Hey, John. >> Hi. Hello. >> Hi everybody. I >> miss myself live. Are you >> live?
So a day um Carrie and Kevin are not are not attending. >> I don't believe >> actually >> I don't believe Kevin is attending >> Carrie's attending but not Kevin.
>> Correct. Hello. >> Hey, Carrie. >> Hi. How is everybody? >> Good. How are you? >> Good. >> All right, thanks. Okay, I think uh we can 702 we can call the meeting to order. Um,
so, uh, why don't we start with, uh, roll call. Um, just state your name. A D. State your name.
Oh, we can't hear you. >> Okay. Two up now. >> Oh, that's good. Adi present. >> Okay. >> Smadi here. >> Carrie. >> Janelle. Here I am. >> Sophie.
>> Hi. Sophie Hansen. >> Joan. >> Joan Wetzel >> and Rick. Um, great. So tonight in terms of the uh agenda uh we have minutes from our last meeting
and also from the uh uh the special meeting on October 27th. Uh public comment if there is any right now there we do not see anybody. Um and then we have an administrative hearing uh on the
matter of Reading Shell at 110 Main Street. Um, we're going to follow up on the Holler regulations which we discussed last time and a uh assessment of or just an update
on where we are with our community health improvement plan and then our usual monthly report and we'll wrap up. So, with that in mind, any no other additions or other items?
Okay. Yes. >> What question, Rick? I'm sorry. Um I haven't met AD before. Do we have a new member of the board? Did I What did I miss? >> Um AD was uh appointed in June and I think he made one meeting and we haven't
seen him for a variety of reasons. Um but he's an associate member uh as a >> that's great. Welcome Aine. Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you Kerry. And I will be much more regular. I think uh there was a miss on my part where I did not take
the oath. Um and so uh Adi and I talked and we thought it wouldn't be appropriate for me to attend anything till I took that. Now that's all settled. Um so yeah, I'm good to go. >> Good. >> Great. >> And I think we we went around at the one meeting he attended and introduced
ourselves. maybe carry my >> was probably the one that I was out on medical leave and >> so very nice to meet you. Welcome. Glad to have you. >> Okay. In terms of the minutes um from
our last meeting on um October 9th, um any comments or edits, suggestions, revisions? >> I didn't have any. I did not. >> Okay. >> None from me.
>> And um and the minutes from October 27th, which was just that uh we had a quorum attending the um that special meeting of the select board. >> Yeah. >> There's really nothing to edit there. Uh
just >> so um I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of both October 9th and October 27th. We have a second >> second. >> Carrie second. Roll call. Uh S. >> Yes.
>> Carrie, >> yes. >> Joan, >> yes. >> And Rick, >> yes. All right. Okay. Um, I don't see any members of the public here, so we're going to move on from public comment um and go right to
the u the matter of uh renting shell at 110 Main Street. So, um I'll make a motion to open the hearing um in this matter. Can I have a second? >> Second.
>> Okay. Second, S. Uh roll call. S. >> Yes. >> Carrie, >> yes. >> Joan, >> yes. >> And Rick, yes. Okay. Um, maybe I would just uh we've all introduced ourselves and maybe I
would just ask u Christina and William, Miss and William to um introduce themselves and Haley if you can give them um access to audio and video.
That should be all set. >> Okay. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, does Okay. And you're on, too. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Hi. Uh, good evening. Um, Mr. Chair, I'm attorney William Grammar on behalf of
Reading Shell. >> Okay. And Christina. >> And I'm Christina Curopoulos. I'm the owner of the Shell gas station at 110 Main Street. >> Great. Okay. Welcome. Thank you.
>> So, just to uh kind of remind everyone um as as how these administrative hearings work. Um the matter before us is really around the violation and you know alleged
violation whether it occurred that does that's the the really the key issue. Um I'm gonna turn the meeting over initially to Adday to introduce AD and um Marine Busby and um
hear their comments and what the facts of the case and what they want to say about it. um the members of the board might ask uh questions just about clarification around that and then we'll turn to
Christina and William and um allow them to speak uh regarding their uh you know comments uh perceptions um and and again the board members can ask clarifying
questions. And then at that point um we will adjourn the administrative hearing and then the board members will go back to the their our board meeting um and have
a discussion about what we heard and either make a decision or if there are other issues unclear we can defer a decision. But but that's sort of how this works. Um, and so with that, I'm
going to ask a day to uh introduce Meen and um kind of take it from there from what you want to talk about. >> Right. Thank you very much, Dr. Lopez. My name is Adis Luren, the L director for the town of Reading. I'm here with
um Marin Bosby. She's the tobacco control um compliance coordinator for the town of Reading as well. Um, a tobacco product was sold to a minor at Reading Shell on September 27th, 2025 at
approximately 6:05 p.m. The violation comes with a fine of $2,000 and a suspension of the store's tobacco license for 7 days. This is considered their second violation within a 36-month period. The
first offense was on January 6th, uh, 2024. Uh, it was a $1,000 fine. They paid it. They came to the board. There was a hearing. Um, their license was suspended for 3 days.
Um, on a side note, uh, the FDA also issued a warning to this store for violating the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act by selling to an underageed purchaser. This happened in
May, I believe, May or June. Um, um, Christina is here tonight u with her attorney. Um, you know, I from what I understand, they've put uh measures in place to prevent this from happening
again. And I would, you know, let her speak. >> Okay. Actually, um, can I ask a clarifying question? Um spec and actually Moren um when uh when the
individual under your supervision goes in to um make a purchase um how a how old is he or she and B does he or she presents some identification of some
sort? How does that just just so we have a good idea of what that interaction looks like? Yeah, thanks. I'd be um happy to review. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay, great. Um I'd be happy to review the standard protocol that we use. First of all, we only use trained
youth. These youth have to go under undergo FDA training as well as training by me. Um and I've been doing this program for 14 years now. And um on the day in question, as we do any other time, um we went visited every store
that sells tobacco products in Reading with the exception of the golf club because the pro shop wasn't open at the time. So um so we didn't go there, but we went to all other stores. What happens is I pull up to the store um and
the youth enters leaves my car. um they have only money that I've given them and they are not allowed to take their ID with them. And that is important because the uh training that they receive and and a requirement that we have is that they tell the truth in all interactions
with with a clerk. Um so that this is not a situation where there can be entrapment. Um the the youth goes in ask for the product that I told them to ask for. It might be cigarettes, it might be vapes, it might be um oral pouches, whatever it was. That day we were doing
um vapes. And the youth went into the store, asked for the product, was able to purchase the product without being asked for an ID. If the p if the U purchaser, the youth buyer had been asked for an ID, the youth would have been able to answer
truthfully, "No, I don't have one." And and that's that's important. Um the youth came back out per protocol came back to the car. We immediately tag I put a sticky label on the product with the um store name, address, the date,
the time, the amount of the purchase, and a code that indicates which youth it was. Um, we used to take a photo of the youth right after a a product purchase, but that was back in the days when the clerks were required to ID who looked ID
anyone who looked like they were 27 years of age or younger. But now the state law, and it's been that way since 2020, the state law is that a tobacco purchaser of any age has to be IDed. We call it ID all. All purchasers have to
be IDed regardless of how old they look. Um, so again, this purchaser came out to the car. We tagged the evidence. Then I put it in a Ziploc bag. At the end of the um the route, the uh rounds that we're doing that day, I take the
products that may have been purchased that day and and put them in a locked cabinet in our in the um health office. Um and I immediately write to the health director and say, "We did a round of checks. Here are the results." And so
that protocol was was followed that day. And as a day already um mentioned that there was a sale of a um it happened to be a Crave Max 2500 um vape disposable vape device um which
I have wi I have with me who are not in person. Normally I would bring these to the meeting but I have it here and a day has photo copies of it. And how old was um the youth? >> Um this was a 17-year-old female buyer.
>> Okay, great. Thank you. Any other questions before we move to Christina and William? >> Yes. >> Just one. Moren, has had this buyer been someone that had been had done these
compliance checks in with with other organizations or with you or they or was was this their first time? >> No, she's um she's reasonably experienced. I've had her for a couple of years. She started at 16 and she's done all of the towns in my collaborative.
>> That's great. Thank you. You're welcome. >> Okay. Uh Christina and William, whoever wants to start. >> Um sure, Mr. Chair. I I'll be brief. Um Christina asked me to be here tonight to sort of assist her as needed. Um sort of
to get some more information. I think she was a little bit unclear on what happened. Um she will tell you that she didn't become aware of this until last week, >> 17. Um I think the town's letter is dated uh prior to that, but uh she
didn't become aware of it herself till last week. Uh and so she doesn't have um footage uh of the purchase that that the tapes overwrite themselves over after a period of time. Um and the employee is also no
longer working u with the store. She she happened to be uh terminated shortly thereafter for for other reasons. Um so Christina has been trying to piece together sort of what went happened and what went wrong. Um and um she's going
to describe for you uh what she knows. Um, and uh, the system that they have in place for scanning of IDs, uh, which I think you'll hear from her tonight, is the only way that a sale will go forward
now, that the ID must be scanned versus the reg the register clerk being able to manually enter a birth date. I think previously you had that choice. You could scan the ID or you could enter the birth date after looking at the ID.
um the new software that um they've purchased that she's um she had forwarded to the board u I think earlier today some documentation of um the software and and the purchase of all of that. It now requires that the ID be
scanned for alcohol products. So I will I will turn it over to Christina and and let her give you some more information and um answer any questions you have. >> Sure. Okay. And thanks, Bill. Um, so I first wanted to start off by saying
thank you to everyone for um allowing me to speak tonight. And Ad, you've been great with um helping me throughout this process. Like uh Bill had said, I found out about this uh last Monday and you know, I've been really trying to deep
dive into what happened just so I can get the full picture so I can see what went wrong, how we can prevent this and you know where the issue is happening within um the company. Um so yes, I just want to really quickly say thank you to
you too that you've been a great help. Um, so I want to also say that, you know, I am the owner of the store, so I take full responsibility of any employee who sells um, tobacco to a minor. Um, I
try my best to implement procedures and have systems in place that won't allow that to happen. So I was extremely um upset, discouraged when you know I I saw
that email on Monday um come in. So deep apologies that it it's even come to this point again of being here in front of you to even say uh to go through all the things I found out over the weekend and last week. Um,
so yes. Um, a little bit of background on me. I've done courses with other police departments on how to properly check IDs. Um, what procedures are what procedures and systems are new uh, in
the gas station industry that will allow us to prevent sales to miners. um what signage to have up front and every recommendation I hear and I'm always open to more recommendation we try to implement at the store. Uh we do take
this very seriously. Um so like Bill was saying and I mentioned before I found out on Monday the 17th that this occurred in September 27th.
Um, so our camera footage stores for 3 weeks. >> Um, so everything was long gone by the time I found out. I believe a letter was sent to me the week prior. So I think that came in to the store about November
12th, which was still I think like 6 weeks after the incident. So I wasn't able to go back to our cameras um to look and see what happened. um you know we purposely have cameras all around the register for incidents like this that I
can go back and see exactly what went wrong um what happened exactly. So uh because of that I had to do this deep dive to get the best information that I could for you guys um to present here and answer the questions that you guys have as best
that I could. Um, so based off of the violation letter I got, uh, the incident happened September 27th around 6:00. So I went back to our records to see who was the employee that
sold, um, to a minor. Um, so that was an employee named Shannon. Um, I have sent over some documentation. I'm not sure if everyone has received it. I think I'm allowed to screen share if anyone has any questions or want me to pull any um
photos up or uh documents up. Um so I believe Shannon, who was the only woman working at that time, was the cashier who sold to a minor. Um Shannon had started working with us in August, so a month before this happened. Um and
coincidentally, the 27th was her last day of working for us. she was terminated the next um day of her work with the beginning of her work which was September 29th and that had nothing to do with this. This was poor performance
of her making mistakes in other areas that we've been constantly trying to retrain her at the store. So, coincidentally, this happened on her last day of working with us. So, she no longer works for us. Um yeah, so we don't have her um at risk of
selling to anyone else in in the community. Um so we've tried to implement ways to prevent this from happening from before this took place. Uh one thing that we've
done was have a very in-depth handbook. Uh the handbook has a section that clearly states tobacco policies. I've sent that out to everyone as well and everyone has to initial each page um and they sign the back page. This is something that they fill out with the
manager uh most of the times the area manager is also involved in the hiring process to answer any questions that they have and during the twoeek training we go over exactly how to implement the things that are in the handbook. Um, we
also because the handbook is so in-depth have a single page more indepth. I think if I can share I think I can. Um, let's see if I can share. Can you guys see my screen? >> Yes. Yep.
>> Yep. Um, I have the rules and regulations. So, this is what she received also as a one-page uh document that we give to all of our employees, not just her. Um, you know, it states you're in an area where it's
21 years old. Uh, that you can you have that the the legal age is 21 to sell tobacco. Um, that they need to check ID for everyone with no exceptions. um employees must at this point in time was
uh when she was hired was to either scan the ID into the register or manually type in the birth date. Um this was is done because people sometimes have passports or if there's an issue with scanning the ID, they can just
physically type in the birthday. They press okay to continue. If the age is over 21, it proceeds with the sale. If it is under 21, the wholesale cancels. So, we have them sign this at hiring and
once a month um thereafter. So, we do monthly retraining at our stores. The manager will go in to each employee and have them go over each of these um bullets and consequences and have them
resign. And then there's also a monthly log that they've been spoken to about the importance of tobacco um checking for IDs and the importance of not selling to minors. You know, regard,
you know, it's very important to not get caught, but it's also important to not sell things to minors in the community. You know, that's the main thing. I personally would never want a minor to smoke and I would hate it for it to be done at my store. So, you know, we are
trying to really implement um for all cases no selling to minors and just how important it is to the town to all the people that are in the town that you should never sell to a minor. Um so,
yes, this is what they have. They resign this every month and they resign a single page. I think I also sent that over to you guys. Um we have the monthly training log where each employee will fill out um their
name and that they've been spoken to that month u by the manager or in other times the area manager of how important it is to um check for IDs. Um we also have our camera system. So we have a
camera system that encompasses the entire POSOS um area. So it encompasses also the tobacco counter um cabinet, the register, the customer um in different angles so you can kind of see what they're doing. Um, so we have our
manager spoting and we also have the area manager coming in at least once a week to spot check and see what's going on with the store. Um, we have signs in place throughout the store. So, we have signs on the doors
when people enter and at the register that we we check we ask for all IDs for everyone and that the age is 21. So, we are hoping that people don't even attempt to buy. You know, they get discouraged when they see the signs that
they're not going to be able to buy at the store. Um, in addition to that, we have a secret shopper. Um, I can pull that up as well. Um, so
>> you can just see the thumbnails. So, if you want to open those up to see the content. What was that, Bill? >> If you could double click and open up the files. All we can see are just the the small thumbnails. >> Oh, can you see it now? >> No.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I on my screen I can see the whole thing. >> I think you have to go in and uh actually >> you have to open it and then >> and then share the open document. You can't >> Oh, you just open it on your screen, not on our screen.
>> Oh, I'm sorry. I've been opening it this whole time. Well, we could we could see the other one small. You just can't read the the small print. >> Yeah, I think you shared a window versus the screen. So, it's probably that you're So, all we see is just the >> Oh, share screen. Can you see my screen
now? >> No. >> We still see the same for >> If you go back into share screen, it should probably Yeah. Now, >> you you see it now? >> Yes. >> Oh, I'm sorry about that. I'm not I'm not too good with Zoom. >> There you go.
>> Very good. Thank you, Bill. Thanks. Um, so here are the bars program. This is the report we get each month for the store. Um, it show they come once a month and they will either give a green card or a red card if the the um the
cashier properly asks for identification um and a red card if they fail to ask for identification. Um, so I went back to the beginning of this year and all of them are green. Um, I even include I think they didn't come in the month of
May, but I I included our QuickBooks where we pay them that we never paid them for May. They just never came in that month. But, um, each month is green. So, 100% green cards, 100% green cards. Um, I can go slower if anyone
wants to see. I also sent this out to you and can resend it as well. So, you know, this provides me with like um eyes when we're not there, when a manager is not there, if an employees alone. Um, and all of them have been
green. Um, you know, I went back, I think, until December. Yeah, the month of December. Um, and it was all green since then. Um so we tried to use that to also show to
the employees that we are checking um that we do take this seriously that it's not worth it to sell to a minor. Um it might make something easier now but it's not it's not worth it. You know you don't know if that's going to be the secret shopper and they do get the green
cards. Um you know everyone gets happy when they get the green cards at the store too. Um so yeah, so these are some of the stuff that we've done and that we've, you know, um tried to really implement more
things along the way. So we've kind of um just started building on everything. Um so back in I believe it was June, we got the a letter from the FDA saying that we had a violation at the store. um
they sent out a list of recommendations at that time. Um can you guys see my screen? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, this is what the FDA gave me. Um and it was a checklist of things to
do and at that point in time when I sent it, it was July 8th. Um these were all the things that we had implemented. So, this was before this current violation that we're talking about. Um, so
the first one states that we have um that we display signs that we ID anyone under the age of 30. I know um the tobacco Miss Buzz I'm sorry I don't want to
Miss Busby was um explaining you know the FDA here I think told us to do 30 years of age you know we want we didn't want to have any confusion so we we said um to do all so that's why in
our employee rules and regulations we wanted to be everyone we didn't want anyone to say oh they looked 29. So, we just made it easier for our employees and just required it for everyone. Um,
you uh it also wanted us to have a minimum date of birth required to purchase and have that on a calendar. So, that is built into our register. So, our register will display that so there's no confusion with the the employee. Um, you know, the retraining
that I talked about already. um being aware of the consequences. We have the consequences listed that they will be terminated or fees can be applied to them. Um the ramifications to the the public um monitoring the usage of IDs. So
that's this is when we implemented the scan or manually entering the ID uh birthday. Um and that was the only way the transaction cannot continue without either scanning the ID or entering the birthday. Um yeah, so we in the secret
shopper that I've talked to you about um the only thing is they wanted a standalone calculator. We again have that already built into the register. So we were able to implement everything on their list. So that brings us to
now. Um that's why I was so shocked on Monday and I know Ad um probably heard how shocked I was to find out that we had sold to a minor again. Um because I have been trying to be on top of it as
much as I could be. Um, so this all happened in July as I was saying and actually since then we did order I can pull that up too. Um,
I did order a you can see that we did order a new scanner because we were switching it. We switched it to um scan only. So we wanted to update our scanner to the best scanner that they had, the most
up-to-date so that we could remove the possibility and move towards scan only. So no scan, no passports, just a scannable ID. Um, this arrived September 12th. At this point in time, we should
have been scan only. Again, why I was very confused that a sale went through. Um, so yes, this brings me back to I wish I had
my footage to look at and see what happened. So I, you know, spent this week trying to come up with how this could have happened so we can prevent it from happening again. I mean, that's the most important takeaway that I wanted to have. um you know possibilities came up that
you know at that point in time in September if the scanner was not properly implemented. Um I do have a photo of today. I asked I took this took this photo. Um so when
they scan the the tobacco product this pops up onto the register. It says swipe slashscan license. It gives you the date, but there's nowhere for you to enter or proceed without scanning the ID. So, there's no passwords, nothing,
just a scannable ID. Um, and the only other option is to hit cancel, which would not proceed with the transaction. So, if it was working properly, as it I believed it was at that time, the only other option I could see is if she was
entering in another item for this product. Um, I'm just trying to go through and see what could have happened at that. >> The X the X button wouldn't work. Um, so if it was like this, if you hit
cancel, it it doesn't pull up the tobacco product to continue. >> What about what about the X button? >> No, that would just that would just cancel it. Um, I can have a video sent to you if you would like uh from the manager over there. He'll be in in the
morning. Um, that if you hit the X, it will not proceed forward. the X or cancel. There's no >> proceeding forward um without scanning ID. Um it will not pop up the price or
to to for them to even proceed with payment. Um unless they're giving it out for free. Um then that's that's the only other option. I guess they it just wouldn't show, >> right? It wouldn't allow them to even
hit cash or credit to accept um payment. >> But we Right. But we know that the the girl paid, correct? >> Right. >> We're 100% sure. >> Oh, we're not sure. >> I'm I'm I'm not You're asking. No, I'm
I'm just I'm asking a general question because you didn't have the camera and I mean what if I mean to be devil's advocate, what if the cashier did give it to her and she didn't give her cash? >> I I'm not sure. I That's why I I wish I had the camera footage. Um Right.
>> That's why I I even extended it to three weeks. I believe when we first bought the camera system, it was one week and I found that incidents were getting discovered later. So, we bought an extension to our camera system so that we can have it for the full three weeks.
Um, so yes, I I don't know exactly how it happened. Um, I don't know what kind of conversation they had um between the the 17year-old girl, the minor, and the
cashier. Um, the cashier again, she was termin that was her last day of work. I believe she knew she was being terminated. Um she was getting constantly retrained and her hours were getting shortened because of her inability to um really work do the work
properly. Um and we were trying to make it work with her, but it it didn't. And I think she knew that. So I don't know if this was something that she did, you know, um out of spite of that. I'm not sure. I don't know if this is something I don't I don't know. I didn't get to
talk to her about it cuz um she no longer works for us. I like to speak to them and see what their um perspective is on it. Um I don't know if she when because I think she did ask for ID. I got a report today from AD saying that
the that the um minor that she said to the minor, "Oh, just give me your ID next time." So to me that implied that she had asked for ID but the minor maybe said that she didn't
have it or she was of age. So I don't know if the cashier got confused. Um I'm not sure again on that aspect. So I'm just >> I just I just have one quick question. I mean so how do did we get a receipt for
the product? Do we was it did we get a receipt from the cashier? I'm not I'm not asking you, Chris. >> Okay. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Could I could I answer that? Sure. >> We we tell in the training the youth are
told explicitly not to ask for an ID. I mean, I'm sorry, for a receipt. Not to ask for a receipt because most tobacco customers do not ask for a receipt. And that would be a dead giveaway. That's that's called a tip to the clerk. If a young person comes in, buys a tobacco product, asks for a receipt,
>> that that's a that's a tip off. So, >> if if a receipt is automatically given, which in 14 years, I've never had a youth come out with a receipt, but if a receipt is automatically given, >> then of course we accept the receipt, but and that would be go in the evidence bag with the actual tobacco product. But
I do have a um a com Thank you very much um Christina for all that information and a day did share those um attachments with me earlier today and I told him that I appreciated that you've gone to such lengths to make sure that this doesn't happen again. But I do have a
big concern about the um tobacco regulations that are in place in Reading um which are different from the state law. So you're correct. State law is a purchaser has to be age 21 to buy a tobacco product. But in Reading and 18
other communities in Massachusetts, there's a different local regulation and that regulation is called NFG or nicotine-free generation. And that requires that the the uh that there's an um not an age restriction, but a birth
date restriction. And for reading, that birth date restriction is 11204. So the clerk is not looking or should not be looking at the birth date for age. They should be looking at the birth year to make sure that the purchaser was
born in 2003 or earlier. If they were born in 2004, if even if they're already 21, um they can't purchase a tobacco product because they were born after the cuto off date. Um this happened in September 2025. So,
you know, that wouldn't apply here, but since we're having this discussion about state law, federal law, in local regulations, I just wanted to make sure we cleared that up. And in your store, as in all um Reading stores, there's a local board of health regulation sign.
And I I didn't go and check today, but I believe in your store, there's one on the door as well as one at the counter. So, >> are you familiar with that with the local board of health regulation? >> Yeah. Sorry. I I just want to get back to that that one question I had though. So, is
it possible for the cashier to have just pocketed the money? Is there a receipt? Is is I guess is what I'm I'm getting at. How how do we know that the cash wasn't just pocketed and she didn't go through this step? >> Point of order, Mr. Chair. >> Sure.
>> Yes. Just on as we as we as we're proceeding in the hearing, it's not clear to me whether we should simply be hearing from the owner of the store and their recounting and then whether we would >> close the hearing and deliberate or whether we're supposed to be engaging in
dialogue and back and forth. >> I know we talked about No, it's not. It's fine. I just want to make sure we're doing it right. I mean, I so I I'm I'm interested in sort of the the bounds of clarifying questions and I want to make sure we're doing this as we should be.
>> You're right. I I you know, it's I was interpreting sales questions as clarifying. >> That's what that's history. >> I think that when we bring I think that when we bring Moren in, I think that's when we have sort of gone beyond and is it was why I was raising the point of
order. I I think I'd love to hear from Moren as part of our deliberations. I I wasn't sure if that was appropriate to have it be part of our hearing >> is is my right >> part of the hearing as as opposed to our deliberations if that makes sense. >> Hearing is really more for factual
reasons. >> You know, >> I'll hold my question then. Yeah, sure. >> Okay. Can I um I'm just gonna ask um uh one question and just out of curiosity in your um
uh in the document that you sent that shows each month how many you know purchases were made and cards were swiped green red and so forth. >> Yep. >> It looks like there's only one a month
or two. Is are your tobacco sales that slow? >> No. So that is a secret shopper that we pay for in addition. >> Oh, that's a secret shopper. >> That's a secret shopper. Yeah. So we pay, it says it on it. >> Um,
so it looks like we pay $31.50 per time they come in. So this is a secret shopper. It's it's very similar similar to what the town does. Um it is someone who is underage or looks
underage. Um and they go in and they see if they ID them. >> Um >> right. Thank you for that clarification. >> And it says visit type. So that's they came in specifically for a um tobacco product. Um it says the date. It also
tells you the employee who got the green card. and they will give one green card to the cashier. They will mail a green card to us and um then they they send out this report along with the bill where we pay them.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Every month. >> Are there any other questions for Christina before we um adjourn the hearing? I I wanted to just clarify I um I think about the the what the local regulation
is and and the whether there was signage or not. It sounds like there is appropriate signage that there's awareness of what the local regulation is and that no al no tobacco products are to be sold to anyone born after
December 31st, 2004. Could we go back to that picture of the signage that you have and and it does it include that there? >> I don't believe it does. Um I don't believe the signage does. We have this on our doors. So can you see
the Can you see the photo? >> Yep, I can. Yes, thank you. >> So it says all customers we scan IDs we card. Please have ID ready. Um law prohibits sale to anyone under the age of 21. So, it does not include um the
September 2025 >> local regulations >> um local regulation which I will be sure to update that and I know um maybe I can get your contact information, Miss Busby. Maybe um >> maybe that's right
>> just to clarify that's not September 2025. That's the that that it's prohibits sale of tobacco to anyone um born at 2000 the first day of 2004 on and that was adopted um
>> June of 2004 to 2020. >> Yes. June of 2024. So, and maybe a Jay could send Christina a copy of the the tobacco reg the current tobacco regulations just so she
can read through it. It would be useful. >> But I noticed that some of the pictures do talk about you have to be over 21 and so that's not quite correct. >> Yes, >> thank you. Thank you for showing the pictures. I have this. It's the same
thing in a smaller setting on the register, but it does not say that. Um, I will I will get it um hopefully in the next couple days. I'll research and see how quickly I can get something that says um the no one born
after um January 1st, 2004. >> Correct. >> And you may have to reconfigure the software on your scanner uh for the same. Yeah, I'll do I will do that first thing tomorrow morning. >> Carrie, >> yeah, I'm sorry. Just another clarifying
question. When when um I'm looking back at my notes and and you had indicated that the scanner arrived, could you go back to that um document that you're showing with the scanner? >> Yes. >> Um would you like me to explain the
document? I can. Well, look, if I if I could take a stab at it, what I see is an invoice dated September 12th for delivery of um scanner ID to an address in Tukesbury.
And I just want to clarify, I thought that you had said that that the scanner arrived the scanner arrived in in Reading on September 12th, but is that did I did I get it mixed up? >> No. Um, so the way that we do, cuz we
have a couple stores, this is one of our stores. Um, they bill to this one store. Uh, New Hampshire delivery is we go to their New Hampshire store. So, our, um, maintenance guy went to their, it says
ship via New Hampshire delivery. They went to their New Hampshire location and picked it up. Um, and I know that that's confusing. I also sent out uh this is their past this is our check that when we paid it it was and you can
see um we paid it um >> well >> there's you know in October uh you can see in the memo it's for reading MA 110 and it has that I knew that that would be a little confusing that's just how you know we have a couple stores that's
how they bill us >> right so so I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to sort this through because I I I I don't see anything in this that shows me that the scanner product or the scanner
software update was installed on September 12th. I see that it was purchased on September 12th. I see that it was paid for in October. Um, I'm I'm just trying to follow the chain here of of of
how we how what we what document you're showing us that tells us that it was installed and received in reading on September 12th. >> Yeah. Um, I don't honestly I don't know how I can
prove to you that it was installed. I'm not sure if it was installed the 12th or the 13th. you know, when we got it, our IT guy picked it up. I'm assuming he went in and not our IT guy, our maintenance guy, um, installed it immediately. Um,
>> okay. >> I don't have I'm sorry. I don't have anything for you to show you. Um, >> that's okay. >> Thanks for helping me Thanks for helping me clarify sort of the the dates. I I was confused. Yeah, I I wish I had
something um like I'm not sure I can talk to my guys. >> That's okay. >> I I just I want to make sure that you know I have everything for you guys and if you need anything else
>> um that I could do that. Sorry about that that I don't have that with me. If there are no other questions, I' I'd make a motion to adjourn the hearing and move back to um our meeting for discussion. Um is there a second?
>> Second. >> Uh m Mr. Chair. >> Yes. >> Just a quick point of order, I guess. Um I just wanted to find out um when you talk about u the consequences of a violation
uh the health director had indicated you know a suspension of seven days. Is that up to seven days? The way I read your regulations uh it could be anywhere from 0 to 7 as opposed to a mandatory seven. I just
wanted to raise that. >> I believe it's a mandatory seven. And the first violation mandatory three and the third violation a mandatory 30. >> So did I have a second? >> No, S did. Okay. Roll call. S.
>> Yes. >> Carrie. >> Yes. >> Joan. >> Yes. >> And Rick? Yes. I want to uh thank Christina and William for uh being here. Christina, you did a lot of work in um sorting this out and
giving us the full picture and we appreciate that. And um we're going to now uh go into our regular board meeting and um have a discussion about it. You're you're welcome to um stay on if
if you would like. Um although uh Haley will be sort of restricting your audio and vis audio. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Yes. Thanks for coming in.
>> Okay. Um so comments, questions, um discussion. But I had I mean I I think the last violation we discussed there was no there was no room for even discussion.
It was the rules were the rules, right? Wasn't that what it was? >> Yeah. I you know the last the the regulations are written pretty starkly >> um uh and definitively and we've had a
couple of these over or at least on my five-year term. So far, we've had two. And um you know, the the readings of of the way the regulation from my reading is that really the only issue in
the hearing um is whether or not the violation occurred, whether there was some error in declaring that violation. Not not whether um there should be any adjustments in the u >> exactly
>> penalties. >> That's how I remember. >> I think for me I mean I I think it's great what Christina has done. I mean the the amount of effort put in the conscientiousness um you know it's really super um and I
wish all of our retails did it on on one hand. On the other hand, what I would say is, you know, this is we're only counting two from the town of Reading, but this is potentially the third. Um, but, you know, this is only two for the
town of Reading. And, um, you know, it's fairly I don't think there's any dispute u that a violation occurred. And my concern is always a slippery slope. If we start to um waiver or make waiverss
for time or or penalties for this occasion, then the next time there's an occasion with another store, um you know, there's a precedent setting that we have made changes and we have adjusted and and how much subjective
judgment do we really put into this? And I think that's why um you know the the issue is really around the violation. And actually I was looking at the Mass Association of Health Boards uh their
materials on this and they're very clear the hearing is really did the violation occur or not. If it if the result of the hearing is it did not occur obviously no violation no penalties. if it did occur. Um,
they're really the the regulations don't allow for a whole lot of wiggle room. So, that's my take on this. Carrie, >> can I just ask if we could have the current regulation pulled up because what I see I'm I'm not sure I'm reading
it quite the same way and I want to make sure I'm reading the the the most current um thing. I I agree with all of your comments, Rick. I mean I think that the efforts that they went to are commendable. I think that the fact that best sale occurred indicates exactly why
um there need to be the um measures of you know that we can rely on folks to do the right thing but that you know ultimately the scanning only is is preferred. And you know, I I I mean, we
we as a board agreed that we were very concerned and and really adopting a um policy that would be stringent and not, you know, letting our our vendors know that we do not want sales to occur, that
the penalties are stiff and, you know, that there isn't a lot of um room or tolerance as much as we may um >> a a day. Do you have that? Do you have the paired version? >> I'm about to pull it up right now for
everybody. >> Can everybody see that? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Is that's Is this the current version? >> Yes. I pulled it right off of um the town's website. >> Okay. Okay. I would go to to the very
end. >> Yep. >> I just want to make sure to to attorney Grammer's point, I don't know if perhaps there are diff there are different pieces because I pulled something from the website that that I read a little differently. So, >> what section did you want me to go to?
Sorry, I don't know if I heard you. >> In the instance of violations, >> violations. Yeah. >> And and penalties that So, here is where the violations begin. >> Yep. Thank you. Can you make it a little bit bigger for eyes that maybe
could use a little >> Yeah, definitely. >> Okay. Down here. You see? Is that better? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Welcome. So I think the sentence uh in number
four um midway down it says after a hearing writing board of health shall suspend or revoke product sales permit if the board of health finds a violation of this regulation occurred. It's pretty
black and white there >> if So I'll just go back to uh section 1B >> which says in the case of a second violation >> um if you read just the last sentence product sales permit may be suspended
for seven consecutive business days. So I'm not sure if our rags are are I think we we're >> there's a >> it's interesting. Yeah. in 1A it says shall be suspended, >> right? And it says may be suspended >> and then may and may actually on the
third. >> And I wish that Kevin were here because I I recall we had a lot of conversations. I know other other folks remember, but we had a lot of conversations about this and and the question of did we want may or shall were we going, you know, how how are we
going to do it? we were, you know, dead clear that that the initial violation was um was absolutely a, you know, non-negotiable. Um, but in what has been adopted, the second and
third, we did go with the May with a maximum amount. Um, I hate to muddy our waters, but to attorney, >> in my opinion, it seems like it could be less than seven days with the May with the May word.
>> Yeah. I mean, my opinion on this whole thing is I agree with everybody that Christina did a ton of work and, you know, she really almost foolproofed her her whole business, but it's a hu everybody has
humans in their business, right? And every human is going to make an error. I feel like she went above and beyond for her business and to get the maximum penalty for a human error that we can't control every human 24 hours a day when
they're there. That's kind of you know if if we could give any lenency on the seven days I I would be for you know give a little lenency on the seven days. >> So if I may Mr. chair just I while I
raised this question of the may you know I did not do so because I was necessarily interested in leniency um you know to to to my thinking the um you know it it you know the some of the
things that Christina cited are things that are required by law they're required by law to have signage you know that's a it's lovely that she has it but it's a requirement that that be present it's not a extra drug going above and beyond. And um you know they did choose
they did not have they did go with the um the can scan or manual enter and that is a point of failure that's a well-known point of failure for sales of these kinds of things both for alcohol and for tobacco products. Um you know
it's not a it's not an unknown it's not a that's a surprise. Um, and you know, as I mean I I
I I appreciate the concern of well there, you know, she didn't have camera footage um and and isn't clear exactly what happened, but at the end of the day for us, I I'm not sure that it matters what happened. The point is is that someone of underage
is not supposed to be is not supposed to be able to purchase tobacco products or nicotine products. Um and >> yeah, I would I would also say that um unless we have robots,
you know, dispensing the stuff, there's always going to be the human element. It can always be for any violation it you could always say well you know people make mistakes there's we can't control everything people
that is just the nature of this business and so I I would feel personally that it you know I agree that this individual Shannon um obviously
you know perhaps you know was a errorprone situation. But but generically it's always going to be a human who's making a mistake. >> I mean I I'm you know I live in Reading. I have four kids. I'm I'm probably 200%
against you know a thousand% against tobacco sales to kids 100 you know all the time. Um the the one other thing that I I did remember though was that there was no signage for the 2004
which which was kind of concerning as well I guess now that now that I'm thinking back to the to that point as well. >> Yeah. >> I also the reason I had asked Maren about the age of the youth was it's a
17year-old um female. >> Yeah. And that is not something oh it could have she could have been 25. I mean at 17 she looked underage
regardless of either the 21 year old the 21 rule or or our nicotine-free generation. 17 she's she looked very young. Human error. Whether it was done out of spite because she was going to be fired. I don't know. But um it was
pretty blatant and it was the third time in a year in a year and a half. So >> third time >> the FDA violate you're kind because the the FDA violation because there was a sale of a product from a FDA inspection.
So that would be that would be the third time. Is that what you're >> No. No. The FDA the FDA we we only are responsible for the violations that Marine has. Um >> what was the third one? >> This is second violation.
>> But we going to the third. We'll go on the second violation though, right? >> We're only on the second violation to the town violation in June of this year doesn't apply to our um deliberations here. So
that was a third you were talking about was the FDA. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. >> Okay. So we're not supposed to consider that. >> I believe that is the case. Yes. We're we're um we didn't have control over that. We
weren't um that was done separately. Um I think this regulation if we if we go back um it it really applies to the town's regulation. Yeah. of tobacco sales.
>> I agree. I Yeah, I agree with that. >> Are doing. So then if we've got the may like I guess we I think you know was our our intent you know was there some space for agree and you know an
egregious violation would get so I think that's the question is what's the degree you know are that we're concerned >> I think someone ought to make a motion and we ought to vote um on
uh you know the dollars and the issue of of a suspension. I mean I I would be happy to make a motion. You know if it doesn't pass then we can consider another motion. I think we ought to try to bring this to a conclusion. >> Yeah. I I feel like the 2000 is is shall
be I feel like the 2000 is non-negotiable. >> Yeah. >> That's what it seems like it's written like to me. >> Yeah. So, I'm going to make a motion, and feel free to vote your conscience here and vote what you think is best, but I I've
kind of put myself out there. So, I'm going to make a motion that um you know that this this vendor ought to be uh for the second violation ought to be um
issued a $2,000 penalty and be suspended for seven consecutive business days as determined by the health director in discussion with the store manager. Do I have a second or not?
>> Second. >> Second, Joan. >> All right. Um, so we'll start here. Um, S. >> Sorry. Can I ask if there's any discussion on the motion? I I know we haven't heard from Joan is so I
particularly just want to make sure there's space for her before we move to a vote. Mr. Chair, thank you. >> Sure, John. My only comment was that um I it seems like it's particularly frustrating for Christina. She's trying to do it right, but ultimately she's
responsible for her her employees and who she hires. So unfortunately, I think in this case the violation is clear and the penalties need to be um the consequence
Is there do I have a second? Did Joan, did you second? >> I did second. Yes. >> Okay. So, let's do roll call. Smut. >> You're on mute. >> Uh, I would say yes. Carrie, >> I would say yes.
>> Joan, >> yes. and Rick. Yes. Um, okay. Well, I think that was a good discussion. I It's a It's difficult, I think, when um you see an individual
like Christina who's really trying to do the right thing. And so, it's hard to not to feel like we need to make our own rules. Um but I think in terms of the violation
was clear. It certainly wasn't the first and um and I I I am concerned about precedent setting uh because there will be another violation at some point in the future and
you know having made made a um a judgment here um you know it it confuses the the issue a bit uh maybe we can go back to the rule too But >> yeah, maybe we ought to go back to those
two MS and make it clear >> because we're only supposed to be deciding yes or no. Not >> not the the se the severity of the of the offense. Right. >> Right. There's no space in there for agree. >> Right. I mean, if it was written the other way, if it was written shell, I
would have been yes, 100%. Right. But >> it leaves a little gray area there because >> we have somebody like Christina who's really trying. So, okay, >> we should um we should bring that to a future meeting >> uh for an edit. Yes, >> car.
>> Mr. Chair, do we need to um I I I know in the past we have assigned the dates on which the suspension would occur. I don't see anything in the regulation about that. Um >> um what I in the motion what I suggested
was that a day can work with Christina to select the seven days. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't I didn't I didn't hear that. So, okay. Okay. >> Yeah. I just you know that's sort of an administrative uh issue and
>> Okay. you know which seven days. Um maybe I should maybe I should have counted it sometime in the next month or whatever, but I'm sure they will work out something that's >> I just had one question for a day as well. A day is it is it um law to have
it have the local rule posted as well? >> I believe so. Um they should have it posted. I just I mean it's Yes, I know. I get like >> matter of fact, they do have they do have it posted somewhere in their store.
>> Oh, they do. >> Correct. NFG law. Correct. >> Did we um did we distribute? >> Yes, we did. All the establishments, >> but the posting should >> Yes. >> Example. Okay.
>> Yes. And I'll I'll say I I'm glad to hear that they did have it posted, but that still their their point of sales system isn't set up to reflect that. So posting absent action isn't is >> Yeah, they're still not there.
>> I just wanted to make sure that they did have it posted, right? >> Yep. >> I don't want to leave the meeting and still not be posted. >> Agreed. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um, moving along,
uh, Ada, are the Hall of Regulations ready or not? Or, >> um, they're not ready yet, we're still working on them. >> Oh, okay. >> So, if the board decides to meet in December, they should be ready. If not, then it will be January of 26.
>> I don't see them as a urgent thing. So, I >> correct. Um, >> we can probably defer it to January. Um, which brings us to the chip update. All right, I can give a quick um
introduction and then um have uh leave give us a quick update. Um, as you all um remember, um, the health department partnered with Pier Associates
to conduct a community health needs assessment and improvement plan from February 2023 to July 2024. Using the data from various sources uh, surveys and focus groups, three health
priorities were identified. First one was uh preventive health screenings and treatment services. The second was health environments and inclusive programs and the third was healthy
eating and active living. Our public health nurse leave has been working diligently to ensure that these health priorities are being addressed as we plan our public health activities and programs across town departments. Um
leave um you can go ahead and uh give us a quick update. >> Wonderful. Hello everyone. I am going to share my screen. >> Okay. Is everyone able to see that? >> Yep. >> Perfect. All right.
Sorry. So, as a day said, we have our three main priorities. Preventative health screening and treatment services, healthy environments, and inclusive programs, as well as healthy eating and active living. I'm just going to go over how we have um made some strides towards
these goals this past year, um and some priorities that we could look into for 2026 and beyond that we are kind of uh have seeing a gap in. So for our first health priority preventative health screenings and
treatment services we have our first and second goal improve awareness and support linkage to mental health. So in 2025 we had three different vans come to reading or sorry three different um health screenings come to reading. We had the Belone hearing screenings. We
had three different dates uh for our municipal employees as well as town members. and we were able to have 44 individuals be seen for hearing screenings. We had the 2020 vision van come to the Reading parking lot on March
26th. We had 17 individuals screened for that vision van. And I know that we had three follow-up appointments um from that uh visit for individuals who needed further corrective um treatment. We brought the Dana Farber mimography van
to do um breast mimographies on our folks on April 29th. We had 19 individuals seen at that van which was pretty fantastic. Uh we had 21 slots and um so we were only missing one of those
slots actually instead of two because one person needed a longer appointment due to their complex medical history. We had uh blood pressure screenings this past year. Uh as we know I hold three per month at three different locations to ensure accessibility. I had a total
of 121 appointments in uh 2025 and more to come with the rest of the year. And our reading coalition for prevention and support was able to serve um 3,500 residents this year. Some goals that I think we can look forward to and look
towards in 2026 would be holding additional hearing screenings with our reading fire and police department. That is something that I am in talks with with both chiefs. Um they're interested in that. Um as well as continued screenings for the community as well as assessing needs for additional blood
pressure screenings and additional locations to make this more accessible. Um and then definitely looking into increasing our transportation services throughout the town. We do have the van uh at the senior center that is able to support our senior population, but I
would love to see what we can come up with especially as we move into building of recal. All right, moving on to health priority number two, healthy env uh environments and inclusive programs. Speaking of recal, that is one of the main things
that we are doing hoping that can support um the creation and promotion of healthy spaces. We are in our I don't know middle leg here. Um so we
are doing the construction documents still and working on that. Um we meet regularly to discuss the initiatives that we want to hold at the recal center. Um as well as how we want to structure it uh to provide support for all residents of reading um no matter
the age. with our goal number two, increasing opportunities for community connections and supportive services for those in need. Um, we've had 10 afterhour recreational programs this year as well as 13 afterhour health programs. Um, and I had 122 attendees at
those health programs. Um, and those ranged from CPR classes to Narcan training um to to different just health priority screenings. Um, build building resiliency among the youth. We started our teen talks this fall. I've had some
pretty good attendance. Um definitely been able to talk with some of our young folks about how to keep their bodies healthy and doing some uh handsonly CPR training with them as well, which they found very uh fun and informative. um some opportunities for this next year
with uh funding secured to support uh staff um in our new recal building as well as uh work to improve ADA compliance and older buildings and we have a new town ADA advisor appointed this year. So, we're hoping to um have
some meetings with him and uh definitely get some things established throughout town. Moving on to health priority number three, healthy eating and active living. So, um to increase health behaviors across the lifespan by making the
healthy choice the easy choice. So, we had four nutritional educational programs after hours this year serving 65 individuals. uh they were very well attended and uh very wellreceived and I've had some requests to bring back some of those um some of those uh
individuals who facilitated the programs. Um like I had mentioned we do our teen talks at the library and this has definitely also increased the conversation with our youth about health and wellness topics. some opportunities for 2026 would be to establish community education campaigns and I uh would like
to identify some key stakeholders and perhaps build a task force of some sort. Um I don't know quite know where to start this conversation but uh the in our chip there was some talks about doing a reading farmers market. I know the Wakefield one is very wellreceived.
So perhaps that's something that we could look into in the future and then to create more walkability and bikability promotional materials throughout the town. And that is all I have. Any questions, comments, or concerns?
>> Hi. >> Yes, Karen. >> Thanks. Um this is great. Thank you. you a day and live for for this work. Um I have just a couple of questions. I know this was just a quick recap for it. Thank you for making it you know tight
and tidy for us um in terms of data collection so that we can um demonstrate improvement and identify areas where maybe we need to keep looking. Do you have historical data from last year? Um and and and it's okay if you don't because some of this stuff never
happened and data collection wasn't necessarily a priority. If that's the case, then this would be baseline and we would be looking to be able to compare like to like and say, "Yeah, we did great with this and because we had such a high demand for mamogram van, we're
going to have them come twice a year now or whatever." Um I'm just curious about what the the kind of data collection and evaluation plan is for this. That's one question. >> Would you like Oh, say go ahead.
>> Yeah. After I mean you can you can talk as well, but like um after each um visit or each um clinic, we usually get like a summary of the attendees and things like that. Um,
we get the the mamography van once a year. Um, I think in 23 we had more people. In 24 we had less. Sorry, 22 we had more. 23 we had less. 24 we had more. So we're keeping the data. Um,
>> okay. >> The CHNA is due every five years. >> This was was conducted in three. So in another two years we should be looking at doing another one. So >> right. Yeah. Just thinking because it's a helpful thing for as you're thinking about programming for the year if you
can look as you said well kind of demand is up and down so maybe we just leave it at once a year but maybe something else you know people are bouncing out the door. But it sounds like you guys are on top of that and I'm I'm I'm glad to hear it. Um then um
I guess two it's kind of two pieces of the same point. So when we did this process, we were clear that while this is about the health of the community that we didn't
want the responsibility for everything in the chip to fall on the health department because there's not a lot of staff and there's, you know, y'all have busy jobs. Um, so I just am curious if you've had opportunity to have other
departments collaborate with you or if you need the board to do anything to encourage that collaboration. Um, because we love the work you're doing, but I know that there are other departments doing work as well and and we ought to be thinking about the health
of the town collectively. So I think we are in a great space at the moment. Um again this wouldn't have been possible without um you know leave joining the team. Um she's great at um
you know bringing people together collaborating with different departments and uh she's been you know great. I'll let uh Lee talk about it as well. I know that she collaborates with the senior center, police department, fire department, the food bank, the library.
She's she's all over the place. So, >> yeah. Well, and just before I I'm just so I noticed you made the comment about the walkability, which I think is great. And I know I think it's Acefolds runs a walking group and that ought to be right. So, it's a that one is that you
don't have to start walking from, you know, may are you tackling it from a different angle or, you know, let's let's give credit for the whole town and include that as part of it because we'd want to include it for the the the next
chip. We want to be um be um acknowledging that and I'm sure Jenna has programs at the recck department that you know and the schools and the like. So, um, we want to broaden it without making more work for y'all
necessarily. >> So, go ahead. >> Sorry. I just wanted to make a small comment that in the last ship update, I kind of did a deeper dive into how all of the other programs um throughout the town were kind of contributing to
everything. how the Reading Coalition data was contributing to our CHIP versus how the um senior center was versus the schools and all that stuff. And I just I I kind of consolidated it this time. So, I didn't add all of that data this time, Carrie. But I I do have
>> I have collaborations with the different department. >> You did. >> You guys are on top of it. I just want to Okay. Thanks. And the so like prior to leave joining us, the health department was compartmentalized
like the the nurse was under the health department. The nurse had nothing to do with the senior center, >> right? >> Um you know, it was just for the health department. Now that Leave is here, she's able to like work with multiple departments. You know, she can see what they're doing. She can bring that
knowledge over here. We can come up with a program that's going to work, you know. So I I guess the key here was when we switched we changed the uh the position of the public health nurse to include the senior center that opened up
more doors for us and um it's been wonderful. >> That's great. That's great. That's great to hear. Thank you. Thank you. Here's my chance to say thank you again. You guys >> did you have a question or a comment? >> S.
>> No. Okay. I was just clapping. >> That was a Yay. Oh, you are clapping. >> I clap, too. >> Yeah. >> No, that's a a great job. But I um I like I like the idea of, you know,
maybe an appendix next time we do this in six or 12 months, whatever. um an appendix with the with numbers of you know numbers of people screened for their hypertension or blood for blood pressure or whatever. Um you know that
would be it would be useful to track over the three-year period just to make sure we're making making progress. >> It's always hard to figure out what information to include. You don't want to conclude too much, but you don't want to >> Yeah, I I I appreciate Yeah, I think I
like that idea of an appendix, Rick. And I do have some of the data like we definitely have data from the vans and the individuals that come in to do the screenings, but when it comes to like blood pressure and things like that, I'm think I'm kind of starting from scratch
on that kind of stuff or like how many um pro people came to so many programs at the library. Um so I will build upon that data definitely. >> You have a lot of same customers live same.
>> I have um a group of regulars in each location, but I do get a lot of new people quite often, especially when I go to the senior center in the library. >> Um yeah, I I get a lot of people that just stroll on in and they're like, "I didn't know you were here." >> That's great. That's awesome.
>> That's great to hear. >> Yeah, >> we could uh also include the data in our report. As long as we don't identify anybody, >> we should be able to do that as well. >> Okay. Yeah. Recurring, non-recurring. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's great. This is so exciting
to see, you know, Rick, right? I mean, >> Oh, absolutely. You know, the when we looked at the when we were doing this and we looked at what was done in 2015 and it went for five years and there was
really no there was it didn't it wasn't clear that there was a lot of follow-through and followthrough is really important, you know. particularly in these long range type things, you know, it's easy to lose focus and to kind of stop paying attention because
you're moving on to, you know, busy every other things. And so, it's nice to see that um this report and I look forward to future ones, you know, that that keep our focus um for the three years. Yeah, absolutely.
I I would love to if if anybody in the board has a burning desire that's not like a need that's not being met, um I would love to discuss that uh in a future time with anybody that would love to uh give me ideas for the future.
>> Great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. You do a terrific job. Thank you all. update the day. >> Um, leave, do you want to start,
>> please? >> Um, let me pull it all up >> and then I'll just go after you and then we can wrap it up. >> Perfect. Okay. back to our regularly scheduledformational
session. November 2025 nursing updates. So, for the month of October, we had a dip down on our COVID cases um down to 15. I I feel like I've noted this before for the board. Um but I did want to note this was car something that Carrie had
told me last year. any information, any disease reports that we get that are less than five individuals for the town, we are not supposed to report as it is um it could be seen as a a HIPPA violation. So, um just because I don't have flu on there doesn't mean I had
like between one and four. Um just means I didn't have more than five. So, the flu in October definitely went down, but it is November now and it's coming right back up. So, if you haven't gotten your flu shot, please do so. All right, for the month of December, I have my three blood pressure screenings.
We have it on uh December 4th at 11:00 at the senior center, December 15th, 2:30 at the library, and December 18th at 10:00 a.m. at Frank Tanner. For the month of December, we have a few awareness months. It is HIV and AIDS
awareness month. Um just wanted to highlight the 1.1 million cases we have throughout the United States. And just to bring awareness that um we should always continue with this research and advocating for those that will need assistance especially in these times
when being immuno compromised is not very fun. >> It is also >> that AIDS was a death sentence and now is not is something that you can live with successfully with treatment. It's so important. Thank you for highlighting that. Sorry for interrupting.
>> No no please. It is about this topic. >> Yeah is very very important. Um, all right. It is also National Impaired Driving Awareness Month in December. So, stay safe these holiday seasons. Every 42 minutes, someone dies in an
alcohol-impaired driving accident. And it claims over 12,000 lives annually. So, plan your rides before the festivities. Don't do not drive if you are drinking. Um, just call a taxi. It'll be better. Those extra $12, it it's better than your life. And then
always wear a seatelt because sometimes it's not you, it's the other drivers. So even if you're doing everything you can, sometimes it's not you. Stay safe and stay sober. It is also sharps injury prevention awareness month. Quite a handful. Uh a mouthful there. Um as a
day and Haley know, the sharp spin is the bane of my existence in the reading town hall. So I just wanted to um give a little Q&A here about how to use it. So is there a place to drop off your sharps? Yes, it's in the basement of town hall. Can I dump my needles in it?
No. Do you have to place them in a closed plastic container? What's an acceptable container? You can use a laundry detergent bottle or a milk jug. Can I put medications in there? Nope. This is just for sharps. No meds. We generated 1,716
pounds of sharps in the 2025 year so far. So, that is quite a lot. So, this town, we are we're getting it and getting rid of it. So, that's great. Good. um having a healthy holiday season. Just a way to keep up with your health throughout these times where we
love to gorge ourselves. Load up on your veggies first. Fill half your plate with greens and then go for the protein and then go for the mac and cheese. That's a way to uh kind of balance that out. Drink lots of water. Don't skip breakfast. Starving yourself on Thanksgiving Day is not the way to go.
Uh take it slow. Take 20 minutes to finish your plate. Wait 10 minutes before getting your second. And then just remember, it's okay to indulge a little. Moderation is key though. And then take a nice walk after your meal or go play football or something. Um just get get moving and get the get the blood
pumping. >> And then some holiday safety tips. Cook your meat to 165°. Uh separate your veggies and your raw meats on the cutting boards. Wash your hands thoroughly and store your leftovers two hours after. These are all ways to prevent food born illnesses.
Something that is also the bane of my existence. Yeah. All right. So, something data that I collected in 2025, people loved hands-on CPR classes. So, for 2026, I'm making it a regular thing. Every other month, I
will be teaching a class at the library. So, we got January, March, May, July, September, and November. I don't know what happened on my printing there, but I'm going to have to fix that. Um, so you can find me at the library on those dates from 5 to 6. If you have anybody
that is interested in doing hands-on CPR, handsonly CPR classes just to learn how to do proper chest compression, send them my way. I am getting trained to be an instructor this next month. So hopefully we can bring some certification classes to the town, which
is um something that I've been hearing a lot of want and need for, especially at the library. And then I've got one more public flu clinic coming up on December 10th from 4:00 to 7:00 at the um at the Reading Public Library. Um I've had great
attendance on those and we are we are almost out of our stock. So that's really great. I'm very very excited about that. Always can order more though, so do not fret. And then if you know of anybody that needs a homebound flu shot, please send them my way. I will do those until nobody's calling me.
So, and then um always be aware that I still have my diabetic supplies takeback and my medical supplies takeback programs for the town. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Le. >> Thank you. In the month of October, we
had um we conducted two food born illness inspections, one housing complaint, 11 food establishment inspections, nine we issued nine temporary food permits, 16 annual food establishment permits,
and uh the permit renewals are ongoing. Um most permits uh expire on the 31st and so far we've had a lot of uh people um you know uh reneing their applications which is a good indication that by January 1st everything should be
all set. >> Okay. >> Um the health inspection inspector position is currently vacant. Um the MEPHC has been helping us with inspections. um you know, we're grateful
for that. Uh we've started the interviewing process. We actually interviewed a couple of candidates today. We're going to be interviewing three additional candidates tomorrow. >> I'm hopeful that we will get the position um filled very soon.
Let's see. Yeah, that's pretty much it. want to just comment on the um the environmental analyst that we were going to make a hire for and what happened with that.
>> Oh, the MBTA. >> Yes. Right. >> Um so the continuance was withdrawn um by the MBTA and as a result we had to um cancel the uh request for quotes.
So we no longer have any need to conduct any studies at this point. >> Any other questions or comments for a day or leave? >> Just one a day in in regard to the MBTA
piece. I I know there was some question of whether this I've heard differing answers of whether this was a withdrawal. um and they're just going to go find another town to do this in or whether they're going to revisit the locations and perhaps come back and propose
another location. Is there a definitive answer to that that you know there is not okay >> at this point? I know that the town manager sent uh an email to MBTA. I'm not sure he has uh received a response yet. I'm you know I'm hopeful that uh
once he does he would send that information our way. >> Okay. And if something comes up again, we have a ready RFQ for use to >> Absolutely. >> should we need to. So great that thanks
for getting that work together. So useful hopefully not need to be useful again, but we have it and that's that's that's good. >> Absolutely. We're ready to go. >> Right. and the collaborative has not hired. Um,
>> we now have a coordinator for the collaborative. We >> do I think we have a meeting a couple of weeks from now. So, our first meeting with the new hire. So, >> okay. >> All right. Any final comments before we
adjourn? Anything else other than happy Thanksgiving? >> Happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for the chance to work with you all. >> And thankful for our staff. >> Great team. >> We're thankful for you as well.
>> Happy Thanksgiving. >> Great board. >> Happy Thanksgiving. >> Happy Thanksgiving. >> Make a motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> Second. >> Second. Very. >> Roll call. Yes. >> Carrie,
>> yes. >> Joan, >> yes. >> And Rick, yes. All right. Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Have a great holiday. See you next year. Next meeting January. >> Yep.
>> Take care all. Be well and be safe. >> Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.