Welcome to the Board of Health meeting of April 6th, 2026. Pursuant to Governor Healey March 29th, 2023 signing of the acts of 2023 extending certain measures >> [clears throat and cough] >> certain COVID-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending
certain provisions of the open meeting law until June 30th, 2027. This meeting of the Chatham Board of Health is being conducted in person and via remote participation. Please note this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly thereafter for scheduled and
on-demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet. If anyone else is recording this meeting including the use of AI note-taking apps, please notify the chairman. Every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the
[snorts] order. A reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling 1-508-945-4410 conference ID 637-247-648 pound or join the meeting online via Microsoft Teams through the link in the posted agenda.
While this is a live broadcast simulcast on Chatham TV Xfinity Channel 1072, despite our best efforts we may not be able to provide real-time access. We will post a record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible.
Um and I'll turn the meeting over to our chairperson Carol Boyce. It shall be the policy of this board to conduct its meetings under the open meeting law so as not to encourage public participation
whenever time permits and as part of the agenda items discussions. Um So today I'll take attendance. We have Joanna Kale Present. Carol Gordon
Present. and myself Carol Boyce. So we do have a quorum. And today we have three items on our agenda. The first is a variance hearing and approval of I take IA technology
for Mark and Cameron Sperry 100 Round Cove Road Clark Engineering. And we have David Clark here. Good afternoon. David Clark Clark Engineering. Um >> [clears throat] >> I have before you a request to add a
bedroom to an existing two-bedroom house. house was built a few years back. The owners at the time uh um didn't want to add the third bedroom but because they personally didn't need the
three bedrooms but they set the house up um that it could be converted in the future. Uh the new owners would like to uh do a do more than convert that bedroom to uh I mean that room to a bedroom but expand
additional living space over the garage. Um So as required by your regulations and actually Title 5 2 because this is in a zone 2. Um We're expanding the system to to three bedrooms and adding a IA component to
the uh septic tank. Um actually it'll be a new septic tank that uh is specifically designed for the IA technology. Uh >> Excuse me, David. Yes. Could you speak up a little louder? >> Sure. Thank you. >> [clears throat]
>> Uh we no longer provide uh nitrogen loading calculations but uh past members um would remember that uh a three-bedroom system with treatment introduces less nutrients into groundwater than a two-bedroom system
without. So this is a better system for the environment um and uh we hope you approve it. I can just add that um this is as David said a zone 2. So in order for them to have three bedrooms they would have to
add an IA system which is what they're proposing and the system will be monitored in accordance with the um general use approval for um nitrogen reduction in a zone 2 of a public water supply. Okay. Okay. They only missed the lot size by
uh very little. >> 444 square feet to have three bedrooms as a matter of right um but Any questions from the board? Just want to clarify that there would be two septic
sorry septic systems. Pardon me? Just to clarify again the septic systems. How many? Three bedrooms. The exist septic systems. Just one. Just one. Okay, thank you. Oh I'm sorry. They're just they're they're adding another chamber to the existing system
to make it big enough for three bedrooms and then they're adding the treatment part which is in the new tank that they're putting in. Okay. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? >> I don't I don't have any questions. I have no questions. Any questions Pretty
straightforward. from the audience or I don't know what I'm doing online. Okay. So we need a motion. Well We need a motion. I motion to [clears throat] accept the proposed >> Motion to accept. Um is there there's
there's one more item. Oh. It wasn't part of the application but um I see Bill Litchfield's on the line and it just reminded me is a probably a small legal matter with this. There is a two-bedroom deed restriction right now. Yeah. Um so when we draft the
three-bedroom restriction, uh would it be appropriate to put language in there releasing the the the previous restriction? That works for me. Um in the past I've um someone has created a a release and I've signed it on behalf
of the Board of Health. So >> Mr. Litchfield has his hand up. >> Bill, go ahead. Uh thank you. Good afternoon, members of the board. Yes, as uh Judy just said, uh we have done this in the past. I'll be happy to draft the release together with
a new covenant requiring uh IA technology and limiting the premises to three bedrooms. That way there won't be confusion going on as to how many in in the future as to how many bedrooms there are. Okay. Okay. All right. [clears throat]
Um do you want me to read the conditions before you >> the conditions. >> Is someone second the I don't know if someone Someone second? I'll second. Okay. >> [laughter] >> So um these are pretty standard conditions for uh an IA in a zone two.
The applicant should restrict the property to a maximum of three bedrooms and record the restriction on the deed. We'll add releasing the two-bedroom deed as well. The applicant shall sign a covenant with the board agreeing to comply at such time as the town of Chatham through its Board of Health
and/or Board of Water and Sewer Commissioner directs the connection of this property to the municipal sewer. The signed covenant deed restriction shall be recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds. Throughout the life of the system, it shall be under an operation and maintenance agreement. Approval of this system and O&M
agreement shall be in accordance with the DEP protect uh excuse me, the Department of Environmental Protection Biomic certification for general use approved December 29th, 2010 revised March 20th, 2015. Total nitrogen shall
be monitored and performance standards of 19 mg per liter is to be met. Effluent shall be tested quarterly for the first 2 years and twice per year thereafter uh approval by the with approval by the Board of Health or its agent. The applicant agrees to apply
a minimum of 6 in of compacted topsoil to all landscaped areas of the property. The engineer shall submit an engineered as-built plan including as-built elevations with a written certification that the system has been installed in accordance with the approved plan and title five. No alteration of the floor
plan of the dwelling or beyond what's approved or the engineering site plan shall be allowed without further review by the Board of Health or its agent. The variance granted to the state environmental code of title five in the town of Chatham subsurface sewage regulations is valid from 1 year from the date of Board of
Health approval and a permit must be issued and work comment commenced during that 1 year period or the variance shall >> expire. Okay. Judy, I have a question now. Is it possible then for them to get a release say they wanted to do a fourth bedroom?
Or how does that work? >> No. Totally three bedrooms >> Not unless you rescinded your nitrogen loading regulations. Actually, you wouldn't even be able to There's there's no there's no mechanism in the regulations for that. >> if Especially in a zone two, you I don't think you could get Or if they decided to turn the sewing room into you know,
with some renovations turn that into a bedroom. No. >> Well, you'd have to walk through Yeah, you'd have to you wouldn't be able Okay. And they'd have to get a building permit to do that. So we would be looking at it. Okay. Yeah, [clears throat] thank you. Okay. So yeah. All right. We need a vote.
So let's take a vote to accept the variance with the conditions. I Carol? I I yes. Joanna? >> I And I approve. Um Thank you. >> So it's been approved. Thank you.
Thanks, David. Okay, I need the the sewer connection. And our next item is the request for the Board of Health to vote to order town sewer connection
letters. So um you have in your packet a map. This was all provided from Rob Feely, our DPW director. They've been approved to start connecting people to um the sewer in phase 1D2A
of the sewer construction. Um the roads are listed in the spreadsheet in your packet. Um I'll just I'm not going to read all of the addresses, but it's Commerce Park. There's a two properties in Commerce
Park. Uh Oh, wow. Five Dusty Miller Lane six Holly Drive North, seven Holly Drive North, and then um a bunch of Meeting House Road properties just Route 137 um
uh a long list of Middle Road properties Mill Hill Road properties uh Morton Road properties, Norma Lane 93 Norma Lane, 94 Old Village Road, 95 Old Village Road, 96 Twine Field Road.
Um so I think it comes to about 95 properties in all. Um So under state law Mass General Law, the Board of Health has the authority to order connections to a common sewer system um
and it's also this authority is given in our Chatham Board of Health sewer connection regulations which you have in your packet. Um Some of these I just mentioned in the memo that some of these properties may have already started connecting or may have already connected. Um so we'll weed
those out as we send the orders or if they get an order, they can contact us and we can rescind it or just note to make note that they've already [snorts] connected if that's the case. Um so basically all I'm asking for is that the board vote to issue sewer connection
orders for the properties within phase 1D2A for which sewer laterals have been installed as identified on the list that I just discussed. I'm happy to answer any questions. Um and I just can say that we're working
on a new um uh plan uh >> [snorts] >> um computer program to do this more efficiently than we have been doing it. So it might take us another month or two before we actually get the letters out, but um this is this allows us to move
forward with this. Yeah, I have a couple of questions. Uh first of all if um if someone is low income or it has trouble coming up with the money for the sewer connection, is there something there that we provide some help? The Aquafund
through Barnstable County has um uh no interest or very low interest loans that people can get. There's also funding through um the FD the food um the agricultural um the federal program um that I can put
people in touch with as well to get grants through some >> stated in the letter that we send out? It the letter yeah, I didn't I didn't give you a copy of a letter, but it will have information. We can make sure that it has information on it. Um
anybody can always contact us and we can provide more information. Okay, and I don't think there's probably no need for grinder pumps in this area, is there? Um I'm not sure. I'd have to ask Rob, but um we are going to have on our
agenda for the next meeting um we're going to release the the moratorium on grinder pumps cuz they've started getting that supply in. So Oh, okay. >> the board will have to um release that. Okay, great. >> time anybody who needs a grinder pump will be able to get them
from the town. Perfect. Yeah. Okay, thank you. Okay. All right. So can I do I hear a motion to accept the request to issue sewer connection orders for
properties within phase 1D2A for which sewer laterals have been installed as identified on the attached list. I'll make a motion for all of that. All right. [laughter] And do I hear a second? >> it. Okay.
And let's take a vote. >> There's nobody Anybody have any questions? >> Anyone? I don't see anybody online, but Okay. Okay. They're not Okay. Oh, yeah. No. Good afternoon. I'm Debbie Aiken. I'm a
member of the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee and we met this morning um at 11:00 and we we discussed sewer connections. And I I didn't hear you say that there is a town fund for people who have applied to the
county and gotten loans, but they're still having hardship. And so they can go to the town to get funds to supplement what they need. So perhaps if that could go on a letter Sure. I I I I guess I wasn't
familiar with that, but it I'll I'll find out more about it and make sure that people know about that. >> Our our committee I'm sorry. I I probably not up to date on that as much as you are. And so once people get these letters, am I correct? They have 2 years
to hook up and after the 2 years, then they get a connection order. This is a connection order that gives them 2 years. Um after that we, you know, if we have the ability to to do um
more enforcement, we will. But at this point we haven't been doing a lot of heavy-handed enforcement. So um and that is actually the topic of our next agenda item. So Right. That's why I look forward to that discussion. Yeah. >> You're welcome.
Brian Phelps, 374 Orleans Road. I was going to save it for the next one cuz they're kind of the same, but it was going over the uh And you know, the subsidy [clears throat] we do have in place, we have like a I think a fund of $50,000 in it. And then um if you qualify for the low-interest loans or whatever, you get
$2,000, which is not very much money at all considering the engineering's going to be at least $3,200. So I think that's something that, you [clears throat] know, maybe you guys should present to the select board that there needs to be some more money for that cuz we're spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the sewer system
and then we're kind of just passing off, you know, um the cost to the, you know, to the people. Um so uh that's just what I was requesting is to, you know, recommend some maybe some more money uh for you know, for the hardship cuz of
the cuz of how expensive things are. All right, thanks. Thank you. Take a vote. All right. Let's take a vote. Um Carol. Yes. Joanna. Yes. And I say yes, so
that's been approved. >> Okay, great. And we'll work on that um getting that software program up to date and generating those letters and um let you know how it's going. Okay. And you'll include the information. I will, yeah. Yeah, we'll make sure that
letter We have to work on the draft letter as well. Okay. All right. And our next agenda item is discussion and update on non-compliance sewer connection
orders. And this was a Carol Gordon agenda item request. Right. Yes, thank you. And I think Judy, you have the Yeah, I I mean Carol, when you sent me this, you gave me a list that actually um Debbie had
generated. Um I'm not sure why these particular properties were were um picked out, but um many of these have either connect Some of these are either connected or have been um uh allowed to um
connect um they were on a corner, like let's see. Um The one is four Barnhill Lane. Extension was approved in order to connect to the gravity line on Barnhill Lane when it becomes available. Um so a few of these are similar to that. Um
We rescinded the Chatfield Chatfield um Chatfield Lane one. Again, I think it was on a corner of uh Barnhill Road. Um these Main Street ones are Swenson properties. He was given extensions, but
now those have expired, so those are definitely due. Um at the time the board gave them the extensions, it was because of the they had so many properties um that it was quite uh expensive to do them all at once cuz they were all ordered in the same year. So those um
they have they have connected some of their properties. Um Chatham Motel is connected, I believe. And I think there's one or two other properties that connected. But they are still outstanding. Um 935 Main Street is still outstanding.
Uh These these Oyster Pond Furlong Oh, this I did reach out on Oyster Pond Furlong. They should be connecting. Um I spoke to their engineer and have uh he was reaching out to their lawyer about getting them. They are very much
overdue. The property changed hands and that's something we should probably proceed with enforcement on. >> Okay. Um And then the Shady Acre one um is another one that uh they're going to connect when it goes down Shady Acre Drive.
No. Okay, the the Oyster Pond Furlong uh 100. Yeah, that's actually one property. It's 98 and 100. >> and 100? >> Yeah. Okay. And they've been granted another extension or we're going to contact them? We're going to contact them. I spoke to their engineer last
week. Um we had been in touch with them over the last several years. They were working on a plan. But um I I think it's time for them to move forward with this cuz they've been given more than enough time to to get this >> All right. When someone When someone
gets an extension for 6 months or whatever and they don't adhere to it, what do we do? We send them another letter or You know, we we haven't really We do. A lot of these things kind of they we catch up with them when they transfer
the property or they try to get a building permit for something. Um we haven't done a lot of enforcement on these uh because we just don't have the staff and the time really to >> I see. enforce, you know, 500 of these. Um
Their extension expired 5 years ago. It's been 5 years. On which one? The Yeah, yeah. >> Furlong. >> Shady Yeah. Oyster Pond Furlong. Well, two of the three of those years were during COVID, so we weren't doing a lot of anything except except COVID at the time.
But um But yes, no, they that property definitely is um because they did transfer the property, it should have been connected. Um so I we I'm trying to follow up on that one. Um as far as enforcement overall, as I
said, it's just uh we just don't have the manpower, the staff to do it. Um but we do find that people are connecting at a good rate even though some people may not feel that it's enough. Um you know, there's a limited amount of contractors, there's a limited amount of
engineers. And um you know, in order to hire somebody to get and get a job done, it's it could be a year just to get your plans to to to do this. Um So we're giving people
time to do it. Uh we're not doing heavy enforcement. Most people we're catching up either when they transfer the property or when they they get building permits. So Okay. >> There's there's a few people I know out there that that just don't have the um
the economic ability to do it even with um even with the the funding from the Aqua Fund and such. They may not be able to uh deal with it. And you know, because of their own
personal mental health situation, etc. Do you um for phase one, do you know how many sewer connections there have been and like what's an average or something like this? I have I have an average number here, 61 a year. Does that sound reasonable or
Maybe. >> low to me, but I don't know. I'd have to look that up. >> Okay. >> Um I do have a database that I work with the sewer department. Okay, that that would be Yeah, that would be >> all um all the connections. I review the
bedroom numbers and um and we approve the abandonment of the septic systems and the attach and the um Okay. connections to sewer. So we don't have any like monthly targets that we want to meet each month to have connections. Now, we just have areas. Is
that it? Okay. And then on our on our monthly report um we also report Mhm. number that have come through. I mean, 61 a year might be somewhat accurate. Mhm. It seemed low, but Okay, fine. And what was um Thank
you. >> George Ryder Road, 95 George Ryder Road. It's just outstanding. I've By how long? Years. Yes, yeah. Uh it's another one where you you can't get blood from a stone.
It's kind of hard to enforce some of these for various reasons. Okay. But as I said, we catch up with them eventually. And and people many people are voluntarily connecting, some who haven't been
ordered yet. So Okay. Okay, thank you. I don't know if if anybody else has >> that's probably not very satisfying to hear from, but we're we're doing the best we can on these. Brian. Debbie.
Uh sorry. You want to go first? Uh Brian Phelps, 374 Orleans Road. You got Now, you also have to um uh collapse septic system or remove remove that as well, right? Yeah, they usually fill they collapse them and fill them. And they get a they get a septic abandonment permit to do
that. Okay. Yep. All right. Cuz cuz we're getting how much it was going to cost. My friend's rich, so he's going to be able to do it, but it's going to be like they got to do the driveway and stuff. It's going to be like 40 almost like $40,000, I think, to do, you know, to connect and with like all the landscaping and stuff they got to change. So Every every house is different, but
yeah. Some can be very very >> these projects are getting like pretty expensive. Yeah. All right, thanks. Debbie Eick from the garden. Um I went by numbers that I had found in different reports. And
so the bottom line for me is phase one is what we're going to hopefully have completed in order to have nitrogen mitigation in our embayments. And I asked this morning, I said, "Um is
phase one supposed to end in 2040?" And the answer I got was, "No, now it's 2044." So, I said, "Well, is 2044 the year where the infrastructure will be in the streets, or is that the year that you're
hoping everybody who has property in phase one is going to be hooked up?" He said, "Well, that's that's when um we hope everybody will be hooked up, probably by 2046." So, then if you do a little math, um and
we go with the average number of systems that have been put in every year to date or every month, say, and you divide out the number of months between now and 2046,
you get a rate that's about four times what we have actually been doing. So, that leads me to have a serious concern about the enforcement issue. We have really worked hard to get um
systems set up so that people who cannot afford it have access to funds. All they have to do is apply. My daughter in Harwich applied to the county. She got a loan. Um
And and if we're not going to have enforcement, if if we're going to say, "Well, you know, we got to have a little leeway here." And so, we have got continuing small number of sewer connections every year,
I don't see how we're going to reach our goal in 2046. So, I I would love to see some kind of a a score card, maybe in the Chronicle, or something that would give taxpayers and citizens um an idea of how
many sewers are actually being hooked up on a monthly basis in this town. So, are we are we are we really going to be able to meet the goal that we have in 2046 of having everybody who's contributing to the nitrogen problem hooked up to the
sewer? So, so this is this is my frustration trying to figure out how we can do better with this. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Anne Ryan. I'm also a member of the Water and Sewer Advisory Committee,
and I echo everything that Debbie has to say. And I am concerned about the future, you know, which I probably won't be here for, but but I am more concerned about what's going on right now. And I think the fact that
there are a lot of people who for years have been ordered to connect haven't done anything about it, and I think that that's really unfair to the people who have. Yes, it's expensive. It's expensive for everyone to do this,
but we made a commitment to do it. And I am very concerned about non-enforcement on this, because I think it sets a terrible precedent. And I think that if some people who don't want to do it for whatever reason,
or, you know, yeah, do I really want to spend money on this, and I've got all this other stuff, they see other people not doing it, they think, "What are they going to do to me?" And there's no incentive for them to continue. So,
I would hope that we would take a much more um focused approach to getting the people who have been already asked to do this to do this right away. I mean, what what What was the date of the the order? Was
it 2022, or am I thinking of something else? But But Anyway, I can't remember all of the details, but I know there are a lot of people who haven't done it, who should be doing it. If it's a financial consideration, there are at least three
ways to address that. And if none of those ways work, I think that we should work with them to do something else, but they have to get connected. We have, you know, what's going to turn out to be probably a billion dollars invested in this process, and we need to stop the
stuff going into the waters right now, regardless of what happens in the future. So, I hope you guys will take that under consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Can I ask a question? Oh. You mentioned incentives. Do you have anything in particular in mind that you
would think would be an incentive for this, for the people that are >> I think fines are a [laughter] good incentive. Um I mean, we have used them very effectively um uh for um for the
water side of this, and we've gotten a lot of people to hook up their irrigation systems to a second meter, because this was a big problem, and the DPW made a big push to go after the people who were irrigating illegally,
and has had tremendous success with that, and that's given me a lot of hope that we can do the same with this. But this, you know, comes through the Board of Health, so I'm just hoping that, you know, we can work as a team here to get this accomplished, because, you
know, the whole point was to clean up our water, and if we keep spewing stuff in there, it's not good. Thank you. Um are there any other questions, or
anyone online? Um no. I do not see any other questions. Okay. Um Okay, do you think we could we could um discuss or work on an enforcement type policy or something like this in, you know, for in the future, or, you know, start thinking about that now?
And then I also think that I I like the idea of putting something in the Chronicle, maybe, that maybe even if it's just once a month, put our goal, and then like a little thermometer showing where we at where we're at with our goal, just to let the community know that we're working on it,
and they can kind of track our progress. Yeah, something we'd have to work on >> Yeah. >> I mean, that would be something I'd have to work on with DPW. I mean, we have um quite a few people in the works that are working on it, so So, yeah. they may not
be completed yet. So, um You mean as far as enforcement policy, or No, as far as getting connected. Yeah. Well, enforcement policy, too, I think we could we could discuss with them. Um I just don't I don't think it's almost it would be a full-time job to to do this,
or, you know, to get somebody to follow up on all of this, and um Yeah. Could DPW help? I don't know. We would have to Something we're going to have to talk about at the staff level. >> Yeah. Okay. All right, thank you.
Anything else? Is that it? Is that That's it. All right. We can we can discuss it again and moving forward, for sure. Maybe put it on a future agenda. Mhm. Okay.
All right, and do we have any public comments or requests that we haven't covered? No. >> [snorts] >> Any from the board? No. No. Uh reading of the minutes
from Where are they? March 16th. I did send changes. Uh March 16th. March 15th. 15th. 16th. Do you want them? Yeah.
Debbie, are they on my desk? I I will get there. Okay. Are there any changes to the minutes, or No. Okay. I I have I have a question, of course. >> Okay. Uh I was just wondering, are we going to be working on the review of the STR registration
uh raising it to $200? Is that something that we work on? Will that be on the agenda next time, or when will that be? It's not until May 4th. All right, that's right. It was going to be on next week's uh agenda, but um uh Greg Berman would like to be in
attendance for that discussion, so it's going to be our May 4th meeting. Oh, fine. Okay. Okay. So, yes, definitely. Thank you. Just All right. We'll have a draft showing the changes that we're recommending based on We discussed it a few weeks ago, and then um the Select
Board discussed it two weeks ago, as well. Great, thank you. All right. Uh do I hear a motion to approve the minutes? I motion to approve the minutes. Second.
All right, and let's take a vote. Carol. Yes. Joanna. Yes. And [snorts] yes. So, the minutes are approved. And do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? There's nothing left. >> to adjourn.
Seconded. Right down the line. >> [laughter] >> All right, let's take a vote. Carol. >> Yes. Joanna? >> Yes. And I say yes. Meeting is adjourned. Okay.