##VIDEO ID:sXEw-h9lfu4## e e e e e e e [Music] PA [Music] of uh September 23rd 2024 please note this meeting is being recorded and will be available shortly Hereafter for scheduled and On Demand viewing on any smartphone or tablet device pursuant to Governor Haley's haly's March 29th 2023 signing of the acts of 2023 extending certain covid-19 measures adopted during the state of emergency suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law until March 31st 2025 this meeting of the chadam Board of Health is being conducted in person in via remote participation sorry I needed to mute myself every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings as provided for in the order a reminder that persons who would like to listen to this meeting while in progress may do so by calling the number 1 158 945 4410 conference 8741 14709 pound or join the meeting online via Microsoft teams through the link in the posted agenda while this is a live broadcast and simoc cast on Channel chadam TV 10 72 uh despite our best efforts we may not be able to provide realtime access we post the record of this meeting on the town's website as soon as possible um I'll turn the meeting over to Dr Noble Hansen our chairman uh thank you it shall be the policy of this board to conduct its meetings under the open meetings law so as to encourage public participation whenever time permits and as part of agenda item discussions so we have four items on the agenda today but first we'll EST Lish a quorum and when I call your name please say uh present Carol Boyce pres John Beckley president Ron Broman here dick Edwards president Noble Hansen I'm here and we have our alternate Carol Gordon here okay so first on the agenda is um a variance hearing and approval of IA technology for Benjamin and Heather Morgan 98 Horizon Drive East Southeast LLC and that ELD is here to present the case good afternoon for the record th ELD J Southeast Ben Morgan's in the audience so we have a 26,000 foot laot just shy 25 953 um so by right it would have two bedrooms we're asking for a third with IIA technology that will be right next to the driveway we've proposed micro just cuz that's the the version that comes in H20 wheel loading we've provided all the requisite information including floor plans um he doesn't know what he wants to do with the basement at the moment I know that there was a request made the other day for um the basement floor plans if it is anything it'll be a large open room and a mechanical room along with a bathroom uh to service the pool he's not even sure if he's going to build the pool at this point so we're we're ready for the eventual but at the moment not proposing everything there are questions I'm happy to answer them um okay thank you um just the the sewage Disposal system plans address is zero Horizon Drive but it's the the address on the variant request is 98 Horizon Drive when we did the plans we didn't have an address so it started out of zero but then as he got a building permit together it um they assigned an address so in the end it will be 98 Horizon Drive I believe so okay great unless they change their minds on that and by they unless the town changes their mind on the on the final address but okay thank you uh questions from the board I guess the right the basement plan wasn't with the original information we have now we have it and um three [Music] bedrooms okay uh so it's a a 2,953 ft line so normally eligible for two bedrooms uh and with the variance uh a third bedroom can be given normally uh with a stu um so it looks pretty uh straightforward um and does somebody want to make a a re motion I recommend we approve this variant with the uh conditions stated on J yeah and then a second second okay Ron a second and um I guess Judy you want to read the uh or any input from the public in the audience or online okay and then maybe Judy can read the conditions the uh typical nine conditions the applicant should restrict the property to a maximum of three bedrooms and record the restriction on the deed at the Barnesville County registry of deeds and submit a copy of the executed deed restriction to the health department the applicant shall sign a covenant with the board agreeing to comply at such time as the town of chadam through its Board of Health Andor Board of Water and Sewer Commissioners directs the connection of this property to the municipal swer when it becomes available throughout its life the system shall be under an operation and maintenance agreement the onm agreement shall be for at least one Year and may be with any Mass certified operator of the appropriate grade that is receiv received training by the company on the operation of assistant effluent of the system shall be monitored at least twice per year for the first two years preferably in May in October the F1 shall be field tested in accordance with mass D standard conditions for secondary treatment unit certified for General use um in addition a lab test of the F1 for total nitrogen to meet the performance standards of 19 milligrams per liter shall be collected and analyzed by a certified lab water meter readings are to be provided with the semiannual report if any of the field tests or lab test fail followup test shall be conducted by a certified lab and an evaluation by the operator Within in 30 days after the required two years testing application can be made to the board or its agent for review and possible modification of the monitoring requirements the applicant agrees to apply a minimum of 6 in compacted top sale to all Disturbed areas of the property the engineer shall submit an engineered asilt plan including asilt elevations with a written certification that the system has been installed in accordance with the approved plan no alteration to the floor plan of the dwelling where the engineered site plan will be allowed without without further review by the board or its agent the variance this variance should be granted pursu to the town of chadam subsurface sewage regulations and nitrogen loading regulations is valid for one year from the date of the Board of Health approval a permit must be issued and work commence during that oneyear period or the variance shall expire okay thank you uh so no input from the public and I guess we can probably go ahead and take uh a voice uh vote on this um all in favor of the variance for 98 and drive say yes yes yes all oppose say no okay so that variance is granted uh for 98 Horizon Drive thank you much have a good afternoon River this is the last uh next on the agenda is um a prelim Min AR subdivision plan review for Eastwood companies 155 Bridge Street Clark engineering LLC outermost land survey Inc and David Clark is here to present the uh request for variance uh David Clark and Clark engineering of B Eastward uh Susan Leo was also here online um can you speak a little louder sure uh Susan Leo is also here um I don't know if Susan's got something prep prepare or not um yeah I'll just let David to the presentation I'm here for questions thank you so uh this is a two lot subdivision one being a panhandle and the other lot uh conforming to all aspects of zoning um both lots have the minimum buildable Upland um we'll be proceeding with a definitive plan in the next few months um so happy to answer any questions uh yeah dick I so this is the last lot before the bridge on the right going down Bridge Street it's like a big head if you're heading east it's the is one right on the river y so there are no houses in there nope not anymore they've been they've been there wor two houses on there yeah okay so the tennis court and there were two houses there that was okay all removed so they're all removed and the uh SE septic systems for those houses still there um I I think they've been removed at this point um but uh since we're starting from scratch it will have to everything will have to conform to zoning and your uh nitrogen ring regulations well that's quite a property how big is this whole parcel um think it's 66,000 square feet an acre and a half uh 2.83 Acres 2.83 there we go okay 2.83 three acres each each lot the buildable Upland is 33,000 over 30,000 each yeah that's that's the zoning buildable Upland the uh the border of Health Upland area will be larger than that quite appro uh any other questions or comments uh from the board um any question or comments from the public and I just one general question for Judy just kind of um describe to me what what we're doing when we approve a preliminary subdivision plan what what what you what are we doing exactly just from as a board of health uh basically we're just um approving it for the use of um for building for subsurface sewage you're basically saying that the lot is um suitable suitable yeah so there's no reason from a public health standpoint to deny it and the detailed plans are to be forward later right so this is the preliminary plan and if there's any changes made by the planning board I assume assume then they'll come back with a final plan yeah well the the final plan will have details on the driveway construction um that's really the only other thing that's required under under the statute okay other questions or comments from the board and then I asked if there was uh comments from the public and maybe we can get a motion on the variance let move we approve the preliminary uh subdivision plan and a second and a second Carol um okay and there are this does not have um specific just a there's no conditions on this sort of thing okay we can probably go ahead and vote uh orley all in favor say I I and I'll oppose say no okay so that uh that preliminary subdivision plan review for 155 Bridge Street is granted thank you thank you thank you thank you okay okay so uh next on the agenda is uh we've asked Rob failey to come by D DPW director to um talk to us about uh complaints we've had about ERS from the uh transfer station primarily the blue building the big tin building there um and uh maybe uh initially uh rob you can just uh present to us the the problem that's that's there with the with the with the um the uh blue building from your standpoint sure thank you Mr chair uh so Rob failey director of Public Works so the as you said the primary odor source is from The Tipping floor which is the big blue building um of that the commercial haulers dropping the trash from typically from restaurants is probably the biggest contributor to the odors um usually that trash contains a lot of liquids um you know fish parts and things of that nature that combined with the condition of the Tipping floor which is actual the concrete pour concrete floor um the concrete is falling in numerous areas the rebar is becoming exposed it's not a flat or smooth surface uh yeah your online feed is Frozen Here we lost you for a second we lost you for a second there Rob okay am I back yes you're back sorry about that um so there's a large rubber blade on the bucket of the loader which kind of acts as a squeegee that helps us clean the the surface a little bit better um the uneven floor kind of tears that rubber apart um even when we power wash the floor doesn't really get cleaned it it kind of chips away more of the concrete and um and the liquids still stay in those those crevices uh that are there so um so that's basically the the situation we're in now and uh our ability to to clean it the best as the best we can uh yeah so your your reply um said that you clean it every one to two months you you power spray that that floor yeah less so in the summer just that's when it's needed most but we just can't shut the building down enough to power wash it we typically do it on a Wednesday when we're not open to the public um but usually there's so many other things going on with the amount of um people visiting the transfer station we typically do it like once in June and then we skip the summer and do it again in September okay um but typically yeah about every two months dick Edwards so the the trash haulers back their trucks into the building and dump the refu on the floor is it possible to back all the way in and dump it into the trailers that are at the back I mean it seems kind of silly to dump liquid you know fish Parts onto a floor that you only wash once every two months you know and and you have those trailers parked in there and if the truck backed all the way in and dumped into the trailer you wouldn't have all that standing liquid so that's one question the other question is how much more we is dumped into that building this year than say 5 years ago before the before covid I mean it's we've had an enormous increase the number of people in chadam during the summer months and yet we haven't changed anything in terms of the way we manage the trash we still just clean it every two months every month one to two month I mean seems we're just asking for a a major I know you go in there the the the Monday after the 4th of July weekend it's horrible in there and you know there are 100 seagulls in there flying around and there's all pile piles 108 feet high uh you know can you figure out a way to get the trash into the trailers and get the trailer out of the new trailer in there more often particularly given the dramatic increase in the amount of use that that building gets I have no idea how how many people are in chatam but it seems to me we have like 20,000 people 25,000 people in the month of July it's it's outrageous and if you you know if you live 500 yards from the from that facility it's going to be difficult uh Carol uh so Rob it looks like you're uh you're looking to us to uh talk about the $300,000 that it would take uh to we have that slab and you're looking for the Board of Health to to kind of say that yes that would be a good idea maybe move forward with it to Jill is that what you're looking for no I mean that would be helpful that would be a first step and you know taking some of the previous comments I've just heard that um you know it is it may not be the most Progressive system that we have in place what it does give us an opportunity to review some of the refuse that's deposited there and it's likely that that uh that load will be rejected at Cass when we bring it over if we have an opportunity to kind of handle it and load it into the trailers ourselves okay well I guess um the the question that I have is um you have the problem as it exists and if anyone who goes and looks at the floor it's it's pretty amazing sometimes that it's you know it's sludge an inch or two it's it's it's something so the question is and you're not going to there's not going to be a new dump who knows when new transfer station next town meeting maybe it'll come up again uh maybe not um and even if it did you're talking about probably years to get something done so the the question that I have that might address the complaints we have is what what are what can be done now to to make the situation better clean it more frequently are there is there other technology disinfectants uh cleaning systems that are used at other transfer stations and is it possible that you you mentioned U just redoing the floor is that something that's that might possibly be done before a whole new transfer station is put in is that is that something that you have thought about or talked about with the town um is that even possible to go in there and lay a new leg concrete and epoxy finish it or something yes so so we do use a disinfectant when we uh when we clean um and it does help uh incredible amount of reduction of odors when we do that um but it comes back pretty quickly when you say quickly what do you mean in a couple of days or a couple of weeks or it depends on it all depends sometimes it if you have a uh a few dumpsters that have been sitting in the sun for a week and uh the first truck that brings it in it could it could return and they're only cleaning every month or two I mean is there a reason why you you couldn't clean every two weeks uh it's just uh staff resources um we do the best we can um it does take about four hours to to clean it efficiently is that something you've asked for the resources to do it uh uh is is there a discussion going on with the town or is it just something you're handling as best you can until something changes we we are handling the best we can we were hoping to as a stop Gap measure pour a new floor um that I think that'll alleviate a lot of the concerns you were hoping to do that is that something that's been discussed with the town or uh not as of yet we were discussing whether the additional money we had available we could uh put forward some kind of an effort like that but uh it hasn't been determined whether that would have to go to town meeting or not doesn't seem having a new floor is going to help very much if you're only cleaning it every two months I mean that stuff's just going to sit there on a new floor well it would it would be a much quicker effort if it was a new floor if it was a smooth concrete floor so you would do it more often it sounds like it never really gets clean anyway with the crevices and you can see rebars you see them they're showing right a question yeah I was on the board of health when the pushed to get it clean sometime and that's when they went to close down on Wednesdays so aren't you still closed on Wednesdays yes yes we are isn't that a good day to close it clean it nice there's nobody dropping stuff up there and you got the people working we do but we're open uh six days a week we still have staff there on Wednesdays so it's uh it's kind of a scheduling issue um if we have a holiday then the employee that worked during that holiday needs to take a day off to cover for that holiday so then another employee needs to come in and cover their shift during overtime so it's kind of a vicious cycle we're going through we're trying to find a remedy to that um but yeah I'm not trying to make excuses I'm just trying to make it better for uh all chatam residents well I think the big issue for us is we have the complaint you know you're trying to handle the problem is there something that that we can or should do that would help you um you know help the transfer station problem and help the town uh John I've got a question Rob is it possible that the time of the arrival of the commercial trucks has a has a role on the odor generation and the odor problem what I'm alluding to is is there a time of day when the commercial trucks could be directed to come and drop their loads that would somehow reduce the odor production from them from those loads uh that was one thought I had is there any potential to affect the timing of those restaurant uh trucks coming in that would reduce the odor production the other question I have is there any kind of techn techology that could be installed I'm thinking of a large exhaust fan in the roof of the building that runs through say charcoal activated charcoal in a way that would that would um remove uh organic odors just an idea and I don't know the answer each each of those things I don't know what the answer would be I'm I'm not sure if uh the the time of day would make a difference uh for the commercial holders because the whether the trash is sitting in a dumpster or in their truck or um you know I think it would it would probably result in the in the same and uh and and for your uh ventilation question I I'm not familiar with anything I don't claim to be an expert but I can certainly do a little bit of research thank you how many commercial haulers use the transfer station right now I think we have three three three inch Adam um and then yeah and then when the the plans that were uh turned down for a a new transfer station I think it there was like a separate commercial a spot would would that be for more trans more um commercial haulers to use the perspective dump it didn't pass but was that in the plan as you understood it just a question so there were a couple of variations in the plan uh one of them was uh for a future phase three where the Tipping floor building would be used just for commercial haulers uh that plan also showed uh phase one where um some of the dumpsters at the recycling area would be used for municipal solid waste and residents would go there to dump their uh trash into the dumpster so so there was a separation we had kind of uh spoke to a lot of the employees down there looked at older generators um thinking that the Tipping floor would still be the Tipping floor and the new dumpsters with Municipal Solid Waste would be another odor source so we were revising that and trying to just rehab The Tipping floor building at least to get it um stable and smooth uh eliminate and still have residents and Commercial haulers still use the Tipping floor but it didn't get it didn't get passed so we're beyond that point dick can I asked uh does the front end loader go in there and scrape the floor uh clean uh every day before the uh the close of business at the end of the day or does does some of that garbage sit there overnight some of the trailers uh may be full and we bring him into the Tipping floor overnight we H we hire uh a hauling contractor to bring the trailers to Cass would you said before Rob that Cass could reject the load what what are you talking about if we have things in there that are not compliant with what they accept if we have electrical components what we've seen is people who are going through cancer treatments and um you may have an adult diaper and um it goes through it it's radioactive and we'll get a load rejected and it has to sit in a trailer in our yard for for several weeks until their radioactivity dissipates does that happen often uh I've been here a year and a half it's happened I think twice so far for me okay all right um so as a temporary measure because it may be years before this substantially changes um manpower to more frequently clean the floor as it is or pouring a new slab that would give you something that was easier to clean and that would be more cleanable U uh might be uh solutions that we you would get to at this time but it sounds like to wait years before something is done is is is is getting kind of tough now I I'm no expert but by any means but I but just in brief reading it seems like the modern transportation is a closed building with a with an internal air filtration system that keeps everything there and and processes it so none of that gets outside um so I don't know if that was in the new plans but what we have is totally different than that um I mean yeah Ron I just wonder if he can't work around on that Wednesdays because he's closed no one can get in there well it sounds like it's a it's a for him for Mr phy it's a Manpower problem uh I mean they they're not there on Wednesdays well he said some people are Mr fail maybe you can explain that again about I mean how many Wednesday to to clean it weekly say just as a that's what it was that's why we closed on Wednesdays that was the original were you you were here I don't think they were closed just to clean the floor they they have a lot of other activities that they have to do up there um so and they have limited staff so you know I think that's what Rob's getting at the I was here when that it was most of it was the complaints that was coming in about the smell up there and the junk on the floor they they closed it down so that they can do it on Wednesdays well that's that was what I remember going through dick has had up next I personally think it's unacceptable to clean this thing less often than every two to three weeks to clean it every two months I think is unacceptable and therefore I think we should recommend to the select board that more staff be allocated to the trash uh uh disposal uh group uh so that this can be done in a way that doesn't produce a health problem and I think the ERS emanating from that thing you constitute a health problem for people who live nearby and so something needs to be done and if they don't have enough staff to clean it at a re reasonably frequent so that the thing stinks in the summer right then something needs to be done and if you know they're closed on Wednesday they should be able to clean it every two or three weeks uh unless they they clearly don't have enough staff and they should have more staff well that gets to the question of what we can do that would help Mr failey get Manpower or whatever to help take care of the problem problem we plan to talk about the other thing that came up is um whether we should inspect it and just actually look ourselves so we can say that yes we were there and we saw it but well there after the 4th of July weekend he brings his family on field trips over there John uh another observation is the fact that we always talk about this at the same time every summer right we don't have an older problem there in March we don't have an odor problem there in November we have an odor problem there during several tight weeks not a lot when you have a converging of factors right high temperature high humidity a lot of people in town months we have a problem I think I than it was years ago I don't even think it's bad for three months I think if you if you went back in time and calculated the timing of the complaints it would all be in a fairly narrow window of time and so maybe the way to to respond is to Marshall extra resources for a fairly short period of time to address the need for Odor Control during the peak odor weeks of the year more frequent washing in warm months in in more in a very targeted way like from Memorial Day to Labor Day is that what you're thinking I don't even think that wrong okay I think it's I think this isy and I can go back in time I think with some notes but and we're only talking four hours to clean it I understand my point is you don't have to clean it every week year round my point is you could focus targeted resources or a certain strategic window of time right and spend less money but at least Tamp down the odor epidemic during the during the peak time when you have these factors all converging right it's the Heat and the enormous increase ination the amount the humidity and the humidity and then could you couple could you put together a plan maybe you use deodorizers maybe you use fans maybe you you know use whatever else you can to try and get get through those like I said four hours isn't a long period of time it seems like there should be somebody should be able to be a to be allocated to do that right for 4 hours the other problem is is the condition of the floor because it really it's almost uncleanable if you're looking there with the cracks what Mr fail what's what's the um uh reasonableness of of redoing just the floor alone in handling the problem is that something that you view as a possibility or that you would think about recommending or um do you think it would take care of the problem because it may be years until this transport station is changed ever sure I I would say more more than additional resources for you know Staffing it's the floor condition that is uh a bigger priority um the floor never really gets clean even when we wash it yeah um I think we would cut our cleaning time in half if it was a smooth floor um and I think you know I think a lot of the issues would I don't I don't want to say they'd be eliminated but they'd be reduced substantially so it could be both but you indicated that there is some money that's already in a a pot somewhere for the transfer station use yeah according to this right so so there was a capital article that was passed um several years ago we asked for additional money to do both phases we were only able to do the the uh the office building you know the garage and the and the staff building um we have some additional money left over from that initial uh Capital article that we could use for the transfer for the floor for the Tipping floor building and is that enough you think in the range of being able to do that particular project the floor you know a lot of it depends on what bids come in at but we have to really come up with a solid uh plan to make sure um we may be even able to do that as a change order I don't want to I don't want to say it's probably above the uh percentage cost of the existing contractor that's on site all right John and then some public is it possible to invest the new floor money first and still at a later date do the other updates while still preserving the future use of the new floor or if you put the new floor in and then you do the full um update then are you throwing away the money you spent on the floor or can you seemed to me you would still be able to have beneficial use of the new floor at a later date if you just front loaded that Mr failey did you yes that's that's correct that it wouldn't be a sacrificial floor it could be reused okay um and it all depends you know future you know if there was a some plan in the future for redoing the entire operation there um that's when that's when that would be discussed if if there was like a trough method or something else where it's a conveyor that would bring it directly into the trailers um without having us to maneuver the loader through there all the time right so it could be aor that's a much bigger discussion it could be a floor incorporated into into a a new structure there not sacrificial you said right interesting um all right let's take some questions from the public anyone online main uh yes thank you um I've had this discussion before about this this particular phase uh one of the things that I think is the bigger issue is that chadam has become a regional transfer station and that's because the commercial haulers that are approved to come in to chadam uh also serve as Harwich Brewster Orleans and the reality is they're bringing their trash to chattam and they're bringing their garbage to chatam and we never bought on to be being a regional facility but that that's what we've become and I would venture to Guess that Harwich Brewster and Orleans don't have the same issues we have because we are getting all the refuges from those different commercial haulers now I don't know how you handle it and say we are not going to be taking any personal household Refuge from any other town because that's what's causing it chadam chadam has to pay for this I mean this next phase of the project is going to be very expensive for us and yet we are you know the D it's not going to improve the quality of life for those of us who use a transfer station in chadam uh there's not going to be more parking the building's going to remain the same and I have a serious problem with the fact that we are not controlling what is coming in from other towns they're bringing it to us instead you know this is our transport station we're not supposed to be Regional eventually our rates are going to go up because you know when they when it's taken off Cape there are issues and that cost us money uh so I I think that's the bigger issue that has to be addressed um you know the damage to that floor is not necessarily from chadam it's from all of our surrounding towns and we're getting that refu and that's what's causing the odor and we're going to fix the floor and it's going to happen again eventually so if there's a way that you can say only construction materials from other towns we're not taking Refuge um and they can deliver that to their respective towns if it's coming from Harwich it stays in Harwich and if it's coming from Brewster Orleans it stays there and not in chadam thank you uh thank you uh yeah Mr failey do you has there been a discussion of how much of the commercial uh Refuge is from other towns and how much is from chattam and we do Nickerson and milley and those people do they go harch and Orleans I don't know but do you know uh they do and we asked them to only bring cadams residents trash but you know it's an honor System there's no way we can really hold them accountable and do do you have an estimate or an idea of how much is coming from other towns no you know I I really don't um you could in it anecdotally we dumps yeah anecdotally we can you know surmise that there is a certain percentage but I really don't have a good uh grasp on what that would be it has the commercial uh volume increase in the last you know several years or I guess you you don't yeah absolutely as as more people are staying in chatam full-time um it has increased yeah yeah um other other uh questions or input from the public no okay uh other comments or questions from the board so well I think that it was brought up before about doing uh a uh inspection but we may not maybe we don't have to do that we could talk about it but then I think we could U discuss what what we might do I think a letter in support of basically of Mr failey and his problem in the transfer station to what's what's the appropriate the select board I guess U that just mentions The Tipping floor the frequency of washing the Manpower problem um and you know I don't think we're going to order anything but we can make a recommendation that we've had let make them aware we've had complaints um of odors in the summer and making a recommendation that they you know look into it or discuss it or or explore it any ideas or qu uh comments from the board about what what we might do about that or how we might handle it is there any way that the honor System can be abolished and made into a real system where these trash haulers need to give us and I is there a way that the honor System can be converted into a another system where the trash haulers need to give us a a document that shows where this truck has been during the day and where it has collected and if they're lying then they need a fine you know the the the they need to be arrested I mean if if if this is a rule and they're ignoring it and they're going to bra landing and picking up a whole trash truck full of seafood waste and swinging over to George Ryder uh Sam Ryder Road and and and and dumping it because it's easy uh then that's unacceptable and the honor System doesn't sound like it's working very well can I I think if you do have something that people sign that they tend to um comply more because there may be consequences but um Mr fail does the Orleans and hartch have a transfer station which allows uh the commercial haulers to dump um har does I mean could I know har does could Millie and Nickerson and I don't know who the other person is could they could they bring their harch trash to the harage transfer station and their Orleans trash to The Orleans station is that technically possible for him do you know yeah I know I know harch does but they do put a limit on the amount of commercial tonnage they receive daily um I know Brewster has har puts a limit on the amount of commercial tonnage that they take daily that's correct okay that's interesting Brewster has stopped accepting commercial hallers who haser Brewster Brewster yeah and I'm I'm not sure about Orleans at this point I I know they did I'm not sure if they still do so why don't we put something in place so I am going to be going to the select board in the next couple of months about raising our rates as well and and that may deter some of the commercial haulers when they're paying more per ton so it's it's interesting so the town of Brewster a town on Cape Cod has actually does not allow commercial um uh dumping dumping in in their transfer stations so it is where does it go it is us where does it go ad is there a regional place they can take it to or sort of a they could drive it off not affiliated with the town Incredible cost increases I mean somebody's handling all Brewers commercial waste probably us yeah I mean they could take it those are places that are sort of openly uh available to commercial hollers to dump as much as they want I yeah I don't know all the specifics for commercial haulers yeah okay all right um okay other questions or comments um where we should go from here other any other comments from the public nope um so I think to me just my opinion we are we ought to work on putting together some sort of a letter of of uh recommendation having to do with the Tipping floor new tipping floor um more fre ly cleaning it um looking into the the commercial hauling tonnage that comes in and what towns it's coming from and just make a recommendation to um I guess it would go to the select board for them to just uh uh think about these things and we urge them to do something because we're getting complaints that if Mr failey is going to the select board shortly that would help him when he makes his presentation I would think I think that's a good idea hopefully there isn't the idea that the the fees we make from the commercial tonnage coming from Harwich and Brewster and Orleans is adding more money to the budget and that's why it's been allowed to do and therefore it's a desirable thing good question um I don't know but um other thoughts about uh us generating a letter about the things that I talked about I support that okay so maybe we can put together a preliminary draft and then we can get it to everybody and we several bullet points Y what we're recommending including new tipping floor floor upgrade more more seasonal resources to frequent cleaning of the floor and and the and the problem of commercial haulers the amount of tonnage and other other towns tonnage coming to chadam especially since a town like Brewster doesn't allow and I would add exploring Odor Control Technologies where available yeah okay okay all right um so Mr failey any any anything else um you want to bring to us I would say we we'll generate a letter of support make making a recommendation and urging discussion that would go to the select board and maybe would be there before you you present to them and would be a help to you to make your case does that sound reasonable yes it does I I appreciate your continued support okay and this will be an ongoing issue because Ron how how many years back do you think this goes Ron long time I don't want to say yes you had a comment yeah I mean is it possible for them to hire someone else for that Wednesday by switching people around or something or well I think that's what Mr fail is going to the select board having to do with Manpower that's when they closed for being creative budget okay very good uh thank you very much Mr Bailey thank you thank you for coming thank you rob okay all right good so that's now um okay next on the agenda is an update on the new short-term rental registration by Karen shaza who is here and when did you come on board uh was April late April late April so the registration went to effect in March or February March and so it's just ramping up this summer you're just starting so we ask you to come and just give us a a report on what's what's happened okay and we have sort of a summary in the packet but maybe you can go over that for everyone yeah sure so as of today we have about 872 rental certificates so that about 350 more than when I talked to you last of those 8815 have been resolved uh four were stopped and then the others we've had requested changes and they have have not yet responded um so that's where it currently stands I've done Outreach we did get the list of all those that have registered with the state fortunately when the state provides the list it's everyone who has ever registered um so once we've did duplicated taken out um those that have sold their homes I reached out to those people and we've gotten a fair amount back back um we're still kind of working off that list I've also gone through the major online platforms um Airbnb we need a vacation and VRBO and found those that don't have a rental certificate there and reached out to them how many were there in that category that you saw them being advertised in one of those three venues and yet they have never were applied to chadam for a certificate have about about about 200 that's the number yeah um so let me just ask just sorry to interrupt um 1500 was the total number on the Mass Department of Revenue list and after you made all your deductions how many short-term rentals in chadam do you think are on that list total would it be 1,200 or a th000 or you you it is so we sent to 708 letters um from that list um and those letters were people for people who had not yet from that list who had not applied for a rental certificate and then how many were on that list who had applied in addition so about about I'm not really sure because with the duplicate and the other owners but we had 500 at that time there were about 700 that weren't on the list all right so you so when looking at that list you came up with 700 additional short-term rental properties in chattam that were registered with the state but had not registered with the town of chattam correct okay well that's that's a lot yeah um okay I'm sorry to interrupt that's all right um so we've worked through it um we had approximately 300 people from those letters apply um we're still kind of working on that we have me see hundred or so that I found both listings and were on the list so that's kind of my target for right now of people that I think are realistically renting there's about 200 people still on the list from the state that I haven't been able to find a listing anywhere and I think they've probably just stopped renting um I've heard a lot of people that you know they did it during Co and didn't have a necessarily great experience or it wasn't as profitable as they thought so they've decided not to rent in the future so overall right now overall right now uh what would you say of the number of short-term rentals in chadam I'd say it's probably between 900 and a th000 900 and we have a little over or a little less than 875 okay the the people that haven't complied how long do they have before they cannot rent next year if they don't comply wa well part of the issue with not complying is I don't really have a reliable way to reach them so I can send letters to their address on file but we haven't I don't necessarily know that they're getting them and I don't have a way to effectively order them not to I can only send letters okay so we we would have to like almost go to the property next year and see if they're renting it or okay or today I mean I've been following up we've had a fair number of letters returned um probably around 50 um following up on the internet and see if I can find a better address um that seems to be working I'm down to about four that I can't find any sort of address for these people are advertising not necessarily they're not they're not on uh vbo or not necessarily yeah there's some that are some that aren't um if we find an ad for a property that isn't registered and we don't have an address for the owner can we go to post Airbnb and tell them that they're in violation by advertising this property so there are ways to message the host through the platforms um I'm a little hesitant to do that because it would have to be through my personal account no um and I don't know that that is the way forward I I don't think we're there yet um most of these people have only had one Outreach attempt maximum two I think we the next step is to send a more sternly worded letter to them um we need to develop those tools so that we have an sop standard operating proc procedure clearly laid out of what we do when we conclude a certain thing is happening or isn't happening that has been reviewed and approved by the attorney right and then in legal posting or what have you or legal service there has to be a thought through protocol that we rely on what we would usually do on a on a any type of a housing issue um we've been trying to you know use a carrot instead of a stick so far but I think if we get to the point where we need to send a more sternly letter um worded letter it would be um you're you know not in compliance you may be find ceas and assist yeah that kind of a letter and then um call them in before the Board of Health that would be the next step usually when you get to that point they respond right um either they say we're not doing it anymore or we're not the owners anymore and you know so it's getting to that point but we're we're still as Karen said we're kind of winnowing down the numbers and and getting you know kind of the low hanging fruit at this point but yeah so when you say you can't reach them you're sending a a return receipt requested or a certified letter and it doesn't get delivered we haven't gotten so I've just been sending regular mail at this point I mean I guess there's a cost benefit to return receipt is going to cost the town $8 a a letter so we're going to start off with the you know 70 Cent letter we've been getting about a 50% response rate which is not bad for mass mailing What percentages about 50% 50% yeah between calling me and saying they're not renting or applying but the town of chadam knows how to contact every property in the in the Town correct we have an official address on file where we send the tax bills yes whether or not those are received is so we've been I've been getting a lot of mail back we we'll put it that way because I don't want to accept it or because it's I mean if if it's the place where the tax bills are sent that address it should be also a valid address to notif notify them on an issue like this I mean and if they don't choose to accept it that's different from it you know I I just get the yellow sticky label Return to Sender I don't get a reason uh I have a question about if someone complains about over occupancy what happens or how is that complaint followed through so for over occupancy um I normally do start with a driveby um see I can see it myself and then I'll contact either the property owner or the rental agency if they have one and we've had two um one 99 Main Street you're familiar with and the other I'd say they were very responsive um the property company admitted right away that they that the people had over occupancy and that they were dealing with the issue yeah let me ask you one question what what is what is the rental agents responsibility that their listing um complies with our rules about short-term rental regulation is it is it formal informal have you have you contacted the rental agencies I mean they take any responsibility if they're inaccurately listing Tech under this regulation it's the owner's responsibility so technically the rental agency has no liability there um most they would have an interest that that they are um being accurate I would say most have been responsive I communicate with all the different rental agencies or sorry reached out to them um about the program I haven't had to talk specifics except for complaints with I think two of the seven or eight that there are how many rental agencies do you think there are in chadam that coordinate these 900 to 1,000 rental properties is there like hundreds or is there fewer than no no there there's bigger ones and there's probably five or six maybe seven larger ones that have say 30 or more properties okay and then there are the people that do it on their own which I think are the the bulk of the situation you think the the bulk of which situation I think the bulk of rentals are people that advertise on their own don't use a rental agency and don't use a rental more than 50% are probably just doing it on their own yes okay um let me I have another general question can can a can a resident make an anonymous complaint to the health department or to you about a rental on the street with parking or or or numbers can will you take a complaint from somebody that that I don't want to give my name because I'm I'm I live right next to him I mean I will take it and I will look into it um I think I would prefer a name but because I mean just in talking to people I know a lot of people aren going aren't going to call in and make a complaint and give their name because they're afraid they live in the neighborhood and there are people and this and that and they just don't do it and if people knew you could make an anonymous complaint I don't know if you want to or not but I mean had that rule but you would have get a lot more input about what's going on in these neighborhoods with these rentals I would guess yeah I mean if they want followup then they have to leave their name and some contact information once I receive it it's a public information yeah but if they don't want follow up then they are more than welcome to call me and I will not ask too many questions um and and just can you go over the dates again for when are you accepting applications for next summer when when are they all supposed to be in by what date and um those are the big ones the due date for next summer is February 28th of 2025 for the 25 summmer like last summer yes so Judy and I haven't talked about a hard firm date but I wouldn't imagine we would accept 2025 applications until January we're still working on 20 the other question the other thing that has come up we've talked about is this this first year was a ramp up you know get in the next year there'll be a lot more experience the all of the applications that we've gotten so far which is quite a few 872 Karen said um they will get an automatic uh email asking them to renew um and I think that's going to go out 60 days we haven't quite firmed that up before um their current certificate expires so so that will streamline next year and then we'll continue Karen will continue to work on getting the stragglers the other thing we talked about when we started this thing up was um what what's the uh public relations plan what what's you know public information awareness how do you get the the word out because I'm sure people will say well I didn't know or something um how do we make every everyone as many people as possible aware that there's short-term rental regulation is in place and they need to register with the dates I mean an advertisement in the chronicle in the Cape Cod Times uh what else what else can be done I right now we're in a bit of a hard situation we've reached out you know through the main street through the Chamber of Commerce we've done the social media I think our stragglers are people that aren't necessarily as invested in local chadam news so I'm not sure how we we reach those second homeowners that don't follow Town doings and that that's where the kind of Crux of this do you have contact with uh people in your position in other towns most towns have this regulation in place and what what they're doing do you ever communicate with them or have any you know what what what are they doing to get these programs rolling or not I don't know that any other town has necessarily A specialized person for IT um like because if you just if you just put it out there and then don't do anything not much happens yeah if I can make a suggestion even though you may not capture a large portion of renters who may not be following local media I believe it would be useful for us to have a display ad an announcement like an an announcement like you know reminder to to chadam Property Owners or something like written up and and and and then that announcement run in say you know three or four Cape Cod chronical issues leading and Cape c times leading up to and after the start of the next cycle so I'm just doing this off the top of my head say say is that a possibility you think MoneyWise and all that say yeah I think we could do say February Feb the end of February then have the policy for two months before that go date and for two months after that date we have a policy to run a particular type of display ad making everybody who reads the local media aware and they may not be renter themselves but they may know the the person next to them does so you're going to get everybody you're going to get some spin-off benefit from just making everyone aware and reminding everyone aware at the right time of the year that hey there's a new short-term rental law in this town and everybody should be aware of it and you should comply with it if you are going to rent and if you know people who are wrting you you can word it nicely but make it be like an informational Outreach the problem is high proportion of the owners you keep doing this Le a high proportion of the owners are likely not in chatam in February or March but people get they they don't get the chronicle mailed to their house in New Jersey some get some do but a lot maybe it's a lot do not and it's not that expensive yeah look at how much you will gain though maybe not how else can we get the public relations uh how the advertisement out so people know how else can how else do you go about it I think you need to to send them a letter the ones well you need the ones that are that are currently have a certificate are going to get a letter telling them what they need to do well you could also do mail you could do Town mailing inserts right so if you have if hey I get a water bill mail today right I could get a little I've done yellow insert tucked in that done that before I've done mailing inserts for something well that you drop an announcement in with your tax bill or something exactly that would not cost the town that much to do because you doing the mailing anyhow somebody they hire someone that does that do those send out those tax bills if we prepare something and get it to them they will insert there's another way to out that's that's in May and October that's another way yeah might be too late for October which is unfortunate there other things other than tax bills probably we could get it in in for May um to remind people we'll definitely work on that um let me ask you Karen all these numbers and the in the uh cross reference with the state is that work that you've been doing all summer long as things Roll Along it's not just in the last after you know the September when the summer died down was right on and on that was quite an undertak speaking because the state actually only gives you the street address and the person that registered so we had to match that with the mailing addresses from assessing so clearly pretty clearly if you could if you can figure out who's paying the state tax and not the town tax I mean they're pretty clearly are going to comply if they if you they become aware of you what you know one would hope okay um yeah I think it's a good uh I think I agree with that John and that's doable other questions or other comments from the uh public import okay it sounds to me like you've made very good progress it's terrific and since you came on board I'm impressed quite frankly but I I would just ask you in closing Karen um uh what are the problems with this short-term rental regulation from your perspective okay what doesn't work uh and what can be improved from what you see that you can inform us about you can tell us or or let us know or what we could then do to help you right um so I when I was thinking about it we did get these ahead of time um one of the things I think is going to become an issue once we start doing inspections is that occupancy of two people per bedroom plus two um under the the state housing code if a bedroom is between 70 and 100 square F feet the occupancy is only one so in many in older homes particularly um I'm going to have to drop that occupancy to meet the state code so you're you're kind of a little looser so are you are you this year are you're going to do more inspections or we're now when somebody registers it the place is not inspected you just go by the Health Board records or whatever and figure out if the right number of bedrooms for the septic so are inspections going to become more a part of what you do in I think next starting next year is plan how would that work or how what would that be I mean we haven't really planned exactly how we're going to go about it I think um it'll be random to start and also following up on quote unquote the problem properties um I think what Karen is saying about occupancy is for bedrooms um you have to have 50 square feet per person we often go in these rooms that are small that have you know two twin beds and a in a full bed or something so you're you know theoretically you put three people and if the room's not big enough for that we would be concerned about it um but we would also have to take up the occupancy of I mean the square footage of the entire house um to determine the total occupancy of the of the property so that's complicated yeah it's I mean that they do it in Dennis routinely they've been they've had a rental program year round rental program since the 70s so it would' be something we would just have to come up with a um do they inspect inspection form what they have always done is when a new owner takes over rental property it gets inspected and then if there's um change over if there's yeah if ownership change or a new one or um complaints that's logical that's one way to do it objectively and gain some yes so the new owner has to register and you know we would give way so that would be something we could talk about as well if any new properties come on it's a way to stretch it out and and and get get started slowly but surely and then also Karen's going to be taking some um housing inspection courses over the next few months so get everybody up to speed but our our rules are kind of based on on sewage flow which uh is per bedroom it's we don't make we don't say people can to have smaller septic systems if their bedrooms are small or if their total volume of their house is small uh so we well I mean people may put a a caught in the living room you know as long as don't exceed the total number of of people in the house that we're allowing it's a temporary thing so yeah it it gets a little complicated get complicated yeah so but I think so far we're off to a good start um K's really gotten a lot of people on board and um you know I think we're just you know figuring it out do we know the total re new year to date I don't know that has come in we do yes um it's in our uh it would have been in our annual report last year um 50 times what 875 yeah basically next summer we'll have a better number um because we had just started it it's the fiscal year that we had okay well that's great so Karen came on board in April so it's just sort of a ramp up Summer first summer sounds to me like Like A lot's been going on it's a good start and so you and Judy will work together and sort of map out what we're going to do the next summer and it'll be you know uh bigger and better work yeah so uh that's great Ron Judy do you have a budget for this program the rental program um like a pack of money in Money out yeah it's well no we it's not a um what's it called a revolving account I I don't believe I think it's just part of well the fee goes to the to the budget is um the the staff hiring staff and um the registration fee goes where to the town to the town yeah yeah Town Town Council yeah and the lastly the one of the issues that come up is street parking in my neighborhood in the summer the street parking was seem brutal this summer but I I just the town traffic rules and orders prohibit overnight parking on public roads period now the police obviously don't aren't excited about enforcing that in the summer months because whatever but that that is there in terms of um uh of of parking yep I'll just say that any lastly any other questions or comments and then anything from the public if not we that is great thank you very much Karen thank you Karen okay and then um all right minutes minutes got old business old business and you just um step up to the or sit I guess if you want to got the I don't know if that one works yeah up at the podium hi I'm still awake um my name is Carol Bliss I live in West chadam I wasn't really prepared to speak tonight but in the past I have spoken to Dr Noble and Judy about the concerns that many of my neighbors and myself have regarding the pollution from the air traffic at the airp airport I brought this up before and I sent out lots of information on recent studies talking about the pollution that comes from the air travel and I think you all have copies of that in or in the past I'm not satisfied with what the airport commission has given as an example that they're working on maybe they'll be you know flights in the future that don't require gas that have a hard time getting the certain kind of gas because in the meantime we're polluting our air and especially for children especially at the busy restaurant and I think the health department needs to take a deep dive into this issue because it seems like it's being just passed along as that's just the way it is when you live near the airport but it's not just the airport it's the town of chadam that it affects if you look at the research thank you yeah thank you I think it was back in the late spring I think we had a a forum and uh Mr Harrison was there and we talked about the issues but the issue basically is there still is lead in the aviation fuel they're using for the planes at the airport uh in the Avgas um and in the past there was no 100 octane leadfree aviation fuel available but it is available now it is being produced I think the state of California has banned I believe AV gas so it's whole new thing so it's worth us probably just revisiting what's happening what's planning um I mean I know they're planning to put in a big tank of uh jet fuel but what are they doing about getting 100 octane leadfree aviation fuel in the airport which would go a long way towards the problem you're you're talk talking about so I think it's an issue we should we should bring up and review defit we'll do that thank you very much definitely thank you very much um just say that um it's kind of timely I just received a grant to get some air monitoring um devices their their wireless Bluetooth devices the Department of Environmental Protection is giving us I think five of them and we're going to put them up around town I'm not sure they check for lead um it's yeah what do they test for yeah their General air quality is probably C is it a suction do they blow a certain amount of air through a uh you know they're I can get you more information they're just little canisters they're like this big and you can they they connect to a cell phone and are they measuring particulates yeah I believe that's not voccs they're not no no it's not and I don't know if it if LED I'd have to get more information I wasn't read to talk about it tonight but um they will be going up hopefully in the next um two to three months we're going to put them up in um they have to be in places that of electricity and Wi-Fi so hopefully we will get one either over at the airport or here in this building definitely my big concern is children and if you go on a weekend the restaurant's very busy that outside area where the planes idle and there's young children of course who love airplanes and I think we really have a responsibility to our population to try to keep our air as clean as possible and it's not just the people living around the airport if you look at the research articles I gave you you can see that it would be pretty much the whole chadam that's been affected by the air quality and I believe and I don't have the facts I don't have the numbers right in front of me but I believe the airport said that last month was the highest level of Pilates they had for the summer and if you look at the graph it goes straight up pretty much what what what are they measuring the Pilatus is just the number of of flights there are but that's J fuel that doesn't have thank you I didn't what's the platus is are tur are turbo turbine turbo jet engines they do not have lead in the in the fu what the word saying patus the patus pc12 the big the big turboprop planes that are landing and and taking off all the time that carry about 12 passengers but those are jet powered planes right turbo props they don't have lead in the fuel okay it's the old traditional piston engine it's the little cesas Pipers but but we talked in that previous session about testing for lead the airport hasn't done any testing I think n Tucket airport has done testing and I think just generally public health I'm not an expert but you know there are safe Le levels but I think as time goes on the thought more is that any lead is bad you know I mean there's no safe level of lead so anyway I think it's something we can we can uh bring up and talk about again okay any other old business Carol do we have an up an update on McGrath by any chance Judy uh the select board is going to have an executive session tomorrow night to discuss um next steps so that's really all I can say was that I did the select board will be MRA about the there it's going to be on uh an executive session tomorrow night with Town Council and P and are you going to be how do I will not be there but Greg will be there how do we get the results of what the you know how the progress is being made what what are they up to now are they well I we're waiting for them to um decide if they're going to if we're going to pursue the next step so which is Town um legal filings AR County so that's really all we can talk about it's kind of been in a new phase where where it's it's not public information what they are doing one of the questions that has come up is when will we get information that we can make public on that right bill I know I will provide it with to you the executive session won't be available no online we won't anything about the results of the elction till they they could tell us but they'd have to kill us then well hopefully they'll give some information soon because I you know I thought might get some feedback from um Greg Burman perhaps um but it might be confidential I'm sure you I mean sure um um other um I can old business correspondence whatever minutes if not we have um minutes from the September 9th meeting does anybody have any additions Corrections um I'll make a motion we accept the draft minutes of September 19 9th 2024 in a second I'll second that motion okay and then um all in favor say I I I opposed okay can I just make one announcement yes um you brought up the flu clinics and they we are sponsoring two flu clinics this year um Wednesday October 9th 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. um you're going to register online there's a link on the Board of Health page um on the website uh or anybody can always contact the health department and we can send people a link uh it's it's actually it's not a very userfriendly link um but I will be putting posters up around town that has a QR code that you can also scan um to register online so that's Wednesday November 9th from 10: to 12 and then there will be a second clinic for the for families um monoy School Employees um Town employees and anybody who can't meet really meet the first one if they want to come and find same time so NOP that one is from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on October 16th okay they're both through clinics at the DPW same as we've been doing what's the date of the first Clinic October 9 of which month Wednesday October 9th October 9th and then Wednesday October 16 okay we will have high strength covid high strength flu vaccine and covid okay so you get a or b or A and B yes okay so you can get a CO shot and a flu shot at the October 9th Clinic yes okay and then you can register online yes all right that's great good Ron one this issue if uh the selectman are meeting on this and is being done you know where the people can why can't we be it is part of our process the Board of Health we're the ones that brought it to them why can't mil Hill yeah we were the ones that have been operating on it for a long time I think you could be there or or a representative of the Board of Health could be there someone that could share it with the rest of us well Greg Greg will be there will Greg share it with us of course yeah I mean well it could share whether what he can members but I think from the public because it's it's not everything is is in the public now realm about what's being done I believe is that true at this point right at this point yeah but it will be we could get once the decision board members but if one of the board members would like to attend I think the chair I think our chair and maybe a second should be invited to attend representing the Board of Health we've had the lead advocacy on this issue for years and he has he hasn't done anything for a cleanup I drove bid he's totally ignoring everything is there executive tomorrow night tomorrow night at I think the meeting starts at 4:30 so it's at the end of the meeting so let me know I can arrange it does anybody want to go look is it is it is that done exective session that there there are other people from Bo other boards or other people or will will only be the it will yeah I just have to but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to attend I can clarify that tomorrow and get you can either attend in person or may possibly be able to get a link for the private executive session okay and then we can figure out who volunteers to go I think Carol would like to go Carol would like to go I'll go with Carol go okay okay we yes and you so see if we can get an approval from the select board that we two representatives of the Health Board perfect are there during executive session so we can we have an interest in what's going on and we basically have the we we have the authority to order to clean up but we threw in with a town effort I shouldn't s all this perhaps I don't know okay I'll let you know tomorrow okay good all right anything left that's it make a motion we adjourn second second okay all in favor say I I I opposed no one's opposed so we are adjourned turn off your mics [Music] d for