Welcome to the August 4th, 20 recording in progress. Excuse me. Anyway, welcome to the August 4th, 2025 meeting of the Armor Board of Health. This is a hybrid meeting. So, we'll now call the meeting to order. And
how about some attendance? Eric, would you be here? Present. Mary, present. I'm Hillary. Larry, present. I think you're here. Okay, Charlie's not going to be. So, let the record show that a quorum is present. Thank you. Um, third item on the agenda is public
comment. And just let me read something. And this just generally how public comment works here for meetings in town. The open meeting law discourages public bodies from discussing topics not listed
on the agenda. the public uh therefore uh should not expect the board to respond to questions or statements made during the public comment portion of the meeting. So is anyone from the public who has any comments or something just
briefly? Yeah. Won't you come up and just please introduce yourself? Pardon? Just introduce yourself for the record. And just keep in mind um by not being on the agenda things need to be rather brief. Right. My name is Ron Gable and um my
property shares a boundary with 88 and 100 mil lane. Um so my primary health concern uh related to um this uh property is the runoff from the barn on the property
that is um proposed to be converted to a full farm from its current status. Um the site map shows prepared by down Cape Engineering shows a proposed manure composting area south of the barn that's
about 140 ft from Mil Pond. Um the barn is elevated about 20 ft above the high mean high tide and 28 feet above mean low tide. This substantial down downgradient from the barn to mill pond makes it likely that all runoff
including califform bacteria leeched from the manure composting south of the barn will will make its way into mill pond. As you know animal manure contains cifform bacteria that pollutes ponds and
rivers. Mil pond is periodically closed to shell fishing due to um contamination with California bacteria especially after heavy rains. Adults and children swim in Mil Pond and Mil Creek while shell fishermen have harvested more than
390 b 90 bushes bushels of cohogs from 2022 through 2024. uh their livelihoods are uh interrupted when the shellfish constable has to post signs indicating that shell fishing is
prohibited. Finally, chapter 2 202 section D of the health department's regulation states and and this is uh quoted verbatim, stables, corrals and paddics shall be located not less than
250 ft from the high water mark of any source of shell fishing. the 30 goats and two donkeys that the new owners of 88 mil lane uh if permitted to pro proceed will occupy stalls in the barn
and we'll be grazing on pasture lands where they will be depositing manure. So all in all I don't believe that the proposed farm on 88 and 100 mil lane would be compliant with the health department's regulations.
Okay, thank you for speak speaking up. Anyone else? Sure. Just one at a time. Is this It should be. It should be. Yeah. Okay. Hi. Um Irene Payne. I live on
Goose Neck Road, head of Mil Pond. I just I'll talk about three things very quickly. Number four, the Eversource Yearly Operational Plan. Whoever it is on the board who writes to Eversource um for the people who have private wells,
I'm one of them. And so I just want to thank you for that because I'm not on right. No. Oh, okay. Why don't you start over? You you owe that to us and to yourself. Why don't you start over then? Irene Payne, 24 Goose Neck Road, head of
Mil Pond. Thank you, whoever it is who writes to Eversource. Um because I have one of those wells and I'm not very far from the from the power lines at all. the well. It's probably less than 100 ft. And my husband has an autoimmune
disease. So, we've been writing to them for years. Please do not spray around us because we don't want to get sick. Uh the next thing, and so I I thank you for that, and I'll be writing our our own letter also. Um the the herbicide reduction presentation by Laura here,
who's been trying to guard the waters of Cape Cod forever. Um I'm totally in favor of that. The insects in our yard have practically died off in the last 13 years that we've lived there. We don't use insecticides, but the whole rolling hills development around us when people
move in, they hire their landscaping company, and then before you know it, there's all kinds of spraying going on. So, our fireflies are dead, our bees are dead. Uh I hardly have a mosquito bite, which is unbelievable. And so, there's just so much spraying going on in my
neighborhood. I can't believe it. And last but not least, the number nine, the private well sampling. I think it's so wonderful. We'll be joining and we already have a baseline. So if anybody wants to talk to me about that. Thank you very much.
Okay. Thank you for speaking up. Somebody else. Great. Uh I think the woman behind you stood up first. Okay. You come to the mic and just introduce yourself. Thank you. My name is Kathy Herity. I live on Water
Street and I just wanted to support Dr. Gable. Um when he was commenting on the what's happening in our neighborhood, um there was a potential farm going in on 8800 Mil Lane and there's lots of concerns from our neighborhood as far as
what's going to be going into Mil Pond and Mil Creek and um there's going to be goats there, there's going to be donkeys there. Um, and there's going to be manure there and um, we're very concerned as to what's going to be happening.
Okay. Thank you, sir. I'll see here. My name is Paul Fitzgerald. I live on Kevin Lane, right across from right next to Mil Pond. I also support what Dr. Gable is saying and I just I've been there for many many
years and I've witnessed the closure of the mill pond for many years because of runoff or contamination from Anony's and it took well into 10 years ago for when finally uh they were monitoring the
water quality that determined that it was safe enough to go for shell fishing at that point and they opened it up commercially. I live on the Bonsible side. So there is a sliver of Mil Pond which is connected to Bonstable and there are people that live in Kevin Lane
and that shellfish there occasionally. I also swim in the pond or mostly I swim on the outside of the bridge, but I swim there, you know, many many many times in the summertime. So I'm concerned about health and caulifform bacteria that can
come from the closure of the pond. Also during the time that Anson was polluting the pond and for the years afterwards there was a periodic testing almost every week someone would come there and test the waters to see whether anything
had changed substantially for in the pond and I wondered if that's something that would be considered from the town of Yamoth that they would mo if this farm ever gets built or when it gets built that that water quality could be tested especially during the warmer
warmer months so that there's some and that could be communicated to the public so we would know what the health is of that effluent. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Next. I'll go last.
I I will be brief. I will be brief. Um my name is Rosanna Hardy. I live at 14 Hilly Road and I I'm here to support um everything and and completely agree with what Dr. Gable has mentioned as well as Paul Fitzgerald and Kathy Hegard as
well. Um the only thing I want to add is that I know people um when you think about a farm um that what we're talking about here is a farm that not only will have a um a manure compost on it, but we're talking about 30 goats. So, we're
not talking about a farm that has maybe one or two. Um, we're talking about a significant um population and it is um a commercial. I understand when I looked at their plans, one of their plans is down the road to make a commercial crearyy as well. So, they're breeding
the goats. It's a business and it's it's um you know, we have a lot of concerns about the health implications with that many um goats uh in our neighborhood. Thank you. You're welcome. Okay. Great. I'll be brief.
No, just come to the mic. My name is Michael Herity. Uh I also live um on on the Water Street side, very close to the property that we're talking about. The points that were made by Dr. Gable and and Mr. Fitzgerald as well, it's just something I simply
advocate for as well. Um I use the the creek uh and and those waterways as well as a recreational user. I see many people in neighborhood use it as well, you know. So, you know, these are just concerns that we're voicing right now ahead of all of this. Um, we just want
to understand more and we we just want to have our input taken into consideration and that's that's all I have to add. Thank you. Anybody else? Great. Come on. Real work. My name is Bill Tyl. Uh, I live at 23
Hilly. I agree with everything they say, but I would like to bring up just one more item. Farms tend to breed rodents, rats, mice, etc. Can also be a major problem. You have start pulling rats out of your basement and living room, you're not going to be a real happy camper.
Thank you. Thank you. You know, it's it's nice to the public shows up and and has something to say, get people's opinions. It doesn't happen often enough. So, I I really appreciate everyone coming in. Um, till I walked in
here, I didn't know this problem existed. Okay. I don't know about any of the other board members. Did anyone know about it? Okay. So, where is it in the town, Barry, that this is being thought about, worked upon? What's going on? Um, I know it's in front of the um
conservation commission meeting. The next one, I don't I forget if it's Tuesday or Thursday. Thursday. It's on Thursday. We had one 3 weeks ago and it got postponed. So, it's supposed to be this Thursday. Yeah. So, that it's in front of the county commission. I know it's in front of um our town council and we have sent
it to their their concerns to the 88 mil road to their town to their council also for uh for review the the concerns. Okay. So, that may get to this board as well. Yeah, it probably will.
A lot of people in town are very aware of your concerns and we appreciate you guys coming forward on this. Thank you. Yeah. Anyone who didn't speak regrets not standing up. Anyone? Okay. As a courtesy to you, if you don't want to sit through the whole meeting, you
feel free to leave. That's your call. You can stay. You can go whatever you want. Okay. Thank you. So, we're going to move along on the agenda now. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. So round number four here, this is the Eversource yearly operational plan
for vegetation management of electric uh RO. Okay, so no surprise who we have here this evening. Carl, you want to introduce yourself? Uh hi. Um I'm Carl Lawson, hazards
materials inspector with the health department. And uh I included for the board's information in their packet an update on the Eversource yearly operational plan for herbicide treatment of the electric right ofways. So on uh
May 19, I put a draft letter before the board and after your discussion and direction, I amended the letter. I made a final copy and submitted it that week to Eversource and I received a response letter and um it was just as I had asked
that they respond um categorically which they did and uh in most cases they pointed out that they are in compliance with the regulation. Um one additional measure they took was they updated the maps. There are two maps that overlap
and cover the entire west to east uh distance of the right of way across town. There's a little overlap on the maps, but they divide them into two a western and eastern portion. So, I checked their indications of the private well locations I gave them and their
maps uh contain all of the roads, but they don't contain all the road names and house numbers, although they are represented. So, I just reconciled town GIS, town geographic information system maps that has street name and
street number detail reconciled that with the Eversource maps for for two reasons. One for my own knowledge to make sure everything was covered and then also that I so that I could represent it to the board. And what I did on the maps is I just marked
manually each address of concern, each address that we have on record as having a private well. And then I drew an indicator line in black in a thick black marker to the locations and and all were represented. Um I can mention one was missed on the first submission and I
brought that to Eversource's attention. They corrected it within a day. So I was pleased about that. So um that's where we are at this point is having received the comment letter back the comment letter response back from Eversource. So now uh we probably will not hear
anything until they release a new plan possibly for 2026. They usually do it every year. So how many wells in total are we talking about? So there's 10 wells that are within the uh demarcation distance from the right
of way. Within 50 feet there's a constraint. Within 100 ft there's a constraint. So there's 10 wells of record. Thank you. Anybody have any questions or surprises all this? Very detailed. Thank you.
My my pleasure. Do you have any thoughts about where we are and also for next year? Anything that we should be thinking about? So, next year we'll have to wait until they release a 2026 plan. Uh there's always a chance they may not treat in
town in in a given year and and so there would be no plan. But if they do treat in in town in a calendar year, they have to submit a plan, an annual plan. So, I'll be looking for that over the um coming winter months. in early next spring.
Anybody Mary? Carl, just one uh point. Um why um do they have to resort to u pesticides rather than like a a bush hog
type clearing? What is that a a feasibility or is that possible? So from from what I've read in their reports, they they do um a yearly operational plan as you've reviewed which details the operations they'll
perform just that year, but they do a larger plan every 5 years. They do a vegetation management plan. So I've reviewed a few of those in my career and have also had discussions with Eversource about it. And at one time they did do mowing and that wasn't selective. They just cut down
everything, right? But in their experience, that wasn't the best practice because when they cut the vegetation down to the stumps, they respouted vigorously. So one cut stump would result in a lot more sprouts
and then become increasingly dense thickets that had to be mowed more frequently. So, um, they still do use mechanical cutting, but they use it in conjunction with the herbicides, which they feel is a better program, and it it's in compliance with uh the state
Massachusetts Department of Agriculture regulation. So, there's a a few reasons why they didn't do the mowing. Yeah. Okay. Anyone anything else? Okay. I know you got something else. let
you go on. What's up? I just see if anybody in the audience has any questions that all right. I didn't see anyone. Anyone get a comment? Sure. Okay. Hello, I'm Laura Kelly. I actually live
in Northeast and I'm quite familiar with uh Eversourc's YOPs and VMPS and I was wondering if um this town u first of all I want to say thank you Carl for everything you're doing year after year I think persistence will educate them and so if we keep thinking of new things
that we can add to share with them. Um I have a thought about wind of course it's been thought of before it's not new. Um, but if we can really say that it's windy here on Cape Cod quite often, I believe
in the YOP it says to 10 m hours or less that they can actually apply. But who's overseeing these operations and when is it really 10 mph or less winds? So, are they changing their schedules to adapt,
you know, such rules? So that would be one thing because drift is absolutely prevalent in applications with herbicide spray. Correct. So that's a topic that I think um if we keep up with these things
then maybe one day they'll listen. I don't know. Another thing that uh concerns me is what is the depth to our drinkable water source in this town? Anybody 25 35 feet to our aquafer?
Not that it's variable. Sure. Of course. But on average something like that, maybe 50 feet at the most or something. So there are maps that show depth to drinkable waters. So there are maps um on APCC,
the Association of Preservation of Cape Cod, their website shows the depths for drinkable water sources. And when ever so source and the state MDAR um open up these um buffer zones of 50 feet and 100 foot for different reasons. Um when our
drinkable water source is less than 50 feet and 100 feet below us when gravity goes vertical, why are we talking horizontal when we want to protect our natural resources here on Cape Cod? So that concerns me. I believe that the
Massachusetts state uh MDAR regulations are outdated. They're over 30 years old and we're still relying on this uh today. So, if the language could get a little stronger, Carl, that would be great. I think what you're doing is
excellent. Um but we need to continue to put our foot down that uh we are um on Cape Cod and should be treated differently because our drinkable water source is below us. We are in sandy soil
etc etc. So with anyway thank you very much for your time and for listening. Hopefully it helps in the future. Okay. Is the real time. Okay. Uh and the board also reviewed um at a media early meeting earlier this
spring on a June 2nd a similar plan. This is for the uh railroad in town and it's for their uh right-of-way uh treatment with herbicides for vegetation control and um I I submitted the comment
letter. I received uh comments back from the railroad. Now the railroad operates just a little differently than ever source in this regard because they employ a consultant to uh oversee the plan and the consultant's been very responsive going back to 2016. he has
issued uh to us uh responses to our comments. So, he didn't have a lot to report this year. I included in your packet the letter that I submitted to him based on the board's direction and uh his email response and he actually
had um he's he's in Maine, the consultant's in Maine, but he actually spent some time in Yarmouth and did some investigation of well locations and reported his findings back to us. um like Eversource, he mentioned that um they are kind of they're really sticking
with the application schedule that they have for the herbicides. They're not going to change that. Unfortunately, they um they consider the board's comments on a change in schedule, but they feel that um for various reasons they need to stick with the schedule they have. So, that's the report uh back
from the railroad consultant. Yeah, I mean we have two experts on on the board and we had talked about it and and I indicated that in the letter the background it's important for next year you can ask for the science or you know their references to
you know what what journals and what studies have been done to support what they're saying. Okay, I appreciate that. I remember one of our comments was to maybe move the application to a later window. Um, and I'd be happy to share
some sources with you, Carl, but I have sources from Mississippi State, I have Purdue, I have UMass, I have quite a number of sources here that indicate a a later application timing with having a higher increased
effectiveness in controlling perennial weeds as late as maybe October. Um, so not sure if that's something that they might consider, but uh maybe when we make contact again, it would be good to include some of the publications. Um,
thank you. I feel that I could uh, you know, based on what they submit for a plan next year. Um, I could bring a comment letter to the board again for your input and then perhaps make the study an attachment to that letter and submit that and reference that with the comment letter. How
we could think ahead Yeah. to that. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, Eric, in in their reply, they did indicate um why they had contrary opinion to what we suggested. What
What's your opinion of that? I Well, in our letter, I don't think we really nailed down a specific time frame. I think they were um understanding that we were suggesting like a a winter application which
wouldn't be feasible for a lot of these deciduous plants who lose that lose their leaves. In fact, we were just trying to push outside of a certain window. I think specifically there was some wildlife concerns that you raised. Um
but the the science behind the later application window is that the plants are you know, generating sugars in their leaves and moving everything down to the roots in the late summer and early fall. Therefore, it's a it's a effective time
because the the the products that get taken into the leaves will get transllocated down to the root and offer a more complete control for killing the the the entire plant, including the root system. So
there's there's plenty of research out there in favor of that. We'll try again. We'll try again. This has gone year after year. You know that as well as I do. Yeah. Give up. So um but it's it's nice both of you are
on the board. We have some questions, some relevant ones. So we'll try again for next year. If they want to send the literature to us ahead of time, it'd be great. We can start reading. Carl, could you ask them to give a a specific um herbicides they're using so that we
could uh investigate those? It's it's in the plan. So, I could provide you with a copy of the plan for for both electric and railroad in which the uh herbicides are detailed. Okay. Sure. Anything
else, Carl? Uh, that's everything I I have on that subject. Thank you. Okay. So, number six here is up next. That's the quality tea production. Um, this has to do with a proposed relocation of the business.
Um, Paul, did you want to have some comments or or this gentleman to speak first? What would you what's best for you? Uh, sure. Uh, whichever you prefer. Just um briefly um Quality Productions is a a textile screen printing company uh that's been in business for more than 40
years and uh they were founded off Cape but for most of their uh operating years really 40 plus years they've been in several locations on Cape Cod and um until two years ago two and a half years
ago the uh owner and operator was the son of the founder. So, he's got he's been with the company the whole time. Uh, the health department uh and me personally in doing inspections. I've been familiar with the business since uh 2009. So, they have a long track record
in town of good inspections. And uh Mr. Ben Dupel, who's uh sitting next to me, he bought the business two and a half years ago. Uh so he's the new owner and the previous owner uh continues to work with him in kind of an advisory role and spending a few days per week on site and
uh but now he's proposing a relocation from a site on route 28 which is outside the aquifer protection district. He's uh proposing to relocate to a site within the aquifer protection district. And that's because that's where he finds suitable real estate. as we hear so
often from business owners, that's where he can find the size unit that he needs that will accommodate his equipment and uh some growth in the business over the years. So, okay, thanks. That was succinct. Um, so just introduce yourself just for the
record. So, my name is Benjamin Dupel. I am the owner of Quality Productions here in uh in West Yarmouth. Okay. So just make sure we're on target with the discussion with you is that our
concerns the board of health is protecting the environment and the health of the people living here. At the same time we try to encourage business here. So um that happens frequently in front of the board of what what to do. Uh there risks involved and there's
health involved. So, um, just tell us about your business and some of the decisions you're are currently making. Yeah, so as Carl said, I, uh, I purchased the business about 2 and a half years ago in April of 2023 from,
uh, from Steve Slobby. And uh you know over the past 2 and 1/2 years um the the primary focus for me was to customer retention, learning the business, understanding the business and you know becoming one with the business. It was
never about growing the business out of the gate. Now over the last two and a half years we have seen growth and one of the things that we hold near and dear at at Quality is uh turnaround times.
making sure that the the small business that is commonly overlooked by larger print shops doesn't feel left behind by these bigger print shops who tend to cater to large money-making accounts. Um, so what we've seen over the last two and a half years with the growth of the
business is we we're having to work harder and harder and harder to maintain our turnaround times and um because we're doing everything manually by hand. Um, so with this proposed growth, it would be implementing automation into
our process to um, you know, take some wear and tear off of my body on the press, but as well as increase our productivity, our capacity, and our ability to cater to more small businesses across across Cape in particular. That makes up about 95% of
our customer base is on Cape uh, small businesses. So, in terms of what's going to change, um, the reality of it is not much. Um, as of right now, when it comes to our screens, we're storing them on site.
We're not reclaiming any of them. Um, so that leads to a lot of wasted space, a lot of wasted productive space, and uh ultimately if when we make these screens, if they're not used within a 2-year time period, we have to get rid
of them because we we choose not to reclaim them, we're at now, I I don't know the logistics behind why we don't, but it was always told to me by Steve that we we can't do that. Um, so we just get rid of them. And And to me, since I
even started working there, it was always kind of, you know, it felt weird that we're wasting these screens when they could be reused. Um, so with this new process, we're we're talking about and we would need to reclaim screens. So
that would all be when we when we clean out the screens, they're dipped into a solution to loosen the emulsion that is on the screen, which essentially creates the stencil in which we push the ink through onto the shirt or sweatshirt that it's being printed on. Um, in the
new location, what we would do is dip that screen into a solution, loosen the emulsion, and we would then blow it out so we could reuse the screen rather than having to get rid of it or hold it on site. Um, as of right now, all of our
non-hazardous wastewater is held in um double layered polyethylene uh vats and um which I think Carl can attest to are fully in compliance with the uh with the retainment of that
non-hazardous waste water. Um but other than that we would be I believe in the aquifer protection district it's it looks at a household amount of retained chemicals as 20 gallons. Um I believe in the memo that Carl wrote up it it is
proposing 150 gallons. Um and um I know in the memo as well he said to look on the upper end and you know when we when Carl and I sat down and really ran through the numbers we
found ourselves between about 200 or 150 to 200 gallons of uh of necessary chemicals on site. Um and a lot of that falls into our inks. you know, we're storing, you know, a lot of inks just because, you know, so and so wants blue, so and
so wants red in every shade of the rainbow. We we have to hold that on site. Um, fortunately, we're able to get those inks shipped to us pretty quickly, so we don't have to store a massive amount. We can get it quick enough. Um
so the proposal is essentially for that 150 to 200 gallons of uh of of um non-hazardous or or hazardous or toxic material to be stored on site. So is that that includes coming from
your new process of reclaiming the screens? Um, I think Carl would be able to speak to that better in terms of what is held in the vats um of non-hazardous wastewater and how that is classified.
Sure. So, the screen has emulsion applied to it and the emulsion Ben stop me if I'm misspe at any point. Uh, he's the expert but I've done many inspections. The emulsion creates the
design on the screen. So the design then is cured. So the screen then contains two types of emulsion. Cured emulsion and unccured emulsion. The unccured emul emulsion needs to be washed away to reveal the design. The unccured emulsion
is washed away with water and then that is retained in the two poly tanks that that Ben referred to. And that's classified as non-hazardous industrial waste water. That's how it's classified by the state. I'm sorry. That's what they've been using already.
That's what they've been using already. And it's similar to probably like car wash water. It's it's not hazardous in that it's not flammable, reactive, or costic, but it's also something we need to keep out of the water supply. And that can be removed by a sewage hauler and processed at a sewage treatment
plant. And and that's been their practice for a long time. uh so that's not considered as part of the total for hazardous waste. process he'll be adding is then not only removing the unccured emulsion from the screen but removing the cured emulsion
as well so that the screen can be reused for a new design because there's a space constraint and if he files these screens with cured emulsion showing the design if he files those in kind of I'll call it a screen library for lack of a better
eventually his library runs out of space so if he has a recurring customer requesting the same design, it works well. He continues to use that screen. But if that screen kind of falls into, you know, disuse or or dormcancy, uh
then it needs to be reclaimed, meaning cleaning all the emulsion off, cleaning the cured emulsion off so that he can start with a new design. So that's the process he's looking to add is removing of the cured emulsion because the only alternative is then to cut away that
material, cut away that textile screen and put in a new textile screen which is a waste of product. So he's seeking to preserve the textile screen by cleaning it and reusing it more. And if I could just add to that, so the the process he's referring to stretching, you can
you can restretch the mesh onto the screen, but for what it's worth, it's just not worth it to us to go that route. So, we're just buying new screens. And, you know, on average, we're we're spending about
$700 to $1,200 a month just in screens. And with with what we've seen in the growth of the business just over the course of 2 and 1/2 years, it's gets expensive quick and um the ability to reclaim those screens, it increases uh
space that we can use as as well as our ability to continue to grow the business. So that new process does generate some hazardous wastewater. Yes. Yes. And I have some familiarity with it because we have two other screen
printing operations in town within the aquifer protection district that reclaim their screens totally. So they remove their unccured emulsion initially so they can print a design and then later they remove their cured emulsion so they can reuse the screen. And and these are
both longestablished businesses that have um been located in town more than 30 years. So there's something that wouldn't have been uh this board's review. may have predated the act of protection bylaw. They might have been there. In fact, one I'm pretty sure has
been there more than 35 years. And so how then is that water treated, taken care of, kept from going into the so ground water? When it when it comes to the the reclaiming of the screens, there's there
is no difference between cured versus unccured emulsion. It is still it is still emulsion. Uh I think what Carl is alluding to is the what would be called the dip tank that contains the um what would it be? The um I have it I have it
here. It's the um the emulsion stripper which that would that is accounted for in that 150 gallon request. Um that would be that would need to be disposed of by a company like Clean Harbors um because it does fall into that category.
But what would be going into the tanks, whether it be cured or unccured emulsion, it is still the same emulsion. There's no chemical difference between the two. Um, one has just been exposed to light. One has had a black stencil put in place to prevent the light from
going through. So, there's they're not any different. And on top of that, when it comes to um what this what is on the screen when it's going in to the dip tank, all the ink has already been removed. So there's no there's no ink
going into the um into the vats. It's specifically and only that cured and unccured emotion. So I noticed that you don't have a hazardous waste hauler yet, or has that changed since we got our report? We do not have a hazardous waste hauler
specifically yet. Um, I have held off pending the decision that occurs. Um, but based on the track record of Clean Harbors, I do not see it as as an issue going forward. How often would um
waste hauler uh come to your business? So, are you referring to hazardous waste or the non-hazardous waste water? No, the hazardous waste. So, that would probably end up being once a quarter roughly. Um, a lot of a lot of it depends on how many screens
we're actually reclaiming. We're fortunate enough to have enough recurring customers where it's not like every job we're cleaning out a screen. Um, it's more just having the option to at this point. Yeah. Um, but I would suspect probably once a
quarter. And these will all be double wall contained and then have over spill containers and you'll have your um hass plans and hass your spill plans and all that together.
Correct. We we've we've formulated a spill plan already. And as for the dip tank, the tank will be held within a secondary um polyethylene or doublewalled container as well. Yep. I mean what I read there are ecofriendly
emotion removers. Correct. Correct. Um and I mean these are enzyme based what I understand. Um they're just they're strippers but they are um were eco-friendly. So is that
something you're going to be using or not using? No. So I' I've looked into that completely and when I when I printed out all my safety data sheets that is specifically the direction that I'm going. Um fortunately the industry is also going that direction. So I mean
even from the time that I started working at quality things have been taken off the shelves. It's it's no longer sold. The industry is moving toward greener options. Um, I believe the emulsion stripper is soybean based
or something along those lines. But yes, all all of the chemicals that we plan to use are greener. Um, I I don't know how how um totally green they're going to be. Um, but I do have those safety data
sheets printed out and that is what we are planning on using. It'd be nice to see that. Oh, I mean there are number right now I can't we can't sit here and read it. Y um there from what I've read there are several companies that have products and they're well studied comparing it to the more
toxic uh removers. I I believe the company is S Green I think is the specific company that is a few down. Um one is a Franmer dehaze and stripper.
There's one CCI easy way systems. These are things I'm not familiar with. Uh easy way 500 emotion remover was mentioned in some of the studies and there's a SATI set remover uh product as well. Mhm. So
we imp not those specific products but we do implement uh products from that those companies all of them whether it be Franmar uh SATI SATI right um okay so those companies are no we're not
strangers to those companies now you mentioned um automated machinery so far and I'm not sure we heard from you what is automated yet so automation would be in automatic press. Um, that's basically you put the
screens on, you program it, and you're only responsible for putting the shirts on and pulling them off. Um, it eliminates, you know, having to pull the squeegee on every single shirt. It makes it a lot easier, a lot faster, and it it gives the uh gives me the
option when it comes to hiring employees. there's a lot less trade craft involved than there would be doing it by hand. So, Carl, you mentioned that there were two other longstanding businesses that
do a similar uh production in in town. Yes. Um so would um this um quality productions be in the same compliance as they would be if they followed these
recommendations? In other words, would they be uh uh are they um required to follow the same guidelines as these other two businesses in town? Yes, they're all required to follow the same guidelines. The uh the only
difference would be the the pres the two existing businesses don't have an upper limit for hazardous material storage because they've been in place that long. Okay. You know, two on midtech midte drive. Yes. Uh but they do have to comply with
all health department regulations with annual licensing and inspections. Um some of they're actually on a larger scale uh than what Ben is presently planning to do. The process is a little bit different in that for example one company does not
haul away waste water because they evaporate it. They have a very large apparatus within secondary containment that heats and evaporates their waste water. So then they just have some sludge to dispose of as hazardous waste, but not the entire volume of waste water. So a few differences, but
essentially the same. And the compliance requirements are the same. Yes. So I I'd recommend that a few more questions. U you made reference to some kind of booth. Yeah. A wash out booth. That would explain what that is for.
Yeah. So, a wash out booth. It's basically a giant wash out tub with it's walled in except in the front and um that's connected to a pump system underneath which when when we blow out the screens. That's where the waste
water goes into. It goes into a pump and it pumps into the vats. Um it's it's like it's like a glorified sink that costs a little too much money, but um yeah, it's it's pretty simple. You say blowout, are you using like high
pressure air? What what do you use? Just a uh basically a power washer essentially. Right now we're using a a high-pressure hose um that just comes out. It's like a it's kind of like a big shower head with a more pressure to remove what at that point in the
process. Uncured emulsion, right? So, what precautions are you taking for the people working there exposed to whatever is blown off the screens? Uh, so I'm the only person who who works there formally. Um, I'm responsible for
making all of the screens. Um, no one else does that. And there is typically no kickback when it comes to washing out the screens because where we're blowing the screens out is it is porous. There's parts or uh
there's pores in the screen. So when you hit it with the water, it just goes right through. Okay. I just encourage you. I mean, think about some goggles. I mean, it gets in your eye. It's pretty dangerous. If you're inhaling any of it, it's pretty dangerous. Just some recommendations for yourself or
hopefully get larger and start hiring people. Yeah. Hopefully. Something to think about. Y seriously. Um trying to think of anything else here. Um there's mentioned here about cleaning the new screens, right? Mentioned is in the bathroom. I had
brought this up at our meeting. Um how large are the screens, the frames of them? Uh it's going to be 23 by 31 in. Right. I was trying to image have that image of how do you clean that in a public sink size-wise? So it's like a an industrial size deep
sink. Oh, okay. Okay, just lean it in and fine. That wasn't clear on this. Okay, and we had a a map here a little bit. Appreciate that. That gave us the location. I I swung by there earlier
today. just looks like a nice uh place to work actually those units. Um and there's some drawings of the actual unit that you're going to be I guess renting
and u do you have in front of you what I'm talking about? Il do you have it? Yes. Okay. In the upper left hand corner there's a bathroom apparently. Yes.
And then there's some wall for something narrow wall. I don't know electrical or whatever. I'm not sure what that is. So this this was rudimentary that I I built out myself. Uh that was just trying to get a wall to designate that there are
two bathrooms there and I used that wall as just a separator to separate the two. Okay. This the next question. There was another seven and 7 7 foot 5 in area that didn't have a label to it. So, you're saying that's a bathroom? Yes, those are both bathrooms. The others are really very well done. It's very clear what they are.
Yep. Um, and what about the floor drains? I don't see anything on here. There are none. There are none. None at all. Bathrooms is no drain. No. Carl, is that an issue we need to address or not? Uh, not as far as I'm
aware because um I would consult with the plumbing inspector if I had a question, but it's my understanding the floor drain is only required if you could drive a vehicle inside and then and this is not that type of uh unit. I believe I don't think there's a garage
door. Um, but it was constructed probably before the plumbing code changed, which would have been in the the plumbing code changed around 2007 or eight. Yeah. But the plumbing inspector will be part of this review for occupancy as
well. So if there's any deficiency, he will bring it up at that time. Eric, Mary, I just want to circle back briefly. You So you're currently not doing the emulsion stripping on the the screens,
correct? Which requires you to store the screens? Yes. So every screen we use it is unless it has a specific date on it, it is getting filed into into a rack of screens which is now approaching 700 screens.
But those screens are not considered to contain hazardous waste at that point. Is that correct? I would have to defer to Carl on that. I mean there we we clean out the ink and really all that's left is the emulsion.
Okay. So there's nothing being exposed per se, but so the ink would be considered hazardous. The ink is So the ink remains in uh one of two places. And then and Ben, correct me if I'm wrong. The ink most of it
transfers to the finished garment. So you'll have a t-shirt or a sweatshirt as a finished product with a transferred design uh trans um a fixed to it. And then some ink is wiped away with a rag. But the emulsion itself that's the
residual emulsion that's left on the screen cures, right? And and is that emulsion considered hazardous? So that's permanently attached to the screen. Okay. Um kind of like the same way the design
is permanently attached to the garment to the t-shirt for example. that emulsion, that cured emulsion is permanently attached to the screen and you can't remove it. So, presently Ben stores those in his screen library. So, the only way that can be removed is if
he dips it in the tank of emulsion remover. And that's a process he's not doing now. But, and this might answer your question, you're correct. Once that emulsion is removed with the new dip process, if he's allowed to do that, then he'll have a mixture of emulsion stripper and free floating emulsion. And
that combination that will be hazardous waste and disposed of only by a hazardous waste hauler. Okay. Yes. Carl, what alarm systems are in place at the unit? I'm sorry. Alarm systems. Yeah. What what is there? I mean since
fire CO I mean just I can't speak to the fire and CO detectors. I I imagine they're there. The fire department will do an occupancy inspection as well. So, I can't speak to their requirements. As far as uh high level alarms, there his above ground
tanks don't have high level alarms because you can see the level, right? They're above ground and they're translucent so you can watch the level rise and um call for removal when they get close to full. Right. That was well written here. Anybody else? Anything? Larry,
I I recommend that uh we consider uh this uh quality productions proposal uh and accept it as written. A second to the motion. To amend it um that we include the requirements as well as the license
condition recommendations from Carl. If I may, I'd like to ask one question of uh of Ben. Um then on the first condition under consideration the 150 galon I amended it. Uh I just wanted to verify that that is
um logistically possible for you. You mentioned 150 to 200 but I I want to make you aware the um the wash water is not part of this total. The the wash is considered separately. So just while we're discussing it, I wanted to make sure the 150 worked for you. Uh
yeah, I think I think based upon, you know, when we look at the upper ends, we're still below that 150. So I think Okay. I just wanted to verify that that was an accurate number. I need to correct it first. Yeah. Well, let's um someone should just restate it then with the I mean the
amendment is is is is good. So one of you maybe just state we could start over. It' be a lot easier. You need to be able to get this clearly to make a motion. Okay. Again, let's start over. What was your amendment to include the requirements
uh the the health department requirements as well as the license condition recommendations made by Carl. Okay. On page seven. Okay. Let's say that's the motion. Is there a second to the motion? I second it. Any further discussion on that,
Sarah? That seems okay. You got it. Okay. Fine. So, let's vote on it. All in favor of the motion, please raise your hand, say I. I. Congratulations. Good luck with the business. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Absolutely.
Good job, Carl. Thank you. Thank you, Carl. Thank you. Okay, we're up to number seven here, the side reduction presentation. So, let's begin. Heavy chairs. I know. Good evening.
Hello. You're close enough here. Hi, I'm Laura Kelly. Can you hear me? Okay. Yeah. Okay. Just want to make sure. Um I have with me tonight um the president of Wildc Care. This is Stephanie Ellis. So
if you wish to ask any direct uh questions about any excuse my throat um wildlife um native here on Cape Cod, such as birds or turtles or anything. Stephanie's in the no, so I just wanted
to bring her along in case you had any direct questions. Um, I am here tonight to ask the board um for a support letter written by the board of health to the
Yarmouth Select Board um about a pesticide reduction home rule petition. This is not an herbicide specifically. Herbicide is a type of pesticide, but
there are more pesticides included such as insecticides and rodenticides and fungicides. So basically anything ending in CIDES is a pesticide. And so this is
specifically a pesticide reduction home roll petition. So this was crafted by Orleans select board members in 2023. Um their citizens were asking to be able
to do more to protect their uh waters um freshwater salt waters. um they see harm occurring and so the select board got together with thoughtful intention and created a home rule petition to reduce
pesticide use. This is not a ban. This is not a ban of sale. This is not um the word ban is illegal. We're not here talking about a ban. We're here talking about a reduction for outdoor pesticides
only. You can still use pesticides on yourself, your family and loved ones, your children, your pets, and inside your home. No problem. This is about the fact that pesticides when applied
outside move. If it's an herbicide to kill a weed, let's say, if the weed doesn't actually absorb 100% of that herbicide, it's going to
continue on doing harm. Maybe it goes in the air. Maybe the homeowner sprayed it when it was 20 miles an hour and it drifted to the neighbor who has a beehive. There's so many may. There's so many whatifs. But what we're finding is
that this needs to stop. Um, we're finding there's so much harm that we don't realize we're doing. So, it's called unintended consequences. We don't intend to do such things, but
it is occurring. Such as um with mice. If you want to kill mice and they you do it with a poison, it is a slow process. It just takes the nutrition out of their body and takes days and they're
wandering and they're more apt to get eaten by an owl or a hawk because they're so slow. Um, and then the birds are dying. So, there's a lot going on that I didn't realize until talking to
Stephanie and she's quite a able to test these animals that come into Wildcare which is in Orleans, East East. East Ham and um so she'll talk on that behalf and of course there's
insecticides with mosquito spraying. You know, it's it great intention to prevent our West Nile. Of course, nobody wants this, but you know, blank spraying of your property is also unfortunately
harming beneficial insects as well. So, where's the tipping point? Where can this be allowed? And what are we doing? Are we waiting for you bigger problems down the line or can we curtail our
pesticide use? At this point, you know, the first thing we can do is volunteer to not use herbicides, fungicides, insecticides um outside our actual homes because it is traveling from neighbor to
neighbor and I don't use any but yet I feel as though maybe we are uh you know of course getting exposed to things over time. So this is a way to get this uh
ask at the state house. So home rule petition uh gets to the state house. So the town of Orleans, Eastam, Wellfleet, and Truro have all passed this pesticide
reduction home roll petition uh very favorably by their town citizen votes. So ultimately, I'm hoping this language gets onto Yarm, excuse me, Yarmouth, uh, town warrant for your citizens to have
the opportunity to vote on the same language. And if collectively um this gets to our governor, then she can decide or they there's more uh steps at the state house. Obviously, it's now
in the uh energy and environmental um association and they can change the language. They can craft it at any stage through the house, through the senate um and even at the governor level. So, this is we the people, I don't want to say we
the people, but we the the town of Orleans saying, you know what, we can ask for more. And again, East Ham, Welfle, Truro have also joined. Um, Brewster is um understanding and moving forward the language as well as MASHP.
So, Garmouth, it'd be a great time to, you know, bring this to your town and share it with your citizens and see what you folks think. Um, I think it's an opportunity. The work is done. the language has been crafted and
if we keep it the same then it really shows better strength at the state house that they should do something you know to take this in consideration. It puts the topic on their table. Um and there are things just to let you know it isn't
a point blank every pesticide um and every situation. It's not a zero. There is a waiver that is attached to the four pages of the pesticide reduction home rule petition itself. In
this waiver, it's just states that anybody, whether you're a golf course or you're Mrs. Smith on, you know, uh, Ocean Street. This at this point in this home rule petition. Again, the governor
can tell it differently, but um, this is at the town manager's office. And so, anybody can come in and pick one up. It's very simple. Where's location? how often, how much, what's the topic, you
know, or what what um type of herbicide or pesticide you're going to use. And this gets to the select board and the town manager and they decide. That's it. So, they can say, "Well, yes, Mrs. Smith, you obviously need this and
three applications is fine." Or golf course, by all means, you are completely exempt from all herbicidal applications in 2025, you know. So it'll be up to the towns to see the amounts that they're using, how often, you know, and really
start understanding our loading. We don't understand our lo. We don't know how much we're using, but it continues to happen. And I actually I'm the 11th generation born and raised here on in
Dennis. And it'd be neat to think that there'd be another 11 generations that can drink the water here. and said pesticides have only been around for a couple of decades, three, four, you know. So, it's the beginning to we don't
know what we're doing, but wouldn't you think doing less is better? So, this is an opportunity. Um I my ask is to just let the citizens decide and you're the board of health. Champion it. You know, this is the right thing to do. other
towns are doing it and it'd be great to have neighboring towns um join each other. One more thing to to share with you on this um pesticide reduction home rule petition is also a substance
allowed list. This list is what is allowed and this is from straight from MDAR. We took the information from MDAR's website. So, at some point they're going to have to sign off on this in order for it to get up to the governor. So, it'll be neat to see if
they recognize their own language and that they do move this forward. So, this is also attached with the um pesticide reduction home rule petition. And one last docket to share with you is House docket number 1574.
This is the bill at the state house currently from Orleans. just to share with you it it it's real. It's for real. Well, this will help protect our natural resources and our native animals and um
people ultimately that roam here whether they live here and visit here. So, um thank you for listening. I just want to share that we all can volunteer. Um, I think the way that we have uh
visualized our land uh to be groomed and needs to be modernized and so pollinators can be happier here and not just a monoulture. Um, and so this is the direction I'm
hoping this town will will um go in with this ask. And do you have anything you want to add? Sorry. Um questions just that um at Wildcare so we are a wildlife veterinary hospital in East Ham
and what we see primarily is rodenocide exposure. So these um are the rat and mouse poisons that are used the second generation can only be applied with um pest control companies but first generation can still be purchased at
local hardware stores. And so we don't test um to determine if there are poisons because that is cost prohibitive and um timely. Um but what we do is we take blood samples and we look at symptoms and then we have these presumptive positives based on that. We
treat the symptoms. So I can say that last year we received I think it was around 65 raptors, hawks and owls and nearly every single one of them had some degree of rodenocide exposure. And again, we don't know which ones or how much. Um, but the second generation are
even more harmful than the first. They they have a powerful impact and so rodents can consume uh less of them and die quickly and then the hawks and owls that eat these rodents get poisoned. So, it is it is a real thing and I feel like
many people think, oh my gosh, that's just a city problem. You know, big cities where they're poisoning everywhere and it's not. It's a nature Cape Cod is a nature loving community and we're seeing this every day. Um, and then the other side is, you know, who who cares about some birds dying, but the irony is that these raptors, they do
the best job at um, taking care of the rodents. Um, and all of this poison ultimately doesn't work because it's it's an attractant. It's attracting more and it's not solving the problem. So that's a whole other discussion, but um integrated pest management is really the
way to deter or control rodents long term. You thank you. Um I I didn't see anything about waiver in all of these materials, but you mentioned it. Oh yes,
let's um be clear about that then. Thank you. Very good question. in the actual home rule that petition itself in the petition itself on page two. Okay,
if you look up and it says definitions and there's all these seven CFR2051. These are all Massachusetts state definitions. Um, we've got inert ingredients,
non-synthetics, you know, definitions of pesticides, and then exemptions is on the next page. Number six, indoor pest sprays are allowed, insect repellents are allowed as long as it's
on the body. Um, and then it gets down to um public health. Let's see. Let's see. I have to figure out where the actual I'm sorry it's on here. There's It
should say a waiver's authority. Um Eric just pointed out under six C. Oh, there it is. Talk about temporary waiver on a casebyase basis. That's it. Bingo. that that's the extent
of your and so that this is the waiver itself and it's about case by case whether it's a golf course or a neighbor anybody it's open to anybody whether you're a business or you're just uh you know a
homeowner anybody um can come and say hey I would like to use this on my land at least this is how it's written in in you know the way that the select board have crafted it And I believe it'll be master manipulated up at the state house
and and they're the lawmakers. We're not lawmakers. They are. So they will say the board of health is going to be the ones where this is at, you know, or something. And so we'll be flexible with that at that time. Um, but at the
moment, yes, there's a waiver for everybody. There's a way in and out of everything, right? And so that's what the intent was. So what happens in New Orleans? A couple things in mind. Um the landscaping
companies, okay, they have 78 customers. Um how do they present that? What are they looking for? What do they need? Are they getting variances on each property, on their whole business? How does that work? Well, hopefully, again,
this is up to our dear governor and state to tell us how to handle these things. Um, uh, uh, hopefully businesses will shift for the betterment of our future there. I hope that they say there are
alternatives and we're going to figure out how to make this work and it's going to be better in the long run for every living being on Cape Cod. You know, there are businesses already set up doing it. You know, there's uh well, I can give names.
There's Pure Solutions out of Chadam doing uh like um a spray for uh ticks and another recipe for mosquitoes. Um another recipe for like driveways for
you know weed control and larger areas, not specific gardens, but you know walkways and things like that that's non-toxic. they use um a type of essential oils combined together and so they have the backpack sprayer and they
come to your property you know so there's businesses already moving forward down the wave let's say I would say to um businesses we're the purpose is not to you know stop businesses by any means it's to
modernize it's to move forward it's to think about what we're doing we're harming ing ourselves. Like how long is it going to take before it's a real problem? And then then that's going to be a lot more costly. We don't even know what it would be if PFOAs and PFAS's are
forever chemicals showing up in our drinkable water sources. Well, are we testing for glyphosate maziparium? No. But if we did, I'd wonder if they would be there, you know, because there's very similar in aspect of the forever chemicals. Some of these live 30
years. We don't and they go downstream. It was the Cape Cod Commission that said that um the travel is a foot a day in our sandy soil um from applications on properties. And
so if you know our arifer is 30 ft down that's about a month you so we just have to kind of realize we can't see it but how is it not happening if we're continuing to douse our land we're in charge of our land. Let's oversee it with a different light you know and
think of modern instead of the 30 years ago it's not working. We're doing so much more. We have more loading than we even know what's going on. Um, and to think about the homeowner versus the business. The business might have
Massachusetts state applicators licenses. They've got the language. They read the the label is the law on the bag. That's the law. They're more aware of it. They've been to school. They've done it for 30 years. You know, that kind of thing. It's thinking about the
homeowners that can go to the eggways and the garden centers and grab what this and grab that and oh this looks good too and then there there's it's a freeforall out there. They can mix anything. They can do it at any rate at any time. You know it was 2014 that it
was our state senator um Dan Wolf who gave an opportunity for the towns to step in and um have a say on this topic. before the state took this responsibility
um away from the towns. And so that's why we're here today asking the state permission, could we actually regulate these things again? It was 2014, six towns got involved. But what what came out of that was that um we we are not to
use any um pesticide herbicide applications from October 15th to April 15th. Well, who's going to use it at Christmas? You know, it was really interesting to see that after all that
work, that was the outcome. So that we're just asking for another round of we've been talking about this. It's been another decade. Let's talk about it again. Let's have another this is a home roll petition. It's just got more grit to it. You know, it's going to get seen
and heard at the state house and they're going to have to decide. If they say nothing, then it's nothing. But it's a a chance for the towns to say, you know what, we should be looking at this. We should really be talking about this is okay to talk about. Um, so that was the
idea um of the waiver and then of the substances that are allowed. There is a list. It's like four pages long. It's pretty long. Um, so if there's that point, it could be on your town website for people to look up to understand if
we get it. Now, these home rule petitions live for two years at the state house. So if it actually passes your town meeting in the fall and the spring, whatever. Um it then um gets through the attorney general which has
already said okay to the language for four other towns. So that's going to go through pretty easily and it needs to you know go through process and so that when it hits the state house it's got a time limit. It starts a clock believe it or not for two years and so it could run
out. Um um and so we're asking the towns then to re uh submit and Orleans has and Orleans did. So that would be the next ask if it takes too long. It just dies in
committee. It sits on somebody's desk like that and dies in committee. Doesn't go anywhere for two years. So that happened and we might expect it to happen again um until you know a couple more towns get involved and a couple more towns get involved and then that might knock on
the governor's door that gez you know there's six towns on the cape saying the same thing we should do something about you know what I mean so it's a little bit of a process so it might take five years or 10 years but maybe we'll get around to hey this is a problem we should do something about it and this is
great let's do it. So, thank you again for listening. Long stories. Appreciate your effort. Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot to understand, but but it's a good thing. All right. I agree with everything she says. I you
know, if we're into wildlife, we see it every day. I know. Um I used to have a ton of hummingbirds. Yeah. Rarely see hummingbirds anymore. So, you know that it's got to be the insecticides. I think that wiped out a lot of them because that's the main
source of uh or the main diet. So we need more owls, right? They don't complain so we don't see it. We need more birds to help that instead of harming them to make that. Yeah. Mass Ottabon has an ongoing project
about Rosendocides and the raptors. Yes, we we are a big part of that. Good. It's so important and they really um you know they have the audience and the bandwidth so they they're really going far with that which is encouraging.
I have a question. Some of the towns that have said no, what are their reasonings? Uh Harwitch um um bully um there was one person that kind of
took over the whole room. fear factors. Um, if we don't, you know, it was like an eye opening experience. You were there that night, recall? Um, uh, it kind of just snowballed and rolled and that was it.
It was like over. Um, so it got off track. you know, we were on one way and all of a sudden it got derailed and he brought up we're gonna amend it and they voted to amend it and then they amended it and it all happened in town meeting like
so it was um not a specific you know particular whatever number three is or something it meant you know it was uh for his personal I think um business and his way
of doing things which, you know, I just try to look at the big picture. We're not out to take business away from it, but that's not the point. We're we're hoping people get to, you know, get clever with this and still be able to maintain what they need to maintain and
it could be okay. Um, so I don't know the specific answer to that question. These products be coming off the shelves in our local No, no, no. We can't ban the sale or use. That would be a governor moment. We're not
asking for that at all. We're asking for there to be a reduction. It's just like this step, not this step. It's like the first one, you know. So, where she goes or I want to say they because it's the whole state house go with it.
You know, we all get to feel it together. Just a reduction. How do we um monitor this work? Good questions. Yes. So again, that will be given back to us. Um we we don't
know. Uh maybe it's the board of health and they are to um you know uh somebody a neighbor says, "Hey, my neighbor is doing something. I can smell it." Or my bees died. Can we you know the state already has that set up. Beehives are
dying throughout the Cape. And if you contact MDAR, they will send out somebody that can actually test your hives. So I feel like a lot of this is already set up at the state level that we aren't the lawmakers and we are not
the ones that understand the policies necessarily. We're just asking for hey we need some help on this topic and it's up to them to tell us if at all but what you know and who gets to delegate. Is it this is this is a health issue. This is
absolutely health matter. the board of health should I would think have something to do with it, but maybe it's the select board. Like I don't know how it gets delegated. And I understand it's a I'm just playing the devil's advocate here. It's it's a it's a very concern. Everybody on the
Cape has this concern. It's just how and where and when are we going to monitor this? It's I have a limited staff and I they see your neighbor spraying something. I can't stop and run over there and I
don't have the ability to test to do all this stuff and I I would want everybody to be following the the reduction policies. I'm just Yeah. And I think it's growing pains for
both sides too. Like am I going to call out my neighbor? I mean geez brat, you know. And I think we need to see that uh it's on for the betterment on the whole. This is to think about the next 11
generations. If we keep up with the loading that we're doing now, we're what do we expect, you know? Um so this is a way to just start the topic of conversation. If it takes 5 years, if it takes 10 years, I don't even know what it takes. But we'll cross that bridge
when we get there. Great. Um, real question though, Barry, because I don't know how to implement that little. Uh, it's not that it's little, it's a responsibility question. Well, it's a public education, too. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. We have to get
to the citizens and get them to to for all of us to see the importance enough to just change a habit, you know. in the moment in the um home roll petition written itself, it's like $50 the first offense, $100 the second offense, $200 a
third offense, that kind of a thing. It isn't huge, but again, the state will decide the wording when whenever they do. I think enforcing would be very difficult. Just monitoring would be difficult, let
alone enforcing. But we're experienced that now. Uh you drive around, you know, who has a green lawn now, even though there's a ban on irrigation systems. Y um it's difficult. I I don't know what
percentage of people don't know about the ban or limitation now or they don't really care. It's tough. We're in a drought. It's major. This is like meaningful. Would you maybe put a flyer in their door just educating them about the drought situation or
something? It's education. Do you come around Mary? That's what it takes. That's our drinking water. That's what we're going to have when we turn the tap on. Bingo. So again, just to be clear, my ask today is for the health board to write a
support letter to the select board saying hopefully that you voted and wish this home rule petition to move forward. And then I give a presentation to the select board with Stephanie and we see if they
will allow this on your town warrant to let the citizens decide. you know, far be it for four or six or 10 people in this room and the next room. It should be the citizens just let it go to vote and and we can educate in between, you
know, um so there's understanding more about it and all the details and hopefully um you know, it's up to them either way. That's the way I see it. You have any idea the deadline to get something on the town meeting the warrant? I think it's
Sep. September coming up to get something on it. For the fall. Yeah. And there's a spring meeting, right? For the fall though. I'm just asking the It's very soon. It's like next month. Yep. You mean the meeting or the deadline to
get something on? The deadline. Yeah. There's still time because we still have the uh plastic reduction. Yeah. Yep. Well, any thoughts? Anybody else in the audience? Um,
is there anyone here in the audience that that wanted to comment on it? Yes, I believe we do. Great. Hi, Irene Payne, 24 Goose Neck Road, head of Mil Pond. Again, I just can't
tell you the huge difference in the bugs on our 1 and a3 acres. We used to have so many fireflies, so many bees coming to our lawn, which is a clover lawn. No bees.
Maybe I've seen five fireflies this year. And the bats are down. They used to swim uh fly over our lawn area, which is really what a lot of people in our subdivision would call a field. It It's all natural Cape Cod grass, and
we just mow it, and we don't care because I'm a Cape Coder, 14 generations. Um actually, my 14th generation back great-grandfather actually helped found this town. His name was Thomas Payne. And I just can't believe this loss of
bugs. And you know, if you know anything about plants, you know you need bugs. If you know about birds, you know you need bugs. You got to have bugs. And so I'm I'm all for checking this out and trying to educate people. And you know what? I
know a lot of teachers and they have a really good time teaching the kids about this. They love teaching the kids how to grow plants, how to have gardens, and all about nature and all about, you know, what animals need and the food chain and all that. And so, you know, the kids
really know and can absorb the information. So, it's it's doable, I think. Thank you. Why don't we put this on? We have a meeting. It'll be on the 18th of this month. So, why don't we put that on the agenda and maybe we can move forward with this. Hopefully, we all agree on
what to do on this. So, one uh sort of procedural question. If it makes it on the town warrant, that would just be at town meeting the vote would take place. In other words, there's no uh public hearing or anything prior. Is that correct? That's correct.
Okay. Just looking for your approval, right? Okay. Oh, thank you every appreciate it. Well, I appreciate your assistance in all of this. Um you guys are the board of health and you do care and this is a
great ask and a wonderful opportunity already set up. The work is done. Um, so we'll see you on the 18th in hopes to move this forward to the select board. And I am open to doing hearings or any educational forum that you know maybe is
suggested. I can come here if you put people together. I'm happy to help. This board has a good track record. So Okay, that's great. Thank you so much. Thank you. in your packet. So, I did the golf course did submit their
uh usage. I got the usage from the school district and the town also. So, that's all in your packets also. I appreciate that. You want to come up? Oh, no. that not Scott behind you.
This so once again, so this isn't really on the agenda. The other part of the It's very relevant. So is it just the way this was written? Because I certainly would like to hear what you have to say. What are we What are we talking about?
Let's go ahead and introduce yourselves, guys. Got a third mic somewhere. No, but I'm just saying for the record, I mean, I don't see that it's on the Well, they're part of the that they wanted to be here for the reduction presentation. They're the golf course,
right? Okay. So, I didn't say anything specific about the town. I'm not trying to argue. I'm really glad you're here. Yeah. But that's all um it just wasn't clear on the agenda to me. Okay. So, I'm glad you came in. So, everyone just introduce yourselves. How you doing? I'm Scott Gilmer, the
director of golf for Armen. I'm I'm Josh Lion, head golf and ground superintendent for the town of Armouth Golf. I'm Mark Memo, golf course superintendent. Welcome. So, yeah, we had uh Barry and I had conversations when this coming up and we'd like to just kind of say what we do
and and how we do it and why we do it. Um so, just um a little background for the three of us. Um, we have quite the experience in this industry of golf course landscaping. I myself bring 15
years experience. Josh has over 20 and Mark has over 15 as well. Um, we are all commercially certified within the state to purchase and spray pesticides. We all know that it's no shock that we are probably one of the if not the biggest
user in the town and we do it safely, environmentally friendly to get the best out of the golf course and in the envir in the environment. So we agree with everything. We want to be an environmentally friendly uh component, but we also have a a
business to run as well. So just wanted to share with you the background of um what we do and how we do it. So, we're in charge of two golf courses, Bay Hills, which is 27 holes, and Bass River, which is 18 holes. Both
completely different environmental um operations, if you will. You know, we have a 18 holes at Bberry, which has a whole 9-hole course that was built on the old uh landfill um that has the cap and and stuff like that. And then the 18
holes is is more of a parkland in the woods type of golf course. And then we have Bass River which is obviously uh with his name right on the river. So we have that to worry about as well. But um everything we do is is is the understanding that we are a component of
the environment and want to be friendly with the environment and to do what's best. So just do a little background on what is going on. You know we um do roughly you know $6 million in revenue for for the golf course. We did n over
92,000 rounds last year. So very we're a very busy operation. And I think one of the key components that kind of people don't really realize is we've brought in over a million dollars in indirect revenue. That's the players that play our golfers are going to eat at the
restaurants. They're going to stay at the hotels, getting the Airbnbs, all that um indirect tax revenue to the town. So we are a major economic uh contributor to the town and we we enjoy that part of it and want to make sure that we continue to do our part. So um
just want to say how you know like how we do things. Um we all have to follow the law within the state. So we are all certified by the state of Massachusetts who does routine check-ins and we have to send our records to the state as well
um every single year. But um so just a little background is you know there's seven key factors in the state law um licensing certifications which I went over were all certified uh the three of us we also have what three more on staff
as well and we're the only ones that do the applications. Um so another key component is the product registration. There's many levels to the product registration. It goes from the EPA the in the United States before it even ends
up in the Massachusetts hands. And then Massachusetts has its own EPA that handles what it's going to register. So there may be stuff registered in New York that's not registered in Massachusetts. It all depends on what the state want wants to do. The US United States has its own regulations
and the states can further deem it more regulatory if they want to. So, Massachusetts is actually a very um not I would say not user friendly when it comes to pesticides. They're very strict on environmental groundwater and things like that. So, um as we go through here,
you'll see that we are in zone two, which is one of the big um groundwater factors that we need to follow to make sure that we're not doing anything to harm the groundwater. So, um restricted use pesticides. Um guys, jump
in anytime if you need to. And then specific rate uh restrictions, you know, obviously we have to follow all these guidelines um that are the law in order to actually spray pesticides on our sites. So um the restrictions are more for school related
and things like that. You know, obviously you can't spray when kids are in school and stuff like that, but since we're not schoolbased, it doesn't affect us too much. But um we do have to make sure the weather is right. um keep people off the course for a little while. We have to do all the things that
are required. We have to post that we sprayed before the spray goes out. You know, we need to make sure that everybody's aware that we are applying that day. So, um all that is posted as required by state law. Um, if you could
go on to the next. Um, as in mentioned before, the enforcement record keeping, you know, the state doesn't usually let you know when they're coming on purpose to make sure you follow within their rules and regulations. So, you may get a
uh inspector to show up um tomorrow on us and we need to just make sure we've already been, you know, ready to go on our end that everything matches what we need to do. um they usually have their records on hand um when they show up to our site and then what we have in the building
you know needs to match as what we as well as what we sprayed. Um, what is key here is the state is in charge of of everything even though there may be some home rule bans and stuff that may go in the fact the state does still have the final authority on
what happens. You know, we're all certified by the state of Massachusetts to spray this stuff. So, we need to follow exactly what they say because that's how our licenses fall. So as to Barry's question earlier where how how this would become policed and things like that, how would we fall into that
if a home rule would go into effect? You know, we have to go by the state. Does Yarmouth have its own licensing program at that point? So there's a lot of unknown as to just putting some kind of reduction into place.
Um so to hit home a little bit of our staff, we have officially three three other members that all have our license. Um four of us have a commercial license that can purchase and apply. Two members
just can apply. So we all had to go through education and um state testing in order to do that. the four of us commercial license, we had had to get a regular sprayer license before we could get a commercial license. So,
what our kind of goal is that we're wellversed in everything we need to do to make sure we're protecting the environment and and the groundwater as well. So, that's kind of why I wanted to come here um after talking to Barry to show everything we do to make sure that we're not skipping a beat and doing
everything appropriately. So, just a little bit about golf courses and I I wanted to make sure both superintendent's here to tell their side of the story. So, um Josh is mainly over hills and I'll let him jump in here
whenever he feels he needs to. Um but IPM programs are in use at all times. Um, we do the best management practices as described by the golf course superintendent association and New England as well as UMass to do what's
best in the particular situations. We also did our own reduction in rough areas to natural areas to make sure we're helping out the environment. Um, I think we're over 20 acres at Baybury that are all naturalized areas um that
have no uh pesticides that go in them whatsoever. Uh, and then so a little more about Bay, it is zone two. That's the highest you can get in the state is where it comes for protection. That's literally zone 2 is
defined as groundwater protection. So, we cannot spray any pesticide that would ever have an possibility to affect groundwater. So, in the state's testing of all chemicals and things like that, if they deem one that they think is
going to, they pull it from our use or anybody within a zone 2 and you cannot spray that chemical. So when you talk about a reduction, we are already reduced because we cannot spray certain chemists and I listed all of them in the
presentation as well. Um as far as Bass River, it is technically not in zone 2, but we pull all practices that we do at Bay to Bass River to follow the same um environmental guidelines to make sure that we're doing what's best.
Um, we set up um pollinator habitats on the lynx course so that you know we're trying to attract the bees as well. Whatever else we can do to to help out um the uh at Bass River this year alone we
what do we do? 8 acres worth of natural areas. Yeah, we we created 8 acres of natural area that is the tall grass that no pesticides are applied or fertilizers in those areas. So, we we want to do our part for the
environment and uh what's best for everybody and to run a healthy golf course for the public to enjoy. So, that's our mission and our goal and that's what we want to continue to do. On the other side, we do significant
water testing to confirm that we are doing the right thing and we do not have any ill effects to the water. We did a big test in 2014. I think I left it over there actually. Um Josh can allude to a little bit, but it and theory basically
what it says is the water going into the site and then leaving the site is actually cleaner leaving the site than it did coming in. So Josh can allude to it a little bit more, but that's we do this on a yearly basis to show that we are not actually doing anything wrong to
the water. So I believe it's a board of health who when Bayer Hills was created, when it was built, put in some uh some rules where we need to test for pesticides in the groundwater annually. And for the first 25 years, we were testing for nitrates in the water. So,
the nitrate testing, the pesticide testing was sent to Cornell where they came up with with this um report that Scott's talking to. I don't know if it was submitted or if he has it. Where we're essentially doing no damage to the aquifer underneath the golf course where we are in the golf course.
It's pretty interesting. They're researching it right now for waste water to get rid of the waste water because we're I call it the um continental divide. right along our ninth hole of the water. Ground wire there travels north and below that the ground water rather travels south. Um so the north
edge is had more nitrates in it from the neighborhoods and the septic tanks north of us and the south border of the property where we have more wells had fewer nitrates, fewer um not toxins but fewer nitrates in in the
water. So that was a pretty promising sign. I think I think the whole property is 3 to 400 acres about 2020 120 acres of turf. Um, so a lot of the property out there is still just woodlands which is a nice uh buffer for everything. Um,
so yeah, that was the the study that Scott spoke of. Um, one of the things that one of the earlier speakers mentioned was not hearing um the bugs and insects in our neighborhood. If you go out to Link's course where there's 16 to 18 acres of native lands, it's deafening. It's pretty awesome. you're
out there, you just hear it. You see bees, you see butterflies, you see birds. Um it's pretty cool. So, we're we're proud of that. We're proud that the town of Yarmouth is doing that on a reclaimed landfill, which we know how um detrimental landfills can be for the environment. So, that's what we've done
with our landfill in Yarmouth, and we're we're pretty proud of that. Yeah. So, to allude to what Josh was saying, we're we're doing what we can. Um, and I think we go above and beyond to make sure that we're a good steward to
the environment and anything we can to to help and we certainly will do and and that's why we took it upon ourselves to actually do more natural areas for pollinators and and other things like that. So, like like Josh said, you know, you know, we may get like a bad rap here
and there, but we're we're actually very good for the environment and want to continue that um education, if you will, to to the world. Um yeah, we're proud of it. Just a little thing is like you know that we you see here is um is there's a
best management practice purely for Bass River and there's one purely for Bay Are there two different sites and we follow you know what's best for each site. You you don't just take one to the other and and everything. we just we follow the zone 2 chemicals um on purpose and and that's a big thing but you know each
course has to stand on its own and you find different things to deal with but we want to make sure that you know we're we're doing the best for the environment so that's why we appreciate you know burying invites in here but we wanted to at least show that you know yes we are a
user and no we you know nobody wants to use them but we realistically have to use them to continue. Um, and we will do everything we can to make sure we're doing it the best possible way. On the other side of this, we also are a
reclaimed water site at Bay and we're actually going to get further reclaimed water. So, another environmental factor we're doing for the town as well to help in situations. So, we want to continue to show the the education that we're
doing our part for the town and the community to to coexist very well. Um, that's I think that's pretty much everything I had and we're happy to answer any questions you may have for us, but we just wanted to kind of give a
little side of what we do and why we do it so that you guys are very well aware. We just don't go spray because we feel like spraying. Um we're we need to spray because uh we have it's a have to and we have to follow the
state guidelines in order to do it. It it seems to me you could go a ways toward public education. I don't know how many golfers are actually from Yarmouth. I'm sure you have visitors also and people from other places on the Cape. Do you have anything in your
literature or any signage that kind of says this is why we're doing that or we only apply the amount of pesticides and the allowed ones that are needed? I mean, you could kind of get that word out because people are going to see these beautiful golf courses with
natural areas and all. Yep. It might. So, we have we have sign on signs on the native area that shows a pollinator sign like this is a pollinator, right, habitat that's posted out there. Uh we ordered some more as we um created more
areas to show that you know we want you to actually like stay out of this. Um we also um ordered some environmentally sensitive areas for Bass River that where the um river comes into the golf course to keep you out of there.
Um, we have a on the scorecards and on at the golf course on every T first TT in the first T links a reclaimed water sign that shows that we are a reclaimed water facility. Um, we don't have any um thing that says we're zone 2. I don't
think people really know that, but we certainly can come up with some kind of way to say how we do it um to further let people understand how we're doing things because, you know, some people will see the signs about the pollinators and reclaim and and oh, that's great. But other people might not know it's part of
a whole program that you're doing to reduce the use of pesticides and only use the ones that are the safest, right? One of the things about that is we're using safer and safer chemistries. You know, somebody mentioned that, you know,
it's not 30 years ago. We need to modernize. The industry has been modernizing. There's chemicals that get phased out every year. New chemicals are brought in. There's insecticides now that don't have uh signal words on them because the toxicity signal words on. They just say keep out of reach of children instead of caution, warning,
danger because it's a safer option. So, these are the products that we're using um where we can. you know, we're spending a on, you know, grubs, hyperotis, different insects. We're spending a lot more money on the safer chemistries than the older ones that we we still can be using, but we're
choosing not to because we're trying to go the safer route. Great. Um, waste water, people have mentioned, right now we're 50% waste water, and I don't know if people know that the Lynx golf course has been irrigated with waste water since it was built in 2000. Um so that that's pretty that's for me
that's pretty cool you know and right now um both courses b all of Bayberry and the links course it's 5050 wellwater and reclaimed septage which is a luxury that we have in the town of Yarmouth that we have um we're you know we have that supply
and we're looking to just uh increase on that with the new swerve system in town looking to lose a lot of water at the golf course I have a question for you Seth Yep. These zone 2 chemicals that you say that you're regulated to use by the state,
are those limited just to golf courses or those available for the general public at your local stores also? Should not be available, right? They are available. They're available, I believe. Yeah. Are they labeled any differently or anything that you and I how would I go
in and and know the difference between this one and this like A and B? Is there a way to we can educate the public in the future say hey if you have to there's a there's a list of zone 2 chemicals which I provided in the report
that these are all the ones that we cannot spray okay um and then if that was in say a store you would um look on the label like a store obviously will show you like a nice picture and and call it some other thing. Yeah. But on the back is the
label. It has the chemical name. Um, for example, like you know, Roundup is glyphosate, you know, stuff like that. So, is it easier to say what you can't use and what you can use because they change the names and labels and everything. Yeah, you got to kind of look at the the
chemical name in order to know like um exactly what you can't use, you know, because they do a trade name and you got to make sure that okay, this is actually this. So we need to make sure that the chemical is is one that we can use or not use. So an example of that is we know that Roundup is a broadspectctrum herbicide
that will kill anything but now they have Roundup for your lawn which won't kill your lawn. So that's obviously a different active ingredient. So that is something that consumers should be aware of. It's very reassuring. Good work. Yeah, great work.
Thank you. Appreciate that, guys. Appreciate your time. Thank you for what you guys do for us. Appreciate that. Okay, let's go. All right. So, we're up to the swine regulation review.
Okay. This is sort of a change in theme here a bit. Um, thank you, Carl. Basically, um, I know I spoke with natural resources and apparently there was a a pig wandering around the neighborhood. Neighbors were there and
natural resources got called. They came uh pig was placed in a cage and was taken and then returned the following day. Um, so Barry, some things you want to
add to this or just so everyone understands what we're doing here? So if it also came to my attention that the there was a pig rescued uh running out. Um, first I heard of it. Um,
so I once I found out who the owner was, I did some research on our regulations, our stable regulations and chapter 202 under stable regulations. Under definitions, farm animals, all sheeps, goats, ponies,
and horses, bovine animals, mules, donkeys, and llamas of of any age or sex, swine are prohibited in the town of Yarmouth. So that's and all the research I've done, that is the only
place I see where swine are prohibited or it talks about pigs or anything like that. So, and that was put into regulation in 2007, April 2nd, 2007 by this by this board.
So, I'm not for sure why that line was in there. Um the they're a lot of the chair the there's not a lot of the people on the board are not available to be reached right now. So,
um, and it's because of that you asked, I assume the owner to. So, then I found out that I, that's why I invited Russell in to give his side of the story. And tell us a little bit about So, introduce yourselves for the record. And
I'm Russell Wilcott Jr. This is my wife, Don. Um, I'm Can I give you guys some pictures? Absolutely. I didn't know how many people be here, so you're gonna have to kind of We'll do fine. Yeah, we'll do that. Y
for you guys. I'm sorry. No, here. There you go. You can take one afterwards. So, uh I'm a lifelong Yamoth resident in 1978. I was hired by the Yamoth Fire Department. Got laid off in August of uh
in 1980. Probably two and a half. I uh Chief Clement said if I join the military, I can have my position back once I do my tour. um like the military 24 years in the army. Spent 24 years in the army. Came back
here. Um took care of my father till he passed away. So he had full-blown dementia. Um I currently manage a uh Cape Color propane company. I trained at the uh fire academy for the firefighters and the first responders in the propane
industry because they they're trained to a great put out fires, but they have no clue how to deal with propane incidents. Kind of like natural gas incidents. Um I'm a retired disabled veteran. I have my disability paperwork here that I can
I can show you. It's also part of my taxes. Um and Yeah, I'm okay. Bottom line is I kind of have issues as you're kind of saying, um, great under pressure. I can deal with a lot of a lot
of things or some things just hit me. Um, I had a uh emotional support animal before that was a dog. Uh, dog had to be put down 13 years ago. I got the pig. I had no rule. I had no idea that it was
against the law in any which way else I probably wouldn't have done it. Um, according to uh federal department of housing, I'm allowed to have
all sorts of animals that don't uh uh you can have dogs, cat, reptiles, rodents, small mammals, birds, and fish. Um the FHA and the
and the uh federal department of housing pretty much says that you're allowed to have them. You if you're a landlord, you need to have permission from I believe a doctor or it's against a law
to even ask for it. There's only two questions that they can ask you about your disability. Not about your disability, about your animal. And um I think that I'm allowed to have my pig. You see by the pictures, it's
not a pig pig like you'd see on, you know, TV Wilbur growing up and Green Acres or things. And uh Facebook showed a picture of the wonderful natural resource guys with the pig in the cage. You can see the pictures that the pig goes with me 90% of the time.
What's the pig's name? Pig's name is Violet. Violet. Yep. So on uh Facebook it was called Wilbur and within minutes people were calling me up and uh where's Violet? And I'm like what do you mean where's Violet? Uh she's on Facebook. I'm like what? So went on Facebook called the
police department and they said yep we got your pig. And then they reposted that we found Violet's owners and this and that the other thing. Um you can see that she's in the truck with me driving on the first parrot page. You'll see her
camping on the second page. You'll see her at the house on the couch because she's a in-house pig. She's not a pig that roams the yard. She's not going to be butchered. She's 60 lbs. She's a you know, technically they call it a teacup pig, but there's really no
such thing as a teacup pig because if you keep if I fed her a lot or didn't have her on strict diet by the veterinarian, she could be a 300lb pig. But the I do what the what the vet says to do. We have her on a great diet. She walks. She has exercises.
Um, you can see her on my lap at my house. You see her on the couch by herself sitting there watching TV. You see her with another dog that we have. You see her with her octopus. You see her in the camper at the door
sticking out the camper. She's a big hit at campgrounds. She's in the backseat of the truck um going camping because the camper's behind the truck. I can see in the picture. Another picture of her in the camper. Picture of my dad when she was a
baby. So that was 13 years ago. My dad would sit there in the lawn and she'd run around my dad. My daughter's graduation. Cape Cod Tech said bring her to the graduation cuz we'd bring her there occasionally for a fundraiser to kiss a pig. So kids would go nuts and
that's how they raised money for the senior prom. Um it's a picture of a in the camper with the other two dogs. Uh there's a picture of her in her best camping overlooking the water on the deck of the camper.
Uh there's a picture of her at the campground on her leash. There's a picture of her and my dad. My dad liked to feed her, so she'd always sit there when he was eating. He would always feed her. And then she looked at me like, "Uh oh, I'm in trouble in that last picture."
Um like I said, I've had her 13 years. No one's ever never said anything. Neighbors all love it. People that know I have it love it. Um I've been on vacation with the Yama police and Yama selectman. They know that I have the pig
with me. Um they might fly on vacation. I have to drive because I I need to have the pig with me. So they know that. Um when we go on trips, it's frustrating that I have to be in a campground. They're in a nice hotel and they have to come visit me and I have to go visit them and and the shuffling
stuff, but it is what it is. Um, so I'm I'm a I'm a I'm sure if they knew something wrong, they would have mentioned to me also. Um, I don't know what they'll say, so I'm open for questions. And so, how old was the pig? Pig's 13 years old.
And uh, Wilmer Praa lives down the street from me. I live on Witchwood Road. I was raised there, left, came back here, took care of my dad, bought the house from him when he passed. uh by out my sisters and Wilma Pra lived down the street and uh her husband would
always be walking his dog around every day and he'd see the pig out there and so occasionally I'd bring down and see Wilma and she was just like ecstatic. I spend like an hour there like once a month with her and just everybody that sees her just isn't ah you know we go to
PetSmart and it's hard to get out of PetSmart as people come up they want to take pictures with her they want to see her touch her pat her you know she's just an amazing little pig. If I could if I could just add um Violet is litter box trained so she is not you
know wandering around you know going to the bathroom everywhere. She is litter box trained um so she does do that. She does go outside during the day when we're home. Um just kind of wander around the yard, get some fresh air, walk her little legs, her chubby little legs around. Um you know, um she loves to be out in the sun. So a lot of times
she'll just go in the backyard and just lay down in the sun. She's out there for a couple of hours and then we say, "Violet, it's time to go back in." She goes right back in the house. She spends, you know, I would say the majority of her day is in the house. She's not like your normal pig, farm
pig, you know, she is very much a part of our family. So, how did she get out that particular day? I was just going to bring that up when she mentioned that I was uh home with her in the backyard and I got a phone call from a fire department about a propane leak and I just ran out, jumped in my truck and
took off. Didn't just didn't even think that she was in the yard and didn't close the gate. So, we have a gate so the dogs can stay there. We get home, the dogs just come out, they stay in the backyard, you know. um she's out there, but it's not normally. And not 99% of
time they get case closed. This one particular thing I just just took off quick and flew to the incident and then you know when I get home I'm like you know thinking nothing of I was probably gone a couple hours and then when I got home it's like oh where's Violet? I'm
like she's on Facebook. Uh, so 13 years, I mean, obviously nobody had known about it. Um, first off, thank you for your service. 100% appreciated. Thank you for
doing that. I know you're a big part of the community with um, other things you do. I know you have food trucks. Um, you said Violet goes everywhere with you. She doesn't go on the food truck. Thank you very much. Well stated. That's where I was going to ask. Um,
thank you very much. Um ADA um ADA rules state that the only animals that are actually um support animals are dogs and small ponies. Those are service animals. Service animals.
She's not a service animal. She's an emotional support animal. Motion support. Okay. Just as long as you know the difference. And then the they're not allowed in restaurants and stuff like that. So nope. We're appreciate that. You been to the residence? Uh, Barry, I
I drive by it every day on the way to work. I have was very surprised when I found out it was you. Have you looked at the housing? I have not. I have not. I was waiting till tonight to go and I was gonna ask if I could go take a look and just and I was gonna invite you, Larry,
to go with me to see the see the situation, see the the the setup, what we have to make sure it's compiles with our stable regulations and our It's funny because when I got my food truck three years ago, Bruce Murphy and Phil came to the house to inspect the
food trailer. They didn't want to bring it to the town hall. Bruce spent 90% of the time out in the backyard with the pig in my golf cart while Phil did the inspection on my food trailer. So Phil uh Bruce was well aware of it. So maybe
Bruce didn't know about the law also. I mean it's and again it's one it's three words in the in a 30-year-old document. So 20 something year old document. It's just three words and it just happened to technology nowadays. I just typed it in
and it came right up. So, I've inspected your trucks um both here in Yarmathan and Dennis. Uh they're very clean, very good. I've never found any issues with them. I know they've done a lot of uh
donations and free stuff for the communities um to help stuff also. So, tomorrow at the Dennis Police Department where we're giving out hot dogs for uh the National Night Out
portion of our proceeds go to the Veterans Outreach program. We recently got recognized from Veterans Outreach and from the Senators of Massachusetts for all the work that we do for the veterans. Congratulations. We try hard. And she won't be attending it, will she? Thank you.
So Barry, can I just make a recommendation we go visit and then come back and report back to the board? Yes, sir. Larry is a veterinarian. Who's the uh veterinarian that uh treats her now?
Uh the doctor in um born. She goes to All Pets Medical. All Pets Medical. Pardon? All Pets Medical. She raises pigs also. Okay. If you do you take her to the vet or does the vet come to the house? No, I bring her up there and then we have a um
they used to go up there and do her her her nails. Okay. Because if we try to do them, she is just out of her mind. And um so now we have a a person come to the house every 3 months and keep her nails trimmed and keep to sedate her or is she okay with it? Yeah.
Yep. Her and her husband come, he sits down, he gloves up, he holds her and she's like within five minutes done. 300 bucks. Thank you. You got a harness for her? Yep. Yep. How did you end up with her? I was at a conference one time and just
found the joy of of the little pigs. Uhhuh. And then I quieted about getting one and then they had them up in Springfield. So I went up to Springfield and and got her. Sure. Good. Yeah. So I think we should take a visit,
come back, report back to the board and go from there. So, let's keep things as they are with gate closed obviously. And Larry's going to check on the octopus as well. So, be aware of that. The octopus might be gone. The dog might dog might have thought it
was his toy. Dogs love there. And Violet puts up with that. Violet just you'll you'll be amazed. She just she's chill. Yeah. Very. Doesn't does she uh doesn't tear up the yard? No. No. No. She doesn't root. When I first got her, I was like, you know, get a rooting
box. Get this. get that. She is the laziest thing there is. She walks and then she just sits down, lays in the sun when she's outside, sits on the couch. Every night I get home and she just sits on the spot. She has a spot and she sits on my lap every single night until I go to bed. And then just, you know, um she
has a litter box. Um she eats twice a day. Um and just, you know, if I say if I if I say if I go in the kitchen and say, "You want treats?" She'll come running on in. But other than that, you could come in and burn the house down, steal the dogs,
shoot me. She's going to be like, "Oh, okay." Yeah. Chill. Yeah. When would be a good time? This week good. Uh, this week is not good because I have double events all week long. Next week we could Please reach out to me. Um, I'll give
you my card on the way out and then we'll Larry and I can set up a time with you. We can come out. Okay, good. Okay, thanks for having Thank you very much. Say hello to Violet for us. Thanks for coming in.
Thank you, Russell. You're welcome. Okay. Uh, we're up to private well sampling program. All right. Um, thank you, sir. My card real quick. Thank you. Uh so the Barsville County
Health Department put a program together for people with uh private wells to get them tested. Uh they again education. They put it out on their uh social media and everything. Within 48 hours they had
over 600 applications which is amazing. That's the power of social media. So, they've tapped out on their amount that they can do right now. So, the programs out there, they're not taking any more applications. I know um
Yarmouth did get a lot of them. It's going to be a great program. The county is going to keep us in the loop when they're going to reopen up for more testing. So, I when when I put it on the agenda, it was within the first 24 hours. So there was still spots and but
I wanted to leave it on there for us just to let the public know that's watching that they do have a program. If they have any if they want any more information they can uh call 508786 2297 and they can get more information on
that. So yeah there are commercial companies that do that. Yeah, at a cost. This one was uh free. This one was complimentary testing done. I don't think the cost is too bad though if you did want to go through, you know, if they couldn't have access to this
program. If they're very concerned about their quality of the the water that there's I think there's several companies out there that even off Cape, they'll come down and test the waters for them. So, is there going to be some sort of compilation of statistics from
Oh, I'm sure there will be. Once they get it, they'll they'll put together the some statistical information. Yeah. As well as the residents, of course. Yeah. And I'm sure they'll within that they'll highlight hot spots and good spots in it. So,
be interesting particularly the wells that are near the uh spring the rightway spring programs and then the wells that are in the the the railroad and the uh Eversource. Yeah, that's what I meant. The rightway spring. Yeah. Yeah.
So, okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, looks like it's review and approved minutes time. Now, there are five sets here. Let's see if we can kind of streamline this a little bit. Does anyone have any corrections or
comments on any of the minutes? Okay, that'll be quite easy there. Uh, there were five meetings. Thanks for doing that. Charlie was not at three of them. The rest of us were at
all of them here. So perhaps someone can make a motion. Um that would be the dates for Well, that person can do it. Anyone need to look? I have the dates out here. Run through it. Can wrap them into one. Is that
I'm going to say we will ignore any regulations against that. Oh, ignore the ones that Charlie was absent. No, we we can do it. Just Yes. Okay. In other words, he could not if he's here. That was all. Okay. I move that we accept the meetings of the Yarmouth Board of Health for
January 8th, 2024, February 5th, 2024, March 4th, 2024, and April 1st, 2024, and also July 7th, 2025. Second it. Okay. Any discussion?
Great. All in favor, raise your hand. Except for the minutes as Okay. Thanks for doing all of it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of work. She's got more to come. Yeah. Didn't tell you ahead of time. Anyway,
um so new and old business. Um Mary, any update in the plastic reduction work? Um yes. Um we're moving toward finalizing um a regulation um that will
be uh board of health regulation. So obviously it will come here to us um and it will go to town council um and it will be um put we're hoping the timeline can be met. It will put on the has to be
actually on the um town meeting warrant. um because it's a followup to the town meeting warrant that banned all plastic and that was not
realistic and also nothing happened with it for whatever reason and it's in the past it doesn't matter right now but we have been working on it a task force Barry is on it there's two restaurant owners on it um the chairman of the
recycling committee for the town is on it Um we've had Mark Forest attend. Lazargo has attended most of the meetings. Um Jay was at a couple of the first meetings. Um who else is on it represented? Um Mary Vilbond from the
chamber um who's also Mark from the Y. So, um, we're we're getting very close and, um, we we have to have something to come before town meeting in the fall because, um, they've been
people have been put off. The citizens have been put off. Um, and we do not want to appear that we are dragging our feet on this. So, that's kind of we're going to try to get it in front of the the next board of health meeting on
the 18th. Right. There is a a a plastic reduction committee meeting Wednesday. Um so that that public is welcome to come. Absolutely. And this one is at the Chamber of Commerce this time. Yeah. And they do have recording
facilities you said there. So yeah, thanks for doing the work Mary and Barry. Yep. Important stuff. Um what about the status now of the uh irrigation systems in use in in Yarmouth? Anything that we
need to know any changes? I think there was one Monday is Yarmouthport today. That would be today in Yarmouthport can use them. I think it's just one day a week. Is that correct? One day a week. Y but we can hand water, right? Oh, yes. Yes, you can hand water. Y
I planted a bunch of hydrangeas. I don't know. Yes. Um the uh rack meeting I just attended. Um things are progressing and like the um the gentleman from the golf courses
mentioned, they're using already reclaimed water and um they they have said that they'll take all that they can get, but that depends on um the Department of Environmental Protection and and the town is still working with
them. And when the golf courses close um in the winter, they will do some additional testing to make sure that the additional water that we need to account for um can be um properly sent to Berry
Hills and reclaimed there. So, and and that we also got a a small grant um to do that testing, which is nice because um it's it's been a long process to um to find a secondary place to put the
reclaimed water once the whole systems up and going, though. Um, and uh the uh I could tell you a little bit about the the what's going on with the road systems because I know that's always a
um they still haven't made a decision on the pump station near the um on on Route 28. So, we've had another um another request for uh a development that isn't even in place yet to be added to the the
sewage system. Um um the there's no work going on after until after Labor Day by one of the contractors, Ravoli, and then they'll go back to Southshore Drive and the side roads and a force main and a pump
station. Um and there's going to be a pump station work being done shortly near the Pancake Man on 28. and they're working on the side streets of Old Main Street and finishing up Commercial Street. And there's a question about whether there'll be pal final paving
done in the fall or not because the state is going to be starting bridge work um in the fall. And um they're they're the the the question is
should the town spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to repave if the department of transportation is going to come in and just dig it up anyway. So they have to resolve that and figure out what to do with that. So, but there's um 90% of the work on Route 28 is done and
there's no more work right now uh from Memorial Day to Labor Day in any of the uh upcoming contracts. So, and there's going to be, I think, some more education um done um by the committee for the
public um about things moving along. there's going to be a meeting about with the school buses the um to talk about the the work starting up in the fall again. So I mean people are working on things all along the way here.
Okay. Thank you. And I had one other thing. Um there's a handout on vaping. Um it was in the globe and it talks about the latest studies and as we know um but you know and Dr. Spalain said, "You can't inhale
heated vapor with chemicals in it and not expect something's going on with your lungs." And it it talks about the problems. So, I feel good that we were on the ball with what we did with the tobacco and flavors and vaping and all.
Barry, just let us know what happened over Gray Grace Beach. Yeah. Um, so last week, two weeks ago, there was uh we get testing done every week by the county. They have a county sampler that goes out and test it. Grace Beach tested
high. When when a beach tests high, they flag it within the system and then they go back and retest it again. If it tests high again, then they notify the department to post no swimming. Um the beach itself was open, the boardwalk was
open, but the swimming was posted no swimming. Um then they then the county test daily until they get results suitable for coming back. It took a little while, took 5 days for it to get to a suitable level. It came back uh
last Saturday was uh the suitable level and uh we were unposted it when drove out there, let the gay attendants know, let the lifeguards know. lifeguards were on duty the entire time um informing people that it was unsafe to swim. So
um it we had it on social media. I I was a little late getting to the social media. I'll be honest with that because I I was working with Phil before. So Phil said that he never had to tell the social media department because there wasn't a social media department there to tell before. So that was an aha
moment for us. So now we know one of the besides you guys, the town administrator, social media is going to be our social media team is going to be one of the ones notified quickly so we can get that out there for the safety of the public. So I had one comment from the public about
why why at Grace Beach the water comes in and out all of the time, you know, why did it turn up? I have no idea. Even just right across the way and Dennis, those beaches were fine. So, it might have just been I I don't know. Might have been where they
were sampling. It might have been a boat that discharged something. Yeah. Discharge something. It's But it's a very sensitive test that they do and it was and it picked it up. So, and it's better to be safe than sorry. Right.
And there were two properties that we're dealing with with individuals who are hoarding and it created some unhealthy and dangerous locations. So we'll talk about the first property. It's now it's come to attention. It's
already been in the attention. I've mentioned it to you folk to the board before. Um but we're getting a lot of people involved now. Uh I've reached out to Outer Cape Healthc Care. Uh Brianna Smith. She came in one time, gave a presentation. Um, we're getting her
involved. Justine, the clinical, the town clinician from the PD, we're going to get involved. We're getting as many We're trying to get the county involved also just to get these resources for to help these people. Um, it's it's a lot for our little department to do on its
own. I've done what I've can do. um offered as many services as we can and unfortunately these individuals will say yes say yes say yes and then won't follow up with what they're what they're doing. So we're we're trying to take a
little bit different approach and we're trying to get as many resources. We don't want to come in like a SWAT team, but we want to get the right people the right the know how to say what they need to say to get these people some help.
Um, it's sad, but we're the neighbors want to the neighbors on on want to be nice and like, well, we all got together and we want to go help them and just clean it up. And unfortunately, they can't just walk into someone's yard and clean it up. It's that's not their
property. It's trespassing and stuff like that. The intentions are good. If they work with the homeowner to help them do that, then they then that be then that's a solution also. So, um, town administrator has waved, uh, dump
fees if somebody they get a large dumpster to dump at the transfer station, which is nice and that's a huge hit right there. Um, so it's and I tell the neighbors, I was out there this morning, uh, it's I know
we've been working on this for a little while, for a year or so, but it's it takes an army to help these people. So, It's a chronic mental illness and it's it's really difficult and there are other properties that I'm sure we know
just from living here and driving around and I can't just I can you can just condemn it. I'm like I legally I cannot condemn it. It' be up to the board but then the board I that doesn't solve the problem that just
then the problem's still there. So the we we're trying to come up with solutions on how to help these individuals properly and and right and better them for the future. So one of the issues I think is really
important is if person's endangering themselves the situation is such that it's a fire trap. Yeah. That we need to know how and legally what we can do. Yep. So I I know most urgent scenario there could be. I know um it's been moved to council to
get their opinion on these now also. Well, also the rodents and so believe it or not, I was conditions. I was out there today and that's that's a trigger word is rodents and rats. I was out there today and I walked the property and I did not see one burrow at the house I was at today because it's
not trash. Uh this house has I have pictures. There's socks, there's books, there's blankets, there's pottery. This person is going to thrift stores and buying it with the with the good intention of reusing it to help other
people to rehome it. Unfortunately, once it gets back to the house, it it just stays there and she doesn't want it to get ruined. So, she puts it in trash bags. So, then you just drive by it looks like a bunch of trash. So, I I walked the entire property today and I didn't see any rat burrows, which is good. I mean,
it's which I was surprised. I I was expecting to see some, but and I took pictures just to make sure I wasn't crazy. Our next meeting is the 18th. Yep.
So, everyone has that on their calendar. I do have one more thing, Hillard. I apologize for new business. Oh, great. So, I am not going to take credit for this. I'm going to give it to Sarah, Riley, and Deb. They're putting together a monthly health awareness program through the health department. What
they're going to do um September is uh child obesity. So they're putting a program together. Um it's September 23rd. It's between 3 and 4:30. It's going to be here in this room. Uh the Cape Cod Community Pantry will help provide healthy snacks for children of
ages 4 to 12. They can come to town hall right down here. Pick up a snack bag. Um there's going to be a little contest, a coloring contest. Um and there's going to be some gift cards given out to uh by the pantry and the town's going to match it also to Shaws to help these kids in
need. Um that September, October is going to be uh breast cancer awareness month. So every month we're going to have we Sarah and Riley put together a new table out front, kind of cleaned it up, took old COVID stuff off that doesn't need to be there anymore. And uh
we're just gonna they're going to try to do this every month just to get some more information education right now. Oh, this uh September 23rd 3 to 4 3:00 p.m. to 4:30. Leave. No, 3 to 4 3 to 4:30. 3 to 4:30.
Yeah. If you want to come, it's a Tuesday. Um if you want to show up, it's going to be hopefully it's going to be fun where they're going to get get the information out to the elementary schools and have them come down. So, great. Nice. Anything you need us to do to help out or
No, I think we're going to post um you know the coloring contest online and post all this on media, post it around town and maybe we might have the board vote on the coloring contest and top three and then have them come in October to
present the awards to them um to a board of health meeting. October 6th meeting, we'll we'll ask the parent and the child to come and and present them with the award at that time. So to bring awareness to that. So we have the next four months planned out for what we want to do. Wow.
April 23rd, is it? Yeah, September 23rd. Yes. So we'll send you some more information on it once we we got the um okay from the town manager today to move forward with it. So um we will send you information as we send it to social media.
Thank you. And the good thing every year the months are the same. So what we'll keep notes of what we did good this year, what we can build on and what everything like that. So it's it it's going to be a good fun program that we're going to do just something different instead of me
telling you can't do stuff and you have to do this, you have to do that. Yep. Sarah's putting something wonderful together and Riley. So thank you both. Thank you. Very nice. Good health education going on.
Well, what do you guys want to do now? I move that we adjourn. Second. All in favor say I. I. Thank you everyone. I was very s happy with the turnout tonight. Recording stop.