call the meeting to order Lawrence Board of Health April 23rd 6:15 p.m. roll call please Dr presentz present Dr prario present okay we have a quorum we're going to table the acceptance of the minutes um oh first I'm going to have you make that move move that I move to motion I move two I move to I second the motion discussion um what I want to propose is to discuss this under the old businesses so we can proceed with the other items on the agenda okay very good we'll make that happen okay let's go down the list we're going to jump to Tobacco sales permit suspensions we have Caesar to present the three cases of the establishments that showed up to their hearing so let me just make a few announcements for the benefit of Dr so you get acquainted with what the process is my name is Cesar I'm director of Tobacco Control I'm not a member of this board I said it was simply because I need a surface to put my documents but I I'm an agent of this boort for the purpose of enforcing toac regulations um and the purpose of of of of us being here tonight is to look at the possible suspension of the tobacco perim issue to five different establishments three of them so toac M and do compliance checks that we conduct on routine basis and two of them they incur out violations other than a cal minor um I've receiv received confirmation from the US poal service that every single one of these five retailers receive confirmation that the hearing was going to take place tonight at 600 p.m. in this room so that's confirmation I'm saying this because there's only three present and there's two two are missing for now state and local regulation establish that the sale of toac of 21 and 21 years of age is prohibited by by law state and local it also requires the inspection of a government is ID every time somebody asks for toac so if somebody doesn't ask for ID it's a violation on its own if they self mind is a seate violation uh so the appearance of the minor you know has no bearing on the city having said that those three pictures you see in front of table here this is the kid that was used during three different days when we do comply shs he was the one entering the stores and tried to purchase tobacco he was recruited by me trained by me to do exactly this is also also an inspector uh underage bu with the FDA um so I'm just placing the photos there for the so you just take a look and see that we're not trying to find somebody who looks really old even though the appearance is not is not relevant anymore um doing the compliance checks the youth has nothing on his pockets except the money I give him in his cell phone number to saf so observant going to the stores observ out the stores he brings a product with a change I record the product get the change come the change make sure everything is fine and that's how we uh collect the evidence that a violation occur um each of you board members we provided with a copy of sum for each of these cases that's what you have in front of you Dr has your have yours he has his so on these U uh this fact you have for each store you have two sheets of paper the first one the cover one he has a summing of the facts the purpose of the hearing a summ of the law that you should apply and on the second page you have a symol of the motion that I'm suggesting tonight if you decide to suspend so you know what the L say the L say if the violation occur uh you must suspend the according to the state law this Bo decided that for first time self a minor you suspend per for one single business days however if it is a second offense of any VI any provision of the state law they're subject to a 7day suspension so there's a couple stores here tonight they're here not because it's so tobac Min but because they violated other provision of the state law as a second offense so they're going to be here uh subject to a seven consecutive business B okay so let me call the first one Mark basket just have a SE over here this is Mr timer is basket here's a schore manager Market Basket located at 700 S6 Street in Lawrence um he's here representing Market Basket on um January 9th of this year this kid you have SE photos in front of you was able to enter Market Basket and make a purchase of a pack of mro cigarettes without being challenged at all I have I have copy of the cigarettes this is a back of cigarette that in Market best as you can see there's a receipt attached to it so we have a receipt that the violation Ur there the person did not ask for ideal age the person who made the sell is Optimum right and uh she did not dispute the fact that she made an error and she made sale to a minor so um there was no challenge at all he asked for a pack of Mel he got a pack of M there was no asking how old you are let me see ID nothing like that and I'm sure that Mr kusher will confir that you guys have been educated about what the says what the expectation is so this was something that's really there was nothing extraordinary about this violation on that particular date we had Shack 24 stores we had three violations that day and Market Basket was one of them so uh as the law says if is sell to a minor for the first time in the last 36 months is subject to a one day tobacco perit suspension so is just a tobacco permit all the other permits continue to be valid in that period of time so Mr could probably address the bo uh we we do take uh s cigarettes very seriously um as my associate uh fim she's was very upset about the whole deal um she apologizes for the whole thing and going forward we have redone um and reinstituted our policies and practices um to enhance them to make them a little bit better um so we can not have this happen again before um they're all required to to sign off um on a sheet uh yearly um for the Poli prac for toac they all well aware of it um I we also have um brought in a new um office manager she she works directly with those people that are off to sell cigarettes um and we've also updated register policy where the ID has to be physically manually entered into the computer to alleviate any policy so they can't sell sell they can sell cigarettes without having that that information computer like you can't buy psea Fe without scan your license your license correct so it's kind of the same idea so we uh we understand it so so this first violation there was a fine as well there was a fine and fine is going to be so in this situation you as the member of the board you read this part so these state law state law Lawrence is the most lenient city um for violations know sales permit is to Mark a basket located in 700 Street Laura Massachusetts for one business day beginning and start of the business on Tuesday May 14 202 okay I second the motion typically when we have more than two board members we would now have a discussion but there's really no need in this situation so now we vote all in FA favor I okay carries the motion carries so that's number one thank you for attending your efforts rece a certified letter with I'll than very anybody on restaurant hee have a seat over here this is Mr jard Perez uh he's here not because he's s to back he's here because uh back in December 2023 on the 19th of December there was a police raid conducted at this particular location which is um P&P Deli just one second yes spnp dead grocery loated the 373 broading La during that raid they found uh illicit U substances and they found flavor tobacco products there as well along with un stamped uh tobacco products so they came before this board the board decided on uh that meeting that they would be subject to a tobacco station this is a second Offense for that particular store that store had a violation back on uh March 18th of 2023 that violation was a sell tobacco to a minor he sold it back of Newport uh to a minor it was a flavor Newport so there was an indication something was going on was happening there it was it was an unstamped New Hampshire Newport Back a cigarette at that time they paid F of $1,000 so now they're back again now they were found by the police they have here is their second offense so be here subject to a 7 Day 7 consecutive day tobacco prevence suspension so Mr J please Bo you again [Music] benefit of the doubt how much well this one you fin $2,000 that F just want to verify one more time uh it was stay and uh this the next time if it happens within 36 months is going to be a $5,000 fine plus 30 days suspens back of Health for [Music] foree so when when you open Mr perz did you I'm just repeating for him did you waited uh for instructions from Mr Caesar or were you selling tobacco products m okay so I'm say englishan that good okay we got the so this is pone no uh PMP PMP okay PM yes PMP I need to suspend sales per issue to the third one now thir the fourth one okay yes so I move to Su Spain the tobacco prod cells foring used to pip Delhi grocery located in 372 Broadway law massachusett for 7 days consecutive business days beginning I start the business on Tuesday May 14 2024 second motion all in favor motion carries okay any clarification no so he's going to be he's not selling T products so is he going to wait until you go and educate again on May 14th or I been with the before so I'm probably going to do that this week next week uh just to have a check with them make sure he sends all the laws and regulations and then on the 14th he begins a suspension and then after8 287 80 65 say 862 287 865 Okay so [Music] can you explain to him that you know it's important that he once I meet with him it's important that he trains every employee because not always there and if he wants to make sure there's no violations occurring after his training that he trains every employee that's going to be there CER is going to be sent to that store is going to make sure that instruct his employees to receive the letter test the letter to him the letter has instructions on how to conduct the suspension just in case you know he has toac the premises there should not be toac premises the here thank you Tuesday for just okay all right graas thank you [Music] [Music] let me remind you that we are being recorded is there another chair we hello hello what's the name of the establishment this is home in more bua Outlet located at a South brother in law in this particular situation this is not a case where tobacco product was sold to a in Min on January 12th I inspected the establishment as I've always done before but this time it was consuing to the complaint it was lodged with the Massachusetts Department Public Health the complaint was that the establishment was selling flavor toac products so when I inspected the establishment I found several flavorite tobacco products on the premises behind the counter and also found a product that is the defined in the state law as a tobacco product flavor enhancer which is a flavored product which is not a tobacco product but that can easily be combined with a traditional tobacco product to give it flavor so I found those there I have pictures here that I want to pass along to the board and what's significant about the stories that I mean I've known this Mor for many years and uh very nice person always more greeted by him his employees there as well but there's been a a significant series of violations every time I go there to inspector school and through the years I've been working with Mr Muer uh you know trying to not give them a citation and and for many years I did that basically using those violations as opportunities for education but then uh some time back I issued them my Citation for allowing a and to that in the store which is illegal because he has the classification of a adult only retail director store we call them toac retail stores which is it has that classification they can't allow anybody near 21 to aner the store so if a minor enters the store crosses a threshold it's a violation so they got SED once for that they paid a f of $1,000 it was no tobacco per suspension because this whole suspension is applicable when the violation is not self for first but since then there have been other violations uh there's been issues with the door and know people are able to get in the door uh get in the store when they shouldn't get in the store access product when they shouldn't access prodct he has several products there like in cigars that don't have lce from the manufacturers is staying on those cigars enough flavor and that is a requirement under the state law same thing for the flavor products he had there so as you can see in the pictures all those products are flavored tobacco products or tobacco uh flavor tobacco product uh tobacco product flavor enhancer so this time since there been so many attempts to make sure the the lines this time I find $2,000 for a second offense that that final Spate just wanted to go check one thing here yeah the final was feed on February 20th of this year a fin of $2,000 so since this is a second offense you know is up for seven uh business days to suspension uh in this particular case because he's primarily a tobacconist uh this has a significant impact on this particular store I understand that and that is why I've been reluctant through the years to give him a citation before actually make sure everybody was well educated about what the expectations were so the law says we got to suspend this spr for seven bu days uh if you do so the way it would work is he would have to remove all tobacco products from the premises throughout the period of suspension he could sell other things like he could sell tobacco pipes he can sell accessories but he cannot sell anything that's considered to be a tobacco product or the tobacco enhancement so and that's pretty much address the board that's okay good evening everybody thank you foring some time I did write something on my phone that's to read from some notes um I do want to clarify though that the situation with the door was a situation where we were early morning cleaning and that door was wide open and we were sweeping through in a super early came in and we just left the door open for people to come in but it was just sort of a misunderstanding because we do keep that door lock you have to be buzzed in check your ID before we Buzz that door so my name is and I'm here representing Outlet as a daughter the owner first and foremost I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to address the concerns raised during our recent inspection as a family own business we take compliance with state regulations very seriously and I'm here today to provide some clarification or resolve in misunderstandings that may reason regarding the discovery of the blue and chocolate flavored cigars that you have here um during our inspection I want to emphasize that these products were not necess stock on our shelves we have documentation in forms of in invoices um within the last 3 years that we can provide to you every single invoice and we've never placed an order for these products our understanding is that it cans Asal and it was a discrepancy with the employee who might have just put everything he got in that order on the shelf and we just it passed our you know but we've never purchased anything like that and it was an error by who receed that order addition the presence of the juice juice and I actually prop juice this so we do carry juice that is unflavored this year it was tacco the same bottle and it's an expired bottle the one that was compensating it was just sitting on the shelf so another error made uh by one of the employees but we guarantee them since that flavor band was taking place we removed everything we did this you know mistake and leave that one so it's not a product that we're sign it's not something we're making money off of it's two products and it's so and we are actually I would say 90% maybe I don't know to give an exact percentage but most of our sales do not come through any tobacco products we're mainly accessory store we sell sometimes wholesale trco hooka accessories the hoses the hookers themselves and we make more most of our money doing that not through tobacco products and uh the last thing that we have here is the AL product this product says non masses I'm understanding now that he's saying it's a flavor enhancer if that were the case we have a misunderstanding we thought that this was allow and we asked at the time and we were told that yes we could sell this so for that reason we put this on our store but ever since the inspection we have removed these products from our shelves we will no longer continue to carry them if they are uh one of the things that are banned of course um I guess that's pretty much most of I mean I remember C also that we should have a glass carrier right there where the tourist and within 24 hours we have put it up there so we comply with everything that you tell us to do immediately we don't take anything to think about it we just go ahead and do it so I do apologize if we could somehow avoid being suspended for for you know 7 days and figure some other way to I did retrain all the employees as well I had thorough training that sat down with everybody one by one show them what products you can sell what products you cannot sell whether they came as a sample or not whether they came by a mistake or not and to even verify with me hey we got this I haven't seen it before is that okay CU it just says blue cigar the employee didn't the same box for it looks the same as the other one well we have no flexibility in in in changing the the the the suspension the the reason being is if we change it for one establishment then all the establishments in the past that got a 7 days as mentioned are going to either come back after us and try to sue us or the ones in the future saying well you give it to them why can't you give it to us so it is a state law and it is reassuring that you don't make a lot of your money from the b c you make it from parapan and charcoal and boes and Anda pipes so I don't think it's going to be that much of a financial ask a question did you just say that most of what you said was not to correct well to classification of an adult only retail store which allows you to sell vaping products that exceed 35 Mig of nicotine you have to derive most of your sales from the sell of tobacco products so if what you're saying is true then you don't qualify to have the classification and you could be selling those spes that you sell right now and you wouldn't qualify to have that to be able to sell you know any VAP product that exceed 35 millions of nicoe so if you go over the record by saying hey most of what we sell is on Tobacco then you lose that classification right I want you to think about that make sure that you what you're saying is absolutely true because if it is you won't to operate as you have been because in order to qualify as an adult about store the law says that 90% of what you sell more is Divide from the sell toac products so if most of what you sell it comes from the pipes you don't qualify you understand what I'm saying yes so I want to make sure that my advice is go back check your sales receipts because and think about how you want to operate because if that's how you want to go you're going to make this worse for sure my recommendation stand I want I want to say the following I mean these products were found on the shelves it's not the first time it's not the first time and that's the reason why we came to this uh to issue a fine and having uh this hearing it's not the first time it's through the years several times and had several conversations with mu several conversation with his Matthew cousin and and other people that there and I've try to work with them like for example the door they were're talking about they have an out of door and as a concession because it was it would cost a lot of money for them to create a sort of like a VES they allow them to put in like you know sort of like a gate inside the store but I said if you're going to have this gate inside the store you got it's got to be locked at all times and can have access to products that they would be legal for them to have access if they you know if if they were not to be able to enter the store as as as as a person 21 or above and and that is why we had several problems with that door that gate finally able to and fin way to loot that gate but that that gate I've seen it more than once more more than twice left open people go in there's always an explanation for why the gate was left unlocked and the plastic the plastic as you talking about it I believe is because the counter and the gate is all very low you can just reach the products inside so by P those GL and you have prevent people from having access to the products they can't have access to so just to recap the violations labor products tobacco product Flav enhancer the absence of the required uh lettuce from the manufactured stay in the produ and not flavor and just this particular inspection alone this doesn't like I said this is like it's been a series of inspections and under which I took every opportunity to educate not only missa but also the employees here so we not g we just don't distribute fines mil try to our ultimate go is compliance but in this case I thought Qui to actually ISS F and find in the law is very clear there a second violation within 36 months that's got to get to suspension for 7 sounds like you're getting a pretty deal given that he's kind of overlooked a bunch of other violations and tried to be patient so I do see that the wall that you're talking is shoulder level it's a bit high and that's where we put that little plastic part it would be very hard to reach out anything well that's not the issue at hand it seems like this is not the first time we like selling flavor and tobacco prodcts you need to have those manufacturing letters we got those in yeah we were told that one time for that one product and we brought all the letters in after all the cigars were there HEB did not have a letter we got them everything and was saying that a lot of those cigars came from overseas letter for them froming you I don't have problem yeah we do of immediately that's but I have a question about this about this being a flavor enhancer or a non-tobacco product yes yes so how do I know whether or not it is just in the future General so the way the STI law defines the product is that any product that is not tobacco but that is flavored and can easily be combined with a tobacco product to give a flavor for that product is a tobacco product for the answer this one is one of the obvious ones it's a product for hookas correct right so uh you may sell regular tobacco for the hookas and then you sell this now they combine then you have flavor do you sell regular tobacco or you just sell this the pipes what do you mean bu the pipes the hook itself yeah so this is f to be used with that product and that can easily be combined with a tobacco product to give it flavor we don't sell that we sell just you don't have necess to sell product if you sell a product that can be someone from outside can buy their own toac anything that they can combine and makes it AAC flavor answer even though you don't sell the I understand I okay so no flavor purely even if it's a non toac us when I go ination inspection say anything that has a just a red flx should go up you should have analyzed what what has a flavor and decide whether that can easily be combined with a makes more sense than okay I move to suspend the C issu to home and more hooka Taco Outlets located on 8 roll M for seven consecutive business days beginning I start of the business on Tuesday May 14 2024 I second the motion motion carries all right good luck in the future we know you'll figure out yeah favor so that last question before I leave that means we can still open but remove all the products yes tobacco product I'm going to go over that with you just to make sure because you might got a letter but I think the letter is not going to be sufficient for you because there's some things that defined as tobacco that you may not believe is a tobacco product but it's defined in the regulation as such so I want to make sure you understand what's toac BO remove it from the premises you can sell the are you going to come back to tell us or go okay what about the The Backs the back is allow to they can s it in any grocery store also this one you [Music] can what about it if it is a tobacco product yes you have to remove it people use it toac it's a cigar anything yeah anything you can smoke it yeah or you can chew or you can dissolve in your mouth if it is tobacco if it has nicotine you can't have it oh okay no my conern because this this items you can find in any grocery store it's not 5% the toac the tobacco license because there's 5% and 3% this is a VAP product no my question is any grocery store he can sell the B clear without without flavors 3% the difference between uh guys who has license and don't have a license your classification is yeah so he can sell 5% no he can sell 3% yeah no for me I can 5% so I can move just only 5% and keep like the other theend I'm just yeah I'm just asking yeah move anything that's right days you can the Charco everything thank you for your time than else thank you very much for coming thank you have a good night [Music] well well we soon have to go through the motions for these particular stor be escorted out by [Music] police at the to initial tobacco regulation raising the a to purchase the back product we did it before the state did it and a lot of the the 7eleven and you know white Pantry attacked me like verb I I need the cas work to my car we still have two stores to to look at suspend the tobacco per uh tonight uh they're not here one is lpon market and restaurant 262 Hampshire Street and the other one is was Union Supermarket number four located the 309 Park Street they have both SS of back to minor uh the first one open on sold to back minor on the 8th of January the second one sold one back of mar cigarette on the 5th of January um you still have to you know decide whether to spend or not um these are the packs of cigarettes El he got a receiv receiver as well in this case this is a pack of cigarette that was purchased at M Super Market number four this was actually purchased on the 5th this one was purchased on the E none of these cases of the M of that mind was challenged at all just go prodct so my recommendations what you see suggested oh by the way all these stores I receed confirmation that they've been notified not only the first time we scheduled a hearing but also the second time as well ofs ISS to supermarket Flor located 309 Park Street La massachus for one business day beginning I start the business on Tuesday May 142 second a motion all in favor I motion carries you next I Mo to suspend the tobac prod isue to a pong market and restaurant located 26200 stra massachusett for one business day beginning and start business and Tuesday May 14 2024 second the motion all in favor I motion carries before I finish my toac portion year the last meeting in February this board asked me to prepare for a draft uh proposed changes to the local tobacco regulations most of these changes is to bring the local regulations up to par with the state regulation that no governs so with some extra uh little changes that I'm suggesting as well uh I'm still working on that draft I should have the draft by next meeting next month at that time we're also going to have another six SWS before this board for toac suspension stand from these compin be conducted on January 5th the 8th and the 9th okay I'm to table the the new amendments to the to T tobacco regul regulations for the next meeting thank you all right we're going to go to uh I move to what okay sure sure okay Dias or bias bias bias okay [Music] okay for [Music] r [Music] for what la for [Music] spee speee [Music] fore fore for phology fore for so um P we will add this as an agenda item for the next meeting discussing the licensing for liing fees licensing fees for body art and new opportunity for person new licenses new Li all right so we can continue with the agenda um the old business old business and then we are going to continue uh from coming out of recess um the motion made by DR prio and now the discussion opens 527 um okay move to discuss 527 H Street Department one all right so the last meeting uh we had it was a zo meeting and we were discussing in writing a letter that who help uh Martinez uh with her situation uh since then the apartment um actually the pest infestation actually increase we have both parties here we also have the um one of the attorney representative um I think we are back to again finding the the unit of fit for human habitation um you can hear from them but regardless how many I think at this point seven of them seven um times that these landlord try to bring the pest control um company he has not been able to succeed in allowing that and so when in conversations with both parties lard and occupant both agree that she will have to be outside of the unit so he can Reef the walls apart and see if the problem is Behind the Walls okay so let me just clarify so us the board making a motion to make this unfit for human habitation would allow the organization to help her find alternative housing that too and allow of the landlord to do the job he needs to do to eradicate yeah they're here we don't need to hear it um you don't no we've already heard it okay so um so basically this is a house that was just one of the worst cockroach infestations and Rod infestations for a long time in the city of l and a woman lives there with her children and it was affecting her mental health the Children's Mental Health they weren't prepared for school they weren't sleeping he this landlord tried tried concerted efforts to hire a and have a pest uh management plan um and they came multiple times things improved a little bit and now they're back to the so the request was that we make a motion to make this pling unfit for human reputation so one of the Social Service organizations of Minds could help this woman and her child find alternative housing and that and when the finally the house is BAC that landlord would be able to properly fumate so that's what the motion that we need you to make is basically you would make say I would I move to make 27 Hy Ro stre Department 1 unfit for human habitation and content you have the letter there that I sent uh Mr gy and condemned the the unit so he can make them repairs because he has to bring her out can we do that I move to um 527 H [Music] Street unfit for human and condemn the property andn the property the unit only number one so the owner can make the proper pest for mediation I second the motion all in favor I I okay I think you should just inform them will we've heard the whole everything that's going on that's that's fine all right so we have the interest of time yes so we have both parties landord and um attorney representative for 62 unry and the issue is with means of be this is important um and I tell you why we're both parties okay I'll we have to it was they would only do it if we make that property under human habitation then they step in to try good job as always yeah yeah thank you thank you part Dr welcome board thank you and once you guys decide the next meeting PR for the I have that right thank you very much good night night that this next property is um on Union Street Street the Great County that's North Street Street my community Gard used to be what they used to be pares Pary it's way up down down you Brooks Avenue You Laundry site yeah la so that's un stre books go kind you know the intersection of Union and that's fine so this is being recorded we are live right now okay thank I don't know how you want to you want me to present or I want you to present I moved to discuss 662 Union Street say second motion motion okay discussion discussion so um 6062 Union Street came to uh the inspectional services department back in September 9 2022 um uh the first six cases we talking about six units they were closed um two months after um due to tenant request we reopen those cases and um a year and a half later we're still looking at these situations they have been a lot of improvements especially in 62 Union Street we still have to consider 60 Union um main violation which is a obstruction of the me of that means that something is physically affecting the exit of the tenants in case of an emergency now the question you elaborate on that is it just not a 3ot open correct so um look I think you guys have it on your package but up the time of the inspection when we measure that ESS was 28 some of them were 23 and well this requires over 32 and so at these moments with that uh what it means in case of an emergency Let's Pretend uh the fire department have to come in there with gear is it are they going to be able to go in or are the occupants going to be able to have a safe passway to get out of the the the apartment and this is one of two means of beers this is three one one of two one of two one of two yes one of two so that's for 60 Union Street uh we did receive a letter from um commissioner Peter Blen shed and the letter pretty much states that um it has to be remediated if I can you guys have it on your package but is this one right here it says to whom we may concern please please be advised that I am uh reciting the letter dated March 19th 2024 um let me go back to the letter March 19 2024 he was okay with um very the me of eess uh so regarding compliance of eager's hallway located at the above mention property I have found the aisle with no unacceptable to M State building codes of 36 white Acres that means that it was less than 36 white acres and so with that that being said the question is can the Board of Health members or the commissioner vary any of the citations made under this sanitary code the recommendation is no there's no there's nothing on um the senary code that said that we can vary that uh even you guys as the entity of the board once the violation is identified it has to be remediated okay let me ask you this given the age of this dwelling is it physically possible to modify this means of Eis to 36 in well that's the question for um for for legal right and so when in conversations with teen he said that what we can do is actually bring this to housing board and Mis that matter but again the housing senary code does not allow anyone to ver that citation and unfortunately uh I said unfortunately because this was I was not the first one to sign this violation uh the rule goes that you guys have seven days up to S days after you receive your um your citation to dispute or to request a hearing that never happened and we were talking about um September 9th 2022 uh 21 and so because of that it's it's being it's is being past that period of time that you guys have the opportunity to say we we don't agree to that because of the uh the the the bill the time that the was the time frame that it was built and we will have a discussion on that so right now year and a half later we I I don't think there's anything and I'm sure uh I mean we've been looking at that if there's any possibility to to vary that we didn't find anything that allow us to vary as citation with that everything else but there's no way to apply for variance regarding this particular me do you know is it physically possible to make that in 36 in no no no because the problem lies into do you want no you can describe it okay so basically what happen is that they have and they have and if you move that um if move then is the door for the so this is the space this um [Music] Sal and for cour well okay and who lives there so what is the ultimate I I I believe and I repeat this in Spanish I believe that they've been in conversations with Building Commissioner Peter blet um to see if there's a way to move the cabinets to other sides of the apartment uh I know they tried to find a small um set of cabinets unfortunately it was not possible um if we'll probably have to continue this if it's okay uh after we talk to Peter and to continue to live there they've been there they've been there they've been there so [Music] me fore [Music] foree so this is what we're going to do so Lea expresses um her difficulties by trying to enter the units so what this is what we're going to do we can probably arrange some of the time with the Building Commissioner and try to go together and arrange that so they know with time we're going to give them the 24 48 hours I don't know that you guys um ask and then you'll be informed they'll be in for and then we'll discuss and then from there we also discuss when is going to be the time for the repair so we can discuss that with uh with the Building Commissioner for the most [Music] [Music] so so we we going to make a c that they understand that this is for their own benefit right and this is the board trying to find a solution that goes according with the regulations and the laws and and is for for their for their lives and their safety right so we have the lawyers here this is going to this is a statement made today that they have to to allow yes yes [Music] [Music] so this came after uh they asked for uh rent increase that's that's all Happ that's the case I don't know if you guys um yes I want to hear who you represent I represent the tenants um stff um who've been assisting ten okay let's hear what we have to say um sure so I I sort of echo um Miss PR's recommendations um in terms ter of you know wanting this this agressive struction to be REM um that's something that's it seems to me that they're putting up kind of barriers to accomplishing that why would that be um that's that's not my understanding I think that there have been some scheduling disputes as of this point and this has been um sort of the setup for several months now is that any sort of inspection whether that's informal not informal but repairs you know scheduled by the landlords or um inspections done by the city is kind of going through the the respective legal offices um and you know it's it's sort of a matter of coordinating with a lot of people and and making sure we have access I you know sometimes that is maybe not the most ideal way to do that but it's it's just the way that this is working with the nature of the cases um that are ongoing to Housing Court um and I think that the understanding now moving forwards is that uh legal representation will be has it when inection done um just to make sure that everybody's on the same page and and that you know access is being allowed it is certainly Our intention to you know allow access um because the tenants want these issues to be remedied well they want the issues to be remedied too of course it's gone on for 2 years so it's just seems frustrating on all yes especially when they when you ask reest hey today is Wednesday I'm asking question for Monday and they go and reply on Monday oh yes we have ACC and we have to have people to go to thees I think my my experience after I took the cases is that at some point there was um there were complaints about how the work was performed so the repairs was not people or persons like finish and so so often times they were not fixing um the items or the violations the way we as the inspectional services of the health department would like to see things they have made some great progress I have to say especially on 62 Union Street but for a year and a half those things were not um done I I am happy to share that with you cuz I don't think I don't think it's fair for me just to say that you have not made an effort you guys have made a great effort in cleaning up the stuff that were bringing the rodents uh cleaning up the basement cleaning up the the premises but opportunities were to correct things with professionals we still don't have anything that said this professional work and I went about and and and and talk to Max Guerero and and I trust Max Guerero saying no everything was done under my license but it was not until I talked to masero or your other uh sister that we were able to move forward for a year and a half the the inspectional service department was trying to get results and we were not able to now I have to say you guys have been moving forward and so now we can tell tenants you have to agre to for this to happen also um the thing the thing is like at the beginning I'll be on on on the proy and then somebody start yelling at me what you doing over here you cannot be here whatever like hey I'm somebody I want to see what they're doing let me in they only let the first going to do the work in there so I couldn't see so the only request from the from inspectional Services is that whatever the repairs are conducted please continue to have it with a with uh contractors who are licensed who are professionals and to to make sure that in the future they don't come back saying it was either one of you the landlords conducting their repairs and that is not people's or persons like f right so it's it it's it's only fair for both it's your property it's and that's and that's and that's what I am asking for I'm asking for for something to be not only good for you but also for the tenants we all we all deserve to live well okay I'm going to move on to the next item on the agenda thank you all for coming so this is going to be moving for next month before we when are we going to go over there so Mr Peter Lun is not here today um I'll talk to him tomorrow and find out when is he available to conduct the next [Music] okay okay um given that it's Passover and Ethan is not here and our commiss and me Sten not here we're going to the table sh updat for the next meeting absolutely we're also going to move we're also going to move to table the continuation of the overview of the city of lawence hooka regulations um we're going to go to new business and um Mr um was here moments ago okay we're going to introduce our new board member Dr Vidal prario a pillar of our community who everyone knows welcome um so he was appointed recently um you guys have with view in the package um I believe he was on the 19th uh yeah the 19th it was on the 19th so he went through the process he was sworn in and now he has to be uh brought before the city councilors but he's a member appointed by the mayor and we are most uh glad to have you here okay good excellent all right so we're going to jump to and Pat is not here to introduce as our new ISD director Pat Ruiz thank you Pat for taking the lead okay 54 Union Street I moved to to discuss 54 Union Street trash environmental contamination complaints um business owner is here uh if you see the one of the last um documents on your package is this right here at the very end um okay so this case came to us in 20123 officially this is part of the other case that we had before so this um this business had a dumpster part on 6062 Union Street and that was part of the violations that the previous property had uh he was able to to remove the dumpster from the property but he put it on the sidewalk uh if you can see the pictures next to uh second page is where he put the dumpster we tried to talk to him he actually removed the dumpster the the last the picture on top is when we removed the downer but now he's keeping the trash on the side um in conversations with DPW uh person who who used for dumpster and and all that it was willing to issue a permit for 2 months so he can bring the dumpster back until he finds another place where um in the corner but he said it was still a problem with uh other businesses and and the other um houses right around the surrounding area so now he opted for just have regular containers on the sidewalk I remember you were going to go out over there and yes look at the situation was there a viable place to put a dumpster no just in the back what it will require uh cleaning of the allei area and trying to figure out where for him so it's more discussion to that he's here outside I don't know if you guys want to hear what he have to say but pretty much is just on L saying where is the best place for for this business well that's not our decision to make it's the inspector's decision to make so I don't we don't need to hear this case okay all right so I'll bring it we don't have a solution for him no I can bring it back to um I can bring it back to the foood inspector and I can bring it back to DPW and see if we together can can figure that out figure that out we're not going to solve that problem today no all right so table that for further discussion um or to bring you just what happened to that yeah just bring us an update at an update okay so table 54 Union Street to bring an update for next okay um to Jackson Street Unit 803 yes he's here um also the last documents on your package it was a letter with the correction order sent to to two Museum Square um the problem was the ventilation air quality this person as a result of this violation um received a letter from his physician saying that he got um very his um Health got very compromised because this issue with a ventilation um mum Square I believe send a person um to correct these these violations in two occasions um I don't know what what you guys want to do about that he's here I think he wasn't Dr primario that wrote that letter oh that will be I definitely wasn't me I'd like to know who it was hi say your name and your position and address Cesar I'm currently a student okay and my my current address is 30 sh Road Unit 1305 okay great so you represent um Jackson Street Housing Association yes oh you were 10 10 so this is about the the uh The Moldy air DS correct correct okay so you're the one that filed the complaint or the one that fixed yes I on that have the repairs done been performed your satisfaction no no I mean I moved off but not okay all right so what was going on there was mold inside H systems okay how did that manifest itself in your terms of your health I end up as okay you had never had Asma before okay all right so when you wrote when you came with your doctor's letter what did the establishment do the management yeah and the property they didn't do much okay so that's why I came here okay to address the matters and they came out and they did an inspection and pretty much I just had to come to the board to help meting I have the letter from the doctor okay can we see sure so the doctor know for fact that you get asthma because they so they did a methal challenge and the I found out I I got sick so the reason I found out I was going inside the events I didn't know what it was is because I ended up not being able to Bri I end up on the ER I followed up with an allergist in North for Dr Johnson and he did some lab work which took almost 3 weeks I came back positive forus in my blood and um then he challenge which took which took a couple of weeks and the results came back that that I couldn't they didn't the test and I couldn't my levels are low I Johnson taks oh yeah yeah so who did the texting on the unit that live that approv Asma was triggered because the M that they have on the bank I'm sorry who did the testing on the area of the apartment [Music] that hired a um company and they tested it and was not I'm going to give you a little bit of background and the reason why SAR Cesar you out of the unit okay so Cesar is not here to actually um advocate for himself he's out of the unit he's here because of his experience he understands that we as a board should be more on top of this big apartment compasses that uh install um these ventilation units and do not do not come to the board with a plan in how often they're going to clean these systems all right so he actually raising his voice so we can actually talk about it and we enforce more the law in terms of having these systems um inspected periodically and not um when correct and that's why he's here before you guys pleading that we send an order or write something have something WR it it's op standard procedures to make sure that we follow up with this he he expressed that he would not like to see anyone experiencing what he experienced while living there is there any standard in the industry right now I mean we do sprinkler tests and we do firealarm testing and we do what are the state code for HVAC commercial HVAC systems yeah so that's a discussion I I don't have the answer to you I I think I expressed that to you that's not my my um expertise right um but I will I will start a conversation with those who have the experience and the knowledge necessary to work on that standards procedur that you before board members it will be interesting to see because in the in the Mass general laws what he what it refers to is to a nuances to air quality and what we ask um under that law is that whatever causes the new sence that it have to be remediated or removed or repaired and so with that in mind it will Mak sense for us I mean I'll tell you from my experience I own a commercial property and I have to do an air quality test for all my Hospital based entities North it's like every five years and I have to they have to sure that there's certain amount of fresh air coming in um certain percentage they have to um there's a whole bunch of tests that they do so you know and that's a commercial property there's no reason that those should not apply to a large residential facility um so we're going to find out what the state law is regarding large apartment buildings over four units or over 11 units it's usually over a certain number of units that they're required by law to do those air quality tests and make sure that they have a certain percentage of fresh air coming in per hour um it's usually 15% um you know and it's done by a professional organization and then report is submitted so we'll find out the law and we'll make sure that those facilities are adhering to that law we'll circulate a memo making our uh them aware what the state brags are clearly they weren't following it and what we do is that we follow with education education is here for everybody not only those who own the property but also those who live in there like as long as you guys feel a certain way you guys should be check and more than welcome to help in that and thank you for raising your voice in your concerns of course than I a lot of people yeah of course Muse Museum Square yes because the other day there was the president like done that okay so I wanted to bring that I have a lot of asmatics that live in there that's okay welcome this and once we have everything together I'm I'm going to make sure that you that thank you um I move to adjourn the meeting second motion I second the motion all in favor I okay good yay we thank you he's convinced that this was exactly the