mhm hello good day okay I think um 701 um know that uh Carrie is unable to attend tonight because of a family conflict and
um and Kevin's going to be a little late i'm not sure about Jerry uh hopefully she'll join us in a bit um so I'm going to call uh the board of
health meeting to order um for April 10th and we'll start with roll call and if you can just state your name as I call out your name alphabetically uh S yeah
sophie Sophie you're muted okay I think we'll come back to Sophie uh Joan Joan Wetzel here rick Lopez here sophie are you you're muted okay well we'll we'll make a note
when she joins the meeting uh so we do have a quorum with uh three members um and after uh last our last meeting and sorry to interrupt it wouldn't let me unmute or chat and now I
can do it because I was co-host thanks yep now you're here officially um after last meeting and the incident that occurred um we've done some sort of technical changes to the meeting um and
so the uh board members and the health department staff have um full access to audio video screen share and chat however um members of the public people coming for a
hearing uh people wanting to make a statement in public comment section and so forth they will not um their audiovisisual um screen share and uh chat functions
have been disabled and um what I would ask is um as we get to these various points in the meeting um let's say for public comment um if someone wants to make a comment then down at um the bottom of
their screen um under I believe reactions um there's a a button for reactions you can click on that for raising your hand and then you will be um unmuted and your
visual will come on and um you'll be able to speak and and participate in the meeting and then at the conclusion of that um the audio visual will be disabled again so I just want people to know that that's kind of how things are
going to work um and uh our admin Haley I think is uh managing that process so in terms of uh tonight's agenda um we are going to postpone uh reviewing
the minutes for the next meeting uh for the last meeting uh because of an administrative delay so uh we'll we'll skip agenda item three we'll have public comment uh if there is any um and then we'll hear a variance request
um regarding um a uh inspections that have been done at 1051 uh Main Street we then have um the variance request item number six on the agenda um the request for a permit was
withdrawn and so um there um we will not be having agenda item six uh items seven and eight are public hearings that we will formally um go through and and hear and uh we'll
we'll talk about how that process is going to work when we get there then a day we'll be doing a road program update we'll have our usual monthly reports i just want to say a word about um volunteer applications and then we'll wrap
up so um are there any other items or comments or things that we need to address before we move on not hearing any um we can go to public comment and
um I would ask uh if there is um any public comment um that if so please raise your
hand i think Cynthia's raising her hand oh okay hi uh go ahead i'm Cynthia Stone i live at 22 Gold Street and I've had trouble when I try
to reach out to my the the office the health department there and um I wanted to quickly comment that um I had on the back of every utility bill in Massachusetts there's a section in which it says you can reach out to your board
of health in order to get a certification of medical um illness serious medical illness so it will prevent you from being shut off and by law I actually found a law number
it's Massachusetts General Law C164 comma S1 124A semicolon 220 CMR 25.03 03 and in parentheses there's a two and
the board of health just upon simple request is supposed to um give me a certification if I provide them with documents that can prove that serious medical illness but instead I guess I was denied and you guys I was held a
hearing and I wasn't aware of it until after it had taken place but you guys had still denied me that and It's something that I have to renew on a quarterly basis and instead I mean I use a power wheelchair and I don't have a
primary care physician right now and I ended up having to go up in the rain to go up to urgent care there and at the wubin line there for MGH and just I shouldn't have to go to a doctor's appointment quarterly when it's free to go to my local board of health to get it
done so I was just hoping someone could look into that i know you held a hearing and I was still denied but it's actually law that you do it and I hope you can uh somehow someone's transcribed that law and you can look it up and uh I'm hoping that the next time I reach out it's just
a simple request and I can get that done when I provide proof of uh breast cancer in order to get that done um but um that's all I wanted to say during the the general comment section
okay of uh the meeting thank you um we uh will take that under advisement what I would say is that uh [Music] um what I would say is that uh we did
receive that request in October and we did within the 7-day required period schedule the meeting um on October 31st we did not I'm not sure why you
didn't show up you say you weren't informed i presume you were informed um but without uh further information beyond the documents provided we felt like we couldn't we didn't have enough information to um provide that um
hopefully in the future if this happens again then um we will um you know address it and hopefully we will have you at the hearing and we can kind of work through it uh but thank you for your comment
there is um also a hand up i don't know who it is but it's an iPhone um do you want to open up the audio for that or do you have a comment yes good evening uh I'm the manager at Mobile Mart on Main
Street in Reading and uh we got a letter about a hearing about uh a sting for tobacco sale i don't know if it's on the agenda tonight yes it is
actually um we are hearing a variance uh request uh for another um matter next um which I'm not sure how long it'll take i I don't think it'll take too long and then
you're up right after that okay thank But if you can hang on um you know over the next half hour or so um we will have that um that hearing it but it is on the agenda great thank you okay
any other Good evening Kevin welcome everybody sorry I'm late any I don't see any other hands up um and so we'll go on to agenda item five
which is um the variance request for 1051 Main Street and so uh what I would ask is um maybe a day you can introduce the topic um and the situation and then we can
kind of hear from the uh the residents involved as needed right thank you Dr lopez um 1051 Main Street is an ongoing issue um we had an initial inspection conducted sometime in
December we identified a few violations and um Mr babau attended the January board of health meeting to request a modification of compliance time um the board granted Mr able uh a modification of compliance time with all violations
being corrected by the April Borderville meeting which is today we conducted a reinspection at April 3rd and the violations pending were mostly issues with the windows
um multiple wall cracks um in the second bedroom and um an unstable floor in the living room mr bubble I believe is here tonight to explain why these violations are
still pending and I believe he's looking to possibly get some additional time to get the work completed mr babble could you please state your name and u tell us why you're here we can turn on the audio for Mr bar and the and the
video as well as for Mary C uh I won't be able to turn their video on unfortunately just their audio if that's okay yeah my audio is on okay go ahead Mr barb yes the uh due to medical reasons
from my uh uh my helper and worker the uh and and myself we um at the last meeting I had asked for the end of April and we and you decided to go with the beginning and with if we needed more
time at that point we we would discuss it at this meeting so I did put in a request for for more time um the uh um things are progressing along um the rest of the stuff that we pretty much have to
do is extremely physical and and with I can't discuss why with the HEPA laws and stuff but uh that was the reason for requests for more time so um can I ask there were when I looked at
the inspection report that from April 3rd um there were uh many many of the violations were corrected which is great um but there were the ones that were not corrected
um three of them appear to be related to uh the windows and I know that um this apartment has custom windows and uh the windows had to be ordered and made and uh and so forth uh do you know what the
status is of the new windows that need to be installed the uh my contractor that uh and and my worker that uh um as we did the bathroom window already uh is refabricating the hardware for the other
windows um so we're we're trying to um bring them up to workable conditions again the front windows shouldn't be a problem we just got the two and recording in progress the uh um and I I
think that's uh that's everything should be completed when and and workable when we're done um the uh the we're putting a French drain outside the house we've already did uh redirected the water on two sides we
need to do the back um and we've corrected the floor in the second bedroom uh which will do the same thing in the living room um and the and the reason why it was happening is going to be corrected also uh so I don't see an issue with uh bringing the place up to
compliance i do believe at our last meeting um the they was going to check on what the actual statue is for um having to replace the windows as opposed to um uh not having to replace them um
the uh and uh my contractor wanted to know what that was because of the um the Massachusetts general laws um don't say that the windows in the bathroom and kitchen need to need to be open but they will be uh we are we are
refabricating it and and certainly the the outside of the building will be painted this summer and and scraped and painted um the uh bring the aesthetics up but that's again that wasn't an issue with the board of health but I believe everything should be should be taken
care of uh by the end of the uh extended time I asked for okay you know the initial inspection was done the end of November um so we're now four months and you know granted there
have been several things that were addressed um but four months seems you know a long time to still have outstanding issues um I I
think in my own my own feeling and I'd like to hear from you know other board members if they feel differently or the same you know my own feeling is um we might provide a one month more extension but after that I feel like um five
months to do you know a dozen repairs is is is more should be more than adequate time and so I would uh be interested day you have your hand up
yes um would you be interested in uh um you know asking Mary to speak if she has Oh sure go ahead Mary I'm sorry hi am I unmuted no yeah you're unmuted we hear you great um so I'm the tenant at 1051
Main Street and um you know I greatly appreciate the work getting done but this has been a very confusing time for me and the reason why I say that is when this all started um I was told
contractors were going to be coming in and and taking care of the work and um when that changed when Charlie decided to have his other tenant do the work to pay off his rent you know I wasn't given any notice about that
um it's like day by day around here i'll get I'll leave my house in the morning i'll get a text hey we're coming over to do some work today you know I'm it's been very difficult for me um you know I
know I'm I'm sorry that the guys are having pain and they're having medical issues but the truth of it is I live right next door you know and I see them out there working putting windows in
Charlie's garage fixing cars in the driveway and I'm sitting here going "Why isn't anybody working on my house?" Like I don't feel like it's been a priority and I have to say it you know
and I've been here 22 years i don't mean to say that and get Charlie all jammed up with this but I'm being patient he I never get reasonable notice when he's coming in but I just say "Okay sure." You know I got a security camera in my
house so I know what's going on i'm concerned about the quality of the work i understand in a day's wonderful he explains the um you know the border health regulations to me and says no
this window is okay it opens and it has a lock but it's laughable when you look at it it's like it looks like a six-year-old did it my main concern when the bedroom floor was being
done I stopped by the house he was cutting lumber in the bedroom my back door was wide open because he had a power cord coming into my house he's cutting lumber in the bedroom and I'm like "You're cutting
lumber in here." And he says "Yeah what what the hell i'll clean it up." That kind of didn't happen but my point is is I started taking pictures right because I'm not gonna engage i just started taking pictures and he said
to me you know I'm not a carpenter and I said I know that and I was taking pictures he's like what are you taking pictures for you know you show those to the building department and we're all effed over here and I just walked out of
my own house so you know I Okay like am I safe here the quality of the work um you know they're claiming not time to come in but I'm giving them all the time they need my house i say "Yeah come on
over whether I'm home or not." So I Thank you Mary um you know I I think we have to there's probably a lot of um you know different things that could have been done better but the role
of but the role of the board of health is to make sure that the violations that were identified in the inspection are done um and I understand that how they're done may not be the great
greatest thing but but that's beyond our um oversight role here okay uh so I want to get back to um thoughts of either from Joan or Kevin or S or Sophie you know what
um you know do you think that I'm I'm thinking we set a final time frame and begin daily fines after that uh because I think that four months is more than
enough time and I know the windows were an issue because because they had to be ordered and and so forth but um I can't believe I think at the time when we talked about that that was going to be four to six weeks and we're we're well
beyond that sophie you have your your hand raised thank you yeah I was actually going to ask that procedural question of if we were to not extend an additional week um month that that's what would happen it would be daily fees would start incurring
um I would ask a day but I think that's how it works daily fees and we would file in court okay yeah okay i would be in agree sorry s I would be in agreement with you Rick that um I would say a final extension
one month yeah so if we didn't give the extension they'd start right now the fees uh if we didn't give an extension and there continue to be violations um I don't know if we have to give any u
yeah but yeah I'm not or whether we have to give advanced notice before they start um the only thing the only thing I wanted to add was I know at the beginning and I know it's he said she said but there was a a point in time
where supposedly obviously wasn't there i wasn't an eyewitness of it but people weren't being let in the house to do the work as well i don't know if everybody remembers that right so it could it could be less than four months you know I'm not you know like I said I'm not an eyewitness but that's what I heard right
right i have to look at both sides that's right john um I have two things um I think we granted the extension because the windows were being ordered and now it sounds like only one window
has been replaced and the looking at fixing the remaining windows so that concerns me and um now I can't think of the second one
do we actually have Oh I know do we have a reasonable expectation that this worker is going to be all better is going to be able to perform the work necessary in this amount of time or or does he need to start looking for
another contractor which is probably not in our purview but is just a point I would I want to make yeah I I think that um you know with all sympathies with whatever's
going on with the contractor um our our issue is these are violations and if a contractor can't do it get another contractor um but uh you know I think we need to focus on
what we're responsible for which is there's a housing safety and public health issue here that hasn't been addressed in four months um and you know frankly my patient is patience is running thin um
you know I would uh I don't know what's reasonable but I Well isn't he just looking for an extension to the end of April we Yeah that's it three weeks may maybe I mean I think Yeah I think that's re three weeks
i could live with three weeks okay so that's So let's say um you know an extension to April 30th or May 1st with the expectation April 30th the expectation that we would do a
inspection on May 1st uh and expect um things to be completed a Dave how does that work for you can I ask why and also we granted an extension in the past
nothing happened why should we trust that this is you know by the end of April these violations are going to get corrected in my opinion we're not really trusting we're just setting a date and then fines will go after that that's my opinion okay so is there is it doing
anything differently are we going to see receipts for the windows that were ordered are we going to see something this to me my my expectation is that it's going to be fixed everything's going to be fixed i don't think it's new windows is it Charlie no they but they will be
in working order audit and compliance um and I believe I believe there isn't a statue that says that they have to be uh the couple that don't open um that they even need to be windows in those rooms but I am going to repair and replace uh
what needs to be done um that so that's that's So the last time you came you stated that you you were going to order the windows and that's what you I did get estimates I did get estimates for that and it was over $10,000 for new windows
for without labor that's just to replace the windows and on a unit that that I have someone that can make them operable and you were supposed to get back to me with the statute that says that the windows have to be replaced with comparable windows that are what are in there when the rooms themselves don't
need to have a window if they have proper ventilation there is proper ventilation in the whole house you can repair the windows but you came to the board telling the board that you ordered new windows and I had I had contractor that it was I had three contractors
coming to give me prices on the windows at the last meeting and also it was an extreme all this work is outside most of it and it was an extremely cold winter and that was and above and beyond the fact that we had issues getting in and out which is I had sent the board the uh
the information I had which is I'm not sitting on that or anything but um being an extremely cold winter and everything it was absolutely impossible to do that work and and and the cold weather that we had and the board agreed with that at our last meeting that it was extremely
cold and um and difficult to do the rest of the work that's got to be done is mostly outside uh and we're correcting the uh the grounds outside before we do the inside um so that the the work that we get done is is it it is done
appropriately the uh so uh but that's uh the tomorrow I'm picking up the other hardware for the for the other couple of windows and those should be replaced right away um so they'll be operable i know she would like to have new windows
but the the the building doesn't um the for the amount of rent and everything we're collecting and everything i I there's no way I can physically afford uh that kind of money on top of the labor to be done all that work when we can we can do it ourselves and bring it
up to compliance okay Mr barbara again um you know it and it should be I believe I believe that the requirements are listed in the inspection report um in terms of you know the windows being
operable and being able to lock um that's what we need to see and so um I'm going to sort of close this conversation because I think we've all heard enough and I' I'd like to make a motion uh to
grant um additional time for the resolution of the violations that haven't been corrected um with uh additional time until uh April 30th
with the expectation that there will be an inspection um on May 1st and if uh all the violations are not corrected then I would um authorize that the health
department and the health director um initiate uh daily uh fines until the violations are corrected i think we've I think that's more than than generous so do I have a
second on that motion second second okay um roll call uh S yes kevin yes joan yes and Rick yes okay so that
matter is closed and um we'll wait to see how things uh play out and the day you can keep the board informed in terms of the follow-up inspection on May 1st thank you Mr barau and U mary
okay um next item uh Kevin I don't know if you were here but item agenda item number six the request for animal permit was withdrawn so uh we're not going to I saw that yes yeah
um okay so agenda number seven uh is a hearing uh regarding a tobacco violation um so I would uh make a motion to call to order a public hearing pursuant to
section 16D tobacco mobile gas at 178 Main Street do I have a second to open the hearing second second by Joan okay um roll call uh S
kevin yes joan yes and Rick yes um so in this matter and how these public hearings are uh conducted is that there's an opportunity um we will first
have a day sort of give an overview of um what the matter is about um we will then uh we will then have um the uh person or
the individual um speak to uh the violation um and give his or her side to it uh that person will then um be muted and uh we will uh then have
a board discussion about um how to proceed um and do a vote on that and then we will go on to either close the hearing with a vote or go on to the next hearing um so with that process I'm going to turn it over to a day to give
us the background uh first thank you Dr lopez mobile Gas located at 178 Main Street sold a tobacco product to a person under the minimum legal sales age
on March 9th at 12:02 p.m a female clerk sold a disposable vape device to a 17-year-old female youth buyer um the clerk did not ask for
an ID or the age of the individual um from what I understand this is um Mobile Gas's um first violation in a three-year period and this requires a $1,000 fine
and a three consecutive day suspension i'll now hand it over to Dr lopez okay um I'm not sure again is it uh where the uh spokesman from
uh the the mobile gas station is is it the iPhone yes oh okay yeah my name is Rad Abd i am the manager at the location yes yes good evening good evening
yeah if you allow me like he said this is our first violation uh in years actually it's our first violation since my the owner my friend uh acquired that business and we
actually had an inspection a couple of years ago and we passed that inspection um so and we were notified like 3 weeks uh after the incident about it so we couldn't go
back on our video system to see and show the uh our clerk uh the mistakes that she made and all of that we discussed it with her but just to assure you uh as of the day we received the letter we
implemented new rules at the location we downloaded a system that we scan the IDs after we uh check them and make sure the person is uh is that the card holder is
that person and I trained personally trained uh the other employees on that system and we now require every uh person that wants to purchase tobacco
to uh and we have signage on the counter and at the window uh to show to ask for their IDs and we will scan them to make sure that this will never happen again that's so I'm asking just to keep that
in mind please when you consider since uh tobacco is a big part of our business it it's over 65% of our instore sales is tobacco so any uh you know closure of
that will gravely affect our business especially after the rough winter we had with business being slow and all of that this is the toughest time of the year for the business so I would ask if you uh you
consider to take that in consideration and we will prove to you that we this will never ever happen again thank you thank you any questions
um for the manager oh Sophie yep hi thank you um and thanks for um you know letting us know about the improved uh protocols that you're putting in place to prevent this from happening again um I know you said that this was the first
instance of this happening in the the few years was this a new employee were they not aware uh no she's been with us for 3 years but I'll be honest with you we me and the
owner we were really surprised cuz she's been with us for 3 years and she is very diligent so that's why we wanted to look at the video to see what the circumstance and not that to make an
excuse but just because we we didn't know exactly what you know led to all of this and she is really upset and she said you know she doesn't recall that incident when we talked to her so
uh like I said we're not trying to make excuses but she's been with us for 3 years and we never had any issues with that yeah I understand i think I'm just kind of wondering you know this is this is the first instance of an you know an in
an incident that was recorded and so I'm just kind of curious if there could have been other incidents that maybe were not recorded where this may have happened of course we can't go back in time and I know that you've taken um the steps forward but I I was just curious thank you thank you
S do you have a question did we um did we get any um documentation of the retraining or the um the training or the uh corrective actions at all like what what they actually did to retrain the
employee i guess a day Actually I did the training myself i've been in in retail business for uh over 30 years and uh I never had you know my
track record you know is I do the training um like I said we added an extra step to make sure that to help our employees uh which is scanning the driver's
license there's no like paper trail or that i did the verbal training myself i showed them how to look at the ID first to make sure cuz in this uh town we cannot sell the uh person that was born
after January 2004 so we made sure that they look first at the picture make sure that the ID matches and then they look at the date of birth if it says 2004
after to decline the sales immediately because the system we downloaded they could not u modify we're talking to other people modify the 2004 because it's 21 years so
we could not modify that so I made sure to train them to look first for these items and then after that proceed to scan the ID and that will allow them to the register will tell them either
proceed with the sale or decline it so I made sure that this is you know understood by we only have two other employees so it's not like it's a a big business that we need to train a lot of people and I would be more than happy if
you like my like me to do to produce any anything that you would like or if you like to come and inspect uh what we added i'll be more than happy to show you right yeah I totally appreciate what you're saying i I just you know in in my
business we usually do a corrective action in a in a formal training like a a paper that you could hand somebody so it's very you know uniformed everybody is trained the same way just just what I'm used to yeah this is a very small
business as I'm pretty sure you know and it's not like the big businesses and I did a hands-on training with each one the same exact training it's basic that we're not selling tobacco items to
anyone unless they produce it doesn't matter if they're 70 years old or Yep to 20 years old unless they produce a valid driver's license ID we will not sell it to them i Yeah I get you i'm I'm basically suggesting it to you to cover
yourself because you know when an inspector walks in they say who was trained how were they trained you have a piece of paper that they signed they acknowledge they were trained all the same way I will just covers the basis that's all I will be more than happy
yeah sure to do that yeah I will produce a paper that shows that we did the training and they acknowledge that they understood it and going forward there will be you know anyone that uh doesn't follow the protocol and fails that will
be an immediate termination yeah I'm not asking for that i'm just just a suggestion no no but to be to be honest you know this is a business it's a small business it's you probably know we it's the our
profit margin is so low that we cannot afford to have violations and all of that we did our part we gave them the tools we trained them we gave them the backup that they need so anything more than that if they do not follow the
protocol that means we need to find someone that will adhere to those protocols and make sure that to keep the town you know we don't want I have kids i don't want them you know I have an 18year-old and I don't want him to to
smoke i don't want him to go down that road so I'm very aware of you your concern and we will make sure that we everyone follows the rules thank you i appreciate it no problem okay if there are no other comments or
questions I think uh the board can um sort of deliberate um on this and we can uh go ahead and mute the um the manager um you know I I wanted
to this prompted me just to kind of go back to our uh regulations that we worked on actually I think it was last year uh we updated our tobacco regulations and I'm going to share my screen if I can
um and so these are the regulations regarding the sale of tobacco products and if we scroll to the end where it talks about uh violations uh here
um okay you know in the case of the first violation a fine of $1,000 shall be issued and additionally if the violation is the sale to person under the age of 21 uh the product tobacco product sales
permit should shall be suspended for three consecutive business days and this is not only our regulations but I believe uh in concert with uh the statewide law and then it goes on for the second and third violations and so
forth um the and it it talks about the fact that we um you know notice give a notice of intent which of course we did had a hearing which we've just uh we're in the
process of doing um and what struck me is really the the purpose of the hearing is was whether a violation occurred and I think we all agree a violation did occur i don't think there's a a question about that and so then it talks about
the revocation for for three days um so from my perspective um you know I think that there are uh two issues one is that um
uh that the law both this commonwealth law as well as the uh town of reading regulations are very clear that if there is a violation you know this is the consequence $1,000 fine three-day
suspension for the first violation um there doesn't seem to be any conflict around there having been a violation i think the second issue for me is that um we have to be always be very careful
about um setting precedent you know if if there's if this happens at another store somewhere else year and a half from now um and it
was a clear violation and they and the request understandably is you know um not to do the suspension then um you know we if we do one here then we
have to think about you know why did we do it it I don't um from what I've heard I don't see any unusual or extenduating circumstances that would um you know uh require us to
have a variance from our regulations so you know I I'm very encouraged by the work that was done subsequent to the violation in terms of now having an electronic system and and really being able to um uh you know being very strict
about how that works not leaving it up to human nature but a system checking the ID and I think I think that's great but I don't think it really allows us to create um a precedent um in the absence
of any other extenduating circumstances so um I'd be interested in hearing from other board members and then we should have a motion uh regarding um the question of a three-day suspension or not right so so I read it and I I mean
the way it's written is there's actually no leeway for us to even make a decision i don't know if that was like I wasn't in the the writing of those of that new rule um I think the only leeway is if
there was a a conflict about whether a violation occurred you know if the person was 22 years old you know and then but but if agrees the violation occurred you're right there's no like
Yeah i mean it's cut and dry i I you know it almost ties our hands that we have to enforce it if there was a violation the way it's written that's my opinion i agree yeah it's it is pretty cut and dry um
and historically we have been um extremely um tough on on these matters um and this as the same will go with um alcohol sales as well um you know historically it's not to make a point
but it's we have excellent um we have an excellent um compliance in the town of Reading in both of those areas because of us kind of being you know down the line and this is how we handle it and and and we don't really give wiggle room in regards to
that it's penal for a reason sorry to say it that way but um it does it does keep us in more compliance more often than not as a result of it i think it was written that way for this reason yeah i mean I hate to put it so bluntly
but that is a that's Yeah right so I would make a motion um that we authorize a suspension of tobacco and tobacco related products um at this facility for 3 days um the the actual
dates of which I would leave up to the discretion of the health director um in terms of which when when that would start and end um is there a second
Second okay I'll go Kevin this time second by Kevin um vote S yes kevin yes john yes and Rick yes yes yes just a quick question uh in
terms of satisfying the $1,000 fine um when should we expect to receive the check are you asking the board are you asking the facility i'm asking um I actually thought the
check was already we haven't received it okay we will we thought we should wait till the meeting to uh to send that we will mail it tomorrow no problem
thank you no problem thank you um and uh we're going to move on to the next agenda item so um I'm going to keep the public hearing open and the next item is public
hearing pursuant to section oh pursuant to 105 CMR 410 uh 800B1 22 Gold Street unit
4012 um and again we'll follow the same Sorry Rick just just to interrupt you i don't think you can keep up um I think you have to close them out and reopen do I have to close okay so let's close uh the hearing regarding Mobile Gas 178 Main Street do
I have a second second kevin second a vote um S yes kevin yes joan yes and Rick yes um I'll make a motion to open
the public hearing uh pursuant to 105 CMR 4108 800 B122 Gold Street unit 412 much better the second time um uh do I have a second second second okay
s second uh roll call s yes kevin yes joan yes and red yes and just before we get into it if I go down again I might have to resort to a phone i'm on like the second device here so
if you don't if you see me go off for a little bit I'll be I'll be calling in yeah I'll let you I'll let you back in um Okay and following for this uh public hearing follow the same pattern um I'll turn it over to a day to give the
background and the uh on the matter we'll then hear from in this case uh Miss Stone uh regarding uh the issue that brought uh this hearing to be and we will then after hearing from her we
will then uh deliberate um on an action uh so Aday do you want to kick it off all right thank you Dr lopez on March 18th um Cynthia Stone requested an inspection at her apartment for
potential violations on March 18th I responded by asking her what time is she available for the inspection on March 19th Cynthia sent me an email requesting to withdraw a
request for an inspection no further correspondence from Cynthia until April 2nd where she sent an email that was not very clear the email was you know it was
incomprehensible it was just like multiple things um I tried my best to understand the email as much as possible and um you know same day I responded by trying to get her some help
some resources um some services she needed to you know take care of what I thought she was trying to explain to me again my emails are not concise you know
um very difficult to understand again those emails are like everywhere i get multiple emails three four you know in a day okay and um after I sent her the email you know trying to get her the resources and
things you know services she may need to um alleviate the issues how I understood them uh she sent me an email on April 2nd by accusing me of discrimination
and shortly after that in less than 24 hours she requested a hearing accusing me of refusing to conduct an inspection at her apartment less than 24 hours during multiple occasions Cynthia was asked to provide a time and date she
would be available for an [Music] inspection and she did not respond until April 8th asking for a 6 p.m inspection a 6 p.m inspection was conducted on April 8th the only
violation observed was an oven in disrepair which she stated would be delivered on April 17th i confirmed with the property manager that the oven has been ordered and is scheduled to be delivered and
installed on April 17th and um they they said yes 17th 18th again I do not really understand um the purpose for this hearing um but this is my job this is
what I have to do thank you um just for clarification um the when someone requests an inspection um and it doesn't happen
uh they have the right to go to the board of health to request to have a hearing um it's uh in this case actually we're having the hearing but the inspection occurred so um I would agree with the day that
it's not entirely clear um what the hearing is about since there's no appeal to have an inspection because an inspection was done but we decided to have the hearing so that Miss Stone can
can state her concerns um and so uh Miss Stone if we can unmute her and um hear from her about uh her side of the her perspective on this and what she's asking the board
yes um so I had reached out initially to the board of health i had a lot of issues a broken stove a broken washing machine i had a sink that had completely fallen down to the floor but the day before the landlord fixed it it was
leaking disposal not working outlets not working the HVAC filter hadn't been placed uh replaced in 4 years they've se since since done it the thing was so thick and then uh a kitchen van a
ventilation fan above my stove and um so as soon as I reached out to aid I ended up uh um I think it triggered I don't I'm I'm I'm assuming it triggered a some
sort of phone call to uh my landlord because um before he was able to uh get back to me asking me what time he should come out that actually triggered them to finally open up a um a service request my landlord and it it looked as if you
know they were coming in to uh take care of everything and that's when I emailed him back and said "I'd like to hold off on the inspection because you know I gave my landlord face that they were coming in to take care of things."
um they ended up fixing a few things that day and then they they didn't respond about anything else all of a sudden so that's when I reached back out to aid to try to schedule another um inspection of my apartment cuz at that
time I still had a broken stove a leaky sink disposal not working outlets not working and still the HVAC filter wasn't replaced so I had to reach back out and uh then
again as soon as I reached back out before anything was said that they're starting to do another service request it's almost like when I call I'm just assuming that someone's reaching out to the landlord but not wanting to like do an inspection or something but I finally
got a response about my request for my uh that second time to come out since I canled the first one and he ste started going on about section 8 inspections and how the town of Reading doesn't
um do them and you know telling me to reach out to I think Metro Boston uh which I guess if you're with the Reading Housing Authority if your housing certificate is with the Reading Housing Authority Metro Boston is basically what's doing it but my certificate isn't
from Reading so I I didn't ask for a section 8 inspection i mean when I reach out to a local board of health for an inspection I mean that that that's a state inspection do I really need to specify that i don't understand why all of a sudden he's saying that I'm in the
wrong jurisdiction or something like that in the email saying I was in the um that like he was not responsible for that that you know to contact someone else it seems like anytime I reach out to the board of health about anything
um they just try not to get involved in some way stuff like nonresponsive i've reached out because someone's pouring chemicals all down outside i've been reaching out for a couple of years asking for someone to come out no one ever did it actually
melted all six wheels off my power wheelchair and I had to replace replace them all it took like months over last summer to replace those wheels i just couldn't get anyone to come out and you would had an inspector um that I was
dealing with that it was a woman and it's uh not the one that you have now but she actually emailed me and she's like there there's nothing I can do to help you that's too many hands in the pot up at town hall is her uh that's
what she said in the email and I just couldn't believe it that I tried to reach out to my board of health about chemicals being poured all over the ground outside my property and no one would come in to to even check it out it literally melted the wheels off my power
wheelchair i've saved every one of those wheels i didn't throw them out i still have them um but it just seems like anytime I reach out it's like you're not interested you're just not interested in anything I reach out about but I mean
you are the proper place for me to reach out about stuff like this someone should have come out to check those chemicals um I've been having problems for four years and uh I at first would come into the the board of health in
person and I would never hear back from anybody i'd talk to the you know you have the two secretary desks there when you go into your the office downstairs and uh I just had a lot of trouble and this was before Aid even took office
over some issues and finally when I um read the paper every day I love reading the chronicle and I read that we we had a new board of health guy and at first I was being responded to about the things I had been trying to reach out to but then when these chemicals started being
pouring all around outside here I was just ignored like nobody wanted to get involved and I'm just I don't know how to reach out to my board of health if I I feel like I'm being like gas people are telling me that it's not our
responsibility like when I you know reach out about that medical hardship thing the law is that it's not that a hearing is supposed to take place in seven days the certification is supposed to take place within 7 days and if say
an electric company like national grid doesn't certify me me within that 7-day law the fines are $100 a day but you guys are the ones that didn't certify me I mean I have to get that letter from you first and that's given to the town
of Reading it's uh a hearing shouldn't even have to take place for something like that all they have to do is provide the board of health with documentation and then it's automatically done it's not something you can decide to do this is your job as a board of health these
are the laws that the responsibilities of the board of health and uh I do the duties of the board of health and it's it's to do it within seven days and I yeah you said I had done that last October or last November
but here we are in April boy if the towns could be fined $100 that would be a lot of money you know but it was supposed to be done within seven days and I did provide aid with documentation I mean made a list of all my medical conditions
on and I've had went to urgent care for something and it listed everything including the the breast cancer diagnosis diabetes COPD osteocondance of the talis you know I'm use a wheelchair because of that
luckily I can stand and walk a little bit but boy I I need it from time to time but I'm just having trouble reaching out to my board of health there are certain responsibilities that you have and I just can't seem to make one single contact request in
order to start it it's a big mountain i have to compl uh complain and call Department of Public Utilities in Boston and all over the place to confirm that I'm correct and uh I didn't even find this uh lawn number where you were
supposed to do it until earlier today when I was trying to get ready for this hearing i even asked for an extension of this hearing if it could possibly be held even next week because by law you have 14 days to do it because my mother died on Monday i've been so busy and I
just I haven't even had a chance to even talk to my father or my my my family's gathering on Orange Street right now and I'm not there cuz I'm having to be here to explain my problems i just uh I don't know what to do i'm frustrated and all
this mountain climbing is keeping me from treating my breast cancer it's keeping me from I'm just so busy with other things like MGH and medication i'm having trouble and housing authority paperwork that I don't have enough time
to to shower properly every day or eat for every but that's all that's all I wanted to say sure no I I I hear you um um you know I I think that
at I I think at this point what I what I heard um and actually I would you know uh mute mute Mrs stone because we're the board is going to go into um
deliberation is that um well two things one is that this hearing was originally requested a week ago um because an inspection she had requested an inspection and it hadn't
been done it was done yesterday uh the the board got the inspection piece so the actual motivation for the um hearing is actually a moot point at this point
because the inspection did occur the second issue I hear is concerns about responsiveness um around the the issues uh that she's had sounds like some issues have been um addressed uh directly by management without an
inspection and um and then uh others are about to be addressed like the oven um I'm not sure there's a particular ask or vote of us um other than to have
heard her concerns and um you know obviously it's not something I've been on the board for five years and I think this is probably the first time I've heard um you know such a litany of um concerns about
unresponsiveness and so forth so I think it's something um I'm not sure there's anything more for us to do other than to be aware i'm sure Dave will continue to work uh with this resident um I don't
know other board members if there's other things that we ought to be thinking about or in response to um because I I didn't hear an ask uh or the original reason for the ask was is been completed the inspection and and maybe
there'll be more inspections in the future who knows um any thoughts about this or anything more we need to address the only the only thing I I heard out of it was um that there were multiple
emails to people but we only saw a few emails i think Cynthia said she emailed other people if if I'm not if I'm correct um that they they would she was given different responses than we we heard from a day I guess is my is my
concern that we didn't I don't know if they you know I don't see any proof of them obviously but we have anything like that a day that that she emailed different people you're on mute today yeah i get at least three to four emails
from her on a daily basis it's almost becoming harassment you know workplace harassment okay that's how often I get emails from her okay so there's more the more than more than what you what we just read then obviously yes i had to summarize it
because it's just it's all over the place like you can't it's just so many of them i get them on weekends when I'm not at work nighttime i've been asked to come to our house at 1:00 a.m between 1:00 a.m and 5:00 a.m to do
inspections when we're obviously unreasonable emails like all the time it's becoming harassment like Okay but yeah that's what we need to hear obviously I mean it's that's unreasonable to ask anybody for that
stuff and I I judging by the emails I read they have to be more concise and to the point like what you actually want right what she wants want an inspection ask us for an inspection i don't you know I don't I don't want to get like 10
paragraphs within within two hours and trying to figure out what you're talking about and going this you know yep i have I mean come on so she and every complaint she has made everything has been addressed
there's no time that she made a complaint that we did not address the complaint complaint about the exterior of your property you don't have to be present at the inspection because it's the exterior of the property we can go there take a
look ourselves without you being present if we don't find a violation there is no violation if we find you know salt you know regular salt for you know the snow on the ground it is salt yes salt is a chemical but it is needed
so you don't fall off and break your head so I'm not sure why you know you know this this is becoming too much it's becoming too much yeah just to remind everybody too the last uh last
time we talked about this the the letter actually said you could get the certificate from a doctor or the board of health and the the records were very inconclusive on the medical records just to remind everybody
it's just so many emails like Yeah it's I get I get it yeah i just want that was true the the medical documentation was inadequate from my perspective um in terms of
making the decision 100% and we we also discussed you know why would we be making it if you have a doctor right just a recap Joan you had your hand up or your thumb up
the questions been answered in the course of the ensuing conversation so it's just you know are are most of these complaints or at least some of these complaints are not under the the board of health issues and um so it's it seems
like she's having a lot of issues with her unit but but they're not all under the purview of of of the board of health it almost seems like she's complaining about like other people's inspections and having me overturn their decisions
and things like that like you know like if a different department goes to her house you know she complains about it to me like I can go and change the result the outcome of their inspection which I can't I can't do I can only do my own inspection all you have to do is request
my own inspection you know but you and I did say that you you had suggested that she reach out to other departments exactly I was trying to understand her email trying to get her the resources is you know to help her out and all of a
sudden I'm being accused of discrimination so we're not trying to ignore her her her concerns never ignored her we've always addressed all our complaints and her multiple emails we've always done those things okay
so we've never ignored her okay a day um when you did the inspection um two days ago uh the inspection report mentions the oven which is not working and they're
going to get a new one was was there any other housing violations in in the apartment that you noticed no she complained about um somebody remotely turning off her heat and water and hot water um you know between
certain hours of the night you complain about our heat going to 80 within between 100 a.m and 5:00 a.m which is in the code those exact same hours time of the night are in the code 1:00 a.m and 5 she complained about those asking me to
come to her house between 1 a.m and 5:00 a.m to do inspections why man yeah and but other things like you know leaky stoves and other things there was nothing else there was
electrical issues that maybe an electrical inspector needed to address um correct if if she feels like her electricity is crossmetered which we did not find any evidence you know I let her know that we're going to refer to the electrical inspector okay so so in your
in your inspection two days ago there were no uh there other than the oven there were no um you know uh health or safety issues in in the Okay none so I
think at this point we should probably um close the hearing uh because I I don't um I you know I understand Miss Stone's concerns uh but I feel like they have been
addressed uh at this point and um you know it's something we will kind of be aware of going forward uh but I don't think there's any action for this board to take tonight on anything that I've
heard no I mean and so Miss Stone understands um there you may have a long history and some other issues but that's not the purview of this um hearing tonight um so they're really not o open for discussion uh as well so it's really just pertain to the inspection which has
already um been conducted so I mean I'd have to agree there's really under the guise of how this is how this uh public hearing is structured there really is no actionable um items so I make a motion to close the hearing
do I have a second second second uh roll call s Kevin yes gentlemen yes and Rick yes um
okay let's move on to agenda nine the rodent program update a day so I'm just going to give a quick update about the rodent program uh we have a total of 81 captures so far 11 in
January 12 in February 23 in March and so far in April we've had 25 it appears that the number of captures keep increasing as the weather gets warmer um again just to reiterate that I will be going to town meeting uh to request
additional funding for the purchase of additional smart boxes and uh hopefully we get the funding we need and um yeah I'll report back to the board thank you and a day just on that um last time we looked at this there was
I don't know there were there were box one or two boxes I think mostly north um that had a lot had very little activity and uh your judgment was we need to wait and see what happens but then we might
consider moving some of those to places where there have been complaints you know like southern south south main street do is that where where is that now had those boxes become active or are they still
they're sitting there um and maybe they should be moved or what they are a little bit more active uh at this point because the weather is getting warmer um again I wouldn't recommend moving any of those boxes for now um I know that we're
going to have construction um happening very soon okay what is this um we're going to have construction happening very uh happening very soon so uh hopefully um we would move those boxes accordingly okay great
and just a quick question while we're on this you're going to April town meeting a day with this yes April town meeting s are you a town meeting member yes yeah I just got back elected back on we're going to have to call a board of health um we're gonna have to post a border health meeting because so is Carrie the
three of us will be there we won't we won't be able to to deliberate on the on the subject matter if we don't interesting okay that's the first time that's ever come up oh so not a big deal just post us and
we just have to stand up and call ourselves to order at the beginning of of whatever it's going to be so maybe you can talk to uh Matt and see what he projects that that um that line item to come up on sure okay
uh a day a monthly report um that's pretty much it i will now defer to u Amelia for a monthly report and then Olivia after that hi good evening everyone
hello good evening hey hi um all right so month of March um we are still currently working on some of our late permit renewals um and Haley has been a huge help with that so we were able to secure one of our late permits
um this month that's why you see the one right here i did a total of 20 routine inspections in the month of March and no one needed a reinspection which was amazing we I did uh four temporary food inspections for Winterfest that was also
held March 6th um I actually took our coalition intern from Marramax she's a college student she's a senior i have been able to take her out on some inspections she's been shadowing me a little bit so she was able to come out and do those inspections with me and we
got one foodborne um illness complaint from a resident outside of town um they had confirmed neuro virus and they had eaten at one of our restaurants in town so I had gone out did a foodbor complaint inspection they had eaten um a
burger uh bacon cheeseburger with fries and it was a takeout order so I went to the restaurant we went through the whole process of what the takeout counter looks like how many employees are involved um everything is packaged by the cook and placed in a bag by the
employees so by the time it gets to the employees that are bagging the takeout orders it's already placed in a container unless it is French fries they have a scoop handle that they use to pick up French fries and place in that container and then close that container
they had no employees that reported being sick um in the past couple weeks that you know this person had you know eaten here and obtained no virus they could have honestly gotten it everywhere um anywhere excuse me because they weren't a resident of our town Liv
couldn't do her part of the foodborne illness inspection so when it came to her it was already done in the town that they reside in um so I'm assuming that if he had eaten in multiple different areas it was just sent to all of those um municipalities to ensure that
wherever they had eaten they didn't contract it from them um so I can safely confirm that it definitely wasn't from our restaurant and the restaurant that he ate at has a really good system in place with their takeout orders their employee sickness policy um glove use
handwashing so that was uh reassuring as well we received one Foodorn complaint um sorry I'm looking at the back of my uh paper here it was for multiple health violations at a convenience store um I
went out and I did the inspection and um everything that was reported through Cclick Fix was found not viable um I went through all the items that were reported with the manager and just everything that I went through there was
no violation in sight um and so that was um cleared as well we did two temporary permit events which again were for Winterfest as that had happened that month um we had four complaints come through last month uh
one being about dog poop in a public way so I went out you know I took some pictures uh sent a warning citation to the resident just reminded them that they have to pick up after their dog poop um and lucky that luckily that message was wellreceived and they did
you know correct that issue uh we had a bird taking shelter in a vent on the side of the house as another complaint so I went out to the house uh was able to actually speak to the homeowner which was helpful uh the homeowner informed me that he was aware of this issue they've
had this ongoing issue uh we I had called today at the time and we were able to talk to the homeowner we suggested venting excuse me putting a mesh cover over that vent so birds can't come in and out uh the resident stated that he would look into it and hire
someone to correct that issue because it has been an ongoing issue for them um but he did state that no birds were flying into their home so that was at least good to know that they aren't um struggling with any pest activity inside one another complaint that we
received was trash accumulation on a property i spoke with the homeowner they were able to resolve that issue and I did get another complaint for it this month so it's still a little bit ongoing but I'm hoping after this weekend it can
be completely rectified um and we also got a complaint for a dumpster issue at a condo a condominium that is next to residential properties um this condominium had a dumpster that was not sufficient in size for the amount of
trash that they were accumulating so I worked with management they actually got a 10-ft dumpster they applied for a dumpster permit because for some reason they did not have an annual dumpster permit with us and they were also looking to do weekly pest control i'm sorry monthly pest control on that
dumpster and I asked them if they could maybe do more pickups for that dumpster it does get picked up twice a week at the moment but they stated that getting a bigger dumpster might resolve that issue so they wanted to give that a try first and I was willing to you know accept that as a correction um and I
haven't received a complaint since about that dumpster so I think that 10-ft dumpster maintenance going out to ensure that it's clean every week um and I believe they were looking into getting pest control had may solved some of those issues that were coming up for um
that resident that lived there and that was pretty much my month of March april has also been super busy so that will be another fun report to give you guys thank you thanks Mary nice
hello everyone i will go ahead and move forward with the nursing update um let me just pull it up all right is everyone able to see that yes brilliant all right so we're going to start with our monthly disease
report so COVID cases are up flu cases are down reading had 19 reported COVID cases in the month of March and 41 flu cases um which is a 76% decrease from last month where we had 173 reported
cases so that's great season may may be coming to an end um we have our blood pressure screenings for the month of April and May we're going to be at Frank Tanner next Thursday on the 17th at 10:00 a.m and then in the month of May
I'm going to be at the Pleasant Street Senior Center at 11:00 a.m on the 7th of May and then at Frank Tanner at 10:00 a.m on the 8th of May um and those that will be posted on the website at the beginning of the month
these are our three um monthly awareness topics that we have this for this month we have Parkinson's awareness month um as we know Parkinson's is a neurodeenerative disorder of the nervous system and um there are a lot of motor symptoms um that are associated with it
as well as muscle tone and rigidity um there's some information down at the bottom um that you can go to for any of your loved ones that may be experiencing this it is also National Minority Health Month um while this um is very important
um I just wanted to draw attention to it um especially for this month and um recognize that we should always be promoting health in um all of our community members and then um we have National Autism Acceptance Month and um
autism spectrum disorder refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills repetitive behavior speech and non-verbal communications you can find more information down at the bottom using the QR code all right we have the Dana Farber mimography
van that is coming to the town hall on April 29th we still have um many spots open so please encourage your friends and families to sign up this is for individuals in the 40 plus community as well as those who are um referred by their primary
care for a mamogram um we had a very successful handsonly CPR class at the Reading Public Library on March 20th our participants were able to learn the proper techniques for chest compressions as well as practice on mannequins with real time accuracy indications um
courtesy of the um shared services uh for the Middle Sex Essex Shared Services um coalition we are hosting another session on April 17th and due to popular demand we are adding a third session on
May 28th from 5 to 6 the same QR code on this um registration will work for that one as well we are having the Pleasant Street Senior Center um annual health fair on May 20th we look forward to bringing back some of our favorite vendors as
well as some wonderful new ones um I will be there and I I know Amelia will be there as well so I look forward um to that that will be great to reach out to um our senior population and our community the writing coalition for prevention and support along with the
writing health department is hosting a community Narcan training on June 10th um please register using this QR code or link and feel free to contact us with any questions um as I state every month we still have our diabetes takeback program as well as our medical supplies takeback
program um so if you have any unused or unexpired medical supplies that you're looking to offload please contact myself um to schedule a drop off time and in conjunction with this we are doing a medication takeback day north Reading is
hosting a medication takeback day i apologize at the Ori Senior Center on Saturday April 26th from 9:00 am to 1 PM they have given us permission to um market this to the Reading community it's just a drive-thru you can come get
rid of any um unused and expired medications as well as pet medications no proof of residence is needed it's going to be like a drive-thru style where you just kind of hand your grocery bag of things to someone and then lastly I just wanted to
give a little little allergy PSA allergy season is upon us recent studies have shown that this year will hit us hard the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America projects that 2025 will be yet another brutal year for seasonal allergies across the country and has
dutifully dubbed it a pollen tsunami so please take care when working outside and um for the daily pollen count you can um visit this website or scan this QR code to see if it's a high pollen day or low pollen day and then
that and lastly I just wanted to say there's some good news in the world of public health um state health officials launched the first ever online grocery ordering program for Massachusetts WICK participants wick is women infant and children's um so WIC participants using
the nutritional program are now able to shop online for WIC approved foods for instore pickup or delivery from 48 Walmart stores across the state providing a modern convenient and accessible option for more than 125,000
residents served by the program in Massachusetts each year so I just wanted to make everyone aware of that and um give some good news in the world of public health nice thank you thank you great thank you
okay so um in terms of item number 11 volunteer application so this is just um I got an email and I I don't know who got this email but it's uh I got an email from
Laura Jimmy who uh pointed out that um you know the volunteer appointment process uh happens every May and June and um what she wanted uh to let
everybody know is that if you're an incumbent member or an associate member and your term expires this year on June 30th um which is myself Joan and Jerry
um will be receiving an incumbent questionnaire May 1st uh indicating whether you want to seek reappoint or not and you need to return by May 15th and then if you're um an associate member and want to apply for
um a a member position if it's available um there's a volunteer application which uh a day sent out in the pre-board packet um and so I guess bottom line is be looking in
your email around May 1st um for notice and an application to be filled out and they're going to be doing they ask the uh volunteer appointment committee is going to be doing um its interviews May
15th to June 5th so they're coming up shortly i just want everybody to know that um and um I I can say at least for myself that
uh I will be applying for a reappoint um so you can't get rid of me um any final comments or thoughts if not
um make a motion to adjourn the meeting do I have a second second joan second uh roll call s yes kevin yes joan yes and Rick yes thank
you everybody appreciate your service and your time and uh have a good spring thank you thanks everybody see you guys good night bye byebye good Okay