7 27 2023 Board of Health

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good afternoon to everyone and welcome to the Board of Health virtual meeting on Thursday July 27 27th scheduled for 3 30 p.m my name is Thomas Corey present with me via Zoom is Michael Coughlin and Tess Curran our agent of the board Dr gagliati is not with us at this moment various guests and participants in today's meeting pursuant to the open meeting or any person may make an audio or video

recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any meeting attendees are there for advised as such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and I deemed acknowledged and permissible can we have a roll call Miss Corey present Michael Coughlin present thank you the next item is the approval of the minutes from the meeting of

Thursday June 22nd are there any additions deletions or corrections to be made to the minutes of the meeting is printed well under item five the request for variance of keeping chickens and Ducks the letter that we received is from Michelle arper arpa and in the minutes it's um o p e r a just to correct the spelling for the record

move to accept the minutes as amended second here we have a roll call please Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes okay next item is the request for variants of keeping of chickens and ducks for Stephanie Enloe 2551 North Main Street Fall River this is an item which we discussed last month was put on the table and we're taking it off the table um I did get a a one-page amended application I'm not really sure what's

been amended so there was some um controversy in the testimony last meeting so first let's go with Lisa um and I forget the gentleman from minimum housing um if you'll fill us in what's what's happening okay um go ahead oh okay Stephanie um you know she she submitted the the new application uh chickens ate is what she's requesting now and the two ducks but she already has um I I don't believe

um I thought you told her to that she had to get rid of the the chicks now I was there yesterday um Elena and I had gone over to the property and I Saw Three rap sightings big rats they weren't little rats okay um five chicks that's what I counted yesterday what I could see they kept running behind the pool uh one chicken or a hen I'm not sure exactly what that was but

um that we could see in the odd uh bird food was on the ground the rats were eating the food I also saw the Ducks Under The Canopy I did not see any proof of extermination anywhere in the yard there was nothing out anywhere um there's standing water in the pool which proposes the hazard also um and the contract it's a proposal it's not a contract I just received it a few minutes ago Stephanie

um the last email that you just sent me and it's it's not it's missing a lot of different things but this is a it says Pest Control monthly contract but I believe it's a proposal so you know I'm not sure what's uh I I don't have a contract in hand I just received that last night um the gentleman uh Carl that's coming to perform the work is scheduled to come

to my house on Wednesday of next week and place traps and also to put up fencing along my Stockade Fence because he feels that uh the mice are coming from the property next door through the fence and he plans to do a complete chicken wire fence all along the bottom of my fence as well as put out several traps with bait to trap Eddie mice he also says in his contract that he will

come once a month to my property to do any remediation to check the traps and refill them okay um we were also in the yard next door and there were no issues in that yard at all except for holes that were in the fence the offense and big holes in the ground um wait I'm just telling you what the Exterminator said if I make I was there uh Monday and then I returned again yesterday with

Lisa I observed Lodge Rats on Monday I observed Lodge rats yesterday the fence has humongous holes this is why I wish I had the pictures um unfortunately I wasn't able to email them in advance but there are huge holes bigger than what I saw when I was there the first time with my supervisor a few months back um and then like Lisa said this food on the ground and the rats are coming they

come very quickly grab it go back out between the fencing because there are two fences along the perimeter of the yard which by the way Stephanie needs a very good cleanup you have way too many things around there um besides I did actually if you notice if you went back yesterday I did a full cleanup on Tuesday that's that's incorrect I have pictures and I will provide them to folks there are oil pans

with half water in them besides the pool most concerning is the food on the ground and the rats are having full access to it the chicken coop was empty where the chickens were supposed to be instanced in their over hiding behind the pool or behind an umbrella that was there there underneath some of the um I'm calling those things uh pallets that you have the middle of the yard is clear but the

perimeter of the yacht is clearly not and the fence holes are unbelievable this is like a hotel for the rats they're not mice they're rats they're going between your fence and the neighbor's fence but yours is not intact and now they're borrowing underneath so because of what I observed on Monday and yesterday I had to go and notify the abutting neighbors directly to you that they need to get pest control because it

is huge not tiny mice they're huge rats and that's a concern you have four dogs you've got two ducks we observed the hen with the chicks I mean that is dangerous to these animals what what's dangerous man the rats the rats most of them exactly and that's why I have the Exterminator coming on Wednesday if you read the last paragraph in the contract I have already given him a down payment he's charging me 860

dollars to put a complete fence up against that Stockade Fence my golden retriever likes to dig at the fence and that's where the holes were caused from and he discussed putting a complete chicken wire along the entire perimeter of that fence to remediate that issue the dogs are digging to get to the rats I'm not surprised whatsoever the holes are much bigger than when I went to your property back a few months

back with Mr Fury when we got the second complaint that there was still roosters there um and it's it's alarming I be very honest with you it's alarming the size of those holes well again I do have someone coming on Wednesday to take care of that he's already been paid oh

we didn't observe any Pest Control by the way so the neighbors are a little bit upset because one gentleman did impress he said I don't care if they have a rooster I don't care if they have chickens I am concerned with the rodent activity yes and part of The Proposal is also for him to leave traps with bait to catch any rodents that do come onto the property if you read The Proposal that I

emailed to MS Golden today that's all outlined in the last page well I was trying to get it we had difficulty getting it because of the way that you um emailed it to Lisa but I was reading the meetings that was supposed to have been in place already and it wasn't so these rats are running free and have been running free for months but to throw food on the ground like that

knowing that you don't even have a proper place for the chickens to go and eat that's a that's a big concern to me open feeding is another city ordinance that there's an infraction right there

I'm inclined to deny the application for the variants I don't see how we can improve it based on what we're hearing no okay will they be able to apply in the future if they clean things up but if they can come back well listen I remember when we had the rat problem 10 years ago 12 years ago before the the recyclable barrels and everything came in which helped a lot

um unfortunately I haven't seen a rat in my neighborhood in a long time but it's not something that disappears in a week or two or three um I don't know I I would say that we got to give him um I would deny I would be my motion would be to deny the variants now and upon evidence of no rats in six months but the chickens and the rooster have to go until this is

there is no rooster well the Ducks I'm sorry the chicks the jux whatever um they all have to go because we're not going to Grant the very or I would propose that we not Grant the variants I second it many further discussion roll call this is the motion to deny so we're voting yes to deny yes Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes Stephen Gagliardi yes okay thank you all but the motion is denied um Lisa um

we've never had to order the removal of animals what's it what test you know what the uh the regulation is and I can ask Cindy okay yeah I will take them sometimes um they have an auction I believe in Swansea so I don't know Stephanie may know about that I don't I'm not sure but I'll talk to Cindy okay when there's evidence that everything is cleaned up we will you're free to reapply for another variance

sure thank you very much thanks Steph next we have um a minimum housing hearing violation report and correction order Gary Camp Campbell 123 Osborne Street Apartment 1f4 of a Massachusetts 02724 um this opens the hearing who who's presenting this gentleman from minimal housing again all right all right get an inspection on June 29th we received a complaint from his uh first floor occupant in the 1f

and uh she was coming about her actual original complaint was about the hole in the ceiling in the kitchen and uh she was having issues with her hot water her hot water was actually Browning when I did the inspection her hot water was repaired so it was no longer Brown but going into the actual unit as soon as you walk in to the left you see a electrical switches the to actually

expose the wiring right where the switches are the walls all busted the alarm smoke detectors and carbon is outdated it's at least 10 12 year old alums that they have up there and um there's water damage in the bedroom ceiling the kitchen ceiling is fully it's probably like a four by eight hole in the ceiling where those water pipe that broke um there's actually electrical outlets in that kitchen that doesn't work

there's a defective GFI outlet um there's extension cords actually being used to power some of the appliances in that bathroom I mean in the kitchen rather in the bathroom the entire bathtub you can't even it's all rusted and all molded so you can't even uh it's not sanitary in on the exterior of the house the porches in the front all in this repair and they're actually falling apart which is actually an egress issue

I'm looking at some very alarming pictures yeah this place looks pretty rough

so Mr Campbell yes I I have the correction order in front of me and I have the court documents in front of me yes the mechanic is uh under eviction we have a court date uh for the 31st hopefully to get possession of the apartment back within 48 hours after the 31st the Canada has not allowed me to go in and do any of the repairs the tenant has removed smoke detectors uh battery

operated ones that were installed in the apartment the vanity in the bathroom is less than two years old she's dismantled the drain on that we did have during the optic freeze we had a pipe break in the ceiling above her kitchen we did have the plumbers get in there and repair it I have tried several times to have contractors go back in to repair her ceiling um and she will not allow anyone to come

in and then she reported me for this inspection with these issues that she has not allowed me to repair and it's been noted by my attorney and it is part of the eviction

so the damage to the walls the damage to the light switches is all done by the occupant of the apartment how long has the occupant been in Residence uh eight years when was the last time after after the pipe Froze that you uh you attempted to make some repairs um I was able to get someone in there in March to repair the bathroom ceilings and then I scheduled somebody in March

to come back and do the kitchen ceiling and look at the Electrical uh plugs and that in the kitchen and she would not allow anybody in she would not allow um uh Servpro to come in and do any drying as requested by the insurance company um because she said it would raise her electric bill and she didn't want to pay an additional electric bill she has not paid rent since uh November of last year

and actually has not really paid rent since uh May April May of 2022 wrapped paid six months of her rent last year to bring her current to November and then she's gone delinquent again since November of 2022.

so once she's evicted the plan is done and make these repairs renovate renovate the apartment completely absolutely and Wednesday I've had what date for the eviction well she we had an agreement for her to move out September 1st um and she was supposed to pay use in occupancy for the month of July and August which she's failed to do so we're back in court on the 31st next this coming Monday uh

for hearing in front of the judge to hopefully uh order the eviction a 48-hour notice to vacate that'll be up to the judge it's out of my hands what's your time frame on the repairs when she's out oh immediately 30 days or less I need her I need her I need her vacated from the apartment before I can do any of the repairs the repairs need to be they're major repairs

I cannot do them while she's present in the apartment should we table this till and she and she will just uh dismantle things I do and call you guys back and say I never did the work and call me a slum Lord was the tenant notified about this hearing absolutely oh this hearing today yeah and I'm asking the housing inspector no sorry I thought you were asking me if she was notified about

Courtney I was asking the housing inspector no she was not okay so what does housing want us to do it's actually my first time I've actually dealt with as far as an appeal as far as National violation report being appealed usually they really get compliance so we usually bring the uh the homeowner to court this is the normal process that we do I mean there's some late safety concerns like the smoke

detectives and carbon monoxide alarms that's life safety so I mean if something happens to them I mean I definitely have major concerns for Life Safety I mean there's some things here that can get done with an occupant living there there's some major appears that I mean if the occupant allows me to get into the property to service it but you can file a tro with the courts I mean I deal

with this every day with a lot of different cases and the courts will have you can file a tro with the court system and have her court ordered to open that door and you have to set up an appointment with a date and time you want to go in there to do the actual repairs so you can file a tro against the actual occupant on Monday I'll ask my attorney to do that on

Monday because in the court agreement of her eviction that with a 48-hour notice she would allow me or uh service people to get into the apartment which she has not allowed me to do yeah yeah if I told me if I entered the apartment that she would call the police and have me arrested no I I fully understand that I mean the tro would help you I mean that's usually

what the court recommends I mean we hear this all the time that we can't get access we're not allowed we get told no you can't come in I don't want you in my house I don't want no repayment in my house and usually the court will recommend the tro to file it with the courts and they'll open the doors well what happened the smoke detectors get put in and she damages or removes

them I mean then it kind of defeats the purpose I mean depends on when he schedules it I can actually go out there and witness it being installed I've done that before the witnessed the installation of a smoke detector or a carbon monoxide kind of like babysitting but I mean and Michaelson is a life safety you know put him in compliance where at least the smoke detector on a carbon monoxide being installed

so I like it we're gonna do that next week at uh on the 31st the court does uh I'll ask my attorney to issue a TRL and that light switch that I see with the exposed wiring I don't like the looks of that either no not at all I have not seen that I haven't seen what's your goal with the front porches too I mean that's not caused by the by the actual occupant or your front

porches no I know I have I've had three contractors going out there to look at that and either to rebuild the first floor uh porch and remove the second and third floor decks completely or to resupport them yeah that's the years and years of uh lack of Maintenance I mean it's that's why they're deteriorating it's actually the side your side porch is doing the same thing and you have a

fire escape going down that one too so yeah you're about to lose your porches the way it looks well the the porches were inspected by one contractor who said they've been resupported underneath and they have footings I've had the building inspector out there and he's been trying to get a hold of you regarding your purchase and he's got major concerns regarding your purchase he hasn't gotten a call back regarding

the uh the purchase I left the building inspector two messages uh back in June he stopped by the house and uh dropped by the building gave one of my tenants his business card yeah I refer them to the property so I had him go out there okay

and we're looking at vinyl siding for the for the sides to get rid of the problems with the shingles and obviously looking at uh doing the repairs to the uh front porches and side porch so this is the board being asked to take any specific action to Tom what what uh protocol I haven't had one with the housing for a long time so good we it doesn't make any sense to order the repairs

until he gets this uh tro the temporary restraining order and we'll we'll have to accept it if he gets the tro in good faith he will do them um well we rely on a housing inspector to confirm that that happens right he said you said you'll do that yes yeah foreign put this on hold table this so yeah we're probably to probably table this one up till next month because if she's a if she's evicted

early in the month all these things could be taken care of before we meet again he taken care of as soon as I can get her out of the property I can work on those porches in the matron okay well I am working on them currently so we have a motion to table can we have a roll call Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes Stephen gregliardi yes thank you okay next gentlemen you're welcome good

luck I'll reach out to the department after our court date on the 31st Mr Ferlin you're gonna update us on some floor ride yes hello thank you very much uh Ward um so as I've been in front of you before uh explaining about our situation with fluoride that has not been any change with being able to uh acquire a supply of uh of fluoride to be able to uh put it into the water um

a little history we ran into it we started running into an issue where the product that we used uh became unavailable for a period of time that it became available again but in a different consistency of flour almost like consistency that binds up in our feed machine uh prior to having these issues we used to get it in a almost a sugary consistency uh particle size um you know so the uh that larger

crystalline structure didn't plug up in our feed machine uh the stuff we were able to get now uh does and we we tried modifying a feed machine uh we added vibrators we looked at air injection um every 20 minutes to operator going out there and tapping it with a hammer uh and there was no uh there was no uh making it work especially in humidity uh you know like we're having now is in the toughest time

so as I said last time I was in front of the board uh we were going to have uh get on an engineering firm uh that's familiar with that water treatment plan to go through the plan uh take a look and evaluate uh to see uh maybe we were missing something uh maybe there is something that we could do to modify our existing system um that uh you know we were seeing um so we uh we

um got a contract with Ray Pierce one of our consultant Engineers uh they came in and they went through the plant um the fluoride system within the drinking water plant uh I got their report back uh the beginning of the month um been waiting to meet with uh with the board here um so the we really didn't miss much when we evaluated the system in-house um that recommendation uh based on the

age of the system the type of system uh the inner in uh ability to be able to procure uh the proper um fluoride for that type of feed machine um you know their recommendation essentially is to replace the system um the fluoride system is uh old it's still operational if we were able to find the right product but uh you know we're not able to find the product to feed through it so they went through and

they they evaluated uh they evaluated uh the wastewater treatment plant uh there's a couple of different uh fluorides that could be added into drinking water uh one being sodium fluoride one being sodium fluorosidicate and one being fluorocydicate acid um so there's pros and cons to uh all of the different three uh two of them essentially come in either a powder form or a crystalline form uh and the third

one uh comes in a liquid form the acid um So based on the evaluation that they did uh it looks like you know the recommendation uh would be to go with the acid fluorosidic acid um based on all their recommendations so there was a lot of things that they looked at they looked at uh product availability uh annual cost uh and uh you know ease of operation to be able to

add to the drinking water uh effects that it may have uh on the chemistry of the drinking water so when you add in something different in there's a lot of things to look at again this was a preliminary uh evaluation done to kind of see which way we want it to go um so they went through they did the preliminary evaluation uh you know we already adjust for pH uh so adding an

acid like fluorescetic acid uh won't really we'll just have to adjust the pH a little bit more uh to to get back to uh you know 8.5 to 9.2 that would that we aim for um the one good thing about the for uh fluorescentic acid is the uh annual cost of uh of the product um the if you go with either of the other two uh there's about 150 000 year difference

um so fluorescetic acid we were uh 40 000 just under 40 000 a year for the chemical uh product uh all the other ones were up almost next to 200 to 200 000 per year for the uh chemical cost for the yearly cost um so the uh the big thing is the capital Improvement that's needed the capital upgrade to the water treatment plant uh to the uh feed equipment uh storage equipment because

now we're talking about a liquid storage of an acid um and then you know day tank storage uh a bulk tank storage Feed chemical feed pumps injection points things like that that need to be worked out um the overall Capital Improvement that's needed down at the plan uh is 1.28 million dollars for the capital Improvement and then we'd be about forty thousand dollars per year based on current rates uh for the uh annual

expenditure uh in relation to the cost of the chemical so uh that was kind of one and all of the you know no matter which product we went with um the capital Improvement cost was roughly about the same uh they were all within the same Realm um so going with one to the other the capital Improvement cost really uh wasn't a big thing A lot of it was the yearly operational cost savings that you

get with fluorescentic acid uh is is one of the things that that we looked at when we when we did this evaluation um you know again one of the one of the issues that we that I have you know fluoride again is not a required chemical for the chemistry in the treating or processing of the water uh it's a health benefit to all the residents of the city uh and that's essentially why

um either discontinuance or uh addition is uh is by uh you know governed by the Board of Health um so uh you know there are other things in the plant that this upgrade uh is triggering uh some upgrades to our electrical system in our program logic control is uh needed to be able to function the new fluoride feed system uh and that's all included within this uh within this cost estimate

so by changing the products and the the decrease cost compared to even when it was available the cost savings on your product is going to pay for the capital upgrades in 10 years well so we were spending 44 000 per year when we were able to get the uh prior product um yeah the cost has uh the cost of all chemicals have more than doubled uh within the past year between water and

sewer uh I was spending uh just about a million dollars three three four years ago uh now I'm 2.2 so uh cost of chemicals uh all chemicals across the board have shot up uh drastically so it's not that we um potentially had to put savings to uh pay you know to pay for the capital cost but um the overall length from going from one product to the other product uh would be a savings long term yes

so we've had fluoride in the water since I think the 70s right it's when it first started or was it before that yeah about then it was when when it started I think my dad was a big part of getting Florida in the water back in the day I remember that when I was a kid learning about I mean I appreciate that it's not required in terms of the regulations that oversee uh the delivery

of water to the to the residents but uh as a health benefit it's widely recognized as one of the most successful Health interventions Public Health interventions that have ever been operationalized uh and you know the the communities with fluoridated water have far lower instances of dental disease or carries cavities uh than those that don't uh tremendous benefits no you know the delivery of the fluoride whether

it's through drinking the water or using it in cooking processes uh it's the most effective way to do it uh so you know I I am pretty adamant that that we've moved forward with this at least as far as my role as a memories more to health is concerned and as you I mean Dental issues and um gum disease lead directly to increase in heart disease and other problems um the fluoride too

yeah again so Paul what do you need from us you want me to call the mayor we want some R for money and you want a contractor what do you want us to do so again I'm updating you guys the good news that uh that we do have coming out of this uh uh test in uh myself did meet with the mayor um about this uh prior uh prior to this meeting

um and uh you know naturally we're looking for any type of grants that are out there uh probably seven years ago and before that they used to have a yearly grant that came up from dep to fund fluoride uh and updates and Equipment within water treatment plants it's been probably six or seven years since I've seen that grant program around so uh that was one bad thing the good thing though you did mention it uh

Mr Corey is the uh is the arpa funding that the city does have we did meet with the mayor and the mayor has said that if we were unable to find grant funding that uh Opera funding would be used to be able to provide this upgrade to the water treatment plant to be able to continue this moving forward lots of great news so timeline on this uh my estimate would be about a year

um that it would take uh because we would have to go through the full design uh we're going to have to go through some permitting in approvals from Mass DP since it is a change to a chemical uh it would still fluoride on in the overall sense but the actual chemical that we're going to be adding to the drinking water is a change so I would imagine they're going to have some

reviewing and uh approvals required uh then we'll have to go through procurement uh and then get a Contractor on board to uh to actually do the construction my estimate is about a year to uh to get all that done that's probably reasonable but how long has it been since we've been able to Florida Florida so 2019 was when we first uh when we first had the issue acquiring the product uh mid-2020 we were able to uh

get some sample products uh that we ran for about six months but then it was uh again we've tried everything to keep that stuff going and it just wasn't happening and the supply of this liquid is pretty stable yeah yeah I've talked to uh I've talked to multiple uh communities that are running uh this um fluorescent acid uh and they uh they say that they have never had any supply chain issue uh and

also uh running the asset it is an acid so there is uh precautionary messages and safety measures that need to be taken by the staff when they're working with uh with the equipment on that uh but the staff at the plants that currently run it seem to uh seem to like the product well I hope you're able to do this with all deliberate speed even if it follows the timeline that you're projecting will

have had a good five-year period without consistent uh fluoride in the water that's a big cohort of kids who haven't had that benefit so that that is a concern um yeah without a doubt you know naturally we'll uh work through this as fast as we can um you know I've added a little bit of time in there with the contract to do the supply chain issues and trying to get anything nowadays is uh is tough but

we're going to try to move forward if there's anything that we see long lead times on during the design we'll try to pre-purchase them prior to even getting a Contractor on board so we're not held up towards the end of the project okay so do you need anything from us uh no I think do we have a motion to uh to uh to urge Mr Fruitland to act with all due haste in this matter second

can we have a roll call Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes with an exclamation point Stephen Gagliardi yes all right Paul thank you very much thank you thank you guys have a good night okay the test for the director's report I really don't have much um we you know have a number of new team members so we're still kind of onboarding and getting Folks up to speed um so that includes

um the new mass and motion coordinator um who have been working with us part-time that is now in the full-time position um as well as um the epidemiologist I'm hoping she can join an upcoming meeting and share some of what she's been working on um but we're we're happy that they're here um and are just working on getting them um kind of really comfortable in their new their new roles so

um as it stands moving forward Michaela who's the epidemiologist we're getting access to um some of the uh police uh database that they now have for substance use so we'll be able to get more timely data um regarding overdoses um and overdose to overdose deaths which which is going to be really important for us as a community to have them in the health department a little bit more

Hands-On in terms of that data and the ability to share that data more quickly with our Community Partners so um so all good things um that with that one of those grants it does look like we'll be getting additional funding for the shared services Grant um so hoping that we'll be able to onboard new staff once that is fully approved by dph um so more to come there but we have some ideas in terms of additional

support for the department and again that in individual or individuals would be working not only here in Fall River but also in Sue conk and Swansea as well and we are just uh ramping up expecting a larger TV clinics as we get kids back into school um so the public health nurse here is getting geared up for kind of a busy month ahead with TP testing um due to the Immigrant population

coming into the community and the need for them to get TB tested okay did was there anything in citizens input we had no citizens input was there anything else of a matter of such of such a nature that it could make the agenda no okay gentlemen the next the next meeting if we follow the normal patent it would be August 24th that sounds okay all right let's go with that um motion to adjourn so

roll call Thomas Corey yes Michael Coughlin yes Stephen cagliardi yes Alex thank you very much everyone have a wonderful weekend stay cool stay hydrated all right have a good weekend thank you take care