##VIDEO ID:HM4GEn_B5Rc## thank you everybody thank you Scout Let's uh call the meeting to order uh we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all all right thank you Scout can you start us off with the statement of adequate notice of course um statement of adequate notice pursuing to the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was sent to the craber press the Trenton Times the home News Tribune on January 5th 2024 posted on the bulletin board posted on the Township's website and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice and we're going to move on to roll call Miss esz is excus Dr greywall here Mr Markham here Mr mcder here Mr marar here thank you all right so first on agenda I do want to thank Wes again for covering last week and helping lead us through uh what would have been my otherwise first time uh leading the Board of Health meeting so thank you uh first on the agenda I want to check to see if everybody's had a chance first to review the minutes maybe take a minute or two to review them okay very good uh any discussion on the minutes none nope very clear all right uh can I ask for a motion to approve the minutes motion to approve second all in favor call oh sorry it's all right um so this is to approve the board of Health's November 4th 2024 minutes um Miss esz is excuse Dr greywall yes Mr Markham yes Mr mcdermit yes Mr Marner yes thank you that's unanimous by members present great uh next I believe we have the health officer report thank T so for the month of October we inspected um the follow following establishments which were rated satisfactory on October 12th piece of chocolate on October 22nd the Cranberry Inn and also on October 22nd Tony's open kitchen for complaints in October we had a dog complaint which there was no cause for action and we also had a complaint at the Elms of cranberry which was referred to long-term care facility hotline for meetings and seminars we had the Board of Health meeting on October 7th and I had a middle sex County staff meeting in piscatway on October 25th uh any comments or questions I just ask one thing what what what was the elm's 1022 complaint did you say what that was about or so was basically um a resident there called about the care that she was receiving okay which has nothing to do with the health department yes so that's why we referred her to the long-term care facility hotline understood got it thank you I did have one followup you said here related to the dog licenses no cause for action but that would still fall into the normal January renewal of licenses okay so we'll cover that I think in the new business very good any other comments or questions none okay environmental report yes so for Plan reviews on October 26 there was a plan reviewed and rejected for two Brickyard Road and then for water activities on October 10th there were two surface samples taken at Brainard Lake for eoli which were found to be compliant and below the limits very good thank you for the clarity around that I know that would in the question uh any questions on the environmental report no I have one can you remind us how often you take samples so they actually sample more in the warmer months but they said if you wanted them to ramp up the amount that they do they definitely could so it's done less frequently when it gets colder out but if you would like them to come out more they it would be able to okay with that can we move on to Old business and I know we had a very active discussion last time particularly related to um the rabies clinic and opportunities for vet so do I yes I um spoke to Dr manay three times and um he has not responded to me I I actually called and left a message for him today uh he was busy with his um pets uh patients and um I will follow up with a call to him tomorrow I asked him I asked the receptionist to give me a positive yay or nay and we would go with that explaining that uh his service was only one hour and an afternoon on one Saturday in January so I will talk to him hopefully and get a response and again let scout scout know what is happening uh beyond that um I'll try some other veterinarians in the area and see if we can find another one thank you Jean I know this has been a little bit of a challenge for some time I do have a question I'm not sure who would know the answer but how much notice do we have to give for I know you keep answering the question but how much notice do we have to give um for the clinic in terms of well my will be vaccines yeah to acquire the vaccines for the clinic they're always available I have everything right Transportation so I can go up myself what does anyone know what's normal and customary for notice to the town if we are successful in finding a veterinarian yeah I I think it's us usually a couple of months out is is my impression isn't that right yeah I would I would say by now we would know by now we would only a month out or a couple months out so so I think we have sufficient notice to say there will not be a January Rees clar it we are scheduled for the end of January do we have a date did we fix a date there has been no discussion of date because we had been in the process of finding a vet first yeah I mean there are keep in mind there are other and on on the website there are other locations that are listed so if we are unable to identify a vet at least people have resources I can go to neighboring towns right I mean it' be great to have one here but yeah yeah and I don't know Jean I think we talked about last time I don't know if um the doc the vet that you're speaking with does he have other vets in his practice besides himself or is it just I think he has a partner in the practice right now I haven't spoken to him yeah yeah I'm just wondering like if he's not wanting to do it maybe good opportunity for somebody else maybe a younger vet or something who knows question I have for T Tyler is um is there um the other towns that do the um vaccinations how much public notice are they required to give to the county I have to yeah because the count it's a countywide effort the other towns are notified of our you know having an event so the other a lot of other towns have standing vets they use recurringly so it's not really an issue like this um there's not to say an exact time frame that they need to give but normally we post it to the website we make sure to give public exposure so the residents know about it that's what I'm concerned about all right good yeah well if you find out anything different different if there's like a requirement for two months or three months there's not a requirement on our end no all right thank you that's great thank you all right thank you so again thank you Jean for continuing to help Advance this I think we can all try to find that out um another question I understand this is a volunteer for the veterinarian is there an opportunity if we are unable or we still as a town want to offer the clinic are we able to provide a nominal Fe fee to the veterinarian for conducting the clinic or is that something we would not do well I I at this point um I don't think that's in our budget okay that would something the the township would have to provide us with the Monies to do that so something to mention right you know granted it's travel time it's probably setup time and it's more than just one hour of um you know uh injecting animals y in the past I mean they used it as a really good opportunity sort to sort of build their practice right they would come with cards and an assistant and they talk to people who came for you know for U vaccines so that's kind of how it's been and why it was voluntary but yeah very good thank you all right so let's I think now move on to new business and I see that we have a need to do a reminder of the license approvals so perhaps I should quote what the license approval timeline is or did you want to do that SC what for January I thought I saw that new term expirations oh those are for me Members ofp M members of the Board of Health yes and the two members have responded to me in writing so um they will be submitted for Township committee consideration okay um I'll also as a reminder because I do know that there's over a hundred subscribers to the county and for this website streaming this announcement um all of the licenses extend through January uh late fees begin in February and then there is different summonses that begin on March 1st and then again on April 1 those are outlined on the town website so if you are able to see them you will see them for D dog and cat thank you for clarifying for dog and cat licenses those are also going to be in existence so as we close out December into January those are upcoming and so there are times and fees associated with them uh any other new business Scott you said there's two members that are up for Renewal yes who are they uh Wes and Eugene okay very good okay I think now we can move to public comment all right as a reminder is three minutes for public comment SC on Mr if it's if it's red that a hot mic so other button there you go it's red it's R okay so my name is Bill Bower I live on Petty Road I spoke to Wes about a situation we've had with dogs not being licensed running at large and so on so I wrote a letter to our mayor Iman and to the Chief and I'll read you the letter so that you have some background and understand what's going on dear Chief Owens and mayor El badwell I am writing to discuss two recent dog incidents that occurred on our property please see the attach incident reports from 9915 and 929 as you can see the incident reports are really not informative at all first let me tell you that the owner of these dogs previously plad guilty to judge Herman regarding the charges of dogs at large and no license after these recent incidents where the dogs jumped on me and also chased our dog and damaged our stream trying to get at our dog I was concerned that the Township police department and Health Department would take these incidents seriously no action was taken until I filed the Oprah request at the clerk's office and the police department the Oprah request to the clerk revealed as I suspected that the XL pit bow was not licensed at the time of the first incidents the dogs had no tags of any kind the investigating officer did speak with the owner by phone the owner a doctor said the dogs were licensed but told the officer that I was concerned based on previous incidents that the dogs may not be licensed my assumption was correct and the XL pit bull was not licensed my assumption was correct and was verified by the Oprah request that was supplied by the clerk after about a week of trying to get help from the health officer who is temporary and having no success getting anyone to assist me I came to the conclusion that I would have to file a complaints myself I went to Plainsboro filed a complaints but and a court administrator accepted the complaints except for the providing false information to the police officer the complaints will be heard on December 11th I'm sure this individual will pay the fines as he did the last time and just figure this is the cost of doing business one of the things I learned from a veterinarian that I know is that there is very good reasons why those XL pit bullies as they are known do not license the dogs is due to two reasons one most insurance companies will not provide an owner of those dogs with insurance on their homes and property and number two if the owner of one of those dogs doesn't have a dog licensed in their name they cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of that dog although cranberry is supposed to take a dog sensus that really isn't effective for a number of reasons we do have Animal control officer in that position Andor the police department or health officer should have some means of coordinating and enforcing the ordinances certainly there are cases that require good judgment Mr Bower I'm sorry the three minutes are up I'd like you to wave that three minute requirement so I can finish this if the I'm sorry chairman no we need to follow Township committee protocol I'm sorry we have to go by the township committee rules if the township committee doesn't extend then we can't extend I'm sorry sir so do going to be no discussion I'd like to have some discussion I think it's an important issue and if this was an 8-year-old child that had been accosted by these dogs on Main Street this would be a whole new story so Scout can we take what he has written to review later um as long as you're comfortable with that and Mr Marner can follow up with um um most likely the township administrator regarding this matter so can you submit if you have it written I guess I I have it written but your three minute rule really stops out the public from have and a democratic process from really working the way it should and I think that it doesn't allow back and forth ation to resolve a problem and if this is what we're going to do then I think that this is wrong it's very wrong and I assure you that if this had been another situation on Main Street with a young child this would be handled differently and I think that at this point if the Board of Health is interested in making this a better process then there needs to be some discussion so I can say uh I am unfamiliar with the details that you have started to outline in what you've written I would imagine it sounds like others within Town Council as well as perhaps law enforcement are very familiar so I'm not quite sure what is the responsibilities of the Board of Health but I think I will commit to read what you've submitted it sounds like Wes you've had a chance I tried to find out and I asked I asked the clerk who who is responsible for enforcing any ordinances and nobody stands up and I asked Taylor I spoke to her on the phone and she said I'll get in touch with my supervisor and I'm still waiting for a response because if Natalie was here I can assure you a summons wouldn't have been written thank you for clarifying well thank you uh Mr I guess thank you I guess public comments over based upon a scout outline but happy to that's a that's a hor that's a horrible that's a horrible thing and it's no discussion it's undemocratic and it doesn't solve the problems of the town and I think so I think this is something we would talk to the Town Council I think it's a I think it's a shame this needs to be discussed at length with the parties that are responsible I don't know what happened I spoke to Wes Wes said it would be brought up at the last meeting it wasn't what do we do I mean you you you have a responsibility as a members of the Board of Health to address an issue can I just ask the other members of the board um do we know about the licensed St status of the dogs currently we do we know that I mean I personally don't know that but do we as the board know that Wes I I just want to thank you for bringing this to our attention we were unappraised of the situation as you explained it briefly in your letter but um I think we've got the Grist of the um the the problem right now okay you have two uh dogs that are uh known to be aggressive and have caused a problem for you I'm surprised that uh at this point um some other action has not been taken I don't know why what's happening on the had three incidents right three incidents but I I know that the the board members here are um um aware and aroused by your concern and we'll have a discussion and go forward and try to address the issue as best as we can with the limited time and resources that we have uh again thank you for bringing that to our attention I don't again I have no knowledge of this incident and I'm sure the other board members are first uh are the same condition yeah so Mr V I can see a message from Our Town Administrator confirming that the dogs at the residents are now Li licensed and that there there has been a formal complaint lodged with the court that's probably the extent to which uh this the whole point of this is going forward you have no you have no protocol that brings the police department into the loop the health officer into the loop and the Animal control officer into the loop to enforce the ordinance that you have they're all they're all Flying Blind so that's that's the whole point of it yes Mr batter I believe I understand this might be a topic we'll have to review and get further information to then put this as an agenda item if appropriate I'm not familiar with the guidance of whether or not that is our responsibility as the board or if this is a Town Council topic I'm just being honest with you I don't know the answer to your question but I also recognize um since this is not a topic public comment is not the area for us to currently discuss until we have the information but as I mentioned I'm more than happy to take what you have written so that we are able to review it and could somebody put this on the agenda for the next meeting after you've had your uh closed session well there's no closed session I'm we'll look to the advisement of Town Council just to make sure what is appropriate for our committee for this board to disc like get somebody to give me some feedback well appreciated and understood you I think we can do that from someone anybody have a plan yes I don't know the answer to the plan question but yes I think we can I would just like somebody to say either take a hike we're not interested or we've discussed this and we can make a process that is better for the community very well noted I just don't know the answer of that's our scope or the scope of Town Council just and if somebody could tell me who's well as a resident of the town you should expect an answer iot I wrote to the mayor and I know I can't believe that she did not respond to you that's that really blows my mind well thank you again Mr batter for okay coming here to share your concern yeah do do you want him to leave hard copies or you want to email do have a hard copy that you wanted to leave or I have some um would you to have or do you want to email you have our emails by the way on our website if you want to send an electronic copy yeah I know that my email for sure is I think most of everybody's there if you can make a copy I'll give you this I don't have the ability to do okay we don't even have a copy machine it works okay God I'm telling you okay what thank you thank you thank you all right so with that I'll say We'll close public comment next any discussion any discussion I think there would be a lot of discussion would be my comment generally but any other discussion from members of the board nothing for me at this point I think that the township committee is yeah my opinion is the township committee uh should really resolve this for us because um they have the um overview of the police the uh animal control officer and they're aware of the court cases against the animal so I uh I don't know what we could do at this point yep all right with that I'll motion to adjourn second all those favor hi hi hi right