e e and how can we serve them better so we were talking maybe perhaps bring vaccine clinics to their areas not every single homeless it has access to the clinic although the clinic offers those uh services but perhaps going to the little
the encampments so by going to the where they are by providing information and maybe bringing more uh Partners more clinics and not only gr lawence and making ourself available to provide the the vaccines as well could be a
solution so every Friday they still holding every single Friday so regardless if what we what we can do uh from now on they still hold that uh vaccination clinic not at this moment we can start one they do have uh the police have they
receive needles but I don't think they provide in exchange right they they have sharp no but we can start that if that's what the board wants we we still have a contract with um with the biohazard company that picks up the the the
needles so we can start that practice if that's what you recommend just to see if and I think that's that's the highlight of the conversation here at one point a 100 wat um I have to talk to them I don't know
exactly to what point I want to say yes CU not only they provide like I said um the clean needles but they also provide the vaccination and all the resources that they need besides not only for Happy Well you know all the uh communicable diseases that they treat at
100 water stream yes and I remember that effort um the question probably and the opportunity is to see where again where where we at what is missing I think at one point we lost a little bit of connection in bringing containers to uh the homeless
population but then again uh we have the other um in question out there is it only the homeless or who else it may be other audience that we have to pay attention to like those um young adults that are there trying drugs or I don't
that's the reality and so the education like you mentioned and what are we going to do and who we going to bring to the table like the stakeholders that can provide education and and I guess a Citywide campaign to address these this
issue okay very good no I appreciate that and we'll have we'll look for an update at our next meeting thank you wmda y welcome okay is Pamela gonell here great oh Pamela we'd love to hear um an update on Ice guidance City of
Lawrence so as the last meeting with the 14 larger cities um that we had um the concern was that what is happening with the kids that have been by itself because of their parents have been
um some way um with the I uh rates so we are planning to make some communication with the city um um letting the people know their rights um what they need to do in order to be safe let's let's call
it like that um just a few points that they can do also is um they can remain in silent um if I if they are detained they have the right to contact an attorney and they they can refuse to sign anything without any advice so I
would ask I would ask any advice uh how we can surely communicate with the people so so they make sure what their rights are have there been ice raids in the city of liance up to date there have been some of them but we haven't received any complaints any concerns to
their Department okay but no raids on churches or schools or no okay okay any comments questions okay thank you for the update I think it is of utmost important to disseminate that information um those
are important guidelines um to retain an attorney and to not sign anything and um we have we have quite a few people with you know kind of in limbo and and the worst is when you know kids are in
school and they have the fear of coming home and their parents not being there so that we want to avoid at all costs um difficult situation as this is an immigrant community and always has been and that's what brings its strength not its
weakness okay influenza outbreak um influenza is the number one infectious disease right now there was covid two months ago but it started dying down we typically see influenza in the colder
months and right now we just had a nice cold snap and I I mean I can't tell you I'm sure Vidal will attest as well that we're seeing a tremendous amount of influenza I have influenza as right now I'm sorry I wouldn't miss the meeting
but but um but it's pretty awful I know that Pat had influenza recently um it's it's a it's a it's a really terrible illness it's just gives you fatigue and headache and sore throat and a cough and you feel miserable so I can't stress
enough the importance of flu vaccine this year there was a real decrease in the numbers of flu vaccine that we administered on a Citywide level uh and it's not for lack of availability all doctor's offices have them pharmacies
have them but there is a lot of vaccines these days between RSV and num in prear and shingles and covid boosters and influenza it's dizzying for most people but flu is a pretty nasty illness and um
we really urge uh our citizens to be vaccinated against the flu are you seen a lot of flu I do I do and what you're talking about is like you have a lot of vaccines out there so a lot of people they getting scared of so many vaccines and they are just a little skeptical
about to use it or no so we are supposed to be promoting everybody to let it know how important it is and try to break down that you know that mentality that people have people they don't trust much
vaccination after Co a lot of Hispanic population they're afraid of them so we have to everybody that have a little bit of knowledge you got to hold it push and hold put your thumb on it that not [Laughter]
working okay thank you so uh like I was saying so all of us we should be you know a voice out there into the community to try to teach and let it know that how much important is to get immunizations and let it know that are safe to have it so it's going to help
all the community to be in a lower cases or the outbreak that we've been having lately it's been a lot of patients with uh influenza right now like we can see here theong is one of things and I I tell you I think the most one of the most important things not to
overlook is to immunize your children you know children are the vehicle that brings covid home from their daycare from their school my little snotty knows children I'm sure brought it home from daycare and gave it to me so I mean you know no vaccine is 100% but it certainly
can you know decrease the the prevalence and decrease the severity of an illness so we encourage people to get the flu vaccines including vaccinating their children starting at age 6 months okay don't overlook that okay um
covid we don't see a lot of Co right now but again there's still a CO booster and it's not too late to get it okay I want to move on to in the local hospital I do see quite a bit of Co a lot lot of influence a and uh as a nurse working in
an acute hospital I have to wear a mask the whole time I'm in the hospital okay we're going to jump to um a quick item discussion on private versus public workplace smoke consumption
um why don't you tell us what what we're doing here uh several years ago there was a provision that we passed that is extremely ambiguous um there is a definition of several items but there isn't a definition of
establishment um based on the Oxford definition and establishment is a business organization a public institution or a household I feel it is important to Define establishment clearly or as not to infringe upon the
private rights of our citizens residents of Lawrence as written on the ordinance it is vague and undefined and will create future problems with enforcement we as a board have the right to create responsible Health regulations for public good this board power should
always measure and should be always measured and principled especially when potential infringement upon citizens and resident and residents personal Privileges and rights uh the way the law reads um we can actually start giving
fines to people consuming certain kind of smoke products uh in their home I feel that this is as a board of health I've been here for 10 years and it matters who's the mayor how it's going
to be enforced um referring to uh a coding Caesar uh definitions are important certain words are important so I want to uh actually add a a definition for establishment I think we should put
a definition or ADD add a definition to this uh ordinance uh I would like definition to be established and referred to any business organization or public institution upon the general public subject to mgl C2 C270 s22 so I
really want to defend uh the ability to separate private in public I do not want to see this city giving fines in the future for people consuming stuff in their private location Dr Gan may I yes please um let
me just ask a question first so your concern is strictly regarding smoking in private residences private homes yes private homes right so I personally don't have an issue with that I have a problem with that so if you want a definition to be
added I'll be glad to devise one but I have a problem with your definition I think that uh we need to look more into what the state law says what the local regulation says and find the best definition for the purpose that you have basically you want the word
establishment to exclude a private residence private we can have a simple definition that allows the board to continue to work as we have been doing so far because my concern is that we could if we throw this one in this could create other problems like for example private clubs they're not a business in
a sense that it's not a for-profit organization it has to be not for-profit in order to be entitled for example to allow smoke in the members area this definition doesn't include that so if your concern is I don't want at some point in the future that the city start
finding people because they're smoking inside their own private homes have no issues with that but I don't think this definition is adequate and I think we should think more of what what the best definition would be to accomplish the
goal so nobody will ever be fine for smoke in a private residence unless there's a federal law that applies and say Hey you know everybody has to adapt to it but I don't have an issue with that at all except that I wouldn't jump and adopt this one here tonight because
just my first reading gives me a little bit of a concern because uh terms do matter and there's some terms in the definition that may be further defined and create more problems so if that's what your concern is I think we we we
are that is one of my concerns the other concern is the separation between private and public establishments I I think a private establishment should be able to do whatever they wish um I we've had this discussion before um you can smoke a cigarette in a private location
but you can't smoke a hookah I feel that with demon demonizing how they're consuming it Tobacco is tobacco I feel this board's uh view on Tobacco should be more tiered toward uh doing more education on people people under 21 uh
smoking uh in regards to creating uh a division on private a division on or the clarity between private and public I I feel in the private location uh if you are about let's take the example of
clubs um in a private location if you are a member and that is what you are signed up to do and those are your bu rules you should be able to do that yeah at fireman's relief Club you can smoke a cigarette but you can't consume it in a
different way tobacco is tobacco and if that is what you want to do I feel that you signed up to that place you have rules it is not open to the public and you should be able to consume uh whatever it is legal in the state of Massachusetts all right so that's a
different that's a separate issue so you're bringing up whether you know people should allow should be allowed to smoke uh hookas in private clubs I think pretty much the gist of it um smoking private clubs is regulated by state law we have to conform to the state law
state law has some rules for when smoking and where smoking can take place at a private club uh it's a it's a it's a it's a longer discussions longer discussion for us to have for example
smoking private clubs can only occur at a members only area I can go over all the criteria that members only area has to be segregated so the smoke doesn't go anywhere else in the club portions of the club open to the public has to be smoke free probably uh
sigh and everything else so and and and and there's the whole thing about you know whether smoking can take place in the patio we have local regulation that does cover smoke in the patio I don't think we can address this here tonight but I think that's something I suggest
that we put this back on the agenda uh for further discuss discussion um I just want to remind you for one we've had several discussions uh this is like the third time that we've brought it up um we've always had two members now we had finally have three
members to actually discuss this um so I I I feel that we should either go forward or go backwards um this has passed or this got past 10 years ago and they actually kicked me off the board for my opinion so I do feel strongly
about this well I mean if the board wants to address this tonight then I have a list of concerns here about uh who is smoking private clubs and also about going back on the regulation Boards of Health has a they have a lot of authority but the authority is to
upold Public Health is to pass reasonable regulations that will advance Public Health not Advance the public the the financial interest of businesses it's not your primary concern your primary concern has to be what regulation can be passed and adopted
that will advance Public Health in the City of Lawrence that is your mandate that's what your Authority is if if you want to change your regulation solely because you want businesses to make more money uh by allowing who could smok in private clubs then your proposal would
violate what chapter 111 section 31 uh establishes that Boards of Health can pass reasonable Public Health regulations and the regulation that relaxes a restriction on smoking whether it's in private club or any other type of business it's not a regulation that
advances necessarily uh a public uh uh public health so it's a our job is for common sense so you could smoke a cigar or you can't smoke a hookah explain to me that rationale tobacco is tobacco um I've been in the healthc care field for
years and years and tobacco is tobacco I don't understand the demonization of this all right um the problem I see is that all these clubs on Broadway are going to become private clubs in their own way shape or form and everybody that
walks through the door and pays a dollar and becomes a member for the night it's just it's a slippery slope Steve I mean you propose it as we don't want people to be fine for smoking in their house but what you're really trying to do is make it more lenient for private clubs
to smoke hookah and and I'm not totally opposed to that necessarily but I do want to adhere to the state law I mean if it if we decide as a board to allow private clubs to smoke hookah which I'm not opposed to I I want to make sure
that they're doing it in the proper way and I also want to make sure that that clubs on Lawrence that are just open to the public with people working there are not suddenly becoming private clubs or or or pretending to be private clubs um
the the the litmus test for being a private club is quite rigid so I I don't know who is really going to be I mean we talking about the firefighters um Union or the English Club I mean I I really don't care but but the problem is when
all these clubs in Lawrence somehow find a way to have a private section and they're all smoking hookah in the back room because it's their private club that is that's going backwards man I I I just don't see that as something that's moving in the right direction but if a truly private club makes the decision to
have a separate section to smoke hookah or cigars or cigarettes in a corn Ed off area with proper ventilation and have signage and areas that are nonsmoking yeah I mean that's something that I would entertain absolutely so one concern that I think is important to
bring up and and I brought this up the first time we discussed this is that you know the moment you say Hey you know you can have uh Hook is smoking pre clubs a lot of these pre clubs are going to start like you know pretending to be a pre Club but they actually open to the B to to the public once they're open to
the public there should be no smoking whatsoever of any kind cigarettes cigars nothing it has to be completely smoke free so this would probably work against the idea of having smoking private clubs because uh uh you know some of these
clubs may not operate as as private clubs they're going to start allowing people members of the general public to come in once a single person from the general public come in into a club without being done that properly in the in the members only section the whole
club has to be smoke free no smoking in any other place so that's another concern that I think can you give us when was the last time you went to a club in Lawrence Cesar I go to private clubs when we have complaints when was the last time I
don't remember thank you uh well there there uh it is very rigid uh uh to actually get a private club it has to be in a certain Zone uh there are by rules uh to actually be a private Club
um there are uh certain when you go into a private club and you bring a member that have to be signed in there isn't a control in regards to it um I don't really see uh a big issue between uh the vehicle that they consume their tobacco
um there is not a lot of places that will fall into zoning that could pass it um I think we can easily control it by talking to lenser to make make sure that this does not happen but I believe we're infringing on the rights of person to
consume tobacco you want to consume tobacco by a cigarette you want to consume tobacco by a cigar you want to consume tobacco by a hookah culturally this has been a we had we have no problem with people consuming tobacco we just don't want them to do it in public
and expose workers that's why I'm presenting it to that's why I want a clear definition between private in public well that's been defined I mean the way we look at private clubs has been defined by the state law a private
club to be subject to smoking as an exception to the state law it has to be a not for-profit organization the moment these people they allow members of the general public to come in they start operating like a general business they're not a they're not a non-for-profit organization anymore so
that they won't be allowed to have smoking at all so it's like you said know yes for a member to come in with a person that person needs to be signed in they have to keep a log and everything else all these things and have you know an area that's members only the smoke is
segregated doesn't drift into other parts of the club all these things are hard to maintain the way they already are now the moment you say well we're going to change the regulation not because we have a health concern but because we just want to allow people to make more money out of smoking I don't
think we're going in the right direction we send it the wrong message because now the whole public that the whole city is going to come and Lobby before the board and say hey let's change this other regulation here because you know we don't like the way it affects our business so your mandate is to to poo
Public Health uh Stephen for the whole board I understand what your concern is but your concern cannot be addressed by this board without regard for what the state law says for how public private clubs are looked at by the state law if it is if it's not in Conformity then
then up because we got to move on Stephen I have no problem redefining public and private I think you guys I promise you we'll vote on something next time but you got to work on a definition with Caesar but I I I do want you to you
know um you know I don't know what the ultimate purpose or goal of this is is it to you know there's not a lot of private clubs in Lawrence um is this going to create an explosion of private clubs suddenly there's no I don't know I
I I don't have a problem defining public and private but I what I do want is we have to adhere to the state regulation that governs private institutions regarding tobacco if we can do the accomplish those two things and just
have a good definition for public a good definition for private and make sure that we adhere to the state regulations regarding smoking and private clubs I have no problem with that I can certainly bring a proposed language for uh to remove the risk of we ever issue
of fine for somebody because they're smoking in private residences it probably won't be a definition of private and public because it's I think it's a more complicated definition to make but I can create a definition for establishment that excludes private residences and that that will take care
of that uh but I still does not Uh define the definition between public and private if we only do I do want to protect the household but I do believe choice I do want to give the people Let me Give an example Let me Give an example it could be any type of business
it's if there's a complaint of smoking I can go in it doesn't have to be open to the public it doesn't have to be like a general business that you think that people can come in I can just go in and check you know the back rooms you know anywhere in the establishment there
should not be smoking at a workplace that's the state law So So Def defining public and private it's a longer discussion it's a complic ated one I've been doing this a long time this will be this would be complicated to address because we have to think of all the
other repercussions of this if your concern is you want people that that to to be able to smoke in their own residences that's easy to fix we can fix that I don't have a problem with that at all the other stuff I think is it's separate and I think that's as you know I have concerns about it so what is the
current law private clubs I mean how many are there in Lawrence I don't know how many clubs are there right now but basically a private club can allow smoking as an exception to the state law okay generally a workplace has to be smoke free private clubs could come as
an exception if they meet a certain criteria that's smoking can they smoke cooka if they smoke tobacco they don't make a they don't differentiate whether what type of tobacco it is the local regulation makes a a distinction between smoking of hookas and smoking of other
tobacco at that time the reason the original concerns were that of spread of disease people sharing the tips it was very common for people smoking hookas you know there's two hoses they're just sharing the holes they're sharing the tips and spreading Hepatitis B that was
one concern that I can remember so uh that's why there was a a a a distinction made at the local level at the state level There's no distinction between well you know whether the tobacco smoked at a private club that meet all the criteria whether it's it's a hooka or
whether it's a cigar or cigarettes they they made no distinction that way uh Dr G I believe we have approximately three private clubs I think that's all we have left okay okay um we got to move on to our
intermunicipal agreement shared services Grant contract approval I hope you had all had a chance to read through this um so this intermunicipal agreement or what we know as the Public
Health Excellence for shared services Grant has been a long effort to regionalize Public Health Services um there was a study done a report done in
2019 that made some recommendations um to increase local public health capacity through cross jurisdictional shared services programs and agreements these excellent for shared services
Grant comes with a lot of money and this is an agreement that has been executed between the town of methu the city of methan sorry and the City of Lawrence um it sets up a structure um
amongst the collaborative um participants being methan and lawence and um this is supposed to increase local Health capacity utilizing each other's Services one thing that um we notic
looking through this while it is good in terms of setting a structure there's going to be a program mag manager that's going to coordinate manage and direct the data a operations they're going to be implementing programs by which the public health staff uses the resources
of both municipalities to consolidate Services um and I think it's great the the the thing where this document I think needs work or fall short is there's no what we call
scope of work scope of services scope of services really is kind of Define what type of services we're talking about that we're going to share is it training is it learning on-site training um is it
uh epidemiological assistance in terms of of when we have a hepatitis B outbreak is there something that we need to bring in an epidemiologist that the communities can share these are things that were designated by the study in
2019 but I think overall even though this lacks the scope of services it definitely is a start and we've had difficulty getting to this point but we finally have an agreement between the
two communities that is going to move forward from here now it will require um this board to uh uh to appoint um certain members to the shared services Grant board or advis it's
called The Advisory Board and so it'll be comprised of seven voting members and two alternate members in case there's a member that doesn't can't show so it it spells it out very clear clearly how many get appointed by the city of
Methuen there's also going to be the mayor of each Community or the mayor's design there's going to be also a Chief Financial Officer from both cities so this Advisory Board will Design the scope of services that the two
communities will share funded by the state Grant and so this is an exciting development for the city for both cities um we desperately need um more training
our inspectors are very um capable but again the food and sanitary code is vast and it takes a lifetime to learn it well so our goal for some of this money is to improve training um
also employ an epidemiologist and throughout our Advisory Board um and our appointed members we will design a scope of services that is appropriate for both communities um I'd like to give the
public an opportunity to comment on this uh shared services Grant specifically Ethan masou I'd love a little uh comment in from you does you have more background in this than anybody Dr Goan do you have
exhibit a there uh it gives you the scope right I don't have is there a scope um I'll make sure you get it I uh so there is a scope of services exhibit A and B I think it is okay I got I got B
is one page one line yeah no and a is nothing and a is there's nothing there yeah it's I should have sent it to you I forgot I'll make sure everybody gets it okay great so there's a scope of services awesome Ethan give us your your two cents about the shared services Grant and what you see it as
accomplishing for both Lawrence and Methuen okay okay all right I'll be very brief I think as Dr Gord said I think it's an excellent opportunity and it's something that's taken quite a while to achieve um I think there's a lot of challenges there's a lot of challenges for the advisory committee um because
the for example in the inner workings between the two departments is very very different there methan is in a very different place than Lawrence in terms of what they do and what they and how they do it um very very briefly for example here in um in Lawrence uh there
are things that we the the city should be inspecting they have not there's been a there's been a history of not for example summer camps the indoor skating rink for air quality which is mandated by law um methan is achieving many of those um those similar things so there's
a there's areas where you can learn from let's say methan that you're not doing here in Lawrence and that's a good thing um I think however what's very what's very very important here is that um to really do infield training that's
critical um and the state's not providing that the state's going to provide um if you if you want the state's providing um online training um remote training uh remote advice and remote assistance but they're not doing inhouse and in the field training and I think with your staff here that's really
critical I I really believe that and as I look at the agreement by the way um it's interesting here where it says each municipality um Will consent to the collaborative duly authorized agents and representatives in exercising its function um and I'm here also to to inform the board that for example this
past month I have not been here in Lawrence I've not been invited to be here and yet I need to fulfill my obligation for the shared services and I'm still under contract with Methuen and I'm happy to do the training um and uh and I'm available to do that training and uh and in fact I'm still doing I'm
now doing it for another uh shared services region um in Massachusetts and uh in fact I'm acting as a um interm Health director for the town of Millis which is much smaller than Lawrence but right now our director is away on the leave I'm I'm in his place and we're also participating in their shared
services so my suggestion too is been beyond the training there's um there's a lot of good challenges that are that are now since you have the funding there's a lot of good opportunities and I would say looking at two way two parts one is
um your core requirements the state sanitary code food housing housing is critical and housing is not going away it is critical and I would suggest that um and there's a lot that can be done with that and also with food um other things I said some are camps or or day
programs for children um that comes under the Board of Health uh skating rings U swimming pools and other other activities um but also there's also there's possibilities here to really tackle problems that address this community so for example um a primary uh
employment opportunity for most people for a lot of folks here is uh uh hair salons and there we know Public Health uh we know from the public health data and and and uh research phades which are commonly found in hair products and and
and and nail products um the folks that are working in it are very highly are very Expos are very much exposed to these uh hazards and these contaminants but we can work with them let's say they shared services and additional support and help them reduce their exposure and
do more proper handling of these very hazardous products and still stay in business and do business in a way that's actually better for the customers as well as better for the the workers so those are some of the opportunities um I want to commend though that the fact that the we've been working on this for
now about three or four years and finally we have um an opportunity to move forward and I think there's a lot of exciting possibilities for Lawrence and for methan to work together and to achieve things that have not been achieved before and there's a dire need for it um and I'm happy to I'm happy to
help out okay well I know you you know I you have my support and I believe I could speak for the board that you have our support um you know I I I I have a we give you a strong endorsement thank you with your knowledge base um we hope
we can find a way to have you be part of this training um with assured Services grant that seems like it's more important than ever now I'm still with the I'm still part of it and I'm happy to supply my services and my my my uh
collaboration with the City of Lawrence okay all thank you very much thank you Ethan for everything we do um could one of some of one of the ideas I have for this money that we're getting is to replace citizens serve because the lack of informatics that we can do with the program could you give us some suggestions on
possible programs to replace it because I know some of our inspectors have issues and if a base program is not worth it because it was given to us by Columbia Gas most often Shar scope of services include those kinds of things as well for example the infrastructure
or the or the kinds of um uh electronic systems that you would use um and that and also the state will provide some of that as well but I have not yet seen that I just want to say the citizens serve um wasn't wasn't given to us it it was purchased um by it was purchased by Columbia gas
at the time it was it was it was supposed to for plumbing only I worked on the system I helped create it it's a great system it's just that people need to know how to use it that's what's that's what the problem is people don't know how to use it they need to learn how to use it so um if you if people are telling you that they know how to use it
is because they're not following instructions or doing the training and calling they they have the best customer service of any other one um and everything thing on there was created and we had a we had a task force and I think the system is a great system it
works well but you have to learn how to use the system okay so sorry I've spoke to several of the ISD members and I've tried to ask for like informatics and they said they didn't they weren't able to do it maybe I should have came to you but they've expressed uh in the future I would like for you to speak to me
because I'm the director of the department and I created this I helped create the system back in back in when when Columbia Gas here and uh just you know you could get any report you want that's how I do my annual report everything's on there um you know all
all the when there's code you know compliance stuff the food compliance stuff everything's in there um if some inspectors are telling you that they're wrong and I'm going to have a meeting I'm going to talk to them because they shouldn't be going out of uh ISD and saying that something's no good when they don't even know how to use it all
right we need to make a motion to adjourn do I have a motion you guys okay can I have a motion to approve the intermunicipal agreement for public health excellent and shared services Grant I make a motion I move to so I
move to uh approve the inter Municipal agreement for the public health Excellence for shared services between Lawrence and M second second all in favor I the motion passes and that is the end of
our next board meeting the next board meeting will be Tuesday the 11th March 11th Tuesday okay I'm not sure March 18th or March 11th I'll do 11
Tom okay tentatively March 11th and pending availability okay okay meeting's adjourned thank you for coming for