all right Welcome to the April 24th April month of April Rever Board of Health meeting Please everyone stand for the pledge of allegiance So again welcome to the month of April 2025 board of health of river public
meeting I am the chairperson Dr Drew Bunker and to my left is Kathleen Savage board member and to my right is board member Vivana Katano Also staff invited municipal staff is Lauren Buck who's director of public health Michael Wells who's health agent
and director director of inspectional services Paula Subulvita who's the board of health clerk and Anthony Gallesia assistant superintendent of water and sewer First uh topic we're going to review and approve the minutes
from the March M the March meeting So I approve the minutes as written I approve of the minutes Great Thank you guys I approve them as well Next is going to be the public health communicable monthly report with Lauren Buck Thanks Dr Bunker
Um for April 2025 our communicable uh disease burden is very low comparatively Um so I'll skip right to state and national public health updates According to the Healey administration Massachusetts is expected to lose a h 100red million of public hund00 million of public health grant funding from the
recent federal cuts of the center of disease control to the CDC Additionally the state's Department of Mental Health is expected to lose funding from the federal substance abuse and mental health service through terminated grants Much of the CDC's cut funding supports the state's public health laboratory
including testing for respiratory diseases such as bird flu Uh it's currently unclear if there will be any effects on the programs utilized by Rivier We frank hope we luckily don't have a ton of um federal funding but I will keep everyone updated in terms of uh cuts that affect the city of Rivier
And I just wanted to give an update on the city of Rivier health and human services um programming for the upcoming months I just wanted to talk about the the spring pop-up market that's in collaboration with HYM and SuffK Downs Our first market was held on um Saturday April 19th so last Saturday It was a
great success We have two more upcoming spring pop-up markets which will be held on May 17th and June 21st They're from 11 to 2 They're located at Beachmont Square which is the new um located on the new kind of square in front of the Amaya building that was just um built
over by the Beachmont tea Um and we also are running a limited supply SNAP match program at the at the remaining two spring markets So please stop by if you shop for fruits and vegetables using your SNAP or EBT benefits Our summer's farmers market is also returning to Waterfront Square on River Beach
starting July 11th That will be every Friday from 11 to 3 except for July 25th So every Friday from July 11th through September except for July 25th from 11 to 3 at Waterfront Square on River Beach the same location we were at last year We're hoping to have more venue vendors
this year and we're having entertainment at each event We also our produce vendors all accept SNAP HIPP senior vouchers and WIC vouchers Our substance abuse sorry our substance use and homelessness initiatives office will run several campaigns over the next several months
Our overdose memorial and awareness vigil will be held at the end of August as it is every year We will also do a stomp out the stigma summer barbecue for the second time Our first one was last year It was a great success It will be a speaker series as well that will be held in September as part of um a series of events for recovery month which
September is recovery month The community gardens open May 1st There's a currently still a significant weight list Um so if you're still on the wait list it's because there are so many on the wait list Contracts fees are being collected as we speak until May 31st Um our community liaison are going to be
hosting their second annual resource day in September It was a great event last year and it brings together a lot of different organizations who specialize in social services Um finally the Lifesavers League is a a program that we um premiered in early April Our first
session was April 3rd This is a community-based emergency preparedness program Um it teaches residents things like handsonly CPR be ready fire safety Um moving forward it will be a quarterly program We'll offer in multiple languages and we'll have child care
offered at each sessions We'll um vary the topics depending on on what time of year it will be Our next session will be held in late June There will be more information on that coming out soon And finally um uh just anticipation of the summer we'll do some more heat awareness
programming this year A lot of communication vian via uh social media And that's it Great Thank you Lauren Next is the inspectional services monthly report with Michael Wells Thanks Dr Bunker Inspectional services um inspections for
the month of April are as follows For the interior housing division we performed 39 certificate of fitness inspections five reinspections of certificate of fitness um seven interior complaints in process u two interior new complaints two interior complaint
reinspections and one pool spa reinspection On the food inspection division we performed 31 routine inspections eight reinspections six complaint inspections two pre-opening inspections and 11 temporary food service permits were
issued on the exterior sanitation division Um violations issued for accumulation of litter trash and debris were 46 One violation for carts out at improper times Uh overflowing dumpsters were 22 improper placement of garbage trash and
bulky items with 317 Um one violation issued for improper signage on public property Five violations issued for um junk heaps dumps and automobile graveyards and one violation for road
and harborage Also six violations for unclean unsanitary land and one violation for sump pump violations I just want to mention that this weekend Mayor Keefe is um presenting the Beautify Reier for uh this coming Saturday Um urging all residents to come
out and help uh clean up the community And also we urge the um residents and business owners to start to you know as the weather starts to get nicer to take a look at your properties and ensure that they're um in good shape and freshen them up a little bit um for the community
Great Thank you Michael Next is going to be the lead service line test pits I'm going to have Anthony Galysia come [Music] up Anthony Galizia assistant superintendent of water and sewer Dr Bunker the board Thank you Just to give
an update uh we began last week test pitting again for unknown lead locations and working to confirm the material of those lines We're scheduled to perform approximately 350 to 400 excavations
over the next six to eight weeks to verify those materials And we're also scheduled to begin a project further this summer to remove known lead lines The city has to remove 82 lead services
this year to remain in compliance with the changes to the lead and copper rule and the lead and copper rule improvements We are proud of the work that we completed last summer We removed 77 lead lines and worked very hard to
bring our unknown numbers down from a starting point of 1,900 down to about 550 So our unknowns as they continue to decrease the amount of lead lines that we have to remove is also decreasing So
our efforts have been focused on clearing the status of those unknown lines and removing as many known lead lines as we can as the schedule permits Thank you Any questions from the board comments no it just sounds like
you guys are doing some good work and keep it up Yeah thank you We're just to add we're also um trying to enhance our communications with residents Um information has gone out about the known risks of lead There's also a lot of
information on our water and sewer website There's also an interactive map where residents can type their address in and a small dialogue box will show you the status of your line So if any residents have questions or want to know
they can look at that inventory map And that map's also changing in real time as we uncover the unknowns and and confirm the status of those Thank you Actually Antie can I ask you a question i think um um a while ago we received some sort
of letter letting us know if if the city thought there was any lead lines near our house Is that correct was that accurate i feel like we received something in the mail maybe a few years ago Is that true yeah there two years ago there was an exception in River to
the lead There were a couple locations that came back with high counts So we had to send out a letter to every resident Um but the changes last year to the LCR and the LCRI state and federally require every
state now through the town to provide a certified inventory of our service line materials So this process now that we're beginning is helping clean up that inventory and have as much accurate information as possible and remind me uh
where can we go check to see the the the status of whether there are any lead lines near our house what did you say that was so if you go to um reair.org and go to the water and sewer page Okay There's a few notices with information about lead and there's also an
interactive map that you can click and just type in any address and see the status And for the for the residents these lines were put in place before it was known that this was dangerous Is it are you is the city just replacing like
old lines yeah So the city is confident that they stopped using lead around the 1950s So there are just significant older parts of the city that were put in pre-1950 where a lot of these lines are from Nothing new has been installed lead
It's illegal Nobody allows it federally it's not mandated Um so anything that has lead is of significant age and that's part of the difficult process where confirming the records the records are from so long ago A lot of those
records weren't in the most accurate shape So these test pits help us get field verification where we can see with our own eyes get good pictures and determine what's out there And out of curiosity is there something that residents can do if they do hear
that there's a lead line near them like is there any precautions that they could take anything that you would advise or that the city is currently advising yes So the city is committed to replacing all lead lines for free no cost to the homeowner So if a lead line is discovered the residents informed We
also deliver them a um a pitcher filter that can filter out the lead for them We advise them what not to do Um what they can do There's also if any residents have concerns they can also the city will not sample that water but they can
have it sampled at the Northeast Laboratory in Danverse But the city is as I mentioned 77 lead replacements last year at no cost to the homeowners and we continue to replace those lines at no cost Um it's completely free We do that
work ourselves or with the help of a contractor And any resident that has lead in the meantime we have those filters for them available at the DPW Thank you You're welcome Great Yeah And also I think if there is concern from the person um they can go
to their physician and get their their lead levels checked But um as someone who has a patient who works in the lead removal business even then their their lead levels are in a a low enough level to have no toxicity But I'm not sure if you
can comment on that Again we certainly advise all residents if they do have concerns that as you mentioned these things do come up in regular um you know physician visits and getting their blood panels It's really the only way to tell
Um but yeah thank [Music] you All right so next is going to be the heating variance requests I think I'm going to Move that over to uh Michael WS Thank
you Thanks Dr Bunker Um as we do every year we have six properties that um submit an application for a heating variance Uh per 105 CMR 410201 and 410840 of the state Massachusetts Sanitary Code Heat can be turned off
from May 31st through September 15th Um as we are encountering warmer weather and climate change issues um we have warmer springs and warmer falls um in the six properties that um have applied uh also work off of one system in their
entire building Um so they're able to switch over from air conditioning to heat um because the one system controls the entire building Uh those six properties are the Breakers Condominiums located at 474 Revier Beach Boulevard Friendling Garden Co-op located at 235
Reier Street Ocean Gate Condos located at 382 Ocean A Sea View Condos located at 510 515 Reier Beach Boulevard St George Condos located at 350 Reier Beach Boulevard and SeaWatch Towers condos located at 376 Ocean A A majority of
vote of the residents was submitted by property management And as always room heaters must be available upon request to all any resident that may request one Um we kindly request that the board um authorize the heating variances for 2025
for those six properties Yes So I'm going to approve those uh heating variance requests I'm ask the other board members if they approve as well I also approve Same Okay That's three of the three Approve Thank you Thank you
Excellent Last um topic is going to be the body art temporary license I'm going to give it over to Lauren Buck Thanks Um so we just have an a body art establishment application and individual practitioner application for a temporary
one-time event Um if you all remember we did a series of events with Boston Harley and a specific tattoo artist who's also licensed out of Danvers David Martinelli Um this is just an additional date to that they're adding on to kind
of his body of work at Boston Harley So um the temporary license uh establishment is for Let Rip LLC and Boston Harley-Davidson at 646 Wire Road The inspection was on um April 17th The event date for the temporary license is
May 10th Um he passed inspection So we're recommending that you approve that license and also approved the license for the individual practitioner of David Martinezelli on on 12 Beacons Field Street in Lawrence His inspection occurred on April 17th and his event the event date is the same uh May 10th Pass
the inspection So we recommend that you approve both of those um temporary licenses Great Yes I approve both licenses other board members I also approve both licenses I approve as well Great Thank you All right Well that will conclude
this month's meeting Thank you