##VIDEO ID:R2FBPBXam6o## e e e e all right I'm going to bring the meeting to order could everyone please uh salute the flag stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for alcohol thank you so good evening and welcome to the August meeting of the r Board of Health my name is Dr Drew bunker I'm the chair of the revier Board of Health uh joining me for tonight's meetings our tonight's meeting is board member Kathleen Savage to my left and board member vivana katano to my right also in attendance for tonight's meeting are city of Rivier staff Lauren Buck director of Public Health Michael Wells who's director of Municipal inspections and health agent and Paula suvita who's the Board of Health clerk so first um every meeting we do we review and approve the minutes from the uh the the meeting from the months pass so the July 25th meeting I'm going to ask the other board members if they approve those minutes I approve the minutes I approve of the minutes great so do I all right next is going to be the public health communicable monthly report report and that's going to be from Lauren Buck thanks Dr bunker for August 2024 for our communicable monthly monthly report our covid uh numbers were slightly higher than expected 106 confirmed cases and 28 probable cases this is just another reminder that we're coming up on flu and covid immunization season and a reminder that everyone should start to be thinking about it getting covid and flu shots um we also had a suspect Case of West Nile infection in Rivier which brings me to my public health update on August 23rd uh the Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced that due to ongoing evidence of mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus 8 municipalities are now considered to be at high risk for the virus we are not one of those municipalities however we have a moderate risk in Riv and I just want to remind everyone some safety tips about um helping prevent West Nile infection while most people do not get severely ill from West Nile it is still important to take it seriously people at greatest risk for severe disease from West n infection include those over 60 years of age people with certain medical conditions such as cancer diabetes hypertension kidney disease and people who have received organ transplants uh just some reminders that in addition to recommending that people use mosquito repellent with an EPA registered active ingredient and clothing to reduce uh Exposed Skin you can also check window screens to be sure that they don't have any holes and empty any container any containers that accumulate water around your yard and finally just protect your animals um especially after heavy rains it's important to make sure you're you're protecting your animals from uh mosquito bites that's it thank you great thank you Lauren next is going to be the inspectional services monthly report with Michael Wells thank you Dr bunker the uh inspectional Services monthly report is as follows interior housing division We performed 167 Certificate of Fitness inspections 20 Certificate of Fitness reinspection uh we have 13 interior complaints uh received and in process we have um three inspections of interior complaints four interior complaint reinspection and one pool Spar inspection on the food Inspection Division We performed 48 routine inspections 10 reinspection three complaint inspections one pre-opening inspection and one temporary food license inspection on the XD area sanitation division we issued uh 123 violations for accumulation of litter trash and debris three violations for carts out and improper times 49 violations for overflowing dumpsters 483 violations for improper improper placement of garbage trash and bulky items 46 violations for improper storage of uh garbage and trash two violations for Junk keeps dumps in automobile graveyards one violation for multiple unregistered vehicles four violations for Road and harborage and 68 violations for unclean unsanitary land um which also includes overgrowth um two violations for unpermitted dumpsters and compactors and one violation for working without permits great thank you Michael okay so next part of this meeting is going to be the condemnation proceedings regarding 364 Ocean Avenue I'm first going to ask the uh City Rivier outside Council to come up and speak there we go good evening chairman Dr bunker and members of the board I'm Paul Tellier of the firm dambrosio LLP and I'm here this evening with my partner Josh loville and we represent the city of Riv inspectional Services Department by and through its director of Municipal inspections and ha Health agent Michael Wells we are here tonight for one reason and one reason only Waters Edge limited partnership and Evelyn carabetta have utterly failed to satisfy the minimum standards to protect the health safety and well-being of their tenants as required under the state sanitary code tonight you are going to hear about waterers edges egregious history and the repeated code violations at 364 Ocean Avenue over the past 20 months Waters Edge has schemed and refused to perform any remediation of its deteriorating Life Safety Systems as a result their tenants are living in a moldy rat infested high-rise building with no fire alarm and fire sprinklers that do not work water's Edge's finances have deteriorated Water's Edge has not paid its contractors who are needed to make these repairs Water's Edge has not paid the riv fire department which is hired to provide a firewatch Water's Edge is delinquent on its taxes water Edge is delinquent and has not paid its mortgage for the property unfortunately you have no choice tonight condemnation is necessary to protect the health and safety of the tenants and the community at large please understand that the city did not bring this petition lightly it was only after careful consideration and water's edges blatant disregard for the law and their tenants let us take a step back and let me tell you about the history of this building the property contains a 13 story highrise building with 91 units currently it is our understanding that there are 41 occupied residential units a here salon on the first floor and that tenants are living throughout the building including the top most level the 13th floor the property has a long and sorted history of worsening code violations dating back to 2017 in fact the property currently has nonfunctioning Life Safety Systems in clear violation of the state sanitary code the building code and the fire code on August 2nd 2017 more than 7 years ago the city issued a comprehensive order to correct citing numerous life safety and sanitary code violations at the property the N the nature of these violations mirror much of what remains ongoing at the property today numerous violations relating to the fire suppression and sprinkler system numerous violations Rel relating to the fire alarm system failures to properly maintain emergency access Keys fire extinguishers in smoke exhaust systems numerous violations relating to the fire pump system and numerous other violations demonstrating a general failure by Water's Edge to properly care for and maintain the property since 2017 ongoing enforcement efforts have resulted in water's edge making only minimal repairs unfortunately water's edg's Reckless failures have allowed the problems at the property to deteriorate and threaten the safety of the building's tenants and the public let's Jump Ahead to November of 2022 on November 18th 2022 following reports of heavy water damage to the seventh floor laundry room at the property the the riv fire department responded and found that the fire alarm panel was no longer functional the fire department ordered Water's Edge to immediately hire a firew watch to be placed at the building at Water's Edge's expense it should be noted that the fire department did not have to allow for the option for the build uh of a firewatch but in an effort to work with water's Ed and prevent the building from being condemned the city allowed for this temporary fix while Water's Edge remediated the building on December 21st 2022 the city issued a new order to correct again citing numerous life safety and sanitary code violations at the property the following conditions amount to Serious public health and safety violations first the fire alarm panel which dated back to 2017 was inoperable and required a complete replacement in fact neither the manufacturer of the fire alarm panel nor wat's edges fire alarm contractor nor Waters edges fire protection engineer would sign off on the operability of the fire alarm panel the fire pump is not functioning properly and needs to be replaced why is this important this is important because the condition of the fire pump prevents adequate water pressure from reaching above the sixth floor which means that fires cannot effectively be put out and as I previously stated tenants still reside as high as the 13th floor the fire doors had not been Main maintained and this has caused them to have diminished or voided fire ratings numerous holes were observed in the fire rated sheetrock throughout the building numerous sprinkler heads throughout the building are corroded and have been rendered ineffective in the common garage there are many areas where the steel framing appear exposed the fireproofing is missing and portions of the walls and ceilings are found to be cracked deterior ating and not properly installed rodent problems continued dating back to 2017 neither the wooden decks nor the wooden railings were replaced or updated with the appropriately fire rated materials further both the decks and railings exhibited structural damage and signs of having previously caught fire several areas throughout the building including the hallway ceiling tiles and portions of the staircase showed signs of apparent bold growth at the time of the inspection the trash room was overflowing to the point that the trash shot was being blocked this issue contributes to the spread of disease and can also be a fire hazard Water's Edge did not appeal either the 2017 or the 2022 order to correct and there therefore is legally Bound by the unchallenged and unappealed orders the only aspect of the repair W work that waterers Edge challenged was it applied to repair the fire pump uh rather than replace it this appeal however was denied on August 24th 2023 by the fire prevention regulations appeals board a state board not at the city of river moreover this atrisk building has been further impacted by Three Fires in April of 2023 to which the fire department responded fortunately those times no one was harmed it needs to be acknowledged that condemnation was not the city's first form of enforcement after the 2022 order to correct following that order Water's Edge projected the appearance of progress Water's Edge retained engineering firm and Consultants to complete repair work at the property the city was familiar at that time with the firm and the Consultants because of ongoing involvement in remediation work at 370 ocean AB a sister building also owned by wat's Edge these contractors were preparing plans to submit for the property wat's Edge retained the fire department as a firat and was paying them the city was closely monitoring the situation however by the spring of 2023 any false appearance of progress ended Waters edg's Attorney confirmed that the retained firm and its Consultants were stepping away from the project at 364 ocean a by this point wat's Edge had failed to obtain any permits to begin the remediation work at the property on November 8th 2023 the city responded and filed a petition in the housing court to enforce the state sanitary code and sought a receiver for the property at a hearing on January 12th 2024 wat Edge stated that it hired a new contractor Christopher tanaga in a limited capacity to take over the remediation work The Limited contract which was supposedly for a high-rise building was for no more than 16 hours per week the court was appalled and responded to this insufficient scope of work by immediately consolidating the court cases for 364 and 3 70 ocean a and moving straight into scheduling a receivership hearing at this time the city had serious concerns as to Mr tanaga and Mr Matthew ooy and their companies as the new contractors retained to perform the work at 364 Ocean AV they had question whether their experience matched the remediation work required for a highrise building because a majority of their experience was in marijuana dispensaries consequence consequently these gentlemen in their company submitted an incomplete insufficient permit application for a comprehensive building permit the city provided comments on that application but to no surprise no responses were received thereafter Waters edes new contractors stopped communicating with the city the city then became aware in July of 2024 just last month that Mr tanaga and Mr oo's companies had filed leans against the property the city also learned uh a little before that upon information and belief that Waters Edge had not made the sufficient mortgage payments on the property the city also Al became aware that Waters Edge had stopped paying the firewatch at the property it was clear that Waters edg's efforts were a complete charade all remediation efforts had completely crumbled on July 17th 2024 deputy chief Paul chever reinspected the property and confirmed that all of the listed violations set forth in the 2022 order were still in existence and in fact worsened now you've heard the facts let's turn to the standard condemnation today is Justified because as you have heard there are numerous State sanitary code violations at the property those violations constitute conditions which make the building unfit for human habitation and the conditions threaten the harm to the tenants and the public it is indisputable that state sanitary code violations are present at the property the list of violations are egregious these violations constitute conditions that make the building unfit for human habitation wat's Edge has made numerous misrepresentations in false prop prises over the years they have schemed they have deceived enough is enough the conditions at the property harm and threaten the tenants in the public it is Unthinkable that in the current housing crisis Water's Edge would allow this abominable situation to occur the gravity of this matter must be acknowledged in the event of a fire emergency the building is not capable of alerting emergency services this is a direct threat to the lives and safety of the tenants delayed fire response makes Rescue Services more dangerous for occupants and for First Responders without a condemnation order the board risks the lives and safety of occupants and the brave emergency responders who would enter a larger and more dangerous situation due to the building's failed alarm in insufficient sprinkler systems now listen we understand the terrible situation that the tenants are in the city is on the side of the tenants we have always recognized the urgency of the situation but we had hoped that wat's edge would follow through with their promises so that tenants would not be displaced so that their lives would not be endangered any further we however cannot sit back any longer we cannot delay the inevitable we cannot risk the life and safety of these individuals these tenants must be protected and the state sanitary code agrees with us it has been updated just a little over a year ago with an additional requirement that upon condemnation the owner must provide the building's occupants with comparable suitable housing Water's Edge has recklessly place these tenants lives at risk and it is now their legal duty to provide comparable suitable housing in conclusion Water's Edge has no one to blame but itself for the uninhabitable conditions as at the property tenants and the community deserve the protection of the law history demonstrates that water's edge will not fix the property and will not pay to maintain the property the board easily meets the requirements to make a finding under the state sanitary code and issue the requested orders based on the extensive evidence of violations at the property the presence of any one of the referenced violations is enough to issue a finding that the property is unfit for human habitation taken together these dangerous and lifethreatening violations present a serious danger to the public health and the safety of the tenants the neighboring properties the emergency responders and the rever community at large at this time I'd like to incorporate our brief which was submitted to the board and the parties on August 27th 2024 I'd like to also incorporate the proposed order and findings which were submitted today and as further Evidence I'd like to invite my partner Josh lall up here to introduce three witnesses that will provide statements as to the deplorable conditions at the building members of the board thank you for your time this evening yeah we'll just wait to do their Witnesses the the city's um solicitors and then you can come in after okay we'll open it up thanks thank you members of the Board of Health my name is Joshua Lal on behalf of the petitioner the city has three Witnesses who have statements to provide to about the property at issue first is Michael Wells the director of Municipal inspections and health agent for the city of Riv thank you attorney LEL my name is Michael Wells and I'm the director of Municipal inspections as well as the health agent for the city of Riv in my capacity as director in health agent it's my job to enforce the state sanitary code I also work closely with building and fire officials and collaborate with these departments on a daily basis to Shar information and make public health and safety decisions in our city going back to November of 2022 Agents from my department as well as the fire department went into 364 ocean a for an inspection after a complaint that the fire alarm panel was not functioning properly as it turned out the panel was so defective that the rever fire department had to order 24/7 firewatch it's my understanding that it is uh essentially because the alarm system was completely inoperable there have have to be firefighters in the building patrolling the floors that they can be the ones to provide notice to the fire department and tenants in the event of a fire the fire detail has been in effect ever since and Still Remains today after the inspection we issued an order to correct which is a document under the state sanitary code that lists out all violations at a given property and acts as a blueprint for owners and contractors so that they can make necessary repairs I'm going to highlight for you some of the most serious issues recorded in the order of correct from December mber 21st of 22 many of these issues were still outstanding from a previous order that the city had issued in 2017 the fire alarm panel is old operable and in need of immediate replacement again the panel was in such bad condition that the fire department ordered a 24/7 firewatch the fire pump was not functioning properly when it was tested and it showed evidence of leaks and rust I learned that in the case of the fire there would not be enough pressure to reach above the sixth floor but even if the pump were functioning many of the sprinkler heads we observed were corroded making them ineffective as well there was also structural damage to the building throughout the fire rated doors aren't being maintained there are holes in the sheetrock and other walls around the building with the fire proofing is missing in the garage so even if the alarms worked at the pump was functioning the tenants would still be in danger because of these structural and fireproofing problems we also saw evidence of mold on some of the hallways walls and sailings a rod in INF station and overflow in the trash room to the point that the trash shoot was blocked this was consistent with other complaints that we received about the property in the past and I can tell you that these issues are legitimate health concerns with respect to the spread of disease to the residents for reference we're dealing with the same issues in another property next door owned by the same property owner which Still Remains vacant today the city received no appeal from the owners after the order correct was issued since that time we have been trying to in vain to work with them to get the building back up into code but unfortunately there have been significant delays no permits have been pulled and the work has gotten has not gotten um done all of these violations are still outstanding today they impact the life safety of the tenants the neighboring buildings and the firefighting patrolling 24/7 and they all rise to the level of making the property unfit for human habitation as a result I would recommend at the board tonight vote to condemn the property tonight on a final note I will add the state sanitary code was recently changed last May to incorporate a section mandating that the owners of a building find housing for the tenants in the event of a condemnation I would also recommend to the board tonight to enforce that provision as well thank you thank you for the second of the three Witnesses for the city I would introduce deputy chief Paul chever Chief fire inspector for the riv Fire Department good evening board members uh my name is Deputy Chief Paul CH I'm the chief fire inspector for city of Riva Fire Department in my capacity I uh do plan reviews for highrises and uh any commercial development within the city as well as inspect the existing uh housing uh that the existing housing stock that we have within the city um we're here tonight in regards to the property at 364 ocean app as described this building is 13 story high-rise with 91 units currently 40 units occupied um I personally been involved in this property da just pull the microphone a little closer I personally been I've personally been involved in this property back dating back to 2017 2018 when the first order of the CCT was issued at this property I informed the property owner owner back then in 2017 that they should plan and budget to replace the fire alarm system at that time because it was a legacy system and no longer supported by the manufacturer and pots were no longer available from the manufacturer however we what brought us here tonight is an emergency call on November 17th of 2022 when there was a report of a large amount of water that flooded down through the building and into the fire alarm control room and damaged the fire alarm control panel on the following day I investigated the conditions at the panel and wasn't unable to contact anyone from management by phone or no one from management was on on site the only person on site was the fire Al alarm contractor I issued an auto notice via email to the owner's representative of conditions found that were needed to be done going forward including one updating and replacement of the fire alarm system two the installation of a fire watch at the owner's expense for the safety of the residents this is you know similar to what just happened in 370 ocean have few months before they lost their fire alarm system we had a fir watch in there and they had a major fire that that firewatch is the one who called that fire in and then the third thing is access to the building on November 21st of 2022 for a full inspection of the building on behalf of the city on November 21st 2022 representatives from the health building and fire departments conduct an inspection at the property based on this inspection the state elevator was notified of the conditions found and he ordered a licensed elevator mechanic to be in the building to uh to for emergency operation of the elevators since there was no function from the fire alarm panel to give emergency recall the elevators were not working properly uh several several followup inspections were conducted by me to assess the progress of of uh addressing the issues found in the building and concluded which concluded with an inspection on November 14th of 2022 with commissioner Lewis cavanaro The Building Commissioner based on the conditions found an audit to correct was issued on December 21st 2022 citing any violations at the property the audit to correct was issued from the from the safe housing task force which includes representatives from fire myself ISD inspectional services and the health department the AUD the Kirk was the AUD cirk for this property was a 34 page document citing numerous violations of the state sanitary code including pictures of those violations I'll go into some of the conditions found from the perspective of the fire department the the firearm control panel as has been discussed was compromised from the water damage the firearm panel could not be fully reped since the system is from the 1980s and no longer supported by the manufacturer pots would were not were not available from the manufacturer for over 20 years from what I understand therefore after market parts were used to obtain and restore some functions of the panel the property own his own fire alarm contractor would not sign off in the panel after replacing the components with used pods additionally if fire protection engineer was asked to review the conditions and would not sign off on the functionality of the panel as well this left the property without Assurance of a properly functioning firearm system should a fire or an emergency occur today the system continuously Cycles in and out of trouble as stated earlier due to the continued compromise conditions of the firearm system a fire watch was AED in the building until the system could be upgraded and is still in the building today over 12 months since the system has not been upgraded um excuse me over 20 months since the system has not been upgraded uh the fire pump and sprinkler system fire pump was found to be in extremely poor condition including rusts leaks improper and unsafe installation and based on testing uh beyond the service life of the pump this the fire pump curve showed that the pump was deficient from the O from the owner's own fire pump testing company there were also many issues with the sprinkler system due to the lack of Maintenance including loaded sprinkler heads improper functioning of fight Department connection failing garage drrive systems lack of testing of the stamp pite system among other items though ownership did attempt to make some repairs to the sprinkler system there was never a comprehensive plan to address the issues overall this became a bit of a cast and cat and mouse game with me finding the issues and them addressing only what was found versus the Sprinkler Company actually doing a C- compliant full inspection and coming forth with a a plan to make all the necessary repairs the smoke control system is a 1980 system so it's an Evac system which just draws air out of the staircases this system works by having the ability to pull the air through the system this building has Windows in the staircases that open so it renders in ineffective the smoke control system we requireed this system to be evalu Val ated reped and updated as necessary to work function correctly the egress paths based on the inspection we found violations and erress pass on the building included damage altered and nonfunctioning fire doors throughout the property we asked numerous times for the owner to provide a comprehensive inspection uh report of the doors which was not provided this is a requirement of both the fire and building codes also there was a lack of emergency exit signage and lighting and there's no safe path from the garage since the doors from the garage are locked there are also open unsheltered sections within the stair Tower which are considered part of the means of erress from the property you have to regress from one section of tower out onto a roof deck to enter the second or third section of the roof Tower the owner built composable decks and handrails within e egress pass this construction provided the materials for the EXT of the fire that occurred next door at 370 ocean AB which carried across the deck and into the building and rendered that egress unusable by the occupants requiring the Riva fire department to enter the building at 370 and conduct rescues on that floor while speaking about fire responses to the building with detail present at the apartment there well there's still a detail present at this building the fight apartment in the past 20 months has responded to this Pro property 85 times that's four to five responses per week these responses included four Fires at the property um as as uh as discussed earlier two of the fires were in the building one was in the trash shot cuz the trash suot was over stuffed up into the floors another one was in the trash room cuz the room was over stuffed with trash and two of them were in the garage thankfully the fire detail on site called in through three out of these four fires and we were able to get there immediately and address the issue and it was not allowed to extend further into the building now for the now I'm not one to complain about runs that's our job but these type of buildings typically have several calls for service with large percentage of them being Medical but of the 85 runs only 12 were medical assistants at this property they're more related to building issues such as elevator problems false or malfunctions of the fire Arm System water issues related to leaking Plumbing or leaking from from rain water getting into the building so we're going on site and acting as Building Maintenance this is not a typical call volume for these type of buildings with the presence of the fire detail the Run volume for this property would have been much higher without the presence of the fire detail I could see that the Run volume for this property could much higher the fire detail also has dealt with several issues without calling for additional assistance the this is taxing on the fire department to have the detail here in the number of runs to this property for the record the owner chose to hire the r fire department to maintain the safety at this building unfortunately the property owners have not paid the fire detail since February of this year these violations and conditions that this building I consider serious this is a real threat to the health and safety of the building occupants the public and emergency responders they I would recommend the board consider a vote to condemn this property tonight thank you for your time um one point of clarification I I have to make it it's not that the fire pump would only reach water to the sixth floor we don't know that water will reach beyond the sixth floor without with the compromise fire pump just want to make that point of clarification thank you the city's third Witness is leis cavagnaro The Building Commissioner for the city of Rivier good evening my name is Louis cavanaro I'm the Building Commissioner for the city of Riv and it's my responsibility to ensure the build and code for the city I was part of the inspections of the property of 364 ocean a on November 21st 2022 and on December 14 2022 I assisted in preparing preparing the December 21st 2022 order to correct and I signed it it list the sanitary and building code violations at the at the property at the time for background information here the violations are essentially the same as 370 they're basically the same I am familiar with the repairs needed at 364 ocean a and I'm also familiar with the process required for permits for that work no permits for repairs have been issued so far there were some permits for dumpsters but that's it what needs to happen for this building is one comprehensive Master building permit similar to 370 the property owner applied for this permit on February 9th 2024 and the permit still has not been issued and it's because the permit was deficient I provided comments to the contract on February 14 2024 they they needed to provide a chapter 34 review and identify the Project's Code Compliance additionally the pro the project required a project representative similar to 3 7 in details concerning the fire proofing and emergency backup generator were missing they were also missing the initial Construction Control affidavits and this is just basic standard practice and it's all they to do is copy the plans from 370 and and basically do the same thing with 364 so it's just hard to understand why the permit was applied for with with missing plants the deficient per application was submitted by a contract who according to state law does not have the qualifications required for this scope of work at 364 Ocean AV as far as we are aware the contractor mainly builds commercial and Retail spaces he does not have any experience with building or renovating high-rise residential buildings Paul Cher and I met with this contractor Chris taglia and the architect for the project Matthew o Bole at the property to do a site visit and discuss the remediation of the building on February 22nd 2024 as a result of that meeting I had some concerns they seem to not know about many of the requirements for the mediation of this building they told us they had not been provided the order correct from December 22 and that was very concerning considering they had already applied for a building permit and they didn't even know what violations were there for instance they are unaware that the exteriorwood decks and walkways needed to be replaced or that the sliding windows and the stairways also need to be replaced as for an NFPA 241 safety plan this submission was confusing and insufficient neither Mr tanaga nor Mr Mr o bo was going to be present at the site full-time during construction yet Mr tanaga was listed as the fire safety supervisor in the safety plan and Mr oo said that he would be the project representative Mr oo is not qualified to be the project representative because the city required to be a fire protection engineer since the building was going to be occupied while this work was being done both roles require a full-time presence of the con for during the construction project the only person who was going to be present full-time was someone with no credential in no way to evaluate his qualifications to be in such an important position since March 2024 Waters Edge submitted some reports and testing results of some mold remediation efforts in the building but that's it they occur that occurred on May 2nd 2024 since then the owner has taken no actions they have not responded to any of my comments on the permanent application and there just seems to be no progress at the building I recently performed the site visit at the bilding on July 17th 2024 and the conditions included in the 2022 order to correct have still not been resolved and tenants are still on the property and as the lawyer said this is the city's Last Resort and due to the violation of the building I think the Board of Health should condemn the building thank you for hearing the city's Witnesses uh the city would like to reserve time to respond to a motion from the property's owner that we received shortly before the hearing uh but I expect you'll hear from the owner on the motion itself we're just asking for time to respond thank you very much great thank you so now we will um open up the meeting to the public so I think first um we'll have the lawyers or the team from the uh the building and the the owners of the building thank you and just to clarify this is 364 Ocean Avenue and it's owned by water edge limited partnership yes um my name is uh David fry and I'm an attorney and I represent wat's Edge uh limited partnership um so attorney lval just mentioned um a motion to dismiss which I have submitted to the board uh this evening there are some procedural issues that I think the board uh should be made aware of in how it is that the city is making this petition before it uh the first issue that should come to mind is the fact that this order to correct this order to correct is from December of 2022 and nothing has been done with it since then okay and if you look at the state sanitary code and the provision that I cite the city has to bring its petition for condemnation within 45 days of the service of the order it's far too late the other issue is that neither the order to correct nor any inspection form is signed under the pains and penalties of perjury and in fact the board didn't put anybody under oath before hearing the testimony now the inspection form itself has to be signed under the pains and penalties of perjury what you'll notice is there's no inspection form there's just an order to correct signed by the city officials and they don't sign it under the pains and penalties of perjury either importantly under oath in the uh receivership case which you heard a little bit about from attorney Tellier uh deputy chief chever admitted under oath that he did not prepare any of the orders to correct they were prepared by councel the code requires that the inspector classify the violations the violations can not be classified by outside Council private Council hired by the city so those are the procedural issues then attorney Tellier made much ad do about the financial issues and the leans and the previous cases none of those have anything to do with what's before you today whether or not to condemn the building the issue of receivership is being heard by the Eastern Housing Court already it is scheduled for an additional Hearing in the middle of September and judge B Doan who has been involved in that case is very much aware of the on ongoing issues and the history of the property receivership is a different remedy than condemnation which is an extreme remedy so the question is an inspection happens in December of 2022 and here we are and that they keep saying it 22 months later and now they want to move for condemnation but why well one of the reasons why I think has to do with a letter that attorney Tellier sent to my office on July 2 saying if the firewatch fees were not paid that the city would remove the firewatch and then proceed with condemnation so we have outstanding invoices that are owed for the firewatch I'm not disputing that my client is willing to hire a private company to take over the firewatch duties if the city feels that the fact that it's been unpaid means that they're going to remove the fire watch the city's attorneys are also not telling you about the work that has been done so we heard much about the fire alarm panel it has been repaired my understanding that it is functional it is not um utilizing uh brand new parts it is an older system but I have someone from the fire alarm company who provide testimony as to its functionality and the fact that it should uh provide uh instantaneous alert to the uh city of Rivera Fire Department and that they would be able to respond after getting that alert the fire pump is also an issue my client's position was they want to at least make a temporary repair to the pump deputy chief chever denied that permit I understand his position that that's not a permanent solution but at least we can try to get the pump up to a functionality where it does have sufficient water pressure we weren't even given the opportunity to take the permit to even try we were told that that was not going to happen uh attorney teller said that the property is mold infested just please try to speak into the microphone I'm sorry yeah attorney teller said the property is mold and fested and that's not accurate either the Building Commissioner just told you that we submitted the mold remediation tests as part of the permit application for the global permit so there's no mold at the property if the city's concern is about what or we have certain resonance on there may be a way so we can move people to a lower floor we're fine with that what we don't want to happen is for a condemnation to occur if the board issues a condemnation order in particular right after having this hearing that means the city potentially could go out and Placer the property right now and render all these people without a place to live so if there's any even thought of doing that we need to do it in a way that there's time to address the issues also my client may elect to appeal the decision of the board and ask for a stay of any order so we can't just do it in the middle of the night and then expect people are be placed somewhere else and that's what the city is asking for to me that's insane so they're saying that condemnation is the last resort but they they they've sat on their hands for over seven years if you really think about it they're saying it's the same problem from seven years ago these fire alarm systems are not just in this building these same systems are in buildings all sorts of highrises that have not yet been upgraded the only difference is this system had a failure after water damage replacement parts have been put in and the city Wants It upgraded it will be upgraded it has to be upgraded there's no doubt but the question is does that mean we just condemn the whole building uh so I would ask that you dismiss this matter on procedural grounds because you don't have anything signed on the pains and penalties of perjury you don't have actual inspection reports on one other thing the notice itself from the city alerting the occupants and my client about this hearing did not include as required by the code uh the statement that we are in entitled to make a copy of the uh inspection reports and this and the board of Health's file is there a health a Board of Health file on this matter to be copied I don't know and we were not informed of our right to get that and that's also in the brief my client has a right to do process as as we all do as do the residents and the residents should have been informed of that right they have a right to get a copy of the reports and the file wherever it may live and they weren't advised of that right the lean holders were not uh advised of the orders to correct which is also another code requirement so the city wants to rush forward on their December 21st 2022 order to correct not having conducted any follow-up inspection we were told that Mr chever went back to the property where's his inspection report where's the new order to correct where are the close out of the violations that have actually been addressed as acknowledged by The Building Commissioner so i' ask you not rush to judgment and not make a rash decision this evening thank you thank you do you want to do would the board like to resolve the motion first or can we just resolve it yeah because this is an important kind of Step if if you're claiming that the procedural um uh the matters of the the procedure then that would stop everything right away so can we just address that yeah hello again I'm Joshua LEL on behalf of the city the owner makes three different arguments asking this board to stop the hearing to not listen to the facts about what's happening today the first ground is that the order stale and that's simply not true in order to correct isn't required to give this board authority to hear a condemnation and make that decision water Edge and making that argument relies on law from 2007 it tells you that in the filing it gives you in a footnote the new law which says that even if you find it to be non-timely that doesn't make the order invalid that's not a reason not to proceed it's absurd that the property owner would try to use time in its favor when it's the one that has done nothing to protect the people in this building or fix the building Additionally you have testimony from today you have an inspect as recently as July 17th you're getting the latest information and you haven't heard anything otherwise from the property owners themselves the second Grounds was relating to the order to correct it is sufficient and it is valid wat's Edge never appealed you heard that from attorney Tellier you heard the effect of the failure to appeal is that the property owner waved the ability to challenge that order you can't hear that today it's it's not available to the property owner to argue that secondly Waters Edge has tried this argument before and failed that the involvement of attorneys in assisting the city and Performing its functions does not render the order to correct invalid it's a standard practice when Waters Edge tried this in court the judge shut it down immediately there's absolutely nothing wrong and you haven't heard that anything in the order is incorrect hearing highly Technical and flawed arguments the last ground again another technical argument relates to the notice for this hearing I asked the board to carefully review the sections of the sanitary code because the supposed requirements the owner is citing to aren't what's happening today the notice requirements are provided in the state sanitary code in section 831 which described the prior notice required that itself refers to section 833 all appical requirements have been met the owner is here the owner is well aware of their rights there's absolutely no justification for not proceeding or ignoring what's happening at that building today as attorney teller said enough is enough we're here to hear evidence you've heard evidence and shouldn't be twisted or argued without some evidence on the other side thank you I think that did clarify some things for me in terms of the um decision to go forward um with this uh process but I'd like to hear from uh your Witnesses and more of your testim okay one second John hon excuse me anybody speak yes you people will be allowed to speak sorry we're just going to let the witnesses from the the law team from the building and then people who live at the building will be able to speak thank y hi board um this I'm John Henson I'm the owner of Hensen Fire Protection Services we've been testing and maintaining these buildings up on uh Ocean Avenue for over 10 years uh we do numerous buildings we work for carabetta we work for others um that are on the strip um you know New England has a problem there's a lot of fire alarm panels the simplex and they're in all these buildings in Massachusetts and um they're 40 years old uh some are in worse conditions than others um obviously these buildings are in the worst condition because they've been um highly damaged with water and we were able to um you know Deputy Chie has allowed us to bring it back to life uh in the condition it is it still was um you know brought back with used pots and uh we did our best but uh I'd have to say you know we we still do our quarterly tests the smoke still Trip the pole station ring uh the the horen sound um the sprinkler system gentlemen come in we test just like usual uh and it transmits to the to the you know the re fire department um you know they they uh they allowed to have a fire watch that's that has to do with your city um and again they allowed us to to bring it back to as best as we could um I mean I'd have to say it's probably 97% liable to where it is I mean at if you if you came down to a situation where you said well you know you know how um you know what's the warrant on this or what you know would it would it um not function uh you know sure it's possible it's possible in a brand new system it's it's very possible with these old systems um for some reason these These Old panels uh the cods in them I think are are more sturdy than the the stuff we sell today uh but in any case it's it is a 40-year old panel and it's 100% has to be removed uh in time um like any any building next to you this this building or or down the strip uh the biggest thing is you know it's a city problem you know these condos and apartment houses can't find the money uh and you're living with it and this is one of the buildings that probably is the the you know the that's you know the spotlights on so um hope that's anybody have any questions about it I do have a question so um attorney fry was saying that he could provide a witness that says that the fire panel is indeed working are you the witness that are saying that these people can be assured that that fire panel is working and if there were to be a fire there today you can assure them that the system will go off no we can't but we can't do that in any system I don't care if I installed it tomorrow it was brand new and once I walk out of it doesn't mean that you couldn't have a catastrophic problem with the fire lamp system and something didn't work it's that's just the way life is it's it could be could be working after we test it it could be not working when we walk out and what about the fire pump system can you attest that it has nothing to do with me okay yeah so you you just always have to remember we're dealing with um panels that are 40 years old um there's no longer any available pots and this has been a long time like Deputy Chie has said um you know some you you got lucky we were able to put it back together and and make the floors uh able to at least um identify and notify the system and also dial out to the fire alarm company you know which is us uh this monitors it and it's a master box tied to it as well uh so there's two lines of communications thank you briefly follow on I do have the corly reports of the testing if the board wants those and that those were prepared by Mr uh Hensen um I can submit those I have copies for the city as well okay yeah we can take those um we'll can continue with the the proceedings though okay next I just have one more uh witness okay yeah um I'm GNA call Aldo parnaso next good evening I'm El pouna I'm representing Waters at jelp um I've been involved uh with this uh property for approxiately 6 years right after the 2017 uh my main uh objective there was to install new elevators and also monitor the movein for the property and any kind of health and safety issue um from when I first started there till the uh fire the water damage of the panel I worked hand inand with the city uh building officials to make sure the units were ready for moving and one of the requirement is that they need to be certified by the Board of Health and within that time span I calculated approximately 124 certificates of Fitness were issued to the to that three uh to water edlp approximately um not only they uh are required to check the apartment they're also required to check the common areas when they come in and visit after their visit every time except for a few times where we missed an issue in the apartment then they had to come back to retest or to reinspect we received certificates of Fitness for that uh for our buildings uh when the issue happened uh with the with the fire panel getting uh water damage I was on the property um I did not receive a call but I was on the property doing remediation for the water damage including uh getting you know the the water dried um one one uh inspection I recall was with uh Mr Kevin I'm not sure who's else with us Louis Kevo we were up on roof after the fire in 370 and that's when they said we need to replace they started saying we need to replace the decks the Decks that we have are identical to other buildings in our on our street and at that time there was a crane on the next building over hoisting pressure treated wood to their roofs installing new decks and I asked Mr cavanaro the the rules apply to everybody and it statement was what would be talking to them that was a statement since then those decks have been built um but yet we're required to take down our decks that um are not up to code um everything that I was asked to do I did and I always report back to the city uh what's been done in the property um that's all I really have to say great thank you all right so now this is still an open open meeting to the public so if um anyone wants to speak um people maybe who live at the the building I'm not sure if you have they have Council or attorney representing them yes uh good evening Council I am attorney Andrew burer I am the council for the 364 Ocean AV tenant association um these tenants really came together uh I believe there's 29 separate units that are all working together and are certainly very concerned um certainly they want a working fire alarm system but there is a fear that if you were to gemn the property two nights in order in immed mediate vacate it would cause undue hardship um to many many families who are all here um to express that and so whatever you rule we ask that you give reasonable time for these tenants to make alternative accommodations whether that be to leave and go somewhere else or to get um other housing through the landlord we're not taking a position on whether you should condemn or whether you should not condemn we're just here to ask for reasonable time and so I have three tenants here um from the association who'd like to speak and so I'm going to turn it over to them good evening I'm mam Al I live in this building since the end of 2016 I'm essential worker Healthcare work at s Medical Center I rely on the train to go to my work and to drop off my daughter at the daycare so for me to go somewhere else it's just gonna jaize my entire life this will affect the entire department which is the operating room of T Medical Center as a essential worker and as a um without reasonable time to move somewhere else it's just going to harm all of us I can attend my job if I have no daycare for my daughter just 4 years old thank you hi well for us he's very I'm just saying your name my name is Vanessa okay for us or for my family is so worried my baby is almost coming and you can I feel like sick that is is stressful because I don't know when my baby is born in the building or no I don't know and that is so really a scar for my family for the for the pets too because I don't know what happened with this problem because I think so is a big problem and we don't have any answer for the lamb I don't know and we stay here for listen the new or the good news I don't know U that's it good evening uh my name is e pavin I am living in 364 apartment 206 so I'm standing here it's not my choice I would prefer not to be here but we have facing the very interesting challenge so to give him a little bit of a history of my living in Massachusetts uh left New York about 2 years ago moved in 370 I live in an apartment 508 and unfortunately on 11th floor was a fire when I came back from work and everything was flooded we were allowed to live in a building for about 3 to 4 days when people comes in and basically kick us out without any ability to go back in the buildings or anything like that our locks were changed everything that we had at that moment were locked in our Apartments we only allow two hours a day to come back maybe look at plants or grab everything else I spend most of my entire savings to stay in the hotels for about two months the reasons for it not because I was unable to find an apartment no but because the communication was less than zero just to give you a little bit of my background I'm working in um physical security providing the cameras and access control system for the schools and that's very important for me to stay in a communication with everything else to make sure our childrens are safe unfortunately except Michael I was not getting a response from anybody else including the city CD we had a multiple meetings that there provide us a lawyer Edward I'm not going to say his last name but City knows him unfortunately he disappeared after the six month in a communication I have everything in emails if you guys are required that I I can forward it to you after that nothing happened no communication no explanation from anybody else visit this Courthouse more than five times unfortunately it was a less than Pleasant communication and basically I was told there is nothing anybody can do the reasons why I moved to that building because I just have nowhere to go I have no relatives no family my ex fiance we broke off shortly after the 370 failure because in a such a hard situation she didn't want to continue doing everything so now you can imagine what I was facing at that point so and the reasons why I move back in here because it's a suitable for me and that's closer to where I am working that's basically it so all I'm again I'm not asking to look at that particular story but just make the rational decision and help us out if we need more time please give us more time to extend and find a suitable living thank you good evening my name is Sylvia Smith I reside at v64 oceanv apartment 309 I'm not saying the building doesn't have problems because of course it does and everybody knows it does but I don't think it's in the state of to be condemned you're looking at like you said 41 families 41 fames consist of hundreds of people Massachusetts is in a housing crisis and we all know that are you willing to put your name on hundreds of people being homeless because like the shelter say the governor says you got three days or you got five days that's it that's all you got now all these violations that you got on this paper have you came back to check to see if any of the violations were fixed cuz guess what I haven't saw him yet and I walk the floors all night long for my for my fellow tenants and I walk them why is hanging down no that's been fixed in the firefighter two fires in the garage no not in our garage in a detached garage next door so make it clear not in our garage in a detached garage and I called one of the fires in so make it clear make it clear and make it right make it right for us we've done nothing wrong at all all of this came about and everybody says oh I'm so concerned about the tenants I'm so concerned about the tenants it took you two years to be concerned about us two years now you're concerned about us okay this this report was 20 months ago but yet now you're concerned about us why didn't you send us this report 20 months ago when you made it why didn't you send it 18 months ago why didn't you send it a year here ago when it no but you all concerned about us not going back to see oh this ties hanging down no there's not there's W there's holes and walls no there's not why cuz they fixed them but did anybody go back and see no why because a fir fighter said all the same problems are there you believe them but you don't want to believe us and we live there rat infested never seen a rat in my apartment at all at all lies lies why because I live there fire alarms if my if there's smoke in my apartment they came around and checked everybody smoke detectors when they go off in the house they go off in the hallway do you actually think that if a smoker fire is go smoke detectors going off and they're going off in the hallway that I'm not going to call the fire department or anybody else that lives in that building is not going to call the fire department of course we are what are we idiots this is our home you're talking about give me more time no I don't want more time I want my home like everybody else that lives there we want our home do do things right by us not right by the owner do things right by us cuz we're the tenants we have to live there re inspect the building see what's still wrong see what's what's been fixed wires hanging down no there's no more wires hanging down why cuz I went to the garage okay no you don't see things like that mold and mildew no maybe dust absolutely dust but mold and mildew no how do I know cuz I took a water bottle and a rag and went across it and what is it dust and dirt dust and JT protect our homes cuz no I don't want more time I want my home and like I said your inspection was like two years ago and a lot of the violations have been fixed okay this is this is consist of 41 fam which consists of hundreds of people hundreds of people that were offered by housing or whoever was outside our building 3 days in a shelter or 3 days in a hotel why would you wait till the end of August and 20 something days here comes fall and 30 90 days after that there comes winter to think about closing a building we have people from newborn to in their 80s living in that building and you're talking about throwing us in the street putting us in the street cuz no evident you know she's not going to provide housing for us you know that absolutely positively she a and this all this condemnation only started after the firefighters weren't being paid so you can use any excuse you want hide behind anything you want to hide behind because you're full of full of bull because let me tell you something these this all St because of that this all gr up because of that and you're using a 2year inspection almost two years ago you inspected that property and never came back never came back at all two Firs in the garage what a lie what a absolutely lie what a lie it was a detached garage but and evidently when he said two Firs in the garage you are like yep that's something else I got on them no it's a lie so many things said these lawyers come up here and say absolute lies why they don't live there I do I live there and my fellow tenants live there and shame on you for trying to put us in the street shame on all of you every single one of you that signed that paper to bring this meeting here shame on all of you for trying to put us in the street at the end of summer beginning of fall and there comes winter shame on every person that's even thinking about this shame on everybody shame on all you because when you leave here you can go lay your head in your bed and you are okay shame on you that's uh going to conclude the tenant portion I believe okay great anyone else uh any other words uh Deputy Cher again uh I want to respond to a couple things um as far as mold goes I'm not a mold expert but I know what mold looks like when it grows on sailing tiles after they've been wet and dried several times from leaks within the building um ownership has a tendency of taking down the wet tiles and spray painting them and putting them back up after the leak has occurred whatever event occurs whether it's a pipe failure or leaks across the roof through the windows so there was some remote remediation done but if you go in the building now you can clearly see what looks like mold is back um as far as the two fires in the garage there is homeless encampments in that garage it's part of the pel of 364 and it's does a driveway and the other section of garage is on the other side so that tells me ownership's not paying attention to their property if they got homeless encampments in their garage and they're building fires so was it in the garage yes it's in the garage as part of this complex that's maintenance and ownership not taking care of the property um as far as the fire pump Coast it was an accusation that I wouldn't allow the fire pump to be rebuilt the review comments on the fire pump was to give me a comprehensive repair plan and a replacement plan that was not done so it wasn't denied it was denied as applied and comments were provided to provide a more comprehensive design now as far as the firearm system retired firefighter John Henson is well aware that he used used parts that he got on eBay which are no longer UL listed so he said I allowed him by code he's not allowed to do that by law he's not allowed to do that I allowed him to put used parts in that panel to get that panel functioning again to get the elevator recall working to get the elevator mechanic out of the building to save Water's Edge money so that was agreement in that agreement John Henson said he would not certify that panel and he knows full well he can't and he knows his insurance wouldn't allow him to do it and as far as a new system goes those components are all UL listed they're registered they're listed to work together so a chance of a new system not working is very slim unless there was a programming issue and then there's ownership and liability Association with that and you heard Johnson John Henson also say it might work and he also said it's mostly restored and you also heard me say that it's going into trouble daily and rotates back out it's what's called non-latching so you can't really figure out where the troubles are so they come and go my fire details reported in the book we got a log down there of all the events I told you we also respond to the panel many times and just reset it there are issues with the system and John Henson's well aware of that and we also asked the fire fire alarm professional engineer to review and sign off on it he wouldn't so they know this is a compromise system is it not working it's working to what extent no one knows because no one will sign off on it that's the condition it is so right now it's deficient I allow JN to use parts that he knows he's not supposed to use in his system and not to try to save some functions of the system okay and as far as the sprinkle Contra also where's the sprinkle contractor where's his witness to talk about all his issues with the fire pump there's no one here thank you good evening um I am Luni one of the residents at 364 I don't want to sway the city in any One Direction what I do want to say is to give some serious thoughts to this moment that we're all experiencing right now the city the the state has a serious serious housing crisis it's it's at crisis it's at Epic Proportion right we have encampment right that is right at one of the garages which I have seen people sleeping there tents build behind the woods there like very very true and this problem doesn't just it's not just a Boston issue it has definitely trickled into Rivier because the Blue Line will bring you straight into the city of Rivier from Boston rent in the city of Rivier just within the last 5 years is absolutely out of control for a lot of people who live at 364 now it is most likely the only place we can afford and so if you are going to move to condemn this building you're literally going to impact the livelihood of the 41 families you named here today and so I ask if you are going to move to condemn the building please think about the financial roadblocks many of the families here today and who are not even here because they're working their second job the many challenges this is going to pose for them and so please if you do move to condemn the building we ask that you do it in a thoughtful way so that when we leave 364 we do it in our own terms not because you're condemning it and forcing us to then join the many homeless people we have all over the city of Boston and reair thank you yep thank hello my name is Ghana I have very short note um atony from City stated many times that promises from what each Shad you don't believe them at the same time he emphasizes that we should believe that they would provide housing for us because there's a new law they do not pay taxes breaking law and you can't reinforce it if you tell them oh provide housing for tenants who are displaced and they don't do it who will reinforce it we will be on streets and this is true people who live in this building are working people they don't have houses they're not rich they are not in subsidized buildings because they work please consider it to move anywhere right now it's $155,000 everybody has it on free on account first month last month security deposit moving fees and agency fees minimum 3,000 to bedroom if you find if you like please consider this and do not put working people on the streets because they will lose work they will lose place to live and this will not be because of water s only it's because of timing that selected for this hearing if people knew a year ago that it's coming they wouldn't extend their eles they would save money they wouldn't go to vacation they wouldn't buy new car they would do something reasonable and you make us all fools thank you so much hi my name is Paul Visconti I am the owner of the hair salon in 364 oceanv um so I've been a business owner enry since April of 83 I've been at Waters Edge I think maybe 28 years and I have not even received a letter saying anything about this condemnation I got an email a text from a client who kind of passed this information on to me which I was in you know complete shock I know the building has issues and you know I'm I'm again not trying to persuade you either way but I think if you do go the way of condemnation which I hope that you don't I hope you might be able to work something out maybe one last try with them um if you do I'm just asking that you give us ample time I have I'll be put out of business I will I will the rent is cheap here and of course you get what you pay for if I have to move and try to find another spot if I have to move and try to find another spot it's not going to happen I will I will close down but for the residents you need to if you can you need to do kind of what's right for them and uh hopefully give them one more chance to do something okay thank you doctor I was here the last time you recall I won where these people's blood pressure is right now with what is happening to them I told you my blood pressure raised didn't I because of the condition I was put under by the city of Rivier you get it pal a joke huh take care of your dog okay let's let's keep it to what we're talking about thank you could I just ask for the um the rever outside Council to come up and just clarify the condemnation process just so everyone kind of understands it and what it would look like what are you ask me that same question sure I can definitely ask you that same question yes opinion just from the city yeah we can definitely ask you that question least okay thank you the condemnation process is as you've seen tonight there would be a hearing this evening and a vote would be would be take would be taken um by the board and an order and findings would be issued by the board it would be then in the Board of Health and the cities uh work together to uh decide as to enforcement and when they seek to enforce the order to vacate and secure the building um that would be in the discretion of the Board of Health and the city is Sir is that what you were asking for okay thank you yeah just the time frame of when and that would be that this the issue of enforcement would be left to the discretion of the of the Board of Health and the city okay thank you thank you sorry please go ahead thank I I just appreciate the opportunity to respond to that um first I think the board has to determine whether or not you have jurisdiction to even hear this case so the motion dismiss I think has to be acted on in writing in some thank you acted on in writing in some fashion right I I do think there are serious procedural issues and it was even brought up by one of the residents you have a 2022 order you have no reinspection report in front of you you have no inspe no current inspection report in front of you no current order to correct you cannot condemn under those circumstances without that information uh I believe it's five calendar days though if the um board is to render decisions typically you're allowed five calendar days before you make a decision that's what it says you don't have to vote tonight and I I would urge you to read the code and I have the code I have the updated code in fact so the 2007 version is no longer in effect but I have the 2023 version the one we keep hearing about that has this new uh provision concerning comparable uh uh uh housing and I would submit the code to the board uh if you would like so you can have it for reference and so you can actually look at the motion I filed as to the deficiencies of the city's actions today they didn't take action when they were supposed to and now they're trying to rush it in at the last second if I may does anyone else want to speak I think the next part of it would be us deliberating deliberating out in front of you guys but good evening ladies and gentlemen I just wanted to take a moment um my wife and I have been in 364 ocean have for seven years my wife has um stricken with cancer she's unable to do almost anything I'm a disabled United States Marine disabled vet um I have my own injuries um I only hope that they can at least give us some time you know my poor wife cries every day what am I going to do and the rest of the people in the building all very ni nice people what am I going to do I got kids I everybody shouldn't panic but yet the people that own this building should be aware that you know they're never going to do anything so you know what the city should just take the goddamn building you know I mean it's just awful you know I'm a disable vet you know you're going to put a disabled vet on the street no you know what they told me even if they veterans could help me I make too much money two tours in Vietnam I make too much money you know I I I thank everybody for what they did for what they're trying to do for us but um I don't know what's going to happen people are saying should I pay my rent this month or should I not pay the rent I don't know the answer you know as long as I'm not getting thrown out of course I'll pay my rent I never seven years never missed a payment but people are panicking you know there a lot of disabled people that are in my building and um they all deserve a break at least before I leave tonight will they at least tell you that you have X amount of time before you leave before you get thrown out are they going to tell us we have to move out I don't I I don't know the answer I don't know if I came here for nothing other than just everyone talking I think everybody's trying to do something but yet are we going to be able to stay in this building for at least two months three months you know before someone can find a place to go my wife has a service animal I have a little puppy myself but um you know a lot of places don't want you to have animals or pets or whatever my wife's dog is a service animal she can go anywhere but um you know I don't know how I'm going to have her you know she's got a lot of issues with the cancer and uh for me to just pick up and I have to go home every day and listen to her cry where am I going to go where am I going we can't move am I going to honey relax relax please you know I'm coming to the meeting today hopefully I can go home and say you know H I got a couple months at least I mean it's a scary tactic letter said as of tonight at 6:00 they could condemn the building which means you could not return to your apartment now even to put something like that in a letter to scare the hell out of people you know I mean first of all I said that that's not going to happen you know but uh if it was condemned if it's a violation where someone's life is threatened oh yeah they can condemn the building and yeah you're right you can't even go back to your house but all of a sudden you're just telling us we all got to get out I just hope that you folks can put something together and uh at least give somebody a fair chance and thanks for listening I appreciate it thank you sir okay go ahead yes yes s hi I'm Barry Rockland I live at 376 I'm one of three people from building 3 of the wat's edge units where we have everything up to date and we're doing just fine it's been a real embarrassment having our building that looks just like all those other buildings such that we have an enormous Banner that says not uh not a not a capano building so I mean we're it's been a long time now and uh we're we're a little we're a little embarrassed about what's going on in those other buildings but here's the thing I hear so many of you saying if no matter how this thing goes today condemn or nay we we need some time we need some time and here's the only thing I want you to feel we take about 15 breaths a minute and that's 15 breaths of mold spores and Char from the fires from the mold from the water damage we know it's there save your lives it I I hope and believe Riv will take care of the 41 people that are in that building but by God you need to be breathing clean air if you're going to live you you have to you have to so this building needs to be condemned and rever needs to take care of these people because we know that company who I'm not even naming they're not going to they haven't responded to anything they haven't responded to phone calls they've responded to nothing ever Kiki just she don't pick up the phone you can't get her she's not going to do anything Rivier is going to have to pull this out and whatever we do I know you think you want more time but you need your next breath needs to not have these horrible pathogens in them that are going to kill you that's the thing thanks I would like to respon to that you want to yeah okay yeah um does anyone else want to come up and speak I think no yeah I'm just going to add that I did I submitted the uh air quality test reports from May of 20124 from the remediation company that's also part of the master building permit there's no air quality issues at this building whatsoever okay I'm just going to ask The Other Board of Health members if they have any questions anyone they wanted to call up to speak thank you everyone for being patient crap I have a question if it does go through the condemnation what is the city going to help these people find out the housing what is going to be the process so I don't know who would answer that question well I think that that question I think comes to us at the board of health and working with the city um okay because I think you know there's obviously the precedent to get people out when a building is condemned but at the same time we're dealing with people's lives um and uh you know if it comes down to just if the person's going to be on the street we have to think about that and and and make a decision um for the timing to be appropriate so that um someone would be able to reasonably m be able to get somewhere in the city needs to facilitate that um in any way possible I mean this is egregious that we're even here today talking about this it's it's one of the most it's as a physician to think that we're talking about living situation where like potentially is unsafe and I know people some people feel varying degrees of it but if you look at the codes it you know there's these codes are these sanitary codes are being broken things are not being fixed I worry about the safety of the the occupants from that perspective I also worry about the safety of the occupants now that we're going to potentially condemn I'm not saying that we're doing that but I'm just saying you know the both either option is is very disturbing and and and and it it it's very challenging for me to think sorry Lauren go ahead thank you Dr bunker um uh as the Director of Public Health I just uh all want to say on record that the city is not going to turn their back on the tenants um and we recognize that uh there is a process to go through if the board does condemn um and that we you know as a public health department and inspection department uh have the ability to work through that process in a way that recognizes the tenants have a very serious situation in front of them Viviana do you want to call anyone up or have any questions I we can talk no okay yeah so we're going to close it for now and um we're gonna sorry okay microphone's off uh we're going to close it for now and then we're just going to speak here the board oh I just ask one question yes do you mind coming up please sorry it's gonna be the last one here do you mind hitting that Resident Luni resident of 364 y has the Board of Health made any recommendations to the property owners and have given them any sort of time frame to get those recommendations implemented because I'm hearing references to what 22 months ago but there really hasn't been any timeline communicated as to expectations to act on those recommendations and so have we really tried all efforts to have them work out some of the findings from the various inspections final question thank you I'm just going to ask Michael Wells um because he works with us with the Board of Health if if you know those commun that communication has been had between the the owners of this property we gave them this communication in 2022 with the order to correct to fix the violations and certainly wouldn't be in this situation today if they had acted on that order and there's been communication since that time about these violations there has been when permits were pulled or attempted to be pulled you know communication goes back and forth with contractors to to rectify these issues but unfortunately no permits have been issued yeah I think if you do speak can you please come up and talk sorry I'm not trying to single you out here but so that means you never went back nobody ever went back and reinspected all the violations that you have there there were additional inspections by the building department and fire department why is there no where's the inspections in you have no answer where's the inspections I I my microphone was not on where's the inspectors you said other people came out after 2022 then where's the inspections I will refer that to our Council if I may do you mind stepping listen on the council speak for the city of Rivier um there have been multiple inspections and in fact there have been multiple inspections and it's been reported to the court the each time that we've had a hearing both Deputy chever and I believe also Commission commissioner cavano have gone out to the property they've walked the property and then they've gone to court and reported on it please to be clear this did not happen in December of 2022 and then nothing happened between that date I went through for 20 minutes a long history of exactly what has occurred the fact that we are literally in court going through the evidence in the testimony the fact that that commissioner cavano and deputy fire chief Paul chever has been out to that property numerous times to investigate as late as July 17th 2024 so to be clear the city of river has been there has been on top of it the city of R did not want to be here this evening why can't nobody show us why can't anybody show us an inspection paper yeah I think we're no see that's the point nobody can show us no inspection paper okay yeah no you made your point you made your point clear thank you excuse me they're saying this one came out this one came out this one came out you show us inspection papers for everything else but you have no inspection papers Beyond 2022 thank you very much your point is taken just because and we're just going to close this out after you here okay please I appreciate that um the inspection reports have to be provided look at the code when the inspection happens there's supposed to be an inspection report signed under the pains and penalties of perjury there's been nothing of that nature since ever you don't have a single inspection report in front of you okay I'm just going to close the meeting here um from outside speaking we're we're going to talk thank you okay so um I'm just going to speak with the Board of Health Lauren do I have to keep my mic on for this okay um yeah so I think this as I reiterated earlier this is very hard in in so many ways um it doesn't feel right making a decision on something like of this magnitude but you know there's certain regulations and laws that we have to go by um I'm just curious to are there anything anything that concerns you about this this condemnation in terms of how the city handled it or the how documentation was made and or how communication was done um I think you know nothing's perfect no system when you have violations and you try and when they went ahead and they did the initial inspection obviously there was time there was communication this didn't just happen in a vacuum and then there was no communication and then all of a sudden here we are today that you know many people have spoken how there was communication and and um uh inspections or not quote unquote formal inspections but um uh the fire department and and building inspector going and checking to see if things had been made changes had been made and they had not been made um or were partially made and not up to code um so I understand the the concern from most of the people who live at the building this say like well things got fixed and um you know uh you know where's the the proof that a formal um uh inspection was done and I agree there was not a formal inspection done but you know there was after that initial one but obviously there was one done and when things are not fixed you assume that they weren't fixed um so I just asked the other um board members if they have any thoughts I'm just kind of speaking out loud thank thank you for listening so it's very difficult I really feel for the tenants uh you are victims of the neglect of this property owner who has been told since 2017 that there's violations in there they have been told numerous times that there issues and nothing has been done and it's not fair to you that you have been paying rent and you're not receiving a safe place to live uh it's not fair to you that if if there were to be a fire there tonight that you don't know if those uh fire doors are going to be working or not you don't know if somebody could be spared because maybe the fire wouldn't be spread to somebody else you don't know and you cannot be assured by the people doing um the fire testing whether that fire pump will work whether the sprinkler system that's rust it will work and so you deserve safe and liable conditions and I'm very sorry that you're are not receiving those right now uh it seems to me like the tenant I'm sorry the landlord has been dragging their feet for seven years uh it seems to me like the city of Rivier has provided them ample opportunity to fix those issues and I don't hear from their attorney that what has what has been done what you needed to get in order for you to feel safe in your homes tonight um so those are my thoughts and I I don't think it's right to give them more time to drag their feet for one more year for five more years for seven more years while you continue to live with this unknown of of whether this fire system is going to protect you or not and I'm sorry you are all in this situation because you are the victims of this landlord's neglect Kathy okay I want to add to that I also have the concerns with the violations that you know about but it sounds like no permits have been uh filled out to get any to get the repairs done I also worry about the health concerns that as one of the gentlemen brought up about that they're living with the molds they're living with bad conditions and they're breathing bad air in what is this going to do to affect your health down the road is if it hasn't with people who have chronic respiratory issues or chronic issues is this going to exacerbate it so there is a danger with them I mean I am assuming that we would not say that at 6 o' the doors were going to be locked and no one could get back in I'm assuming that a plan would be made yeah and and that's where it I think when we're here we think this happened so suddenly but obviously this was something that's been you know coming to light and this is something that's been building and there's been ample time and it's unfortunate when it comes to oh condemnation because you hear that word and you think like what like how is that possible to go from living to all of a sudden oh you have to leave this doesn't even seem fathomable um and I don't even know I can't even speak for the people sitting here who live there I don't even want to know what you feel right now um because no one should ever have to feel that way ever in their life um it honestly sickens me to think about that and why we're even here um but you know we have our duty to protect um here at the board of health and I this decision was never going to be easy in any way um but my feelings at this time are going ahead with a condemnation and the reason why I say that is because I'm I'm worried about the safety and I know what hazards of fire can do to someone's Health um both imminently and longterm um and it's my duty as the chair of the Board of Health to protect People's Health and everyone can have a about it and and and I think when I have a patient who comes into a clinic I always think about okay what what can I do to protect them as best as possible and nothing's perfect I give medications I you know prescribe treatments obviously my hope is that I'm making the right decision for them in their best interest and doing everything I can based on my medical opinion and based on the the information that I have today and based on the code violations and the continued neglect for the residents I I I feel in that way that the condemnation is the only is the only option to get make a change happen but I understand that when we Face a condemnation we have people's lives PE we have pregnant people we have people with little kids infants this is this is something that we can't take lightly and if if the City by any means thinks that we're going to send people out on the street that is absolutely not true and as the Board of Health and as a physician I will make sure and work to help these families in any way that I am possible can do um to make sure that this is done gracefully and done in a way with dignity and done in a way that protects them in all costs but that's my opinion and I'd love to hear from the other board members sorry so I have to agree with you I don't see way um to resolve this situation than to condemn the building again the seven years the ten the property owner has had seven years multiple conversations with the city of Rivier um and again it's very difficult I'm very sorry to all the tenants that are put in the situation when you pay for rent you you should also get something back you should get a safe place to live and it would not be with already four fires in that property one in the trash room two in the in the garage with a you know a homeless encampment in one of your garages you don't know when the next fire is going to go off and then you you won't be able to get out of there safely and so you need a safe place to live and so I would like to put in in as what you said Drew I hope that the Board of Health and the city can work together with um the tenants to give them ample time uh to find housing because that's what many of the residents said is that you need time and I wouldn't want to be in your situation that you know you have three days and you got to exit so I hope that the city of Riv and the Board of Health and everybody um can help and support you and giving you the time that you need uh to find dignified safe housing where you know you're going to be okay um so with this in mind I would like to put in a motion uh to condemn uh the building yeah sorry we just get to talk here the meeting's closed for now but we will okay I definitely agree with her that the from listening to the conversation tonight sounds like the residents are not in a situation and they're at risk for what they're they're at risk for much more danger happening and by by just being there so I do also agree with the motion that is and just our Council here just from a legal perspective we as the Board of Health do have the legal right to condemn um okay all right I just wanted to clarify that before we do anything so um now that all the evidence has been presented and the hearing is closed and given there are no more questions or discussion among members I move to vote on the request by the city to issue a condemnation order for 364 Ocean Avenue will someone second the motion I need another member to second the motion I will second the motion okay all right so and then can I take a roll call to vote so Kathleen again can I just get your vote I vote for the proposal that you brought up to condem the built yep and vivana as well yes okay and me as well so the board approved moves the condemnation of 364 Ocean Avenue so that's that's going to be it for this meeting and um thank you all for being here and again like I said this is not this this doesn't feel good in any way um but the city and the Board of Health is here for you and we'll work with you yeah that I don't know