The Fall River Board of Health held a virtual meeting on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at 3:30 PM. Board members Thomas Corey, Michael Coughlin, and Dr. Steven Gagliardi were present, along with Tess Curran, the agent of the board. The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the February 20th meeting, which passed unanimously with a 3-0 vote. Key discussions included a request for a variance to keep 12 chickens (no roosters) at 1144 Mariano Bishop Boulevard by Jokam Das, which was approved unanimously. The board then addressed two tobacco violation hearings. The first, a first offense by 7 at 1641 South Main Street, involved a youth buyer purchasing cigars without being asked for ID. The retailer, represented by Jessica, appealed the mandated $1,000 fine, citing the store's newness and financial hardship. However, the board denied the appeal with a 3-0 vote, stating they had no leeway to forgive first offense fines. The second tobacco violation hearing concerned Stop and Save at 345 Robison Street, a second offense within 36 months. The retailer, represented by managing partner Abrahim Badad, admitted the sale to a minor and stated they had paid the $2,000 fine, fired the employee responsible, posted new signs, and retrained staff. The board, acknowledging the remedial actions, voted 3-0 to waive the standard 7-day permit suspension while upholding the $2,000 fine, with a stern warning about a 30-day suspension for any future third offense. The Director's Report highlighted ongoing efforts for opioid settlement funds, including a community-wide survey open until May 5th, and updated the board on new software training for health department teams. No citizens' input was received, and the next meeting was scheduled for April 23rd before the meeting adjourned.
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good afternoon to everyone on the land of zoom and welcome to the Board of Health virtual meeting on Tuesday March 26 scheduled for 3:30 my name is Thomas Corey present with me via Zoom is Michael Coughlin Dr Steven gagliotti and Tess Curran our agent of the board various guests and participants in today's meeting pursuant to the open meeting War any person may make an audio or video
0:30recording of this public meeting and may transmit the the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or UNP perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible Tes can we have a roll call Thomas Corey present Michael coflin here St Gard here next item of business is the approval of the minutes of the meeting
1:00from Thursday February 20th are there any additions deletions or corrections to be made to the minutes of the meeting as printed Mo no mo second T we have a a call Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes stepen gardi yes next item is the request for variance for the keeping of chickens by jokam dasas at 11:44 Mariano Bishop Boulevard um this one we've been dealing with for some months uh f are you presenting on this
1:42one I am uh I was gonna pick one of the chickens to help but it's passed away it's been so long um so so um I we've inspected the the yacht a couple of times I was the last one to inspect uh it's a nice big yard um it's the coup is in the rear of the property it ABS prop another lot that the Das own uh it's pretty much out of the way and
2:11all the paperworks excuse me all the paperwork is in order it's a nice clean the yard and I I I see no problems okay they they've got their rod in contract they do how many is there anyone here from the family yes yes uh uh Liliana Das is here I'm sorry oh okay that's is with you okay um how many chickens are they requesting 12 12 chickens we know the rule about no
2:45roosters we do okay that was discussed and we already have the we have so we have the rodent contract 12 chickens no roosters any any questions gentlemen no sounds good and looks good for from your point of view FST oh oh yes an exemplary setup I'd say okay can we have a motion motion motion to approve second can we have a roll call Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes Stephen gardy yes okay good luck
3:23with the chickens thank you for your patience in this matter thank you okay thank you the next it is a tobacco violations hearing uh a first offense of an act to modernize Tobacco Control by 7 at 1641 South Main Street in Fall River Jennifer you're presenting yes so on February 7th I completed a round of compliance checks at approximately 11:52 a.m my youth buyer went into 7 and she was able to
3:58purchase a five pack of backwood cigars for $7.99 using a $20 bill no ID and no age was asked uh immediate following uh the check I tracked it in my system since it was their first violation of the state law a fine was issued for $1,000 at this time the payment is due and the retailer is looking to appeal a violation what's the basis for appeal hi hello how are you uh we're
4:34fine um I don't I'm sorry I really don't know how this works this is the first time I've had to do this before so um basically I'm not fighting um I'm not disagreeing with what happened um I remember the whole transaction um so I do apologize for that it's not something that I would um do intentionally um I understand that I didn't ask for ID um we are a brand new store we opened up in
5:04November um we don't have a lot of customers right now so we're very slow and we actually really can't afford a fine at at all especially $1,000 um so like I said that's I'm really I'm not fighting the that that I didn't do it I'm not um saying I didn't do that um it's more just um I just want to appeal and hopes that um we can get a second chance U maybe like a warning or
5:33something like that um instead of the the Hefty fine okay I don't think we have much leeway in forgiving or repealing fines the state law says the first offense is a $1,000 fine um when you get to the second and third offenses that's when the board can act because we our our responsibility or Our obligation is is a suspension of the of of the permit is that correct Jennifer uh yes okay so there's really
6:10the fine is due and we hope hopefully we will never see you again okay because the next time it'll be a $2,000 fine and we will and we are obligated to to suspend the permit uh for seven days okay gentlemen any questions any comments no okay so I'm sorry Jessica I wish you luck I hope you get some more customers but be very careful and check the IDS thank you
6:47okay do we need any further action on that
6:57test s just um I think we could make if you could if someone could um could make a motion um deny the appeal to deny the appeal yes I I move we deny the appeal second can we have a roll call Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes stepen gardi yes thank you the next item is a the tobacco violation hearings a second offense an act to modernize Tobacco Control from Stop and Save at
7:36345 Robison Street here in Fall River and Jennifer Jennifer you're presenting again okay so on the same day on February 7th um when I was doing compliance checks at approximately 12:40 my youth buyer went into Stop and Save and she was successfully able to purchase a single backwood cigar for $180 uh no ID and no age was asked as soon as she left I tracked it in my database uh the state law mandates that it's a
8:07$2,000 fine uh for a second violation a fine was issued for $2,000 and a possible suspension for up to seven days the retailer did uh issue their payment on February 28th for the $2,000 prior history shows that within the 36 months the first violation took place on November 7 2021 and that was also for selling to a minor sir please identify yourself with your name and address for the record yes my
8:44name is Abrahim badad um I'm a managing partner on this Stop and Save um okay uh we're we're not disputing uh as well uh yes our employee did sold that um only thing I don't have any um further documentation like we have received the last time so we can take some kind of action on our employee um he's claiming he didn't do it but he must have done it when you have all this documentation
9:21so we have forend us uh uh post new signs uh AG signs and calendar and retrain them as well and this employee is no longer with us anymore okay well it's important to train all your employees and to reinforce that training every six months every year whatever you find um necessary okay um the 2000 again the $2,000 fine stands um because that's the what the state War reads and uh traditionally the
10:00board has issued a 7-Day suspension of the permit gentlemen what are your feelings they seem to they seem to have taken some substantial remedial action I don't know if that holds any weight but retraining and posting and firing the employe um I don't know what do you think I we haven't we haven't uh we haven't waved the suspension in any of the cases that have come before the board since I join but it's only been a
10:42few and I'm open to it open to waving the suspension or not waving the suspension open to waving it but waiting to hear what your opinion is what's the what's the um the the penalty for third violation thir 3,000 oh I'm sorry and up to a 30-day suspension so I mean I'd be open to waving the suspension but on a third violation um You can count on the 30 days if it happens again
11:27yeah okay can we have a motion to just aine how how do we want to word this properly motion to wave the suspension but uh keep the fine second can we have a roll call thas Cory yes Michael Coughlin yes Stephen gardi yes sir you are a very lucky man today thank you now we you will be retested shortly and several times during the next year so make sure that the employees are trained the signage is
12:09up and uh if you come before us again um it will be the the state requires the $3,000 fine and we will enforce the 3-day permit suspension again thank you okay good luck with the training high are good employees all right okay Jennifer thank you very much thank you so I'm free we're free to exit out this meeting yes sir thank you sir thank you all again bye Tess what do we have for the
12:47director's report sure so um We are continuing our efforts um in terms of the opioid settlement funds um and last week the Health Department released a CommunityWide survey um that we've been pushing out to Community Partners um we've reached out to the school systems um you know everybody within um the network uh that we have here in the health department to help promote the survey um what we're looking for is the
13:20community to um anybody who lives or works or goes to school um or is a Community member or has ties to Fall River to complete the survey um and that will help guide um the use of the opioid settlement funds um so we're looking for particularly folks with lived experience um lived or living experience um people who have an unstable housing situation U we want their input through
13:52this process um so we're you know again working with with Community Partners who have um who have clients or work with folks who um you know identify as one of those um individuals to complete the survey so it's been live for a week now the survey will be open through May 5th okay how how how do I received a an email and I filled I did the survey already how does the average person
14:21listening to this how do they obtain um access to the survey so it is on the River website um so Fall River ma.gov if you scroll about halfway down the first page you'll see an icon for the opioids um settlement fund survey it's also been posted on the city of fall River's Facebook page and is pinned to that page so if people go and visit the city of Fall River Facebook page then you'll be
14:51able to find um that the as a pinned icon um again on the top of that page very we go um and we are disseminating posters throughout the community there's posters um with QR codes um that are being shared um so people have easy access to to the survey um additionally people can reach out to the health department um and we can um provide folks with a link via email if that's an easier option for
15:23people um but we have received um just under 200 responses Within um the week that it's been open so we were pleased with that response rate so far um but again I really hoping to engage with specific populations um to hear hear their perspective um and where they feel the money should be allocated so this will be one again one tool um for review as those funds begin to um be disseminated through an RFP
15:57process um and how much money is involved over how many years so we have estimates that will be getting just shy of $8 million over the next 15 years right now we have uh just shy of $2 million um to dat we received some additional funds on the 15th um and so we have we've received more recently um so far the funds have been spent on a strategic plan and support with the RFP
16:34process that is currently being developed okay very most most of the money is front loaded in the early years of the settlement that that's why we already have two mil in the bank it it'll go down pretty dramatically as in in the coming years yeah the other thing I was thinking uh based on Tom's original question is is that the survey went out to a number of the community organizations that provide services to
17:05uh the the community with lived experience and and the expectation is that they'll share the survey with some of those folks uh and we'll get their input that way back when I was the director we had a community newspaper that would be happy to uh you know run a a nice article about uh something like this and give it the attention but uh we we really don't have that uh available to us these
17:34days you still do that radio program with with your your uh colleague your pharmacist colleague do you Tom no we we we stopped just before Co started okay yeah I do have some plans um for some radio programs and some um other um you know opportunities for for broader promotion outside of the the Comm Community Based organization so um I'll be I'll be doing that in the near term okay very good anything
18:10else that's all I have for today how how's the new software training coming the teams have been trained um they are still uh kind of working out some of the Kinks um just getting used to the new software um but everybody has been trained um and they're ready to to take it into the field when they when they feel you know that they're they're comfortable with the program so um so
18:40we're we're in good shape there and again are looking forward to having that data um on hand but yes everybody has been trained um the food inspectors um and sanitation minimum housing group has been trained um so um we're we're excited about that opportunity very good did anything come in for Citizens input I do no we have no citizens input is there anything else of such a matter that it could make the
19:12agenda nothing else okay gentlemen we we going to set the next meeting um following our usual procedure there are five Tuesdays in April uh would you like the 23rd or the 30th anyone have have a preference 23rd looks good 23rd looks good test that good with
19:42you yes that's fine with me okay 23rd for everybody that all right if there's no other business can we have a motion to adjourn so moved second can we have a roll call Cory yes Michael Coughlin yes Stephen Gagliardi yes okay thank you all thank you Sandy and Alex have a wonderful Easter weekend don't forget to eat lots of eggs have a good weekend thank you thank you bye