and let the recording know that this is a special Board of Health meeting for April 24th 2024 and so far by way of a quorum we have myself Katherine Hilton we have noran peas and we have Garrett Simonson we have a number of guests and I thought we would wait for a few minutes for our Leen to come in so we don't have to restart meanwhile I will apologize to you guys for making you come back because apparently what I did last week was put the applicants um address rather than the subject address in the in the agenda oh so it's on account of me that you're missing a thrilling budget presentation from the finance committee you can either be mad at me or thank me as you oh there's I bet that's ARL texting Lauren I don't think I've seen you since you were in high school me yeah I didn't go to high school here so I don't know if I well I know but I mean you came up to the camp when you were in high school no I didn't oh you didn't okay no I'm from Central Mass maybe you're thinking oh I'm thinking no I'm thinking okay I'm thinking of Chad's sister I guess I've got the wrong yeah I'm Chad's wife oh yeah sorry my bad my bad no worries it's a little confusing not clear oh here she is what what's what's the sister's name I forgotten Linda chel Chelsea that's right DA's name yeah Chad sister yeah oh yeah okay Arlene is now here we have four members of the Board of Health and our purpose this evening is to discuss a request from the grip Co um for a basically deferral of the title 5 inspection for the property that they wish to buy which is Linda what address I don't trust myself yeah 36 South 36 South Laurel Drive and when we talked about this to the extent that we were able to talk about it last time um we were wondering how we could I mean it's pretty easy to to meet the grip Coast requirements for their purchase and sale agreement but we also have to meet the requirements of Title 5 and um I've been racking my brain about that Garrett fortunately was able through his professional contacts to find us a model of language from another town and I have taken that model and um adapted it and I'm going to put it up on my screen now for your um or your consideration okay can you see that yes all right so um first question Linda and Mike are you going to be the only ones on the deed or would there be somebody else on the deed with you um we're the only ones on the deed okay the time being yes okay all right so so what um what I propose and um open to suggestions from anybody here um that um we state that Mike and Linda understand that the septic system has not been inspected and that they agree to foro the time of transfer inspection that is required under Title 5 and our authority to do that is 310 cmr1 15314 b um which is not it's it's a little bit shaky but I think it's enough um so we state that this document is a binding agreement between the grip Cod and the shsb Board of Hill and we are stipulating certain conditions that um the grip Co are being asked to agree to that they will have the inspection performed within six months of the sale um which basically means sometime in 2024 that um they'll send us or their inspector will send us the inspection report along with the customary $50 filing fee that if necessary the septic system will be replaced within two years of the sale now all of that is stuff you would be doing anyway right I mean uh if the septic system is failed it is expected to be replaced um within two years um and of course you you know the inspection reports are always forwarded with a fee to the Board of Health um we would like to get an update um at intervals of no greater than three months so that this doesn't get away from us so say say in the unlikely event that your your closing actually takes place on May 1 and I've never heard of a closing that actually took place on the right day um that that three months later it would be what August 1 and you would just send us an email and saying this is what we've done y um um okay and of course and I don't think we even have to say this but we do have to say it um that the dwelling at that address would not be occup occupied until you can provide either a passing Title Five inspection report which nobody expects or a c certificate of compliance which of course we would we would uh provide after when a new system was installed and I'm sneaking in one other thing here I would like to have proof of on-site supply of portable water which would basically mean um you could get the existing well tested and if um if you've got good water then well and good and if you choose to replace the well then we would have the usual procedure in which um we get the driller's log and the um and the water test water quality test report um and um just uh sort of boiler plate right if um if there is a property transfer before all these other action items are completed they will um devolve onto a new property own any comments suggestions recommendations two two things um Katherine can I ask please do okay proof of an on-site supply of portable water um if the water is not portable do we have a time period in which to get it to be so is that like this the title five septic you get a couple of years or what that's a good question Linda um uh I do not think that there is a specific um because you know there is no state state law governing private Wells um we just have our local well R so there is not I think um a timeline for that the timeline would basically be self-imposed because you're not to use the dwelling until you have good water right okay um so that was number one uh number two and I didn't realize this business about if a transfer occurs this actually is being purchased by um our LLC lastar Camp LLC Mike and I are the U whatever they're called managers of the LLC should we change that name to um lastar Camp LLC because that I think is what's going to end up on the deed that would be good we could have you and Mike as managers if that what you call it I think yeah right you you'll you'll give me the exact exact um sort of name and address that you need for that can put that in that's that's a good point okay I think that's fine um now here's a another question because we aren't really sure if we're going to rebuild um we're buying essentially a lot with a a dilapitated house that hasn't been lived in for 40 years and we don't even the the electricity is still on but we don't dare turn anything on because we're afraid we'll burn it down there's probably uh mice in the wiring and most nests and everything else no don't yeah so we're if we do think that it's going to be worth it to um we we'd like to put a garage there anyway we don't have a garage over at the house we'd like to put a garage in whether or not we and we'll put storage above the garage and whether or not at some point we actually turn that upstairs into living quarters um it's at that point that we really need obviously septic and well I I'm not sure how fast this is going to proceed just because of the expense but I think that once we get in we haven't even been in the building I mean the whole lot is covered with trees so and the trees are 40 years old so we have to go once we own the property we have to go to the Conservation Commission and find out how to go about you know clearing part of the lot so we can even find the septic system I think I know where it is only based on what we were told back when we put our own septic system in um and that's 30 years ago so they told us where that septic and well were um if they are actually there then it makes life a little bit easier but there's so many unknowns here we're essentially buying a lot with a tear down so I'm just hoping that um we we will keep you posted on everything we do and good yeah and I'm sure that we can figure out where the septic is and probably have it fail within six months yeah let me let me look into that Linda we I know that we have the the septic system permit it goes back to 1973 and there's a very small chance that there might be a sketch with it okay the the records from that time are not very good but I'll check it and see if there's any information on there for you great thank you so when you say a lot with a tear down do you anticipate possibly tearing it down um I'm sure that part of it I I my guess is the roof leaks it's probably there's probably some rot inside I'm not sure we'll take everything down I have no idea cat we have to get in there okay we're part of our deal with buying this is that we're buying it with no inspections so we prepared to to to tear it down and I it's likely that we probably will but uh um we've got to get into it just and just see it um has to be safe right so I mean regardless it's going to need a flip if nothing else so that's we're just I'm sorry would you say that again Lauren yeah I mean it has to be safe right so I mean regardless we'll we'll for sure either flip it or re rebuild it or something flip is not the right word we don't renovate it renovate it yeah we don't sorry I know we don't intend to buy or sell it okay okay and so and your LLC is a family a family company so that if um if by some unfortunate um uh incident you two both disappeared um it would still be owned by the same entity that it wouldn't change hands that's correct okay yeah it's I mean we're we're really protecting our our waterfront property by getting the property that's right behind it we just don't want somebody else behind us and I we actually own and you probably saw on the we got roped into buying a landlocked lot that happens to border this one so um by buying this we our lot is no longer landlocked and it it makes sense to add it to this lot so that um it just makes the lot a little bit bigger all those lots are small so okay yeah and you may need that for your septic system or whatever assuming assuming that that's the way that you go y so Board of Health knowing that there may or may not be a septic system envisioned for this lot is that going to change anything in the agreement that we are proposing i i t to think not that I think that it's that what we have here is consistent with what uh the State Environmental code says and that this is a this is very consistent language um and it's actually stronger language than is what is used in other communities but you know the the language is uh Stronger in terms of the communication that's had between the Board of Health and and uh this soon to be new property owner so you know I think that this is this is a very fair agreement right um and it's consistent with uh what's done in other jurisdictions so now suppose we get say three months down the line and the gripos come back and say we're going to tear this thing down how is that going to affect this agreement trying to imagine all the future possibilities here so so I don't know that uh and I'd have to look at the State Environmental code again but I don't know that IT addresses situations where a decision's made not to move forward with uh you know inspection and and upgrade of septic or situation uh like what Linda was describing where the process takes much longer than two years so I don't know if there's within the code if there's renewal Provisions but you know that's something that we could look at I would assume that it might be possible to extend the renewal if you know the time requirement needed it I think that we have a fair amount of latitude in that as the local approving Authority that we can extend that um I know that there are Provisions for extending it if the system is pumped every year but if the system is failed and not being used that would be that would be moot um I can I think I can en Envision a situation in which um number one is met they have the system inspected um and they well and I guess they do number two also they they um they submit the report but then they decide not to go ahead with the rest of of this and to tear down the house and either build a new one or not build a new one um in which case it seems to me that we could then um we could then release them from this agreement right does a septic system that is no longer functioning and is not to be replaced because the building has been torn down does that septic system need to be um demolished the way that an or destroyed the way that an old well would need to be I don't think so don't think so either but unless unless something else were slated to go into its place in which case all of the all of the sand and trenches and stuff would have to be removed right I may be wrong but I thought we had an example on the other side of the lake some years ago where a septic system had to be filled in is that am I recalling it may I don't remember it Norine but it may be for the reason I just mentioned that something needed to go there right just just a quick thought I had experience with filling in a septic tank here in ammer and they did that because we were putting a different septic tank in another location and they concerned about the structural Integrity of the soil over it so you fill it with concrete Pump It Out fill it concrete um so maybe that was the case across the lake if you remember if there was another one going in I don't know yeah yeah possibly Norine I don't know if you're thinking about um about the the wasn't a septic tank it was actually a privy at um what's now Elliot Park filled in with I do think it was Cottage on the other side but okay I uh I can't I think it was on Lake Drive but anyway I can't either but right um I have one other question do we do we need to add some sort of language that would um specify that the repos um come back to us and let us know what their plans are with some within some reasonable amount of time well number four the Board of Health shall receive updates on the progress of inspection and repair at intervals no greater than three months beginning with the date of sale okay okay sorry yep that's good and just one can I just make one please do comment um if the septic system is where we think it is in the front yard between the house and the um the existing house and the road and I'm pretty certain that if we don't use it we would definitely fill it in it it it should just for the Integrity of the soil as Chad was saying it it's a spot where we wouldn't want to risk anybody you know parking a truck on top of it and having it sink in so if it's there then we'd fill it in anyway right yeah there's there's kind of two two parts to it obviously there is filling in the tank so that it will be solid and not collapse under whatever you have above it and then there is also sort of removing old um basically contaminated soil From The Trenches and unless you were going to put something where those trenches are you wouldn't have to do that part but I think he would be wise to fill it in cement um just we agree I don't know if you remember cat but when we bought 35 South Laurel we had the same situation we had a burned out shell we had a septic underneath part of the uh building and a well 30 feet away 40 feet away um so we were faced pretty much with the same thing and back that was just before the new title 5 passed so the Town couldn't give us the variances that we needed so we actually had to rebuild the house over the old septic tank um which obviously we filled in but um I'll tell you it grows the best rhubarb you can imagine Linda you Pro I'm sure you wouldn't remember this but what I remember about that is that where when you came to talked to the Board of Health about this and it went on for hours yeah uh that was like the very first meeting I had ever been to the board meeting and I wasn't a Board of Health member yet I was just a volunteer taking the minutes and boy was that a challenge hopefully this won't be so challenging it should be pretty we ended up with a wonderful end results so excellent so Board of Health where are we on this agreement oh we have a we have a a question from Tom Seer go ahead Tom oh thanks is now an okay time to do that yes thanks um could you please uh clarify what happens just in case um just looking at you know the extremes of the situation what would happen if there wasn't any um fulfillment of the terms here within two years that wasn't clear to me please oh I see what what makes this agreement binding well well what would be the consequence if um you know it wasn't able to be fulfilled yeah if it wasn't able to be fulfilled that would be something that we would have to re or just not fulfilled not if it was not fulfilled that due to the negligence of the owners we could take them to court okay I thought I heard you talking about a renewal and that was confusing to me point that I was Raising about renewal is that um I'm not sure if the code allows for it but you know so if if they decided to not proceed with you know if the septic system fails and they decided to not proceed with installing another septic system then the agreement sort of mooded at that point right where will you look to confirm that you said you you're not sure if the code says it what code and are you going to confirm that please the the code that's listed here in the top paragraph is the code that that we would utilize to engage the agree agreement I hadn't seen anything about renewals in there I wasn't sure if you had already scanned it but I I I haven't but so I don't know that that that is necessary but you know so we we did build in this additional reporting requirement that that going to need to come to us uh on a fairly frequent basis to to give us updates um on on you know what the status of the the work is thus far okay so it sounds like there's an unknown about the renewal is that right yeah I I don't know if if a renewal of this is allowed okay I just wanted to clarify it it wasn't sure clear if it was allowed or just not known that's all I I really appreciate it and thanks for having this meeting so Board of Health are we ready to um to talk about actually entering into this agreement yes okay are there are there comments suggestions motions I I'll I will move that we that the Board of Health uh engage uh this agreement uh as written with a change of name right good point oh yeah thank you yeah right friendly Amendment May second discussion hearing none um I propose that we vote on this motion uh norin yes Garrett yes Arlene yes Katherine yes okay um I would like your permission to um to modify the agreement in such a way as to reflect the proper ownership of the the proper future ownership of the parcel and to fill in the the um the stuff at the end in which they sign it and I can sign it for the Board of Health and um we'll have it notorized is that suitable way of proceeding I think so yes now one other question that that occurs to me is do we need to have this um this agreement recorded at the registry of deeds which would necessitate then sometime in the future a second notice to be recorded saying that all the all the conditions had been met or that because of a change of use of the property the agreement was no longer in force does do we feel that that would be necessary this is a real question I don't know if it is or not I don't I don't personally feel that it would be important cat remind me there have been some circumstances where we have required um notification on the deed and I can't remember what those are in other instances the deed restrictions that we usually um the most common ones that we see have to do with um number of bedrooms all right okay people will come with a building permit that application that is causing um an extra number of bedrooms and we require them to put on the deed attached to the deed the notific that the septic system only covers a certain number of them right thank you I recall now I I don't think we need to do that in this case because if there were to be a transfer of title then uh Title Five would apply to the new transfer and um there would need to be a new there would need to be an inspection and so um I I don't think that we need to require that this be part of um uh the with um filed with the registry of deeds okay Linda did you have a question all I was G the only point I was going to make is number one the same one our lean just made that that uh a change of of ownership would require another Title Five anyway but one other thing that the board probably realizes is that back when um we uh uh got the title five permission for the house that we now own they asked us to send in a water test every year and I think you probably have 30 water tests cat yes you have been very conscientious about that Linda thank you all right so I think that our work here is done I will I will clean up this agreement so that it meets all requirements of of you know nomenclature and and form at the end and Linda I'll get in touch with you so so you and and Mike you guys are the ones who sign things for the LLC right that's correct okay send me if you would email to me the name and address of the LLC so that I can put it in um and think that the simplest and cleanest way of doing this would be once we have it ready for you guys for we'll make an appointment for me and you guys and the Town Clerk and we can get this notorized and then um then it will be executed and you'll be good to go very good thank you okay thank you you are very welcome thanks for coming in thanks everybody good to see you good to see you we'll be up there soon we'll see you riding your bike nine yay okay you want us to leave we'll leave you can leave neighbors leave or stay as you choose okay thanks noren I just got something from you since since we're here I just got something from you about the um the collaborative do you wan to tell us what that was about well we we had a collaborative meeting uh last week and I can summarize I got about six points that I think might be of interest to the board and I can send them to you cat if you want in bullet form that'll probably be be helpful to you okay do you want a quick report or yes would you report that'd be good yeah okay so um the club or the Coalition um voted last week to send a statement to to mfco regarding the fact that the current existing five eds's in our collaborative now want to act as one uh one group and I think we've had discussion about that um you know that that Garrett has presented and Garrett was part of a group that put that statement together so that will be forwarded to mafco and I assume they'll be taking that statement up Garrett or um it'll be read into the record at mafco or I don't know what the next steps are for that yeah I would imagine so we've got a a steering committee meeting coming up shortly so we'll at least consider it there first and then I guess bring it to the broader uh Coalition okay so I just wanted to let everybody know that that's that the collaborative has uh taken a vote to do that um the second item is we're about to hire a new inspector and this inspector will be available to uh take the place of any inspectors if they are ill or um if they're on vacation or that sort of thing um so they were they had a person who was interested who had several um certifications that are required and the new health director in Greenfield who is Michael thorough uh was willing to work with this person to get all the addition um inspector certifications that are necessary um up to date so that person should be beginning if she accepts the position sometime this summer so noren what are the nature of the inspections that she would be doing she do the food inspections the housing inspections what yeah pool uh food that's right uh uh title she'll be getting Title Five eventually so any so she could provide any kind of backup to um to any of the inspectors in the towns should they become ill or while they're on vacation or that type of thing it'll just be additional backup coverage available to the entire group very good Claudia remains primary for us absolutely backup okay great that's right that's right and I think this person will be I'm sure Greenfield needs back up a good bit of the time so I'm sure this person will be will be busy I can't remember has there been conversation about how that works for you know in a situation like this where we contract with Claudia through a different shared service Arrangement and this person's providing backup support through a different shared services um I wonder how they address that well I know we have an agreement signed by the select board and us that's enabled us to share Staffing so I don't really see what the issue might be Garrett maybe I'm missing something yeah probably we could just we would just be able to ask for services if we if we needed I think so I think that's the idea that if we knew Claudia was you know not going to be available for a certain amount of time we can just let the collaborative know and that they can um help us out does that answer your question Garrett or Ian I suppose we can bring it up with them again it's not probably not necessary I was just thinking about you know like issues with backfill and uh you know things like that if there's contract issues but may not be I I I don't think so because we have this agreement signed already that covers anyone like Sarah who's who's working for the entire collaborative in all of the town individually I think that's why we signed that agreement yeah so all right the next item is that Sarah has been has requested more hours over the summer apparently she has more availability I'm not sure um why or anything but I think that's good for everyone so I don't know exactly how many hours but I'm certain that she will be granted additional hours so she may be spending uh more time with us um this summer uh the next thing is our our funding is going to be level funded the funding for the collaborative will be level funded for the next two years I asked um you know the the uh budget managers and they seem to think that would be adequate that we you know the the the funding levels have been getting us up and running for this first year and we we've done our best to try and spend as much of the funding as we we can and get get stuff on board so they seem to think $400,000 will be adequate for the next couple of years um the other thing is there are some more covid tests available with an expiration date of November do we want more covid tests yes okay so someone I guess I will get back to um Megan and let her know please do you know how many you might want cat or we might want um I can't even guess what the what the availability is if we had one of those cartons it would go for a while okay if we had more than one carton that'd be great but I would think that we wouldn't want less than a carton those cartons have 90 pieces okay if we can have two maybe one one or two cartons okay I'll I'll uh I'll ask her how many are available yeah and if there's a need for them to be picked up um okay I'll go and do it just making notes you [Music] guys uh the final thing is that um we're expecting mosquito season to be a bad one this year because of all the uh dampness and all of the breeding of mosquitoes and there are apparently some bug wipes available that Sarah has I asked if they were as good as other deep products and apparently they are so I think um there was going to be some suggestion that the nurses work to let people you know educate people in towns about um mosquito season and that these wipes can be a you know a handout um to people they're you know they're on a lot of them but um they will you know remind people that uh they need to be conscious about wearing some sort of bug repellent when they go out of doors this year on that on that topic do we have any um sort of advanced um forecast of about Triple E are we expecting to see cases this year or anybody know I would just guess if they're thinking the mosquito this is uh from Carolyn who of course is on the mosquito um Coalition that um they're expecting it to be a very bad year they're expecting there to be a lot of breeding so I think if there's a lot of breeding it's probably going to be more of the and I forget there's a certain percentage of the mosquitoes that are Triple E carrying it's it's a fairly low percent but there'll be a higher percentage of that lower percent would be my guess yeah John is that his name who's our mosquito guy yeah he told me last year that he is he fears that um triple is going to spread to other vectors other kinds of mosquitoes which could be which could be pretty bad now last year you probably remember that I did not um apply for opting out of mandatory spraying um partly because mandatory spraying seemed like a pretty remote possibility but mainly because we can opt out but we can't opt out of state land and almost everything we have here is state land it seems seems a little bit pointless to um to go to all that trouble um when um it would affect not our whole our whole land mass so I wonder what you think about that for this year it's a fairly big it's fairly big work and and uh actually it may already be too late I haven't heard anything about it from the state I I think it's a lot of work and then the state routinely says too bad yeah right they turn down your request your request is denied so yeah a couple years ago they they turn down all the requests based solely on um the risk level so so yeah it doesn't seem like it doesn't seem like a good use of our time to do that event all right I just one other uh sort of FYI if anyone sees or talks to Claudia um there the uh iPads that all the inspectors are supposed to be using who are in the collaborative are still being set up with relevant software relevant is the name of the company so we should give her a heads up that that iPad is probably going to be available soon you know okay I'll let her know yeah and that we'll probably need to pick that up and there there should be um training available to show her how to use it and uh Ryan basam in monteu has put this software already on his iPad and has been using it so he's a good contact person to you know if you need some help with what it's working with like you said it's it has food codes on it it has uh housing codes uh and some he thought worked better than others so he's a good person to contact to get information on how that works and maybe some of its glitches and that sort of okay if you can send me his contact information I'll pass to Claudia and also tell alert for a notification that that's forthcoming okay okay so I'll send you um I'll send you some notes on all of this tomorrow cat cool all right that's that's all I have it was a long meeting yeah longer than I longer than I imagined so Arlene where are you um we are in carlbad New Mexico and um heading into Carlsbad Cavern tomorrow and that behind me is a gigantic black and white photo in the hotel room of Carl's bed Cavern wow right yeah if you if you angle it that way it looks like you're really there yeah I know we're 3,000 feet underground oh no it's the guy who's bored help how how's the weather uh it's um high 80s and very strong sun and be glad to be in that Cavern what's you'll be glad to be in that Cavern yeah exactly where it's a constant high 50s I [Music] guess we're hoping to see tomorrow the um Flight of the Brazilian bats that spend their summer in the cavern and at Sundown they exit the cavern mouth by the millions wow um so we're hoping to see that but it may be a little early they may not all have arrived for their summer home so maybe they'll only come out in their thousands in the hundreds of thousands are they healthy do they do you do you know or do they know are they healthy the I I am not certain we stopped briefly at The Visitor Center and there was a an information board about the uh the white the the fungus that has desicated white nose right and um but I don't know how affected this population is you might learn that tomorrow so yeah okay anybody else have anything to report are we still meeting next week cat is it next week already yes may I don't have my calendar up um but I think that's May 1 if I'm not mistaken 28th is Sunday yeah so May 1 is Wednesday huh okay yeah so it is you know what I'll go ahead and post a meeting and if we don't have anything to do we just can cancel it okay okay but this way we'll be covered in case right I'll I'll be in Denver by then so um I'll have um internet access sure okay and presumably whim will be back from wherever he's disappeared to right all right if we don't have anything else to do I will move to a journ second all in favor yes sure okay thank you guys for coming in and extra time I really appreciate it all right good night good night good night everyone