##VIDEO ID:J4jurLyeKI8## Board of Health meeting Thursday November 7th 2024 6m in the land use room present at the meeting is Terry Pam subasa Tom hbert Tom hiber okay on public we have Erica Erica what's your last name prowdy proudy that's right okay um and we have Ken Simmons hi Hi how are you Public Health coordinator um we do not have Trisha Simmons Trish s Trish Seto who is Simmons Ken c s and Dr Linc hasn't joined us yet or Samantha Samantha's on Samantha called in as well Samantha hi s hello so public comment is there anything you want to say Erica no all right so no public comment the minutes um I'll leave did you get to see the minutes I did not I know sement sent out another copy I had no problem with with the first copy but I didn't look at the second copy I just had a couple things a couple capital letters I think that was about it and I'll leave those Samantha with um with Tom and he can give them to you when you're feeling better yeah I don't see anything that changed from I looked at them earlier so I'm fine with the minutes I I move that we accept the minutes with the with the the changes that lantha made I second that um all in favor Terry putam yes Sosi yes so that's all set with that on the nurse report we don't have Trisha to give it to us personally but we do have written copies um which we will just include I don't know if you want to review it just to see what she's been up to um but we'll include that with our minutes okay for October what she did in October CO's going down again that's good so only 11 people were vaccinated at the clinic huh pant yeah there was I think there were more at the um Senior Center did a clinic separate from us and um I think they had a pretty good turnout yeah I'm good that okay so we'll put that our report okay um renewal status renewal of the permits yes so all of our annual permits um kind of been in a holding pattern with getting the e- permitting online and all that um I think as of today I feel like we're finally in a good place I got a letter I was I was a little slow to get a response from the company um but with the information that we need to provide to all the lenses how to log in how to create their accounts and all that stuff um but I did get that today so I was just um working on kind of finalizing a letter to send out and um hopefully if Samantha is in tomorrow we get a letter sent out uh maybe tomorrow if not early next week um and hopefully it goes slowly but I've been I have been able to I have like a beta version of the software um and it is it I think the the first year might be a little tough for people because they'll have to fill everything out uh but when they go to renew next year everything will autop populate and they'll just have to scroll through click click pay the fee and it'll be it'll be a lot um a lot easier so they won't have it done by December 1st right so and I put that I put that in the letter is you know technically that's when it's due but we'll be we'll be flexible this year um because we can't um you know we we're getting this out kind of late it's a big change we're not going to expect everyone to to get it done um on time so do we do we have the bandwidth that if they wanted to come to the town if they wanted to come here and have somebody walk through with them yeah so I I just um talked to the company today or emailed with them I guess and um we're going to schedule a training for Samantha and Karen um and myself um and any some of the other departments will use the software to do like right now for septic it goes we take one of the copies and bring it over conservation and there's a sheet that Sabrina ass signs um so that will all be done through the through the system and most of the Town departments already do something similar with the building software um so it'll I don't think they'll need any training but we if anybody in throughout Town Hall needs help with it we've been now are you doing the training or is the company the company is going to do the training and so once you're trained if say Joe wanted to come with help for his renewal y somebody would be able to sit okay and we because we already have that for building their it's like a whole new version of the software U but it's the same company so it's pretty similar they've been using it for was it 2017 2018 somewhere around there that they got online um and they have like a little computer in like the lobby part of our office that um that sometimes if people can't can't do it they come and we can kind of help them out um because that may speed things up yeah and then there's there's kind of the the worst case scenario but if if someone truly can't do it online um we can accept a paper application and then either Karen Samantha or I can enter it into the system that way um that if a lot of people choose to do that that would be very timec consuming and defeat the purpose um so I'm G to give them a one time yeah in the the wording of the letters and everything try to encourage um you know do it online and um but if I I think there's less and less people these especially most of these people are business owners they have some sort of online presence for their businesses um so so I don't think I don't think many people will have a huge issue with it but um but if someone is like I don't have an email address I you know there there might still be a few out there um we can we can work with them to to make it happen so a system for the whole um town hall is that like backed up every day once a week or the does technical our technical service department Jim Jim and then um they use Wall-E computer so I think it's like so is it back backed up yeah y on a regular basis yeah um all right you have all the new rest fusion and black board and the place and all the M yep yep so one one other thing that I'm planning to do is I'm way behind on food inspections which is kind of seems to be the constant status I think that's how it was with Tom too um but I'm I'm gonna make in the next uh month and a half make a solid push to try to get a lot of them done and I'll bring copies of the letters and then I can when I'm doing the inspection I can say hey did you have a chance to get out log in the E permanent yet do you need any help um and kind of have some inperson um help as well kind of get two birds with one stone and get get my inspections done and make sure they're going to do their applications properly and make it easy for everyone so so we'll see how that goes but um but we should have the Letters Out and um and I'm hopeful that it will go smoothly so when they go in when they when they do this e permitting and they put all the information in um how do they scan in their certifications yeah so there's a just like the uh they call it the paperclip button but just to attach anything that they have that's if they have have a scan that's it right they have it right otherwise they have to hand it yeah so they they yeah that would be the main thing or they could even take pictures on their phones it doesn't have to be like a PDF so they could attach a picture um and then once that's in there so next year when they have to do all the certifications Samantha can go in there and see see that all doesn't expire until 2027 or something yeah yeah so we need to keep sending in and everything right right so that will be the I think I think in the long it will be a lot easier I'm anticipating some complaints the first year but um but the someone told I don't know if it was someone from the company or someone from another town that did the same thing um and they were actually surprised with how few complaints they got the first year I think just because so many people are used to doing things online now um that that a lot of people were like oh this is great I don't have to make a trip to Town Hall I can do it all online and um so but we'll see how it goes so our contract is it just for the year it's not for three years or two years um and when does it start it starts on the day that we go live so in the next week or so it will it will start um so there was like a the way the payments were set up is um I just got an invoice recently that I have to pay but it was um it was like 20 4040 for the the build of the software at various stages with the the last stage being when you go live and then it's like six a little over 6,000 a year for the for the to maintain the contract um so that that will begin the day we go live so that's all in the budget it's all they they added that they added that yeah into what under so the um they added it into our budget as a capital expense for the for the build and then they added the appropriate amount to Jim's software maintenance budget okay so it won't actually come once we're up and running it won't actually come out of our budget but it's it's accounted for um we have the P's open and everything so so and then I think moving forward I think Jim will manage that invoice and or I'll I'll get it and I'll just give it to him and he'll take care of it so um so yeah so that's where that is a little later than I hoped but um but I think finally I got everything they sent me over some stuff yesterday so um finally finally got what I needed and I think we'll be we'll be in decent shape [Music] so the recently updated regulations I got we posted it in the paper um because you're supposed to do that and just a summary of what was change um and so I did that for the tobacco the resending of the food regulation and the feast even though the Fe the Fe schedule is not a regulation I did I was doing it one one notice to the paper paying for it already you might as well put it in there um the regulations I sent to I had them attested in the clerk's office they have a copy we have a copy um and then I sent the copy to the D um because they keep the register of all the Board of Health regulations and I don't know do they have them all now I think so in our binder there was a list um from well there's a list of our regulations me there a list yeah there was a list from the central register of what what was in there so um I don't I was TR I think they changed the address so I found something from like 22 which was a different address than what we had on file um that had been provided by D so I sent it to the address that I found uh but we had a document I think it must have been after Tom after we updated the food rag I think that was in 2018 and there was a list from that was clearly from the central register of what was on file um I think Alex put in the most recent address somewhere in there yeah there was copies of what he sent um but I don't I'll try to find out how to get the record of what we have on file there from D just to confirm they have everything but um and who is D is that Environmental Protection y okay Y and first I don't know why it's the I guess initially Boards of Health were just cared about septic and Wells so if D makes sense but um but any Board of Health regulation has to even if it's about food or vaccines or anything else d is the one that maintains the the central register of local Board of Health rights okay um so so that that was all sent out and [Music] um the fee schedule so I'm with the renewal letters um just to make sure all of our all of our lenses know um I added a little addendum for the fee schedule um and then for the tobacco licenses all the tobacco information will'll give and the tobacco ones will include a copy of the um of the printed regulation just so they have it and um and then we will have done everything we need to do know we notified everyone um it's up on the website D so that should be that should be all good so do we have everyone's email address of the all the restaurant all the owners we will after everyone does their permit there's we have a few lists because right now we keep a um uh spreadsheet of all the licenses so for certain I think it's just how it was set up for certain licenses um when whoever whe whether it was Karen or Cindy or whoever was before Cindy um certain ones have a line for email so for certain licenses we have email addresses easily accessible I think it's on most of the application forms now but I don't know if everyone fills it out um so we don't have we have a lot of them but I don't we have like a good list but after e- permitting we will have a really good list and after e permitting they have to fill in that email or they can't go yeah yeah they have to make an account with their email address so um so then that that's the other big advantage of the E permitting is just having all that information right there easily readily accessible so if we ever something changed with food or septic or anything we could just very easily send out a notice to everyone that we wanted to Target with that so so yeah old buiness no updates on the fog regulation um tobacco yes what happened there they they served their time they paid their fine good to go hopefully they don't sell again hopefully no one else sell four in one year I'm sure the I'm sure the treasurer I'm sure the treasurer likes it because a thousand bucks was hot and it all just goes into the general fund so so it's good for the town although I'd rather we didn't have four people self a minor but it's a big difference with the 100 falling up yeah yeah um that would keep me religion yeah I would be religious about having to pay it a thousand Buck yeah yeah especially you do it it's within three years the one two three for violation so if they sell again within three years it's $2,000 and the third time it's $5,000 and who keeps track of that do you yeah or I do and um and the pioner valley Toco but they they have a whole spreadsheet so like when they the email they send me when they say they there was a sale it's like they give me the form I need to fill out they say this was their first violation so so they're they're on top of it but I keep track of it too so yeah they're very good they're very um yeah informative the meetings they came to um so all the septic business has uh slowed down a little bit um but still still steady um some perk tests uh 151 Point Grove Road that is I think they're going to try to cut off a chunk of the lot behind the VFW on point growth um um so I think that's what that like that the lawn behind the BFW is where we did the perk they got Frontage or is it a yeah they have front they have Frontage they have Frontage on two states oh on two states okay um what do they use that building for now do you know I think it's V it's too bad yeah I had heard I think like when I first started I had heard someone wanted to turn it into like a brewery or something but I don't think that I don't think that panned out actually drove by there today I think there's like a four lease there was a sign it was either four lease or for sale I don't remember that's too bad yeah um eight Patriot Way that was a repair uh 186 Mort Vining and 66 Powder Mill Road both uh repairs Patriot Way is that on that's all sand is it yeah wonder why they needed a repair yeah I don't remember what was wrong with the what was wrong with the system okay final inp final inspection 76 coill um 51 North Lake 648 College Highway um 648 College Highway is the um the plaza with the oil company and the the Chinese restaurant so that one is there oh that's been repaired a few times yes so they think this was the fourth repair they they've killed in like 20 years they've killed three systems it's from the is it from the Chinese restaurant most likely yeah um all the grease they have a grease trap and everything but there's no sewer that far no no there's not um so they did [Music] um this last system they got like they did get like 12 years out of it which isn't Terri um but the one before that they only got like two or three years out of it so now what are they what are they doing are they removing everything and then putting a new system in or the room to put they had to rip it out yeah uh there was nowhere else nowhere else to go um they did the past two they were using the infiltrators one of the alternative systems um but they they at that point they had like two dining rooms and they the when you go in the dining room on the right is they're just using it as storage now um and I think the owner wants to cut that off from the rest since they're not planning to use it again cut that off from the restaurant and just make it um add it to his office and the oil because he owns runs the oil company there um so that was on the table but either way you know I went in there and the the um that is just storage that so so they from they went from like 50 SE to 25 seeds so they were able to do a pipe and fit a pipe and stone system which I think is a little more resilient to 50 seats seats yeah they had a lot and they right now they're they're takeout only so the um they don't even they don't even they have a dining room still but they don't they don't use it uh but the the code requires a minimum of of 25 seats for the design so that's what they did and um so they were able to the alternative system they use gave us Shrunk the footprint of the Lee field um but now they're doing a conventional system so they have restrooms yeah so what does the code say how many seats do you have to have in order not to have a rest public restroom is it 19 that's not in arode I think it's in the plumbing it's it's in plumbing or building code I think because in the in the food code you just have to provide a restroom for employees you don't you don't necessarily have to provide one M there was a thing there that they didn't have public restroom so therefore they could only have X amount of seats oh okay yeah public restroom yeah yeah I mean I think in you would think if you have if there's anyone sitting there to eat a full meal that's going to be there for an hour yeah you should have a bathroom available but um as far as I know it's not not in the code um but that that install went really well um they did a good job with it so um they put it they had to put in all new tanks um because they were getting a little older um because with the last repair they were able to use the tanks because they were only like three years old at that point but um they put all the the owner is really on top of like monitoring the the grease and everything so they put uh there's a grease trap and then a a holding tank and so everything from the kitchen goes through those two tanks and then the from the bathrooms it goes into just a regular septic tank so there's three tanks and every cover on all three tanks is has a riser to grade so they can easily open it up and see if there's too much grease in there see if it needs to be pumped and and uh okay so wait a minute so so the water from the kitchen does not go to the conventional septic system it goes to the holding tank well no it goes to the it goes to the um the the grease trap and then it goes into the holding tank and into the regular tank so um so that that's good because it it just has one more place because usually the the all the grease and everything will float and then just the liquid will pass through into the so having the the um grease trap and then another tank and then the regular tank like that should help it and then do they have a grease trap under their sink also yeah they have one of the the small grease interceptors under the sink so hopefully they clean that enough um and I I think the owner has the building owner has a little less control of what they do in the kitchen but he was like all these covers are going to be to great and he can check in on it weekly or however much he wants to make sure that they're getting it pumped out enough um so so hopefully that will last a long time not going with but um but they did a a good job with it and then 202 South Long yard road that was a a repair at a house um housing uh we had eight Curtis Road um is that that P own yeah the foreclosure and that yeah um so that um I just talked to the the bank and um the the eviction was was delayed um but they're they're on top of it so I think still uh and is the problem inside the house or outside the house or both uh little I think more inside that there clutter and junk outside but it wasn't like it wasn't atrocious that it's like any emergency but it was one of those ones you drive by you're like oh doesn't look great but um 80 Bungalow um that one as far as I know um I have to go out and schedule the inspection but as far as I know the water and the heat are back working um they've had some uh I think Highland Valley is having a really hard time getting vendors they they approve people for services but then they can't get vendors to do the services so um so I've been playing phone tag with the the gentleman from Highland Valley um but uh he I think they're I think they're on the right track this is the one that we've talked about for you got on the board this is going I think so I mean because I think it was at the first meeting so it's been it's been going I think it started last October October 23 oh yeah I've been on so it's kind of it's kind of at a weird point where it's like it's not really anything so bad that we would condemn it but it's taking forever to get it done um so we could we could call her in for a hearing and just kind of try to light the fire a little bit and say that you know you really need to get this done um but it's tough it's tough with Highland Valley because it's like oh she's approved for X Y and Z we can do all this and then they just because it's approved doesn't mean it's actually G to get done so I wonder who their vendors are yeah who we were talking about yeah yeah like handyman or something yeah yeah so so what ramification right now for Holland valy they could none for them I mean they're a um just a a you know there's they're they're not legally required to do anything it's you know she's the homeowner so they they're there to help her um and it's just a it's a tough and does she want to get stuff fixed I think so so what is it now trash outside yeah there's uh there some oldold yeah some mold in the basement and um but I'm I'm I'm I think the she's on fuel assistant so I think they were able to to fix and make sure all the heat when working um and so it's just the the mold in the basement and then um just a junk and there's a pool outside which hasn't been open in years is holding water the all the trash and stuff heading into the winter it's not as much of an issue you know sanding water all that because it's cold um but maybe yeah that's true 75 80° that's true um so they're not concerned that she's in mold that she living in a house with mold I mean that is a concern she's it's all contained to the basement so it's not not ideal but um but it's her her the living area where she is actually living is is is decent but is there really much you can do if she's been approved the work's been approved but they just can't find anybody right to do it right so it's and do we know they're looking I mean no like no skin off their nose with the the mold might Highland Valley might not be able to do for her um but they've I think there was a lot of um and I don't know all the details it's not my business but um Financial issues that uh like identity theft or something that they got straightened out um so I think she's in a better place there so she probably has some money that um because ultimately the homeowner is responsible for for all the maintenance um so hopefully um anything they can't do she can she can hire out and get it done um so so that's one is she has he and hot water she had last year yeah y That's the big thing so so I'll stay on top of that one and that's a tough one you don't want to you don't want to kick someone out but also you don't want it to drag out for a year maybe if we had if I had condemned it the first day I was there they would have been you know displaced person and everyone would have chop chop chop and got everything done and she would have been back who knows maybe not maybe not be Morning Quarterback that exactly so um air in circle I don't I think there was another issue at Aaron Circle and I forgot to um I forgot to update it so there was a violation at Aaron Circle another unit um honestly a similar situation to the 80 Bungalow um it was an elder and um [Music] some uh I wouldn't I I don't know I wouldn't necessarily describe it as hoarding but [Music] um definitely some some difficulty with self-care and things like bringing the trash out and taking bad food out of the fridge and things like that so um there was no there was no access issues you know it wasn't like there was so much stuff in there you can can't get in and out through the doors safely or anything like that but um but the kitchen um needed some serious serious TLC so um I did Issue a violation for that and it's taken a little longer than I thought it would um for the same reason with Highland Valley but um he was able to he has some funding private funding as well um so there it really just needs a deep clean um the all of the bad food out of there into the dumpster clean clean the surfaces um I don't think it needs any major um repairs it just this stuff that's in there needs to needs to get lean so um but that that was moving was kind of at a stand still for about a week I think this was two weeks ago that I was there it was at a standstill for about a week but um I just got the update so that sounded like that should be happening quickly um so I'll try to get out there next week and see um make sure it got done done um now is a in circle still part of the Housing Authority no it is uh wayfinders runs it um so they're a um do we still have Housing Authority in town I think they have dep but I don't know it used to be Depot and a in circle and there was somewhere there another when I was own oh okay yeah yeah yeah so used to be both of them way finder I know they have at least one house because we had that one with the trash on kaban road last year housing that was Housing Authority um but I I think I think there's a SE I think Southwick has a separate um board for the h this there's a Southwick Housing Authority but it's the it's run by the Westfield Housing Authority oh so like the the dayto day the maintenance and the staff it's the same people that run Westfield but I think southw has still has a separate board I think they do too because I forget where it was but somebody was saying that there was there were opening oh okay um angelart used to be the chairman the Housing Authority way back George H was on it that was when I so so yeah so that's it for housing um and food service we had a new food truck called uh our mother's kitchen and I'm drawing a blank at where they even did a did an event it might yeah it might have been the brewery I can't even remember I'm sure it was at Tractor Supply Tractor Supply yes thank you no problem um Hamond County Health Coalition um we had our meeting this morning nothing too crazy going on there um we're still kind of transitioning to our new um our new home since they left Piner Valley Planning Commission um and they just hired a um a consultant company to do all of the um to be the public health emergency preparedness planner and do all that other stuff for us and help us with our EVS plans and all that fun stuff so there was a okay no yeah pbca P Valley Piner Valley planning Comm um Safety Committee we had a meeting two weeks ago and um working [Music] on a bunch I gave out a bunch of um checklists from Department of Labor services to all the Departments that have facilities to work on and go through the checklists and uh see where we have uh holes and things that need to be addressed Tom is supposed to be the OSHA officer he is the OSHA officer I shouldn't say supposed to yeah and then um and then the other thing that we're working on um Dan Fernandez who is the new um was promoted he is the new uh buildings and grounds uh what was he he was he was he worked for um he worked for Dave and and he works for Russ now so he they bumped him up he was the um I honestly don't know what his position was so what is Russ Russ was just doing that yeah Russ was just interim because he's Russ was still Emergency Management okay um so Dan and I went to the hazard communication um which is also like right to know and the SDS sheets and all that so you personally or yeah it was in in person but um it was at the water treatment plant in for Northampton but it was in haydenville so it was a bit of a haul um but it was a nice ride was I think it was on Halloween that we actually we have that so um so that was good so we that's the other thing we have all the SDS sheets uh but I don't think that's been updated in quite some time so um give them electronically no no so we're gonna we're going to update that whole whole thing and it most of it will be stuff that they have in buildings and grounds DPW and Fire and maybe maybe police a little bit but um but I think those will be the the three big departments that are that are involved that are going to have a lot of different things um now the school is separate totally separate they're their own they're their own thing um and then western Mass Public Health um we had our Title 5 conference last week as well um um I was actually a speaker at the conference that went pretty well no so you're president yeah congratulations thanks so you were you gave you contributed to the title five confs yeah okay wow good yeah I did a did it my talk was on like um there because there's a lot of like new inspectors um and and all the different in the area so I did a talk on just kind of like the overview of the whole permitting process for Title 5 from when you get the title fail title five to the perk and all of the kind of different things you have to consider reviewing the plan and inspections and COC and all that so nice so hey um since we have Kaiten on and um Terry doesn't go to the meetings we're having the next one in December Kaye you want to give Terry an update of things going on sure um I had left we have a um survey that we're bringing out to uh residents in town in all six of our shared service Community towns I had left it on Samantha's desk so I will email that to um all the board members to make sure that you guys get that but we have um oh co so there's a QR code link and we're just trying to get people to um engage with the shared service agreement and have awareness of our nurses and the topics that we're trying to discuss with people um so right now we're kind of working Trisha Maryann and I are working on the new parent program pooling the opioid abatement funds with the six towns that's kind of in the works uh we've been working with tapestry Health in Westfield um we're really hoping to either do a Narcan box outside of the town halls or a Sharps disposal box um with those funds so hopefully we can get that rolling in the next couple of months but those are the two main things we've been talking about so just trying to get isn't there a Shop's disposal at the police station yes but it gets locked up um when the police station I don't know for sure in all of the towns but we're really trying to make them Anonymous you know kind of you know hidden when they're in a police station I just have found with the research that Maryann and Trisha and I have been doing it it doesn't make for easy access for people so we're trying to make it more Equitable and accessible for people to use so if it's outside of a town hall residents could come drop it off whenever they choose to at any time um and it gives a little bit more privacy so that's kind of our hope there then and then who would um maintain it and empty it and where would yeah tap does all of that uh all the harm reduction practices they do actually for free so um yeah so we would just pay for the setup of the boxes and they do all of the disposal so it's an exciting opportunity actually so I'm hoping that one of them will be able to come to our next board meeting and kind of discuss it with all of the board members is Our Hope parent um the newborn yeah Trisha and MaryAnn have just started their training at that is every Wednesday for the next I want to say four weeks four Wednesdays I believe um so once they get that they'll have the certification and the updated um practices for newborns I know that they felt like they weren't ready yet and it had been a long time since they had been around newborns to start that whole process up again and then we're waiting on legal approval to our informed partic ipant notice and then once that is done I think it's ready to to start so we'll be talking to the town clerks getting the information on new parents and sending those invitations out uh we just got those a couple weeks ago so that's should be up and running soon how long's it take for the town to be notified of a birth I don't I think it's was it like a one to two weeks typically that yeah I wanted to say two weeks but I have to double check that the you mentioned the legal approval uh my recollection is that the attorney had reviewed it and said he had some edits but we never got the edits is that yeah I think that's where the last time I heard yes I will send a uh gentle reminder yeah I believe he said it was just minor edits so it shouldn't be long yeah I was I was expecting just like he sent me that first email I was kind of expecting like the next day oh here you go it's all good but were we waiting on something else from him I can't remember I want to say that there was another thing from him we were waiting on but I I don't know I can't remember I'll have to look back my email but yeah so those two things are pretty pretty in the works they should be ready soon thank you no that was great good we'll see you in December yes December 10th December 10th okay our meeting is when December December 5th 5th okay um anything else any on anticipated items the past 48 hours I don't think so no I can think of anything not for me not for me okay Samantha you're set yes yes I move that we adjourn at 650 I second that all in favor Jerry putam yes Sasa yes thank you for coming everyone okay thank you have a good night I hope you feel better