HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-12-09 302
BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING
DECEMBER 9, 1981
The regular meeting of the Board of Health was held Wednesday, December 9,
1981 at 7 15 p.m in the Recreation Office (G-1) of the Town Office Building
Members present were Mr James W Lambie, Chairman; Michael S Erdos, M D ,
Linda Roemer, Ph D and George A Smith, Director of Public Health
There was a change in the minutes of the November 9, 1981 meeting notes
on page 3, paragraph eleven in regard to "the fees charged for permits a
licenses issued by the Board of Health"
Dr Roemer had said "We should look at all the fees at one time this year
The present fees do not even pay for the clerical help"
Mr Smith said some of the fees have to be submitted to Town Meeting for
approval
The Board discussed the new schedule sheet for the blood pressure reading
clinic There is a new clinic added once a month at the Council on Aging
site This clinic will be from 12 30 p m to 2 30 p.m the first Thursday
of each month This 1st Thursday is the day of the congregate meals and
they figure they will get more people at the blood pressure clinic at this
time
Mr Smith told the Board that he is having some larger size blood pressure
cards made up They will also have larger print because the current cards
are rather difficult for the elderly to read
Dr Erdos asked if the visiting nurses kept track of the number of people
using these blood pressure clinics
Mr Smith answered that they kept track of each clinic
Mr Smith said that the headline are still somewhat a problem in the schools
He received two calls from parents last week He has talked to Dr Monderer
over at the School Administration Office Mr Smith asked him if they needed
any help with the head lice problem as he had been talking to the State Health
Office and they offered to send out a couple of their nurses to lend a hand,
by going through the children's heads Mr Smith told the Board the schools
would never go for that idea
Dr Erdos wanted to know if the schools sent letters home to the parents
telling them of this problem?
Mr Smith said, "Yes, every school did that this year"
Mr Smith told the Board that some parents don't want to use the shampoo
because it has pesticides in it but they cannot get the children back into
the schools with the nits in their heads
Dr Roemer said she is concerned with the problem She said if the parents
won't use the shampoo on their children, it puts other children at a risk
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Mr Smith said it is a problem that has to be solved by the schools
and the school nurses What sometimes makes it difficult is that a nurse
is not at the same school all day
Mr Lambie said there has to be some point where the Board has to be
concerned
Mr Smith said the problem has subsided a little There were only two
calls last week
Mr Smith told the Board that a letter came into the office this week
from Lisa Fitzgerald requesting again to keep six horses on her property
Dr Roemer said that Lisa Fitzgerald had mailed her a copy of a letter FITZGERALD
that she had sent to the Board of Health last July ANIMAL
PERMIT
Mr Smith read the current letter from Lisa Fitzgerald to the Board He
said he just cannot see Lisa coming in again trying for six horses She
stated that others had more horses on less land than the regulations re-
quire but Mr Smith said that these permits are under the "grandfather"
clause
Mr Lambie said he thought she had a permit through April 1982 for four
horses
Mr Smith said that she does have a permit for four horses He told the
Board she wanted to come into tonight's meeting to request the two extra
horses He said he felt that she should not come in tonight as he wanted
to have time to discuss her current letter with the Board He said she
should have understood the letter of November 9, 1981 that we sent It
said "The Board of Health has reviewed the status of your current tem-
porary permit to keep four horses at 342 Bedford Street"
"Considering the requirements of our regulations and the amount of land
currently owned by you, the Board has unanimously voted to grant you a pemit
to keep four horses on your 342 Bedford Street property Three, as allowed
under the requirements of Board of Health Regulations and a fourth by virtue
of a variance of those regulations granted by this Board"
"As with all permits issued by this Board, this permit is subject to revoca-
tion and/or suspension for cause"
Dr Erdos said the Fitzgerald' s did not comply with the Board of Health's
decision all summer when they had six horses on their property and they
only had a permit for four horses
The Board does not want the Fitzgerald's into the next meeting They said
her permit now is good until April of 1982
Mr Smith said he will write another letter to the Fitzgerald's stating that ANIMAL
only four horses are to be kept on the property INSPECTIONS
Mr Smith reported to the Board that he had been discussing the animal in-
spections with the Town Manager Barry Littleton was the animal inspector
but with his suspension, we have no one at this time to go out on inspections,
He said some of the problems we have to go back to when Barry was doing the
inspections He was not forceful, he would say one thing about the premises
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or whether they should be allowed animals and when he came into Board Meeting
he would say something differently
Mr Smith talked to the Town Manager about having a part-time sanitarian that
could also do the animal inspections, and pay them a little more than the
last sanitarian was paid to do the added inspections
Mr Smith told the Board that they wanted to make him the dog hearing officer
at the dog hearings but he said the law requires it has to be one of the
selectmen
COCKROACH The Board asked how the cockroach problem is being solved in the restaurants,
PROBLEM IN Peking Garden, Bora Bora, etc
RESTUARANTS
Mr Smith said that they have had exterminators come in to take care of the
problem They are keeping the problem under control
Dr Erdos said he is all for putting restaurant inspection results in the
newspapers When they know that, perhaps the owners will shape up It
only takes one restaurant to be closed to have the others stay on their toes
ODOR Mr Smith reported that he had received several complaints from Ingalls,
COMPLAINTS Andersons Jewelers and the Liquor store about the food odor in their stores
GUENTHERS coming from Guenther's Restaurant
Guenther put his filters on the foof and the intake from the other stores is
bring the odors into their stores Guenther' s cooks with a lot of garlic and
the odors are strong in the other stores
Peter DiMatteo, Building Commissioner, is handling the problem presently, but
if something isn't done soon, he said he will write Guenther a letter and
remove his food service establishment permit
Mr Smith said that the help at Guenther's has also been washing the floors
with a "squeegy" mop and pushing the water right out the back door and into
the drain Mr Smith said that he put a stop to that
Dr Roemer said that "down town" at Depot Square and behind the Peking Garden
reeks of chinese cooking
Mr Smith said that is because of the filters that are used at the Peking
Garden and Yangtze River Restaurants The restaurant owners wanted to install
higher filters but the Historical Society would not allow either of them to
do this Had this been allowed, there would not be this problem
Mr Smith said that at the two chinese restaurants, the odor is outside of
the restaurants but with Guenther's it is being filtered/ventilated into the
interior of the other sotres
Dr Roemer asked if the outages in Town during the storm had created any problems
for the Board of Health
Mr Smith answered, "No problems at all"
Mr Smith told the Board that Mr Ralph Cataldo of Bow Street had applied for
his yearly letter for his agricultural program for filling in his land
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He thinks the Board should have him come in to Board Meeting before they sign
the letter to find out what his intentions are for the future
The filling seems to be almost completed, Mr Smith said The Town of Arling- MR. CATALDO'S
ton brings their fill up to Cataldo's Farm LETTER
Mr Cataldo's 3-year permit will be up next year He needs a yearly letter
from the Board of Health for the Army Engineers
The Board agreed to invite Mr Cataldo into the next Board Meeting
Dr Roemer asked Mr Smith if the Board members should take a look at the property
down there
Mr Smith thought it would be a good idea He told Dr Roemer she could come
into the office and go through Mr Cataldo's file at any time to familiarize
herself with the situation
Mr Smith said he wouldn't be surprised if Mr Cataldo eventually will build
condominiums down there If he does, the Conservation Commission will make
him have a retention pond
Dr Erdos asked if the Board adopted the animal regulations they discussed MISCELLANEOUS
last month
Mr Smith said, "No, he wanted to get together with Mr Lambie, but he hasn't
had the time"
Mr Smith informed the Board that "bake sales" are now legal
He said that he had been trying to contact Mr Rollins of Grove Street, but
has not been successful
Mr Smith briefly talked about earth removal He said they were trying to bring
in dirt from the Red Line project to Ricci' s farm They have found the dirt is
filled with naptha and some workers have become ill This was not allowed to be
brought into Town
Mr Lambie discussed an operational sheet he had been "playing around" with,
about what objectives the Board of Health has, what they can do in general,
setting criteria, what the real priorities of the Board are, etc
Mr Smith said a new manual has come out from the State telling all about what
Boards of Health can do, and the new rules and regulations book will be out soon,
also
Dr Roemer said the Board should examine the possible needs of the Town that no
one else is doing She said she is concerned about the large number of people
not able to get medical care, cannot afford it, the expense of private medical
care for those who cannot afford it and are not eligible for Medicaid She said
1 FISH takes people to Boston City Hospital from here because some cannot afford
the doctors here
Dr Erdos said he feels if people cannot pay for medical care, the doctors would
not refuse to treat them
Mr Lambie said that this operational sheet is something that he started to put
306
together and it can be discussed at length later
It was voted to have the next regular monthly meeting on January 11, 1982
HAPPY NEW YEAR'
The following permits were signed by the Board
Food Service Establishments
Belco Vending for Unitrode Corp East Village Nursing Home
5 Forbes Road 140 Emerson Rd
Brigham's, Inc Dana Home of Lexington
38 Bedford St 2027 Mass Ave
Catch Penny Chalet Motor Lodge Fairlawn Nursing Home, Inc
440 Bedford St 265 Lowell St
Lexington House of Pizza (new owner) Pine Crest Nursing Home (Pine Knoll)
399 Lowell St 30 Watertown St
Carey's Catch Cinema I
46 Mass Ave 1794 Mass Ave
St Brigid's Church Cinema II
2001 Mass Ave 10 Muzzey St
First Parish Church (Unitarian) Temple Isaiah
7 Harrington Rd 55 Lincoln St
Trinity Covenant Church First Baptist Church
44 Allen Street 1580 Mass Ave
Sacred Heart Church Church of Our Redeemer
21 Follen Rd 6 Meriam St
Follen Community Church Pilgrim Congregational Church
755 Mass Ave 55 Coolidge Ave
Installer's Permits
Suburbanite Cesspool Service, Inc A A Cesspool Co
P 0 Box 448, Lexington, Mass 89 Willow St , Waltham, Mass
Arlex Oil Corp Clear-Way Sewer & Drain Co
275 Mass Ave , Lexington, Mass 3 Eliot Rd , Lexington, Mass
Lawrence M Carroll Deflice Bros Corp
753 Waltham St , Lexington, Mass P.O Box 170, Lexington, Mass
Electric Sewer Cleaning Co
294 Lincoln St , Allston, Mass
,on7
Sewage Disposal Permits
A A Cesspool Co R E Andrews & Co
89 Willow Street, Waltham, Ma 20 Highgate Rd , Framingham, Mass
(2 trucks)
Suburbanite Cesspool Service
P 0 Box 448, Lexington, Mass Rite-Clean Cesspool Service
(4 trucks) 23 Mohawk Rd , Burlington, Mass
Electric Sewer Cleaning Co Sewer Man
P 0 Box 224, 294 Lincoln St 32 Rio Vista St , Billerica, Mass
Allston, Mass
(2 trucks) Sewer Reamer Service d/b/a
W A Campbell
81 Newton St , Somerville, Mass
Animal Permits
Nathan T Sidley, M D
2 Rogers Rd , Lexington. Ma
Walter L Williams
344 Lowell St , Lexington, Ma