Did that recently? Recording in progress. Good evening. Welcome to the September 15th, 2025 meeting of the Armouth Board of Health. Just so you're aware, this is a hybrid meeting. So, let's call to
order. And we need some attendance. Let's go to it. Eric, are you present? Here. Mary, present. I'm Hillard. I'm present. Larry here. Charlie chair. Okay, full house. That's a quorum. Great. Let's move on the public comment. So, if anyone has something they want to
bring to the attention of the board, this would be a great time. Let's do anything other than plastic reduction. So, we can have people come forward when that comes up in the agenda. So, anyone please come forward?
Anybody waving their hand? I don't see anybody. Okay. Number four, everyone. This is public hearing for the plastic reduction regulation. Barry, just want to introduce what we're doing here. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, so
the town voted on a bylaw to for to reduce all plastics in town. Ban all ban all plastics in town. And it was brought, it was a very good idea, but it was not a doable ban. So, town
administration and town council and the select board uh put together a committee uh plastic reduction committee to put something feasible together that works for the the business owners, the public, the everybody together that we can work
toward to make a progress. Um, we had a great board member. Um, if we want to bring Jamie Vera up and Mary up, they're president, vice chair, the president. They're going to give us a little history and background of what the regulations on.
Yeah, I must admit that u goes back a ways. Back in 2023, um, this regulation started out and it was passed by the town. the select board felt it's probably too
early and there it involved too many things and it would be hard to enforce and it wasn't realistic because it was going to start on January 1st I think 2025 correct correct yeah so that's why the task force got started
right George okay um well good evening Jamie Vieiraa welcome it was my pleasure and privilege to serve as the chair of the task force Of course, I'm joined with Mary Gilbond from the the chamber. Uh we were here, as you recall, several weeks before. We
kind of talked through what our process was. Um the the the number of meetings that we had, the efforts that we undertook, and we put that proposed regulation in front of you for your review, although it wasn't a hearing like tonight's hearing for a possible adoption. And when we were here, we told
you that it would be our next step to go to the select board as they were our appointing authority and we were going to give our recommendation to them that we proceed in the manner that I outlined to you. And last week they five to all five of them agreed to follow through
with that process which brings us back here tonight to this public hearing where hopefully there'd be a positive vote to adopt a regulation. Um, I can go through the chapter in verse, but the long and the short of it, as I said before, we think that this is a better alternative to meet the objective of
plastic reduction. It has um not a total ban. It has a reduction in fact elimination as its final objective but it gets there in I think a more I'll call fair and balanced approach giving businesses and those who may be agrieved
uh the opportunity to either seek a waiver or a variance from those provisions because of the bases that are spelled out in that regulation there. So it is not a free pass by any sort. It does give businesses time to come into compliance. You can work through your
inventory. you've got to make good faith efforts to comply and if you can meet the criteria the health agent can grant you that relief or can certainly then directly refer back to this board for purposes of of that relief. So um we think that this task force um we worked
collaboratively with the members of the business community um municipal officials etc and have come up with I think is a fair and workable solution to meet this important objective. So I'll leave it at that. It was clear.
Um I'm just going to ask one question which I asked last time and that's for the people who haven't listened to you before like at our last meeting the difference uh among a waiver relief and a variance. Okay.
But especially for the business owners. So the difference essentially is and I'll go back to we learned through this task force there's seven different types of plastics and not all plastics are created equal. Apparently there are some that are far more egregious for lack of
a better word than others. Um I don't remember the numbers. There's one through seven and it's not like one is better and seven is the worst. It's speckled all over. The bylaw spells out a process where for certain types of less offensive, I'll call it plastics, you can go directly to the health agent
to get a waiver if you can meet the requirements of what the bylaw says. For those types of plastics that are more impactful, those would require going to the health agent or directly to this board to get a variance because we're talking about a
product that is a little more harmful, little less to to break down. It's it's got more of an impact. And so we made kind of a two-tiered approach where you can get a waiver for things that are not as offensive. You'd have to go to a little bit higher standard to get things
that are more offensive. In either case, you start with the health agent and can come to the board if necessary to get that relief. One of the things we thought was important was is that your agenda wouldn't be filled with hundreds of requests for either waiverss or variances in the first instance. So, we
think that the health agent understands that discrepancy as to why one form of relief, it seems the same, but it's intentional to deal with different types of plastics. That's clear. Thanks. That makes sense. Amy, can you can you list some of the reasons that people might request a
waiver? So, a p a business food establishment can request a waiver for any of the following reasons. Number one would be no suitable alternative exists. Two, supply chain issues are affecting
alternative product availability. Third, the use of the suitable alternative would create undue financial hardship. Or four, public health protection/food safety best practices and standards. Jamie, could you expand on expand on number four for me, please?
Public health protection, food safety best practices and standards. One of the things we learned throughout the time as our task force got together is there are some businesses that use plastics not because they're in favor of plastics. They use them because it is actually the best type of product to preserve food
and produce bacteria and reduce harmful impacts of food spoilage etc. So there are businesses that use plastic because it actually provides for public health and safety because the food lasts longer. it will um you're not going to have food spoilage or waste. All right,
we didn't want to trade off one thing for another. Um and so food safety best practices just goes along the same thing from using plastic gloves to the type of plastic containers to the things that things are dispensed in. If there is a public health protection or food safety
best practice, you can get a waiver or you could get a variance even that's that's built into that standard as well. Thank you. So there is a health component to sometimes having to use plastic and you can make that presentation to the health department and justify it then you can continue to
use that product until they can come up with an alternative theoretically that meets the same health standard. So board members question Mary do you have anything to add or what was your opinion on this? No. So, the
chamber actually is uh very grateful for Jamie to be the chair of the uh task force. Um the chamber was actually uh approached by the original petitioner uh quite some time ago in bringing her concerns to us. So, that's how the
chamber really got involved in this process. And Jamie happens to be the chair of what we call the Yarmmouth Community Partnership where we deal with issues like this. we try to investigate them and see how we can help the business community. So, we're extremely supportive of this. We had two business
owners, Mike Davis from Bagels and Beyond on the task force and Aiden Delaney um from the Skipper Chowder House, and they were very helpful because they were able to provide exact examples of how their business would be
impacted or how there was no alternatives for them. And I'd like to also recognize Stop and Shop. Um, they really came to the table and brought us the actual items that they would no longer be able to use and brought some
things to our attention where there were health um factors that were involved. So, we did a great job educating ourselves. We took the time looking at Felmouth's policy that they had put in place and many other communities. So, I
really feel like we did a thorough job and I think this gives a great alternative for the town to be able to implement it and allow the businesses to gradually reduce the use of plastics, which is what we're all trying to do.
Jamie Mary, I have a question for you. If for some reason this regulation doesn't go through tonight and we have to stick with the the ban that's on Stop and Shop for instance, what how much of their product would they be losing to for available to the public?
My recollection is it's between like 30 and 35%. 30 to 35% of their products they're going to lose off their shelves if the original ban stays. the consumer would not be able to purchase those products at a Yarmouth stop and shop or a star market for I mean they would be under
the same type of uh problem. So yeah 30 to 35%. Which is impactful. Thank you. No matter how you cut it. So are there any other hardships that would um be a result of this uh ruling
to to the businesses in in Yarmouth? No, I think like I said, I think we've done a very good job in looking at every scenario that we possibly could um and with the businesses that we've um spoken to and it we've you know, it's taken
months to go through this process to make sure and like I said, I think Falmouth was very helpful um with their process that they had gone through. So we used them as an example and then worked with Barry and the staff to see what could be possible here in Yarmouth.
So it it will have some impact. Oh, absolutely. But and it'll it'll take education to the community too so that they understand some of the changes that are being made and to the businesses. Sure.
Barry, do you have any input on on what are your thoughts on this? It's it's going to be a lot of education for the health department. Um we are working directly with the IT department for all of our social media, for all of our outpost to be able to educate. It's not
we're not here to make money off this and to start crushing hopes and dreams. We want to educate the the community, educate the business owners. Um it's first offense is a is a verbal, second is a written, then we can move into monetary. But we're giving, like
Jamie said, we're going to be giving businesses ample time to reduce down their inventory. We're just going to kind of take it, make them leave hundreds of dollars worth of product on the shelves. We're we're going to work with them. We're all human. We're this is all new to all of us. And we again,
we all are working toward the ultimate goal of reducing as much plastic as we can in the town of Yarmouth. And we want to be a leader on the Cape and make great examples and have other towns follow our model and because it's that good. And if I can say, I think we were
pleasantly surprised how many businesses are already starting to make those changes in town because they know that there are alternatives that they can use. That was sort of my only concern is I thought I'd walk in here and the place
would be packed and it's not with business owners. Um I hope that people the business owners are up to date what's going on. is it's a big deal and it's October next month. We're getting there.
We did all we could. Our meetings were public. Uh they're available online if you wanted to see them. This is our second public meeting here. This is now a public hearing. Last week we were before the select board. So, and as Barry pointed out, um, you know, there's
going to be a concentrated effort on the website and other mediums to get information out to the business community. So, we've been as transparent as possible of what is, if you vote this, um, what it is that they're going to have to do.
Are they getting hard copies of all the business owners of the regulation, assuming it passes tonight? We hadn't discussed how we were going to disseminate it. We were going to not put the card before the horse. we were going to kind of wait and see that it got approved and then work with the health department to see how the town thought it was best to get it out to the
businesses. The the task force, we've kind of come to an end, so to speak. Our job was to make a recommendation, bring it forward, but we're certainly happy to stay engaged and help the health department, but we're going to leave that decision to the health, not the health, sorry, the IT and communications
department is how they feel best to disseminate the information. It's going to start electronically um on the on the website and social media. If someone wants an email, I'm sure they could send it to us. If we think that it requires, we'd make I would recommend we hand it out to every business owner in town that
could be affected. But that's the that's my call. And Mary mentioned that she has sent it out in her newsletter, you know, news about what's happening and what's going on. Yeah. No, we we did tell them that the chamber was engaged in the conversation with the town. So, they they are aware
that we have been doing this work over the last several months. Okay. Um just a comment and a question. Um I'm a big fan of the way that this has been
organized and approached. you know, we're five members of the public here who are not experts in all fields of public health. So, I commend your group for for taking that initiative and really getting educated and working with
business owners. Um, I think that's really important and as we deal with other issues here, I think this almost sets a little bit of a standard for how certain issues could potentially be approached. Um, and my one question for Barry is, do you guys feel as a
department that you're, you know, you're, um, ready to deal with the enforcement piece of this? And more specifically, you mentioned that you guys need to do a lot of education. Do you have the resources that your department needs in order to to get up
to speed and have a good understanding of the different types of plastics and what? By the time one one comes around, we'll be not 100% experts, but we'll we'll be ready to go and it's between myself, Sarah, Riley, Phil. Um, we'll be
able to get out there. We do have an intern with us until March. So, we'll be able to We do have a little uh like a little elevator speech that we kind of drafted up, Mary drafted up, um that we'll be able to go tell the business owners and stuff like that, too. So, um,
again, as much education as we can. It's not just going to be myself. It's just not going to be Phil. It's we're we're a team down the hall. So, there's some very simple, uh, listings online of the plastics one through seven. Really brief of what that means.
Yeah. So, keep that in mind just from an educational point of view because most of it gets too complicated, too many chemicals, no one's going to want to read it. Yeah. No. So, we have I mean, stop shop was again, thank you, was wonderful enough. I mean website's not live yet, but they they have plastic ones. So,
pictures of it, two pictures of it, three and of every single one and what they're all used for. So, it's it's we've done a lot of research and work on this. So, does uh Stop and Shop have any any
comments they'd like to make? I'm just think through the the process itself. If if you do, you need you you would need to come to the mic. Doesn't mean you need to. That's that's that's all. You can let that slide if you want, but we heard you.
I'm all set. You're all set. Okay. Thanks for coming though. Um Charlie, anything? Okay. So, uh anyone want to make a motion to see what we want to do about this regulation? I move that we um
that we pass the disposable plastic food water rules and regulations for food establishments with an effective date of January 1st, 2026. I'll second it. Okay. Any other discussion?
Okay, I guess not. Let's vote. So, all in favor motion, raise your hand, say I. I. I. Congratulations. Nice job. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. This is good for all of us. Okay. Number five here is Cape Cot Farms
retail tobacco violation is next up. Barry, once again, if you can just kind of introduce this. Yes. Um Bobcat got a call about Cape Cod Farms on Route 28 selling
products that are banned in town. Um, inspection was con was completed and done. It was come to find out that they were selling uh Newport cigarettes which is a menthol flavor cigarette which clearly states under definitions uh
under the characterizing flavor it is menthol is highlighted as one of the flavors. And is there a second offense? um $2,000 fine up to and a up to 7-day suspension of their tobacco license.
That suspension is at the board's call. Okay. Thank you. Hello. Okay. Welcome. Just introduce yourselves for the record. Thank you. So, my name is Girish Prajabati.
This is Manny Bachelor. Okay. Great. Thank you. Any comments? I mean, we're talking about a lot of money here. A second violation. Anything you'd like to say? This is your opportunity. We may have some questions, but what if
you have anything to say about what happened or why it's happening or nothing to say? What about you? Okay. Board members, questions, thoughts? This is um the second violation. I remember seeing representatives of this
company here in November. So what happened? I mean, did nothing get tightened up so that this kind of thing wouldn't happen? What what's what's been going on with this? So, so like the new ports we are talking
about what we got there. So, it's for personal use. It's not for purchase there. I'm I'm sorry. Would you say that again? I missed it. So the tobacco which we got violation on it's for personal use not
for purchase personal use of whose personal use so he used for the personal use um we just have a picture here I don't know if you've seen what the board re received no you yeah we we are seeing the same
thing but it's it's not full proced um picture here shows five cartons and five uh packs packs of of Newport Methol cigarettes. Oh, that's completely You are right.
It's five packs and five cartons, but it's it's not for the purchase. Why was it in the store? Uh it's just the Yeah. So it's because we got get it from different place and that's the day like
we got it and uh suddenly that these things happen. It's not intend to sell on the same most people keep I think their cigarettes in their own homes. Yeah. So their cars but not in somebody's store. No, you are completely right. What was
the thing? The cartons were what they get found. It's uh in open. It's not like we hiding somewhere here few. So we just got it and uh before we anyone anyone from the public coming in
would think that that were for sale because it's displayed just like your other product. No, no, no. It's not on the display. It's in the back there, but it's open. And it's not like hiding by. Yeah, it's in the store room like I would say. And this is in the store room. This picture,
this picture is in the store room. I don't have the picture. You have the picture up there. Riley, take me a second. So, the the letter here from Phil um at the health office says that
five cartons and five packs of Newport menthol cigarettes available for purchase. Does that does that mean they were on display? Do you know? I don't know. Um Bob CL, we asked him to come and he's on vacation. He said he got a tip from
somebody that they were selling them. That's why he went in to do a s a surprise inspection so somebody from the public knew that they were on that they were had Newport cigarettes for sale. [Music]
Seems to me that's a pretty careless thing to do since you just had a an offense in November to have cigarettes around that were not allowed in this town or state with the menthol flavoring. No, that's certainly you know that.
No, that's completely right like you are saying. I could understand maybe if it was a a vape product that fell underneath the flavor or not flavored. Absolutely. Um, right. Kind of a borderline and a salesperson
or distributor snuck it in there. But this is blatant. Yep. With the name we're all familiar with because sometimes the names do get tricky of what's slavered, what's not. This Newport Menthol has been probably
since the 50s, at least 60s, I know. Um, not a new product. So Barry, it's irrefutable that this happened. Oh yeah. Bob Cleff, the the county tobacco commissioner uh got a call and
went in, did a surprise inspection and found it. Yeah. So So whether they're for sale or not, that's they were there on they were on display. I I don't know if they're on display, but they're on the premises. Yeah. On the premises.
So, where were they when they found him? It's It's in the back when we like up down on the second floor. It's not in the uh front aisle. It's not in the display. It's in the back.
It's open. It's not like hiding. We are not hiding from anyone. If if you talk to the Bob collect, it's in open. Five cartons were placed on the stairs. If if I upstairs from the first floor to second floor, it's on the stairs. We
just put it. So, how did he see these? How did he see this? Take the picture. He walked down by by the stairs. He want to look upstairs. So, I said, "Yeah, you can go through. What's upstairs? There's like store room kind of stuff.
It's we can put our stuff. How long why would they have been on the stairs? So what was the thing at that day? He he got the cartons and he's using for personal use that day. He got from the
the state. So five five cartons. Five cartons. Yeah. He he stock it up for for he's not going to go for again and again. He's stock it up and he uses for his personal use. That's all it's here. Because he bought them out of state. Yeah.
Yeah. It's not available here. That's why the regulation isn't new. No. And uh on page seven. Yeah. Which I'm not sure you have it in front of you or not. Yeah.
Letter H and hold, keep, sell. Okay. So, sale of flavored tobacco products prohibited says no retail establishment shall possess, hold, keep, sell or distribute distribute course. Yeah. Yeah.
That's completely right. Right. So it's more than just sell it. It's or distribute. It's also just to have it on the premises as you point out premises. Charlie
any thoughts on this? It's a big deal for a small business. So that's for sure. What were they doing in there? I mean, how did how did they get there to start with? Sorry. How did the cat and the cigarettes get on the stairs to start with?
So, he has to do some work. So, he he was like on the way and suddenly he he got a call from his wife. He said he need his wife to the hospital. So, he was on the way. So, rather than taking home, he he was at the stores. He put the cartons at the store and went to the
hospital. So, that's the main scenario that happened. And where were they supposed to be going? It should be at the home for the smoking. I don't know. It says he's not supposed to be in possession of any of this stuff. It's not supposed to be there. So
why would it be there? That's the thing I don't understand. You You know it's not supposed to be in the building. Yeah, you are completely right, boss. But at the same time, the urgency of his wife, but he stopped. He it wasn't it wasn't that urgent if he stopped to put the
tobacco that he had in his car in the store and then went to the hospital. That's completely right. But at that at the moment of urgency and see like uh there's uh no way like person can think about that and that that's that's I don't have the answer for that thing
because at that moment he's thinking what he he's thinking. I think we have an answer. I think it's pretty clear. Yeah. I think unfortunately whether they're there for personal use or not, it creates the appearance that they're
being offered for retail because somebody somebody saw them and was under the impression that they were being sold or made available whether they were on display or not. Right. The public wouldn't see it.
Right. But but so you'd have to know I guess right so somebody somebody gave a tip. Well as Hillard said the the regulation says it you shall not possess hold keep
sell or distribute. So if that was the situation you put this company at severe jeopardy. That's fine. and a license suspension. That's the penalty for the
second offense. I mean, all we can go on is the product was on the premises and shouldn't have been, right? That's that's the reality here. Yeah. Yeah. So, um any other discussion about
it? Anything? Not make a motion of what to to do here. Um I guess it'll depend upon the vote. So, let's someone can make a motion at least to get started. Make a decision.
I move that we uh find Cape Cod Farms $2,000 for a second offense and that the tobacco sales permit shall be suspended for seven cone consecutive days and they can name the day to start that within
the next three days. Is there a second to the motion? Second. Any discussion? Um you say three days. Is that to decide or decide? They they need to now. They need to decide now, but they can start within
3 days that 7-day consecutive day suspension. Okay. next Monday. We don't we don't have any further discussion. So, we're going to put Okay. Okay. All right.
So, all in favor of the motion, just raise your hand, say I. I. Okay. So, the motion passes. So, just make sure um there's a $2,000 uh fee penalty. Okay. Has that been paid
or not? No. Have we got the check? Not yet. So, looks like then we need to process that with you. And we also need to know when the 7-day suspension will start. It has
to be within the next three days. So, you just need what day do you want to start? You're going to put on your side whenever you said by tomorrow or by you want it to start tomorrow. Uh they buy tomorrow. Yeah.
Wednesday. Wednesday. Wednesday. Yeah. So you'll have all products off the shelf. All tobacco. Off the shelves. Off the shelves. Out of sight, not on the stairs. Yeah. I'll be I'll be by I'll be by Wednesday morning. Yeah. Sure. So the legal products just have to be
stored elsewhere on the property that don't have to leave the property. Okay. But the illegal products should be gone. Oh, by now I took them. Do you have any questions? Just make sure you're clear on this.
Yeah, we are clear on this. We're going to be okay. On Wednesday from the onwards. Yeah. Just don't take chances like this. Yeah. Okay. Stay on top of it. Okay.
Thank you for coming in. Okay. Uh number six, review and approve minutes. The first one is August 18th, 2025,
which hopefully everyone looked at it in their packets. Any any questions about it? Anyone comments, edits? They looked okay to me. They fine. Anyone? Just um just the spelling on pa on the last page
for council town council um under seven the third paragraph the last paragraph council is not spelled with an I when it's the town council that they look great anybody anything else on that okay So
make a motion to pass the minutes then for the state. Thank you. Move that we approve the meeting minutes of the board of health from August 18th, 2025 as presented. Second.
Okay. So all in favor say I. Okay. So, um, where are we? So, December 4th, 2023. I'm sure many of us don't remember all the details. Remember it? Well,
okay. Some of them. Okay. Very surpris. The male rooster. Yes. Rachel the male the male rooster. They only come in. Yeah, that's right. It was lively. Um, okay. So, anybody anybody changes? Anything?
No. Okay. Someone make this motion. This should be a simple motion to pass. And it's the minutes, the date. Come on, somebody. Let's go. Mary. Mary, stop. I move we approve the Yarmouth Board of Health Meeting minutes from December 4th, 2023.
Someone second it, please. Second. Hey, we're in this. Okay. All in favor say I. Okay. So, that passes as well. looking at the party, new and old business. Looks like the first thing with the dates, we have a sheet of dates
here for our meeting schedule as well as the filing deadlines. Um, our next meeting going to this is October 6. Anything else on this, Mary? On the dates or new business of this on the schedule here one page at
a time? Nope. I'm good with it. Great. Okay. Uh, next thing in our packet was a zoning board of appeals hearing application. That I think we could use an explanation. I'm not even sure what quite going on there. The I just wanted to give the board a
heads up. Um, we had a couple uh businesses that are switching um styles. The laundry mat right down here on 28, they're they're wanting to put in some a 40B in there. um some afford affordable housing and switch it from a laundry mat. And
then Jmart also has put an application in to upgrade their store and do some uh uh employee apartments above their units also. So, which is good. Town needs more stuff and a little facelift on 28. So,
two good things for sure. A vertical or horizontal expansion? Vertical. It's vertical. Yeah. Okay. Well, believe it or not, Jmart has a lot more footprint than what you see right out front. So,
I just meant in terms of, you know, oh, um, business, they're expanding and and it's great, but, you know, laundromat now becomes affordable housing. That's their business, you know, to kind of It's interesting, but like Hill said,
it's needed. Yeah. Glad to see it. Okay. Next item here is about the Yarms proposed zoning bylaws amendments. Barry similar that's I I I combined both of
those into the the same one. I apologize. This one's about live lobsters, right? Oh, that one that I apologize. Yes. Trailer boat. So, that's the one that they're it's going in front of the the ZBA to allow lobster sales in a non-
business in a residential area. Um, I'm sure you guys have all heard about the lobster salesman and it's not zoned properly. He's been doing it right there on the corner of 28 and West Road all summer. Um, there he has a
petition to go back to selling at his neighborhood. So, Okay, anybody on that? Um, this is an article on choosing a green way to rest in peace. What caught my eye was uh the start of the article was really about Cape Cod. Um, which was
kind of timely. Um, and I don't know if people took the time to read it or not, but it it it's kind of nice what someone was trying to accomplish for themselves of burying someone. It's out in Walthleet. Um, and
it's in a cemetery, which is a little different than what we have worked on. I mean, I think we've been pretty proactive, but we were only addressing uh private residents properties. We really haven't dealt with cemeteries at this point. I don't know. Has
Wealthfleet done anything for green burials in cemeteries? Do you know? I I That's hybrid accommodating both conventional and green bars. So I assumed that meant in regulation than you think I I I don't know. I don't know either. I don't know either.
Um all my research I don't require I recall anything from well fleet. So tell anything about well fleet I I don't recall seeing it might have been working on the same time we were working on it. So could be um and I do know one person who's on a board from one of the cemeteries in town
is thinking about starting to work with that and figure out what they want to do. Yep. Okay. That's that's just of interest. There's a letter here to Barry. Maybe you want to tell us. So, yeah, this is a a very wonderful
citizen who Hi, if you're watching, thank you very much. Um, who watches all of our meetings online, everything, and she developed cataracts uh recently. Um, couldn't see, didn't have the money to get there. And luckily enough, through one of our grants, through our human
resource grants that we funded, which was I'm pretty sure it was a sight loss service one, she was able to help afford get her surgery done and the the transportation up to Boston to have the procedure done. And she was very nice. Wrote just wrote a nice little letter.
Um, we talk about a lot of bad stuff and I just wanted to give something very nice to the board for you guys. So, um, what we do does make a difference whether it's always good or bad. So, thank you for the letter. I appreciate it. Yep. Very nice. It's nice
uh for her and for us also. Yeah. Some feedback. Uh positive feedback. It's great. Uh there's only one other item I think we're going to mention um right now and that's the open meeting law guide and educational materials
uh packet that you gave us. Anything s? Can you talk about that a little bit please? No, just briefly just that that was just updated. So, I'm just making sure that you all haven't updated. Um, so they go through that every five years or so um with the state
and um so that has a date I believe of June 2025. they just reviewed it and so um just want to make sure that um that you all were aware of it and there's training I'm sure that will be coming down the pipeline as well um that I'm
make available via a link that you guys can all watch as well or print out information if you need to but just like to keep you guys all updated. I don't think there's significant changes but um they do look at it just to see you know um especially with COVID and hybrid
meetings and things like that. So those changes are they try to kind of keep on top of that and how to address those. So yeah, it's a good reminder for us that we just trying to keep what we do public. Public is entitled to know whatever we're really doing.
There's one exception maybe for an executive session, but other than that really it's everything's public, which is great. Anyone else? Any new or old business that's not in the packet? I got one. Um, I'd like to give a big shout out to my housing department and
Riley and Sarah. Also, this year, as of today, we have 3,234 rental units. Of those, 2,400 are long-term rentals, 834 short-term rentals. And on the good
news, and when we started this process, we always said nothing was perfect. We only have 35 units that are outstanding. That's less than 1%. It's yeah, Riley, Heather, I Deb, right, Brian, they're they're doing a great job.
They're they're work work together as a unit to get this. And what those a lot of those 35 are are new owners. People have bought new houses and don't realize that they need a rental or aren't even renting anymore. So,
right, that number could be even smaller. And that 3,200 number is a little over 100 more than we were this time last year. So, we're finding some and making money for the town. How many did you say were long-term? 2,400
because um at the select board meeting the other night, they were talking about um long-term rentals um at um Oh, yes, that's right. Um Senator incentivizing or you know, so yeah, that's important. That's a good
proportion that are long-term. I thought I last year we're at like 30 35% that were still outstanding and we're at less than 1%. So, right at 1%. That's amazing.
Yep. Anyone else you want to be doing in the future or not doing in the future or anything? Um I Okay. Well, well, we we understand what the process is now for the the
regulation. Which regulation? The plastic reduction regulation. Okay. The the the um the intent is to have this replace the bylaw and that is going to be on the warrant for the November
18th town meeting. So anyone if you can be there to support that um then that will go away and this will be in its place and this is the workable solution to work toward reducing and eventually eliminating as much plastic as we can.
Mary, you represented the board on the task force. Thank you. Y what was your experience working with the task force? It was great. I mean the um the the select board um it was interesting. I I I went to the meeting last week when it went to the select board because we had
to present our work product to them because they had tasked us with it. Um and Bob Written um toward the end said, you know, this is great. He said, "I have some other problems I could use you to work on. I didn't put my hand up or
anything, but um yeah, it was it was good. I mean, there was there was discussion. um um stop and shop was a big part of it. Thank you again. Um and um and it was very um encouraging to know that
everybody was like-minded in terms of understanding that prochemical products are not good, that we don't want plastics around, if we can at all avoid them. um but that you have to be realistic um about how you go about
eliminating them because there are some valid reasons that we have them right now now for the way that we eat. I was thinking back you know women used to make their own potato salad and their own macaroni salad and you know they didn't go to the store to buy those
products but I wager most people buy those products nowadays. So, um, and one of the things we came across was it it is a big difference between Stop and Shop and the local retailers. Local
retailers, you're taking food home for that night for maybe the next day, not long term. So, the health and safety isn't as much. They can get away with the bamboo and the more the paper products, whereas the stop shops and stuff like that, you go get your deli
meat in those bags. are microbial in there to help the products last a week or more. So that's I didn't realize that. I thought it was just a ziploc baggie, but it's it was an eye openener for everything for us. So,
but everyone, you know, had the good intent to eliminate as much as we can. So, and work together very well. And again, I have 10 restaurants come and say, "Barry, we can't find a replacement for this." I'm pretty sure all 10 of
those restaurants and facilities have tried to find a replacement for this. Where I have one restaurant say, "Oh, I can't find a replacement for this." Well, your nine other counterparts have. Let's find a solution for you and work
it out. So, it's it's going to be a lot, but it's going to be a lot of the same thing over and over. And we're going to update the list every year cuz um we had one of the the manufacturers, Cape Cod Paper Supply, came in and he said, "Hey, every all the time there's new products
coming out that are more and more in favor of help reducing the plastics in town." So, and he said he's going to make some money. I We won't see any of it, but he will. It's okay. your donation. Yeah, donation here and there.
Um, but yeah, so it's again, it's not what the original ban was for, but it's we will be there and we are one of the front runners on the Cape. So, I'm glad to be part of that. Anything anyone else? Just
Eric, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but I really don't want to burden Mary anymore tonight. I mean, so we would need a motion for everyone to actually leave the room at some point. I can do that. Um before that just in witnessing this whole process with the plastic reduction I I would love to see
a collaborative effort similar to that in terms of pesticide reduction but I think we've learned in reading that our hands are tied a little bit at this point in time because the state um
through the department of agriculture has their own task force um a pesticide board and they are the sole authority for regulation of um pesticide application and determining
how those products are applied and what products are applied. I think the only thing that's really in our purview is related to what goes down on town property. So I think we all probably did a little bit of reading on that and came up with
similar findings. we could put it on the agenda and we're talking perhaps property that's not the golf courses or whatever. We could we can certainly do that. There's been a lot of uh news this week from uh the group or the movement
of Make America Healthy Again that are concerned that restrictions um are being lessened a little bit that there's more freedom perhaps for the companies making these products. it's
going the other way and so um they're actually concerned about it that uh they're allowing the companies to maybe get away with not having to pay fines for you know all the lawsuits dealing with cancers so on. So that's
sort of a change a little bit. We'll we'll see what goes on. But why don't we put it on the agenda to for discussion purposes and everybody do some homework on it and think about it is something we can do just on town property that maybe
one one thing that would make it better, healthier here. Yeah. My just based on my memory, I don't believe that the schools are applying um Roundup. I don't know if you anyone can correct me there. Um, so I
believe they've chosen to discontinue the use of that product, which is good. My understanding as well, my understanding is that they also have to submit an integrated pest management plan to the state for review. Yeah.
Every so often. Um, which is another good thing. But, you know, you mentioned the some of the some of the chemical companies. Um I believe the panel of the pesticide board um who is responsible
for writing some of the regulations is comprised of industry people as well as representatives from chemical companies. Um so yeah it's they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying for themselves. Same
thing happened with tobacco companies. This is not new. Um, one thing is maybe look at the playgrounds in in town. Yeah. Should we maybe try to do something there with the kids playing around on the grass? Maybe we we focus on that.
Bar to put it on the agenda for discussion purposes. All right. For discussion. Yeah. I got one last thing just um for Charlie and Hillard. Your terms are up at the end of October if you don't have to make a decision tonight, but just start thinking about if you want to continue
to be with the board. So, thank you. Yes, ma'am. I'd also just remind um us that we're having the awareness month. Um so, September, so the 23rd of September between 3 and 4:30. Um the Yarmouth, well, now they're called Cape Cod
Community Pantry. They were the Yarmouth Food Pantry, but they've changed their name. So, they're now Cape Cod Community Pantry will be providing um healthy snacks to um people that come in. And we also have a coloring contest, which we've received one coloring page. so far. So, we're definitely reaching out
to the schools, but um so people are aware of it and just kind of, you know, it's a good initiative to get people to be, you know, it's childhood obesity, which is what we're focusing on this month. So, um so what just you can state it again for the
public listening, what what is your goal here because you put a lot of effort into this. Great. The goal is each month the health department will be providing some sort of an awareness. So, we've have the next four months planned out. So this month was childhood obesity awareness month. So we will be giving out you know
snacks, healthy snacks on the 23rd. We're doing a coloring contest which is a plate and they're coloring in some food on the plate to make them aware of it. We're providing handouts and such. Next month will be breast cancer awareness um and then November is diabetes and then December will be um an
angel tree something similar to that where people So it's just to bring awareness each month to something um that um you know is a a good health you know related type of event so that people get resources here on Cape as
well because I don't think like when we had the vet guy come it was amazing like I don't think a lot of people knew that we had those resources here on Cape Cod. So, it's just to bring awareness that there are resources here on Cape Cod for people to um you know utilize if they
can. So, how did you advertise this? Oh, how are you? Um it was on social media, on the Facebook page, we have it on our homepage um on the health department. Um we have flyers posted about town hall. Um you know, we're giving out free crayons. We have a limited amount, you
know, and um just kind of word of mouth and things. So, pantry did they cod pantry their their advertising as well um on her on her page as well. So, um and each month we're hoping we're kind of get you know at the end of it we'll do kind of a survey and see
assessment of how it works and so that hopefully next year we can do better and um and just keep this up because it's something I think that's it's a good resource for us not only you know to just make people aware of different things. So, and it's a positive face for the health
department. Correct. Yeah. To get people to come in even just even to come in and and to come into town hall and here's a flyer on something or here's some information and hey, how you doing? You know, we could talk to you on the phone about 50 times, but nice to meet you. And the kids come in. I missed the little girl
that came to drop off for Riley was here. So, it was very cute. It's timely as the prices going up for food. We go to the stores and the less expensive food really has much higher uh
caloric levels to it. A lot of calories. Yeah. You know, less expensive food. Talk about processed foods too now finally coming into into the public's eye. I hope with obesity and causes of that. Um I'm curious Cape Cod um the
family Cape Cod family pantry or Cape Cod pantry which is it? It's uh Cape Cod. I'm sorry, I just closed it. But um Cape Cod. No, I missed it. Sorry.
So, did they um are they um joining with any of the other pantries on the Cape? I think when she came in actually for the grant, she actually mentioned that meeting. Okay. I'm sorry. So, she she mentioned that because they don't only just ser they don't want to just make it just Yarmouth. Correct. Yes. So they did they
changed their name to a common and that makes sense because right when when it the the other towns they don't have their town name in the P. Correct. Correct. So good. I'm I'm glad at least for that reason they're doing that. Gives them more buying power.
If they all combine that gives them more buying power. Absolutely. That's why I wondered if maybe they especially now um if they were thinking about that. Correct. Because the big food pantry in Boston that they get their meats from and all that's in trouble too in terms
of funding. Yes. So yes, I'm going to move that we adjourn. Second. Okay. All in favor raise your hand say I. Okay. Meetings adjourned. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Recording stopped.