serving on the advisory council. Mrs. Crawford said that she was not interested but she would ask members of the L.W.V. if anyone would be interested in serving on the advisory council. Mr. Lambie asked about the proposed animal regulations. Mr. Smith said he had just received them back from Mr. Norman Cohen, Town Counsel today. Mr. Cohen seems to have modified the health regulations a little bit but Mr. Smith said he thought Mr. Cohen had tried to accomodate the town meeting vote. Mr. Smith feels they should be stuffed by the Board members individually and then discussed before being finalized. Dr. Roemer asked if someone could tell her what the Town meeting vote was. Mr. Smith explained that John Brucchi has been having a private personal war with the Board of Health basically over the sale of his property. Mr. Brucchi has had a permit for eight horses, sheep, chickens, etc. and some listed on his permit (animals that he has never kept). Mr. Brucchi's permit is under the "Grandfather's Clause). Mr. Smith sated that Mr. Brucchi has been very obnoxious the way he has dealt with this Board. Mr. Brucchi insists that he has not been given an opportunity to sell his house because of the health regulations. Mr. Smith explained to Dr. Roemer that the animal permit has always "Not Transferable" but Mr. Brucchi does not want that regulation to in regard to his property. stated stand 2 ci Consequently he had a town by-law passed at the 1981 Town Meeting that the Board objected to, but it was voted anyway. "Any individual with a farm is entitled to keep the same number of animals this year and each suceeding year that he had at the end of 1980. Dr. Erdos said there is a question of what the definition of what a farm is. Mr. Smith said: "Not only that - That is not how the Board of Health Regula- tions are enacted or modified. Town meeting has no bearing on that whatsoever". The Board of Health has a procedure which consists of having a set of regula- tions, haveing a hearing on it although the hearing aspect is not actually required, either. The Board of Health Regulations become law of the land after having been published in the local newspaper. Norman Cohen had said to Mr. Smith that he didn't believe the Town Meeting had any impact on the Board of Health Regulations at all but he thought to expedite this problem with John Brucchi the Board should try to accomodate it somehow. Personally, said Mr. Smith, it goes against my grain because the Board of Health has never done anything wrong in this regard. Mr. Smith stated that the Board had tried to deal with Mr. Brucchi in a responsible way but he refuses to accept the fact that the permit is "not transferable". Mr. Smith said he had talked to a couple of real estate brokers and they told him everytime Mr. Brucchi gets a prospective buyer he raises the price of the property. Mr. Smith said he doesn't think Mr. Brucchi really wants to sell it. Mr. Smith said Mr. Brucchi thinks he has won a victory by Town Meeting over the Board of Health. Mr. Lambie explained to Dr. Roemer that the permit cannot run with the sale of the house. The permit ends when the owner sells his property. The new application would have to be reviewed if there was someone interested in keeping animals. If they wanted to keep more animals than the acreage called for, the Board would sit down and discuss all aspects of the regula- tions, and perhaps work something out with the new owner. Mr. Smith said that you can make a variance on the regulations. Dr. Erdos said it is quite possible that we wouldn't because of not having enough land or the proper facilities for the animals. Mr. Lambie said the Brucchi case has been quite dormant since Town Meeting. Mr. Smith said that Brucchi has been fairly active - bothering the Town Manager and Town Counsel. Mr. Cohen, Town Counsel, told Mr. Smith, in his view, that Town Meeting hasn't changed Board of Health Regulations, although Mr. Cohen will not give that to Mr. Smith in wXiting. Mr. Lambie said the only question is whether we want to try to give some credence to the Town Meeting's wishes because they did express an opinion that they would like to help this man out. Whether it was wise or not, it was a public vote. x,86 Dr. Erdos said they did vote automatically, whether or not you argue a defini- tion of a farm. They said any number of animals (horses) on a farm owned by an individual as of December 1980 would be allowed to remain there. That is the same clause or motion that the Fitzgerald people are trying to keep six horses instead of four. They figure, well we had six horses on December 31st. instead of the four, therefore we are keeping six horses. They did not have a permit at the time even for the four but they now are going to keep six. Although they do have more land than Brucchi has and more theoretically the way they manage the horses they would be more entitled to keep six horses than Brucchi, according to our regulations. The feeling of the Board is that Mr. Brucchi can sell his property if he wants to and when a prospective buyer or new owner wishes to apply for an animal permit the Board would sit down with them at that point and decide at the time if a variance would be the best solution for all concerned. Mr. Smith said that the Board would have to deal with the abuttors and get some type of input from them. Dr. Erdos said there is no question it would become a case for Town Counsel at that point. Dr. Roemer asked if Mr. Smith had read the proposed regulations that Mr. Cohen had returned today. Mr. Smith said he did not have the time to really study them but had glanced at them. He said Mr. Cohen's suggestions are fairly close to what he had proposed. Mr. Smith said regulations have to be studied and are difficult to write. You want to be fair, sometimes being fair the variables that go into it are uncontrollable. He said that everybody's stable in this town is so unlike the next one. You wonder sometimes if you can be fair. The regulations can be varied to accomodate the situation but this is done through a process, also. The Board discussed the current regulations briefly and decided to review the proposed changes and discuss them on an individual basis and take them up at a future meeting. Mr. Smith told the Board that he has had complaints about two malfunctioning septic systems, probably both ending up in court. OVERFLOWING One is at 14 Walnut Street. The man living there is stalling. Two letters SEPTIC have been sent already telling him to connect to Town sewer. When Mr. Smith SYSTEMS talked to the man last week, he said it was too expensive for him to connect. Mr. Smith said this septic system cannot be fixed or repaired because of the slope on the property. There is just no way to fix it. The second system that is overflowing is a 2 Carl Road. This property is owned by a lawyer and it is rental property. Mr. Smith had gone to this address initially because of a rubbish complaint. The tenants had moved out and left rubbish everywhere. In the meantime the office received a call about the septic system overflowing. On site inspection this was determined. Mr. Smith reported that he had gone to the Town Manager because the owner of the property wanted to know how much Mr. Smith wanted so the owner would not have to connect to the Town sewer. Mr. Smith told the owner to call the Town Manager. Mr. Smith had been to this property before because of complaints from the tenants. The owner does not maintain the property. He has been told this time to connect before he rents the property out to new tenants. Mr. Smith told the Board that the Fitzgeralds had wanted to come in and FITZGERALD'S talk to the Board at this meeting to apply and discuss having six horses HORSES on their property. Mr. Smith felt they should wait until the ninety days are up on their tem- porary permit for four horses. He said he has been up to the Fitzgeralds several times this summer, includ- ing today and there are six horses on the property. He said they seem to do just as they please. He feels they should not be given a permit for the six horses. He would prefer, if the Board goes along with the six horses, to give them a variance rather than have them put the horses on someone else's property. The Borrowing of land creates many other problems. Dr. Roemer wondered if it would be useful to remind the Fitzgerald's that the way things are handled by them during this 90 -day temporary permit will determine their future as far as having these horses on the premises. Mr. Smith said they seem to do as they want. He goes by each morning on his way to work and there are the six horses on the property. Dr. Erdos wanted to know if the Board should revoke the whole permit? Mr. Smith said that would have to be the Board's decision. Dr. Erdos wondered if there is a penalty system by which the Board could levy a fine of $100.00 a day while they have more horses on the property than the permit calls for. Mr. Smith said that he supposed we could go that route. He will discuss it with Captain Furdon. After further discussion, the Board decided that each member would check out the Fitzgerald's property before the next Board meeting. Mr. Smith brought the Board up to date on what was happening with the Rollins property. ROLLINS Mr. Smith said he had sent Mr. Rollins a letter telling him what would have 205 GROVE to be done, specifications, etc. to continue dumping at that location. He STREET ordered all dumping to be stopped until such time that Mr. Rollins submits DUMPING a plan and specifies what his intentions are. The plan will be reviewed and a hearing held. :±88 Mr. Smith said if he was just bringing in a couple of loads of fill or soil for his yard that would be one thing but this involves heavy traffic of trucks, wanting to build a road in his yard and dumping fill over a 40 ft. embankment. Mr. Smith said if he doesn't hear from Mr. Rollins in a couple of more weeks then he will contact him again. Mr. Smith said he feels that the Board should know what is being dumped onto that land. It could be old cars, tree stumps, etc., things that he is not suppose to be dumping in there. Dr. Roemer wanted to know if any other town board was interested in that slope. Mr. Smith said, "Not really", but he feels that Mr. Prentiss of Conservation and Mr. Hanlon, Town Engineer should take a look at it. Mr. Lambie said he is also dumping manure from the two horses that he has there down the slope. After further discussion Mr. Smith told the Board members that he would like them each to check out this situation collectively or individually before the next Board Meeting. H.D.C. Mr. Smith told the Board that the doctor from Raytheon called our office RABIES VACCIM wanting us to purchase some Human Diploid Cell Vaccine, they want to innoculate some of their employees that are going to Egypt. SMOSKE Dr. Erdos asked why they want to give that vaccine to their employees. He said that usually only veterinarians or people that work directly with animals that might be rabid receive this vaccine. The vaccine is about $50.00 per shot and usually 5 shots are needed. Mr. Smith said they informed him that there are many dogs in Egypt with the rabies. Mr. Smith said they are going to try to get the vaccine through the American Embassy in Egypt. If they cannot do that, they might be back. to us. Mr. Smith mentioned to the Board that Mrs. Smoske has hired another lawyer. The lawyer came into our office recently and read the Board notes and anything to do with the Smoske permit. 1 1 1 The following permits were signed by the Board: Meth 1 Alcohol Licenses C.V.S. Pharmacy Lexington Toyota, Inc. 1735 Mass. Ave. 409 Mass. Ave. Auto Engineering Heritage Service Centers, Inc. 436 Marrett Rd. 277 Bedford St. Woodhaven Wallpaper & Paint, Inc. Hamel Service Station 424 Marrett Rd. 325 Mass. Ave. Arlex Oil Corp. Bedford Auto Parts 275 Mass. Ave. 313 Marrett Rd., Lexington Mal's Auto Body Shop Rowe Gulf Station 7 Massachusetts Ave. 39 Bedford St. Rose Chevrolet Inc. Highland Food Mart 33 Bedford St. 321 Marrett Rd. Bomar Atlantic Service Cunningham Hardware, Inc. Rt. 128 327 Woburn St. Stop & Shop Companies, Inc. Lexington Exxon 36 Bedford St. 10 Woburn Street MacKay Hardware Co. Waltham Street Mobil 166 Bedford St. 396 Waltham St. Five Fork's Shell Station Al Stander's Gulf Service, Inc. 286 Lincoln St. 324 Marrett Road Battle Green Shell Ray's Service Center 46 Bedford St. 330 Woburn St. Catering Permits Gerard Farms of Lexington 53 Bedford Street Animal Permits Anne M. Butler - 1 horse, 1 goat 22 Rangeway Rd. Francis W. K. Smith - 5 goats, 20 hens, 2 horses 4 Clematis Rd. George Kazazian - 3 horses (to be held) 115 Concord Ave. Permits signed by the Board (continued) Retail Food Stores Joel's at Lexington Center (NEW) 1740 Mass. Ave. Town Food Store (NEW OWNER) 93 Mass. Ave. Food Service Establishments Guenther's Restaurant (NEW) 1777 Mass. Ave. Town Food Store (NEW OWNER) 93 Mass. Ave. VIP Vending at Instrumentation Lab. 113 Hartwell Ave. ARA for Honeywell Radiation Center 2 Forbes Rd. Mother Earth Natural Foods 10 Muzzey St. Bellino's Donut Shop 141 Mass. Ave. Lexington Golf Club 55 Hill St. Gerard's Farms of Lexington 53 Bedford Street Servomation for Ginn & Co. 191 Spring St. Living & Learning School 80 Maple St. Mario's Restaurant 1733 Mass. Ave. 1 1 1