okay okay this is the meeting of the Gardner Board of Health it's Monday April 22nd we're in the mayor's conference room at City Hall and it is 431 p.m. meeting is called to order first item on the agenda is approve the minutes from February 26 2024 and March 25th 2024 so first one are February 26 2024 and I [Music] believe um Dr Parker you were ABS not attended so um make a motion to accept I second it any discussion changes okay all in favor I I [Applause] the next seven minutes are from March 25th 2024 and all present on yes motion to pass those and I'll second any [Applause] discussion they went good okay so all in favor these minutes are cast and them okay next item on the agenda is old business like that I'm actually going to reward the agenda for next time I'll just go down my list of items and then new business would be that the um starting with uh Outreach Veronica the wellness fair was last week it went very well it was it was very well attended it was very well attended I was there and I had a table for liber Dees and it was very well attended so it was nice a lot of everyone had a raffle there were over 50 vendors wow and each vendor was asked to bring them raffle item and so there were a lot of Raffles that given out close to 70 Menders so we a bigger indoor space if that's what we're going to do yeah they were they were good people attended not I don't know if we have numbers there's a in the hundreds they were definitely hundreds and hundreds I would say I would say a couple hundred yeah 300ish so and a lot of families there were a lot of um uh family oriented things like nutrition for for children and stuff so it was it was nice it was you know all different things great so um so up next they have the uh High School SL alternative school going to be having a health fair on the 24th uh was going to be paww walk fundraiser with uh gdtv on Saturday this Saturday April 27th um and that benefits the um domestic violence t for voices of yes gdtv and is that way they vote the dog mayor is that I don't actually I can't remember if that's don't they have a contest for um voting a dog for mayor or something of of the uh dog park I don't know anyway a good idea yeah um and then just in these stages of for National Night Out August 6 um next up is the landfill SL transfer station uh I met with our environmental consulting firm uh to take a look at the exact areas that are going to be needing to be repaired um and it looks like it's going to be a lot more than in the budget um and there's actually one area of erosion that wasn't included in the report to repair but it is going to be a problem down of the line is that erosion on the actual um not the parking lot or the transfer station area but the um they the let down channels you see on the hill there's a big rock and channels going down that's supposed to guide everything down is there any kind of funding or state environmental funding or anything that not that I've come across so um the one channel that actually was report like I want to get prepared is the one that's looks like it's what's causing the water to be flowing through the transfer station lot so um I want to get that looked at and then redate the whole it's like the drainage Channel along the boundary there to make the water go down streamste across the parking lot um we did make an attempt to fix one of the items which was a water well that had had some kind of rodent nesting materi there uh so when they backed that out we found out that the PVC pipe inside the well is actually snapped and we're going to have to either dig down and figure out a way to fix it or redig the entire well kind to see what DP wants us to do um we have the helping host the keep Garder beautiful nip hunt sltr playout on May 4th uh so they have a little area there now with the container of their supplies and we're going to have an extra container delivered for any Trash items that they find so they have a way to take care of that without with the noral transer station operation um I will be applying for some small grants to add some uh structures to the transfer station they're mainly for increasing recycling capacity so something to store house hazardous waste or something to facilitate some kind of a swap shop where the is still usable put there take in and what about the stairs you were looking at um climb up yeah I'm still working on getting quotes for that um that wouldn't be covered under any grant money it's definitely still needs to be done is get the stairs fixed and then rearrange all the big concrete blocks so that they're nice and even and safer and what about for the actual the hot there the anything more on what we can do to make those facilities a little bit more comfortable and safer have been researching as far as costs for like a mobile office trailer type situation um it would just be a matter of getting money for that right it might have to be like a free cash request or something along those lines the E Grant with that's all for emergency prepared that wouldn't help to if so the only grants that come across are mainly towards waste reduction or and nothing that can stretch out to house the actual place for recycling nothing yet so working on it um for housing and Nuance complaints it's been coming in pretty inreasing rate we had 20 of those complaints since the last four Health meeting um so it kind ofes between a nuisance and housing combination are there any repeat offenders uh I didn't include repeat INF fenders in that number so it's probably even higher but we do have some cases that are pretty difficult to resolve and aren't really going away are any of them Sim similar the same or um they're all separate it's kind of runs the canas so it's nobody specific focus on any particular reing problems but um we are working on that along with um any kind of properties that have a lot of junk and trash and build up we're going to start hitting those harder trying to get more traction on those um and part of that Angela has built some new forms and open go for housing complaints Nuance complaints um so that's going help us better track what we what we get where it's at and it's status and when it's closed things like that that'll be good to go back and do reports on you know collect whatever data you have on how many yeah she's doing a lot in open go with um reports like generating a report on entering on the inspection stuff scheduling like seing your calendar all kinds of good stuff that we can take advantage of D is always helpful when you go file for you know funding and grants and stuff and whatever it is even with the council and stuff I mean if you have the DAT yeah just having better info to provide all of you as far as how many inspections what they cover things along those lines so that is up and running and she also added um new online applications for septic plans and tests so well thank yes definitely uh we've had a few uh I think about three applications come in for new septic systems or Replacements so far this year I'm expecting that's going to pick up pick up pretty soon um and we have a new employee that's working out well in met yes so that's actually my next update so it's okay Eddie is our new he's maybe our new food inspector he's still in the training process but we've gone out and Tak him on uh several food inspections he's been doing a lot of online training um pretty soon we're going to transition to him to where the lead on an inspection and we observe if that goes well we'll cut him loose and put them on his own own routine um so we are actually currently inspecting food establishments on the the minimum scale which is twice a year and we're going to be moving towards more of a risk based calendar so every place will be expected two three or four times a year depending on past performance um population served complexity of menu all that kind of stuff so there will be some places that'll be getting four or more inspections a year depending on how they do and we'll adjust that list as we get moving along so I think that'll be good with how often there's turnover within the restaurants how things change change I'm just get yeah uh since the last meeting we had one more complaint came in people together and got sick about two days later was it related to the other one uh no it was not so um we did do an inspection and followup with the establishment at the eight didn't anything of concern at the time um they both have recovered and didn't need any medical treat or anything like that these were people in the same group they were eating together yes they both ate the same thing at the same restaurant um on the same day and then both had a onset about at the same time similar symptoms um so he looked into it as best we could all the product that they ate was already gone that same day that they atee there so we couldn't really expect that but last month was two separate complaints yeah sameish I think it may have been the same establishment but it was separate events so and we don't have any idea there's no correlation about what's going on here nothing we can find um last month's complaints were a little odd just because they were over a month before they even got diagnosed or we were even notified about it so those were kind of unusual and it wasn't shellfish or anything like that that's high risk anyway um so this one that we had this month was shellfish was oysters so there is a concern there yeah did they do stool studies to know what was in it or they just going by history of exposure yeah was no test nothing got reported to the state came back it was them calling you yes and we do always recommend they go talk to their healthare provider and um another decided to do that so we don't really know what exactly was happening with them much it's hard CU there's a lot around in the community right now a lot of G right kinds is it is it really a concern you know so you don't have anything to test at The Establishment all we could do is really go look at how they receive and store the product again make sure they have their shelfish tags in order which they did um so that in case there was more we would able to trace it back hopefully that's the last we that yeah and let's see still making preparations for the food truck festival um that's kind of all being run through wo trucks yeah I saw that that's and so they end up um they're promoting all if you want a food truck festival or something like that or wherever the establishment and then they take care of doing all the credential checking and safe food Ser safe Ser food serve certifications and all that yeah so they run it's like a commer specifically design for food trucks and has kind of a big number of trucks that are all licensed and inspected make things a little easier you don't the local Board of Health doesn't have to go and inspect each particular truck then or we still will you will yeah okay well the day of we be out there making sure everybody has temperatures and Stu like sinks working chemicals all that good stuff so um I think that's actually all I have I have a question for old business then before we proceed and I know we were talking a little bit about it but about the p and the water um I thought I saw something in I don't know F if you did I thought thought I saw something in the news about them making or looking at making minimum standards for p in water and making it mandatory to be checking the drinking water for pasas I I'm not sure where I saw that or but I mean when it came up in front of this board it didn't have anything to do with drinking water didn't it no but I thought well they did want the results testing of drinking water and um because it was something um we were talking about I just I I would have just wondered if we have anything information or anything notified about that because it sounds like the government it what I don't know if it was federal or was I think it was Federal that was looking at making minimum standards which means Massachusetts without minimum STS and I didn't know what we have for information on that um but yeah hav received anything nothing yet water testing or we have test results we responsible for right now the landfill right so the water company would have to be the ones to be doing that if we do hear anything it would come from to us so the concern was it leeching from the landfill area and then contaminated ground Waters I mean it wasn't it wasn't like a water supply issue but possibly private Water Supplies um um I think I believe our the request for the information was for also for our drinking water um results and if P was tested at the time it is something that is coming more and more um uh attention is being brought to as it's being you know researched is coming out and it's being more agencies are being more attentive to the fact that the P can cause cancer I mean that would be a concern I would think if it was present at all right and well I think I don't want to quote but they were talking about what the minimum standards are right now Massachusetts does have minimum standards I believe it's six parts per million I'm not I'm not going to quote that but I believe there is some minimum standards already um but I believe what I saw what was being proposed was higher minimum standards so I just didn't know if we've gotten any information at all may me like a a more stringent standard lower readings yeah lower threshold right right right so October 2020 n published past public drinking water standard or maximum contaminant level mm 20 per liter or parts per trillion um I don't know how that compares to the new I don't either and I I don't know I'll have we'll have to do some research on it yeah for next yeah I I'll I'll see what I can and that's that's the sum of all there six different chemicals that make up the P so 20 NS per liter is the sum concentration of all six so it is something that yeah I mean I think we should certainly kind of get ahead of it make sure that if if it is part of what we can do we should we should be aware of what the level is certainly in the public water supply and if people are doing U private well testing and I guess that I don't know right we can't when those are going to the labs are they testing for that I've never I mean if they would um private that with with the private well and drinking water regulations as far as what gets tested for your standard um well test that we look at when we license them so we look at the the list that they wanted to add pest definitely but I mean it's not it's not it's not an EPA primary or secondary it hasn't been I don't know I thought I saw I'll have to look you know that sheet that came out and maybe that's what you saw I don't know because it says that all public water suppliers are required to test for p ps um the monitoring requirements will be included in future Mass issued water quality samping schedule so they're not saying what the cut off is going to be but it's also required to test all new sources of drinking water including replacement sources and satellite loans um and then it says there is money UMass is setting up I think they said five labs to do this and so there is money you can use the UMass lab there are three USPA testing methodologies and and why don't I send you guys this fact sheet fact sheet but it does say um how interpret the tests and what are the current recommendations I I just want to make sure we're proactive with what we were supposed to do it where it was supp and I know there's a lot of attention being brought up to grade with it um like I said California has had regulations on it for a long time in anything like you know remember buying some shallow curtains and vinyl sh curtains and it was like reg did not meet the grades standards for California but so I just want to make that that would be great if you can send a to there's a contact person um for each region of the state and for the Central State it's Robert bck anybody know and about yeah so maybe we can there's a phone number here um I mean because it would be nice especially where we are water treatment plant is that correct terminology is um sub cont right alls the DPW I don't really get I'm just concerned about the health yeah that and who knows how many other I mean is he specifically this contact he's dealing specifically with [Music] withal out thank you okay we have new business the resolution in support of paint stewardship legislation um yeah we were just approached by um one of the representatives who's trying to basically bring more attention to these regulations or proposed laws um so that the goal is that they can get more municipalities to support it we hoping would get more attention in the the legislature um just because there's so many bills that are looking at so they're just looking to get more support for it's basically a program that would charge a fee buy paints I think it's less than a dollar a gallon and then that money would be used to set up a system to recycle the paints or at least collect the paint and recycle a Cy and dispose of the rest kind of on a universal level kind of like um dep for they were at the U household hazards waste day last fall I think um they were getting trying to get they were they were they were so um I know that uh there's a some communication here from um from yeah about recycling the paint right now with it what it's costing in municipalities so my understanding from reading it is that passing this legislation the um municipalities will have to have different types of recycling processes for the paints and that's going to be costly and so by having that deposit or um stewardship amount attached to it pre you when at the sale would supplement some of those costs is that my understanding your understanding that's I I don't know I didn't get that impression and I guess the thing I don't understand is um it's supposed to be proposed legislation and then it says that the retailers and transer station participate on a voluntary basis so I don't get what the legislation is that it just enables you to participate and then so they're saying some retailers like the larger ones won't participate whereas the smaller hardware stores generally do so if you buy paint from Walmart and you you're buying it without paying the SE charger is everybody paying it whether they participate or not you know I'm not sure I Gap what the volunt aspect of it is yeah that that's a good point that that was a little bit confusing because I would think of it's legislation they wanted I mean they would want it done universally as opposed to I actually look at the bill itself this material so and then the question is along that same line with the municipalities like whatever funding this you know search charges or whatever it's called um is that distributed evenly to municipalities or you know if you if it's voluntary then if we participate say government participates but the net town over doesn't so do we how is it divided up I mean you know those questions is there somebody that so I mean doesn't it mostly fund the whole Pain Care prob isn't paint care the one that's going to handle most of the recycling of the paint and everything is that I mean so that would take it out of for the most part the municipalities wouldn't it I mean that's it's going to be returning it to the stores and not to the town out so in other words you bring it back they collect bins of paint and when their bins are full they call paint care paint care comes and picks it up for recycling and I would imagine the advantage would be there's less sporadic shipment so paints and everything it's it's kind of right they're collecting all these paints it's a centralized collection and they're you know so you have a lot less Trucking and everything and you have a lot less hopefully disposal in landfills and you know places where it shouldn't be going but so they doing it in main for New York Connect and rhod Island it says saving taxpayers nearly $300 million to date so if he saves the town last because they're paying paint not paying it for the disposal piece I'm understanding that correctly okay and then it does say here that collected money does not go to the state's general fund as a true taxk would the paint further okay pain operates as a nonprofit making no profit which the state confirms through annual third party audit of pain so this is really it all would go into um an account for pain like you said and then the the question you raised about if not everybody participates so I mean I think the idea of free and relatively easy paint disposal is a good thing where you can just go down the street your artware store hand your paint over than them and it's done I think that makes it a lot easier for people and it would encourage people more to you know to do the recycling and everything um I mean this I mean this is in front of us as what are we supposed to be making our recommendation to the city council I mean this would be an issue for the city council to address anyways right right basically be whether you decide what you want to have city council look it over if you want to um just kind of I think it's I mean I think it's worth looking over it's hard to make a formal recommendation based on the information we have I think but um right especially with the idea of the fact that it's voluntary and I mean I can see some of the smaller stores participating but then the big box stores not participating so they but they have to return their cans of pain so where are they going to go are they still going to go to the municipal transfer station for disposal and they can go to the smaller stores that have to be put a lot on the smaller stores you think it might but they say here the smaller paint retailers in Connecticut New York and Vermont that I have spoken to whoever wrote this opinion point I have found the program requires minimal effort and significant increases their foot traffic which they like so to become a collection site retailers or transfer stations must complete a simple two-page application form on the paint care website so it sounds like the transfer station could complete an application form and become part of this program where they just take it and give it to the paint care uh people but it sounds like the smaller stores at least what they say in these other states have appreciated they just collect the paint from wherever but maybe while they're there they buy something else and I don't know why the big stores don't want to do it they just have too much volume of paint going out I to worry about what's coming back but it seems like it's they're just making it voluntary so you wouldn't have to return it the same place that you bought it um but you would have to find a place that collects it so it could be a transportation but I'm assuming the search AR would apply to everybody right in other words TR pain sales is I understand add if you don't participate in the program you still have to collect the money for it if you're selling paint right it's like when you sell soda it's in a can you you have to charge that extra 10 cents but um it's not truly a tax either because it's not going into the tax fund it's going into the pain care company yeah it's interesting concept though it makes it easier for everybody know but everybody does have to participate with the S charge is that okay well that's yeah that was one question obviously because at Walmart and you know all the big paint retailers aren't participating in the search ARS then how does that work then then hard has to take everybody's pay back so it looks like they've prepared a resolution in support of paint stewardship legisl that they want us to I thought that was for the city council was put to council they want I think they want the city council to be on board with it and formally add the city of Garder to the list of communities that are in favor of this um so as far as we're concerned I mean I think it's an interesting idea worth being taken up by the city council if that's all that's being asked of us okay um you want to make a motion support it you know support it yeah it's going to reduce waste and second cost and um streamline this process to responsible col this I mean my personal feeling is I support the spirit of it but I I don't think I have enough information to say whether I'm in supported the actual legislation because we haven't even seen that so I mean my feeling was would just be that I would be in favor of the city council looking at looking at it if that's if that's what you're asking us to right that's it okay well I'll make a motion that we we asked the city council to to look at this um proposal second oh any discussion no all in favor okay so that's what we will do I yeah we don't have question okay anyone have anything else to discuss or bring up to do business okay let's set our meeting for next month so I'm on way the week right before Memorial Day see that's Monday the 27th I'm actually here on the 20th but I'm not here the 27th but I don't think anybody else wants to be here 27 know be the 27th here Monday but Tuesday through Friday I'm not here so okay so the 20th has that look for you Jeff oh so you're sh you are available on the 20th then week before be with me okay let's um set it for the 20th at 430 oops okay um motion toour okay in faor motion meeting is aded at 510 p.m.