##VIDEO ID:qq1p5rVEOX8## of health code Services thank you so much for coming you got to press the button thank you for having me so I would like to make a motion to um uh so I would like to make a motion to appoint Pamela ganell assistant Commissioner of Health Co services to our board as our agent okay okay you're going to you're appointing to be an agent to the board of so I'm appointing Pamela gonell assistant Commissioner of Health code services to be an agent on our board to the board to the board I second the motion all in favor I thank you so much we have granted you the power of the Board of Health to enforce building code um we appreciate you assisting us in our mission step sign this for me please okay we're going to move right on um actually Pamela we'd love to hear how long have you been with the city um and tell us a little bit about yourself we we don't know we'd love to learn more okay hi everyone my name is Pamela gono um a chef um but I started working at the city since January uh 15 if I remember and it has been a powerful push positions I have learned a lot from my co-workers and I would love to keep learning from them I think they are uh they are like such great people and with a lot of cap uh abilities so I'm glad to be here in the city great we're happy to have you thank you so much thank you very much I know we have 400 plus restaurants here in the City of Lawrence so we welcome all your information and your guidance okay we're going to jump to Tobacco product sales update Caesar take it away [Music] John thank you very much um these these uh well we have six establishments before the board tonight for tobacco Perman suspension these suspensions or these hearings they stem from violations there occurred back in May sale tobacco to Miners and the first person on the uh on the list is4 Liquors 80 winthrip Avenue Lawrence uh Louise I I can't see you perz is here he's the owner uh he's in add addressed board in a minute but basically this is a pack of cigarette that was purchased at that location on May 21st at 9:54 a.m. uh this cost $14.60 it was sold by a female clerk on that day she did not ask the uh the youth that you see a photo in front of you he's uh he was 19 on that particular day he was not asked for ID for his age or anything like that he wasn't ched at all and the spec was soed so Mr perz is here to address the board have nothing to say I check the cameras and I saw when she saw the P cigarettes she don't ask me for ID I have nothing to say that's correct okay all right so my I give I give a all thees to all my employers to ask for ID when I checked the cameras she wasn't the pH when that happened but you know all the employers I told her not to use the phone I told her to ask her for ID she has a small baby I don't know I what else I can do with him well we thank you for your honesty um so the board's decision well Dr my recommendation is to uh carry on a one day suspension on the 29th it's a Tuesday do you have the language here that that Stephen can make a motion to that effect or we can just I do not bring the motion ready okay so I would just say um and what's the DAT October 29th that's pretty long sell it the first time sorry selling the first time is $1,000 fine for last one day suspension plus one day suspension okay okay let just read this as per L Board of Health decision no no as per l the first time minor subject one day as for the Lawrence Board of Health decision on 404 first time sale of tobacco product to a minor is subject to one day tobacco permit suspension make a I make a motion to to extend the the one day suspension um on October 29th beginning of the beginning of the day um starting at day and then start of day and end of day so one day suspension name the business and the business is 114 uh Liquors located at 80 win Avenue Lawrence Mass for one day business suspension that's is October 29th we take the cigarettes the sh and that's it or we just don't s all cigarettes have to be all tobacco has to be removed from the premises not in the store at all anywhere take it him home do something with him okay you're going to get a letter explaining exactly what to do I just want to give the heads up so there should be no tobacco there on that day okay I second the motion all in favor I thank you for your honesty thank you no problem thank you okay okay is this next is El Rubio Supermarket anybody here representing El Rubio Supermarket this spec of marble cigarettes was purchased there on May 14th at 9:55 a.m. for $13.50 uh the same kid that you see a photo in front of you was uh sent into the store he asked for the product he was not challenged at all so my recommendation is the same one day suspension uh to be carried out carried out on uh October 29th I make a motion for a suspension of license of one day of sale of tobacco product for El ruo Super El Rubio supermarket located at 241 South Union Street in Lawrence Mass uh for one day suspension of tobacco sales second the motion all in favor I next is Aras Market located at 89 Newberry Street is anybody here representing Aras Market this pack of bomo cigarettes was purchased on May 14th at 10:24 a.m. for $14.35 just like in the previous cases is this uh this minor was not asked for ID or his age he was not challenged at all so my recommendation is one day suspension of that tobacco permit to be carried out on October 29th I would like to make a motion for one day suspension of areas Market located 89 Newberry Street in Lawrence Mass a suspension of one day of tobacco sales on October 29 second the motion all in favor all right motion carries next on the agenda is hewit Liquors we have Mr Patel he to address the board just in a few minutes uh this spec of M cigarettes was purchased down on May 21st at 10:15 a.m. for $14 just like in the previous cases uh that minor was not challenged at all so my recommendation is a one day tobacco PR suspension to be carried out on the same day October 29th state your name and address my name is j and I'm located at 109 law okay uh that's that I'm the manager and work in prise all the time that they have to my personal family issue so I be able to there and my parttime workers the student he just sold to M okay you understand the the first time violation and have you paid your fine yes I already paid Okay so you understand that comes with a one-day suspension supension okay so I would like to make a motion of a one-day suspension of tobacco sales for bu liquor uh located at 109 Lawrence Street for one day of tobacco sale suspension uh on October 29th second the motion all in favor all okay please don't do it again okay thank you next is light Shi Liquors look at 94 South the unions um in Bost in Lawrence um violation occurred on May 14th 2024 at 10:09 a.m. with this was purchased for $13.50 I spoke to the owner today he was not going to be at the meeting at this hearing but he said to carry on the meeting anyways so my recommendation is that um the permit be suspended for one day on the October 8 uh 29th as well uh I would like to make a motion of suspension of tobacco sales for light Shi Liquors located at 94 South Union Street Lawrence Mass one day suspension of tobacco one day suspension of tobacco sales uh for light ship Liquors located at 94 South Union Street uh one day of suspension of tobacco sales on October 29th I second the motion all in favor I motion carries right so these were all the uh suspension he for tonight uh I just want to add that we just did a bunch of compliance checks recently we checked seven new stores in the city we had three violations and they will probably be before this board along with another six violations from May at the next board meeting in November and also on the agenda is uh a confirmation of the date of a public hearing on the proposed amendments of the regulation of the Lawrence Board of Health restricting the sell of tobacco products this board had talked about this last time that this will probably occur in December but said that we we'll be confirming that tonight so do we have that date yes um the next Board of Health meeting just for the record will be November 12th and the public hearing on proposed um amendments to the regulations will be on December 10th no it'll be on the 10th okay all right let's move on um had did anyone sign up for public participation tonight is there any speakers that have signed up no okay let's move on Old business 54 Union Street Lawrence trash environmental contamination complaint do we have an update on 54 Union Street that was what the the agreement for the dumpster do we know anything further double click so we have a a complaint about the cabito supermarket it's a bodega business owner uh his name is um Carlos Hill he was we received the complaint from the uh Neighbors about the the rodents go around the garbage dumpster location but it what is is the business owner doesn't have any dumpster because he used to have a dumpster in in a property next to his business but he's not allowed to have the dumpster anymore so we um with the supervision with the director pasal R I create a letter a provisional permit letter to give the permit to the owner to put a locate a a dumpster or a trash can at next to the alley Alleyway um in his business and in that way he don't he doesn't obstruct the the sidewalk and he can keep them and maintain the area clean as as possible so we give this provisional permit letter letter for two months in two months we're going to review the case again with him and see how is the process going and to see if if he was able to have the permit to locate that dumpster again in the next location to his business okay my understanding was that there was a pending agreement with his neighbor that he was going to be allowed so did that fall apart and he's still um waiting for the U for the location owner to give him the permit because the owner is in trying to make an agreement with the tenants to have the dumpster located in there I see okay so for now we're going to go with the provision permit excellent great solution okay so much for that input okay next is continuation overview City of Lawrence hookah regulations discussion meeting are we going to table this tonight as well uh I would like to table it for we can have a full uh for all three of us to be here and have a discussion in regards to it and hopefully put this to bed okay this item will be tabled Now new business 245 Jackson Street Lawrence Massachusetts ISD k number 24 7860 do we have an inspector in the house um who inspected 245 Jackson Street okay okay great um first we're going to hear from uh Vanessa regarding the inspection of 245 Jackson Street Lawrence Mass good evening can double click it oh no I guess you got to hold it okay good evening all um in front of you guys board members and um colleagues you have a correction order that was generated to 245 Jackson Street dated September 18th 2024 amongst um multiple violations we have um well I made the observation of a rooming house on the third floor attic um one of the violations were one means of erress amongs with um a shared bathroom facility that was not within sanitary conditions and and uh not sanitized every 24 hours um this case was brought to us by um elani quo and she's present with us um and it was brought to us for high levels of lead um there are two minors in the unit one is 6 years old and uh another is two she's currently pregnant tested yes yes um she actually reached out to us um her doctor the child's PCP recommended for her to reach out to us um not sure if you guys have a moment need a moment to revise the violations we have about 21 violations so it was a duplex with a with one apartment on top or it's a unit located in an attic of a two family dwelling correct there are four occupants residing in the unit two of these individuals are under six the unit consists of a single Room 217 Square ft include sleeping living in kitchen space there is one means of eag front common stairwell okay so clearly this is a um unit that appears unfit for human habitation can we have um first I'd like to have Miss quo come to the um Podium elani quo the occupant and her family could you step to the podium for just a minute okay now okay okay okay she stated that she lives there for 9 months and she pays $800 rent okay and um to be family okay okay okay okay so she has nowhere to go if she has to leave this this Department um I think we're in the same situation we were with the other porch unit that we spoke about last time okay okay umman please state your name and address okay he's the the owner of 245 Jackson Street okay so he bought the property in 20 12 and he said ever since he bought the property the attic was was already a unit um that had been rented um I okay okay okay so any uh comments questions concerns um I really I I I really feel that if we don't if we make this unhabitable um this these poor this poor will be in the street so it's really a hard position for us to encounter because I I do want better conditions uh but I do do not want her on the street I believe that the the the the situation is if we condemn this unit she would end up having to leave within 24 hours but if we make a motion to make this property unfit for human habitation it gives her the services available to help her find emergency housing which is really what they need absolutely okay Mr mrman and [Music] yeah go so I I like to um bring and uh notify so this is currently um on the books um a two family home that is actually being used as a sixpack there are two units in the Attic um which are one of the units we um had the the privilege of conducting an inspection which is the one we're presenting today um there are two units in there's one unit in the second floor the first floor is split into two units and there's also a another unit in the basement which um in the future we will be inspected as well okay Ethan okay yeah yeah yeah I would also add that the second unit in the Attic was unoccupied when we were there is that correct it's currently occupied oh it is currently occupied okay I understand all right but the inspection was not conducted to that unit the second one but I believe it's the same same issue up there in terms of lack of a second means of erress so is this a similar situation to the one we spoke of uh at the last meeting that this will give them the ability to uh get the help they need to not end up on the street to access emergency housing in a in a um in a in a quick manner it would help speed it up but it might not help entirely so what happens here is that sometimes the agency that uh that would help out with emergency housing would need an actual condemnation however um by you the board if you make to finding that it's unfit for human habitation then working with the agency your agent um whoever it happens to be uh would then work with that agency and then issue a condemnation when when when appropriate um so that so there would be hopefully no no gap between housing from condemnation to emergency shelter or other shelter available um but you need to find it unfit for human habitation first and once you do that and you choose not to condemn it then that Authority for condemnation and vacating and Pla Harding would then fall to the health agent to follow through on that process okay which is more of the recommended Avenue to help them give them some time to access I would I would recommend that so that again the goal is not to make somebody home of course of course okay um the agents myself with now um on uh September 26th we um discussed this case and um as agents and because of the situation we considered and went forward with um unfit for human habitation um we have been working with um Miss quo's um social worker and um they are actually looking for to be able to assist Miss with you know further um housing you you could given that I was not aware of that you could delay the condemnation in other words you could say that condemnation would be enforced a time when off housing is available um given that given that information that's another possibility one more thing I want to add to it because there's lead paint violations the code reques Le paint to be remediated um regardless of whether or not they remain living there so in other words the because Le paint was found and there was a violation um he is still required to be um the entire the entire property because it was all common areas or the common areas in that in that one room is still requirement BYOD and there is lead paint in the exterior the build also we have not inspected the whole house just uh the apartments on top that is correct we would need to um conduct a comprehensive inspection of the whole building because it's a two family and we have five units there and it seems like they split up one of the units they have six six units so we really have to we have to we have to go in there and do a an inspection with the fire department the the building inspector the health inspector of the whole building inside and out to make a better uh judgment what what we going to do okay so is it fair to say that if we make this property unfit for human habit it's already been made unfit forit okay so so that has so and you're in conversations with the social workers correct exploring options for alternative housing correct and a condation would um accelerate um her case to would a condom ation um also require her to be to vacate the property within 24 hours um good evening board members um with Mother Perez uh city of lawence inspectional services comination at this point what will uh enabled for these occupant is the ability to be mov faster in the ladder uh pretty much she is in the in the list for assistance she just requires to have something in writing to accelerate the process so moving forward um once we were able to to analyze the situation in she in the conditions that she's living under um I think and and we plead the the board members if you guys can consider uh authorizing agents of the board to actually write a condation not necessarily for the whole property but for this room all right is is two rooms in the attic and what we are asking is for the condemnation of this room uh so we can write a letter and so she can have alternative housing um move faster right in in the process that it takes not order or okay okay just in writing any further questions or discussion so uh so um just so we're clear so it's a two family but even though it's not a a a six family he's rented rooms he's renting those rooms out that would make it you know you have six families living there so it makes it a six family because they have six different people living there [Music] okay for for okay so we're [Music] talking okay graas um and state the address so I would like to make a motion to condemn the two attic apartments on two in 245 Jackson Street Lawrence Mass okay so I would like a motion to condemn one of the apartments at 2:45 Jackson Street the attic sure what say it one more time saying the in the unit that had been inspected so the unit that has been inspected at 245 Jackson Street one of the attic Apartments I am making a motion to condemn that attic apartment at 245 Jackson Street Lawrence Mass good I second the motion all in favor I I okay just uh Mr Gman he La lots of Apartments buildings houses the they buy them and they divide them up into multiple units they rent rooms Al basement in lawence this this creates a major problem these are apartments that are are unlicensed that are fire hazards that haven't been inspected J plomo full of lead paint one means of egis inadequate um sanitary um not meeting this the basic sanitary codes it's not just your house it's many houses in Lawrence we can only go and inspect units that tenants have requested an inspection but in the situation of your building we have a two family house renting to six families and it'll be important for your safety your legal safety and your ability to rent this building going forward um to work with the city to really obtain the permit the permits and the occupancy permits necessary to rent what you can in this building but it's going to take some work so you're going to work with the city to make these apartments legal units and by making the motion that we've made tonight to condemn this particular unit in the Attic it will facilitate your tenants ability to find alternative housing that is safer for herself and her children okay um I think that we've said enough on 245 Jackson you have a quick comment so with the Le issue I know we already spoke about it but um we've been trying to communicate with the tenants that we are going to get the permits we've been working on it last week and this week to find like a a contractor that could delet the apartment and we find finally found one but it's been impossible to get the communication across with the tenants I know they don't have anywhere to go but we were willing to even rent uh a room for them uh at a hotel or something so they could stay over while we do the well the contract the thing yeah you know but every time we come to a communication with them it's hard because they start cussing at us disrespecting us okay and basically like going like at both of us like if he was no one near of the house you know and we have made Communications cuz before you guys even came to inspect the house it was much so much worse and we went working on like cleaning out everything before like let's say June we had various complaints from Neighbors about trash smelling the whole area so what we did was we told everybody on the house look if you have anything outside or in the hallways that is obstructing anything you guys have to remove it and um take it out or just just remove it cuz we every we are going to R our a dumpster and throw them out because it's trash and there's bed bugs and there's a lot of things and rat okay I'm going to I'm going to cut you off there I'm sorry we we're really pressed for time with smela quickly comment on how we can facilitate communication between an owner and tenants regarding a deled abatement um sure we can serve as a um gatekeeper for for the for the occupants and potentially the middleman um unfortunately there's um situations in which we try to advance in terms of what we are doing for the occupants uh before we get into communication with the property owners why because time have lapsed for the uh remed ation but we understand that this is a situation that is different because we don't want to displace people not having them a safe place to go especially with two miners the occupant being pregnant and although we understand that they also facing a situation that is very difficult for them as Property Owners we all we also have to make sure that the whole family is also safe and secure so yes we'll we'll work on Communications points but in the meantime ex we don't have a a final decision from the other agencies that's I'm going to let you two work it out andine thank you we got one more to go over and I got five minutes to do it okay we'll make it happen Okay next is 2632 Newton Street and Salem Street do I have an inspector that can present this case hi hi good evening jnie L inspect Services health inspector um this case was came to our office back in January for 20 13 of 2024 the original complaint was because of the roof they have the ceiling was like leaking and during the inspection we I found multiple violations besides the roof and then on March the the tenant George roas he requested a Le determination inspection because one of his kids came out positive for lead in the test and the doctor recommended while we conduct the determination we found multiple areas with lead in the property and we issue a order to corre correction order to the owner Alan Kush that was back in March it's been with now in October and nothing has been done none the lead hasn't been remediated and most of the violations are still present in the property okay has this case been referred to the housing court they have a they have the case previous our inspection they have the case in the court okay um Ethan what is the what is the board able to do in this situation if anything if it's already has been referred to the housing court for someone for an owner that's not made um any okay I he's the know you're representing the okay come on up to the podium if you would please and um so you're here representing Mr kushia no he's representing oh you're representing the tenants okay please come state your name and thank you Eric salac on behalf of George roas who's the the tenant who lives in this particular unit um it initially started as a summary process action the owner haats L it's a limited liability practice the primary owner and primary partner is Alan coocher he owns millions of dollars worth property throughout the city this particular one he entered the agreement as a non-licensed attorney representing the lp I got it dismissed while that was happening Mr roas had already been in contact with inspectional services to date they just had their eighth inspection on September 25th I believe it was giving them additional citations um monetary fines have been there I think that the last inspection jacked up the fines to I think $1,300 uh it's my understanding that um they tried to contest the inspectional services complaint but I think they laps the amount of time that they have to actually do that um but as of right now it's literally still a sumary process case where he's trying to kick them out as a result of him withholding rent for conditions so it hasn't been fully put forth by the city in housing court to forcefully make them correct these things and that's why we're here today Ethan please I I was not fully aware of the process what's going on with this case but my understanding is this I agree that there's a summary process going on but the city has not filed a separate action against the landlord to force the order and my recommendation would be the city the file to um to enforce the order because that's not what the eviction process is about it's two separate actions so that seems like a uh uh something that happens independently of the board do we make a recom recommendation that the city file individually with the housing court no you do not have I didn't think so that could be done through the department okay is there anything else sir that you that Mr roas would like to accomplish this evening well I mean I think in light of the fact that this has been going on since January of 25 he's made the complaints to the primary contact of VP Alan cooa about the conditions of this impartment shortly after he moved in and that's like eight years ago so it's finally come to a point that I I do have to give them some credit the lead remediation and the owners are here the uh two at least one of the partners is here he holds he a inspector Mr cooa he holds an active license and after the city came out with the third inspection which was I believe March 8th where they found the lead presence he completely put away to the side the 60 days he has to do anything and a guy who's been in the business of commercially renting residential property for over 50 years knows better okay they finally did get somebody out they tried to have a lead contractor come in the lead contractor was supposed to come by the unit to go over with Mr Roof to ensure that all of the things were put away where they need to be to prevent any lead dust during the remediation process they attempted uh to have housing for them and we're going to put them up on Friday uh but according to the leg inspector the person doing the work reported to Mr Roos that I gave them advice to put you up in a hotel from Thursday until it's done so because last Friday they weren't able to get out there was no specific information for that contractor coming back saying yes okay this is good cuz we're going to work work here you can't have any of this stuff in this closet Etc um I would from this perspective of Mr roas if I think if the board found that this particular unit the third floor unit and the 2632 Newton Street is very confusing the face of this property is on Salem Street it's one of these kitty corner Lots so it's still there but it's on the Salem Street side that third floor unit be determined to be unfit for human habitation um there's no occupancy permit for this unit there's a lead certificate from 1993 that the first instance of having a deal with the the landlord he's like I have this this is you know it's doesn't mean it's good in perpetuity well we appreciate it um Mr Kusha do you want to come and and you got two minutes I'm sorry to keep your me keep this brief you you can you can have four the so I'll start with this did start with an eviction case the eviction case was there was some filing errors due to the partnership and what have you so it wasn't brought up we we had an execution in hand we withdrew the case and filed it a new in that previous case on o the end of October of 2023 I have a agreement that we had made that he Al that he violated that on the agreement from the previous case which we withdrew on the end of October 2023 said signed by Mr roas no repairs need to be made in the building so we'll start with that January the new case came Mr roas has a serious history of nonpayment put that aside he called inspectional Services inspectional Services came in they saw roof leak some other violations it's middle of winter we tried to do some patching the first a lot of the violations inside the building as a result of the roof Le um as soon as we could get a roofer in there we did put a complete new roof on the other violations were remediated there was a lot of trouble getting into the apartment as per usual um the when the lead stuff came out in March the it was presumed the he came positive they made a lead determination the lead determination got to us we said yeah there's yeah there can be le in an apartment and it can still we have a letter of compliance um understanding that those don't always hold um there was communication back and forth between inspectional services on is this good is this bad is this good as this bad throughout the there's also a court hearing going on in the midst of this we said all right we give will have an inspector come in there inspector went in there he found a couple violations we immediately within 24 hours had a contractor hired to remediate the contractor would the the remediation should be done save not for Mr Ros not prepping the apartment so we pushed the Leed the remediation back it's it's starting this Friday um we're putting Mr roas and his family that are supposed to be in the apartment um in a hotel throughout from Thursday so they don't have to check into a so they have somewhere to be on Friday and throughout the the completion of the lead Corrections and I mean outside of that with the original complaint and I'll say I will give credit to the inspectional services because they heated my advice a little bit from the last time I was here that they did not on the new report they did not just list everything that's been on every single report the first report that I was given and this new report with the exception of floor damage caused by animals that Mr roas is not supposed to have which I also have a letter of I'm signing um everything on the original list is done it's all new stuff and the new stuff is and I I hate to say this because I hate it's Petty it's male on the ground I'm not even allowed to touch the M okay I I thank you this this is a pissing contest between a tenant and a landlord that we see over over and over again where there's a summary judgment people don't pay rent they call out all the violations this is something that's going to have to be resolved between the tenant and the landlord housing court these are things that are not resolved at the Board of Health level I I don't think this meets the unfit for human habitation um they're not you know they're not 24-hour violations so I'm I'm going to let this lay itself out um it seems like you're out a lot of money he's probably going to end up moving and you're going to end up having to do a lot of work on the property and please get an occupancy permit the next time around it's applied okay but again we we have to end our meeting but uh sadly these types of situations which we see over and over and over again um then we're not the we're not we're not the the the jury or the court we cannot make decisions or or we can't force agreements between landlords and tenants we just can't we we issue fines through our agents but we don't force people to pay fines the housing court can has a more has a stronger you know legal arm to enforce violations but we do not not we can issue fines but we don't we can't force people to pay the fines we can issue more fines we can isue interest um but that's where our Authority ends I really you know what I mean how do you think this plays itself out in the end he does the lead AB batment either the summary judgment goes through and and he's and he and he gets evicted you come up with some monetary Financial settlement to get him to get him out um we tried or you come to some you come to some agreement to make this uh a lead free violation free unit and and continue forward but I'm going to have to make a motion to adjourn I thank you all for coming I wish we had more time um second the motion second the motion to okay thank you all for coming we'll see you in a month so for the hearing are you going to have a heavy agenda for that month of December n I'm going to have no agenda okay good cuz we don't know how many people are going to get right