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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOH 01/11/2024Town of Mansfield Board of Health RECEIVED January 11, 2024 Minutes TOWN CLERKS OFFICE Mission Statement: The mission of the Mansfield Board of Health is to prom, pEo3erle A 10 and improve the public health, environment, and wellbeing of our citizens through the enforcement of federal, state, and local statutes and regulations, education and p1WARWI 61L D sanitary living and working conditions, and protection of the environrient fiA%- ,'e"146$ E T pollution. Present: Kasia Frenette, Antonia Blinn, Chair, Ryan Maxwell, Amy Donovan -Palmer Guest: Chief Justin Desrosiers, Nicole Stratis, Bertucci's General Manager, Sean Campbell, Bertucci's Divisional Vice President, Josh Kelleher The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm on January 71, 2024 by Antonia Blinn. There was no correspondence. Ryan Maxwell made a motion to approve the consent agenda, seconded by Mrs. Frenette. The consent agenda passed unanimously, 3-0 Chief Justin Desrosiers took the podium and gave the update, which consisted primarily of a continuation of existing services. The health screening clinics currently take place twice a month - the 2nd Tuesday at the COA, and the 3rd Wednesday at the Town Hall from 9 am to 12 pm. They are planning to do the health fair at the schools, but do not currently have a date for it as the schools normally reach out to them. The Flu and COVID shots program for homebound residents continues; the COA gathers a list of clients, as well as referrals from other sources. The shots are carried out by Lt. Dufort at the residents' homes. Home visits are also carried out on a "as -need "basis, primarily to assess whether people need services they are not getting or are not aware of. There will be a car seat installation held next week, and they are in the middle of adding instructors for public CPR classes. The team also assists Ms. Frenette with MAVEN when needed, although there has not been a need for their assistance recently. They also coordinate with Christine Dooling to carry out the Stop the Bleed program at schools, including trainings with bus drivers and some of the teachers' groups. Chief Desrosiers also stated that Captain Thomas did a series of opioid awareness classes at the middle and high school, to which Ms. Blinn asked if the opioid awareness classes included information of Narcan. Chief Desrosiers responded that he was not sure, but that the department has started talking to the police about a "leave behind Narcan" program. Ms. Donovan -Palmer asked if there was anything the Board could do to publicize the work that the department does, to which the Chief responded that they could coordinate some social media work and more information on the website. Ms. Frenette asked that any flyers to be put up be sent to her so she can put them up in the health department or around the town. Ms, Blinn also mentioned that many of the people who access the Council on Aging's services may not be comfortable using the internet or have access to it. There are currently flyers present in the COA with information of the department's events. There was a need to appoint a Chair and Clerk for the 2024 calendar year. Ms. Frenette nominated Ms. Blinn to continue as the Chair. Ms. Blinn accepted the nomination, to which Mr. Maxwell seconded the nomination. There was no discussion. Ms. Blinn was voted to the position of Chair unanimously 3 — 0. Graham Wilson, who has held the position of Clerk for the past year, was not present, but expressed interest in offering the position to someone new when asked previously by Ms. Blinn. Ms. Frenette nominated Mr. Maxwell for the position of Clerk, which was seconded by Mr. Maxwell. There was no discussion. Ms. Blinn briefly detailed the responsibilities of the role, which include reviewing the meeting minutes and signing off on them once they are approved by the Board, as well as responding to correspondence when it occurs. Mr. Maxwell accepted the nomination, and the vote was passed unanimously 3 — 0. Mr. Maxwell made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 14th Board of Health meeting. Ms. Frenette seconded the motion, and the motion was passed unanimously 3 — 0. Bertucci's Ms. Blinn began with a brief overview of the violation. At their last appearance at the BOH in September, they had a temperature log for the fruit at the bar, but no other temperature logs. Ms. Donovan -Palmer stated that Health inspector Paul Gilpin was asked to visit Bertucci's for a repeat inspection before December 14, and did so. He primarily was there to check for fat, oil, and grease, but made note that there were temperature logs present and in use. Health Inspector Kevin Duquette also made an inspection visit and said it was good. Ms. Donovan - Palmer stated that the current issue for Bertucci's is that the routine inspections continuously show the hot and cold holding to be a problem. Nicole Stratis, General Manager at Bertucci's, took the podium, joined by Sean Campbell, Bertucci's Divisional Vice President. Ms. Blinn and Ms. Donovan -Palmer made note that representation for Bertucci's was absent at the last planned meeting, explaining the request for both the local Bertucci's representative and the regional manager. Ms. Stratis stated that a main problem at the restaurant had been the pizza sauce unit, which was resolved in late December with several loose gaskets being replaced. In addition to the equipment, the restaurant has also implemented a weekly temperature log kit for daily use, as well as gone over additional team trainings on cooling logs and how to use them. They have also addressed the problems with the fruit station for servers. Ms. Donovan -Palmer asked whether Ms. Stratis was confident that the restaurant could continue violation -free if she were to be absent, to which Ms. Stratis replied that she believes that the team now has a better understanding of the importance of the inspections and violations and can maintain a violation -free workplace. Ms. Blinn asked who was responsible for checking the temperature logs, which currently falls to the manager on duty and the line cooks, as well as Ms. Stratis when she is present. The temperature logs were passed to the Board members for viewing. There were no violations at the most recent reinspection. Trattoria Romana Ms. Donovan -Palmer provided an update of the situation. It was stated that the restaurant has developed a checklist, but when Health Inspector Kevin Duquette did the reinspection, the checklist had not yet been finalized, but the inspection did pass. Mr. Duquette will be carrying out a routine inspection likely before the next BOH meeting and will go over the checklist during the visit. Ms. Blinn gave an overview and stated that they are hoping to vote on a new set of regulations in February. Before opening up the discussion to public comment, it was stated that over the past few months, the Board went through the discussions on the pending areas. The areas included additional language to match up definitions to state law, specifics on whether or not to allow smoking bars in Mansfield, and the distance and placement of tobacco permit holders and potential limitations. The draft regulations have been presented and are available to tobacco permit holders, and Ms. Donovan -Palmer has emailed them out several times. Upon opening to public comment, Josh Kelleher took the podium. Mr. Kelleher works with the Patels who own several convenience stores and smoke shops in Mansfield and came asking for an increase in the number of Tobacco and Nicotine Delivery Product Sales Permits issued in the town. Mr. Kelleher's request was made after the process of opening a new store had been started when there were available permits, but there are currently none. Ms. Blinn clarified that Mr. Kelleher was requesting an increase in the number from 24 to 23, as opposed to doing what many other towns have been doing and decreasing when new permits are turned in. The regulations were then referenced, citing that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that "the right to engage in business must yield to the paramount right of government to protect the public health by any rational means". The tobacco retailer density regulations were also cited, along with the fact that there is already currently a higher density of retailers in Mansfield than in surrounding towns. Ms. Blinn concluded her position by citing the importance of limiting permits in eliminating health inequities. There was no one present online to discuss this issue. It was stated that this issue was made note of and would be discussed at the next Board meeting, and that any more correspondence should be sent to the Board. Ms. Blinn stated that nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary, and that the numbers for COVID are representative of the state's number of cases going up. It was also noted that only individuals who are receiving a COVID test through a facility and not home testing are being counted, which leads to a lower number of reported cases than are actually occurring. It was also stated that there was a "pretty significant increase in December of influenza", but that this also was seasonal. A new dashboard on Mass.gov for respiratory illnesses was also mentioned. Ms. Frenette added that there were more respiratory illnesses going around, to which some hospitals are responding by re -adding mask mandates. It was also stated that it was never too late to get vaccinated for COVID or the flu, as well as a reminder to hand wash and use hand sanitizer. Ms. Donovan -Palmer stated that wastewater data for COVID was available, and noted that the biggest spike last year was right after New Year's, while the biggest spike this year was on January 15t Ms. Frenette gave an update about a survey (both hard copy and digital available) that was given to those who waited in line on the Household Hazardous Waste Day. Of the 236 residents that attended, only 15% filled out the survey, and 14 of the 36 completed surveys were missing the back page. The average age of attendees was 62 years, and Ms. Frenette noted that not all residents might be comfortable using a QR code. She stated it might be beneficial to have someone collect hard copy surveys from attendees as they left. From the survey, it was found that most people were disposing of oil -based paints, most had participated in the past, and there was also interest in learning more about reducing household hazardous waste. People would like to recycle wood and type 4 low density polyethylene, which sparked a discussion about increasing knowledge of what can be recycled or reused, with potentially asking the APHC for a flyer on Styrofoam recycling. It was also stated that it would be beneficial to look for ways to advertise more in unique ways and locations. Ms. Frenette stated that if they were to do a survey again, they could possibly offer some type of small incentive to fill it out. The next Household Hazardous Waste Day will be held on June 22"d, 2024. Ms. Donovan -Palmer attended the Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee meeting. It was stated that Christina Collins, office manager at the DPW, works with the DEP to secure grant funding that would be used to bring RECOLOR to the Household Hazardous Waste Day. Ms. Donovan -Palmer will work with Ms. Collins to bring RECOLOR to the Household Hazardous Waste Day. Ms. Blinn asked if it was known what the surrounding municipalities were doing for household hazardous waste. Ms. Donovan -Palmer replied that she spoke to the regional coordinator for waste at the DEP, Missy Hollenback, at the Committee Meeting, and they discussed connecting further as they both have goals for regionalization for household hazardous waste. It was stated that the other towns in the PHE region are interested in regionalization for household hazardous waste, but that it would take a lot of work to accomplish. One topic discussed at the Committee meeting was that every town's efforts of waste reduction and recycling are graded on a points system. If the town is working towards waste reduction or recycling, they receive a point, and the number of points received in total corresponds to how much funding the town gets. Ms. Donovan -Palmer brought up focusing on DEI to have multilingual signs at Mansfield Green as well as potentially adding more languages to the Mansfield website pages. Another topic discussed was private hauler regulations in mandatory recycling, which falls under the Board's responsibilities. Ms. Donovan -Palmer suggested that the Board could write regulations that require everybody to recycle, which is not currently mandatory for residences with five or more units. Members of the Board stated they would be interested in pursuing this. Food diversion was also brought up, which it was stated that the schools are doing a good job with. Ms. Blinn asked if there was any discussion about Black Earth, which Ms. Donovan -Palmer replied that there was, but that cost would be a large consideration for that service. There also new bylaw drafts for donation bins and recycling from the Committee, of which the health department would be involved in regulating the donation bin. Ms. Donovan - Palmer will be sent the bylaw draft. Ms. Donovan -Palmer also asked the Town Clerk about potentially being appointed the BOH member on the Committee, but was told that currently the member must be either a BOH member or someone that votes in town. She stated that the BOH could ask the select board to change the criteria to be on the Committee to say BOH member or employee of the Health Department, and then asked if the Board was interested in making that change. Ms. Blinn asked if there was a motion to request an amendment to the language of the Trash and Recycling Taskforce makeup. Mr. Maxwell motioned, and Ms. Frenette seconded. There was no discussion. The motion was passed unanimously 3 —0. The language of the criteria was suggested to be changed to "Board of Health member or appointed employee of the Health Department." A motion for the revised language was made by Ms. Frenette, which was seconded by Mr. Maxwell. The motion was passed unanimously 3 — 0. • Community Health Inclusion Index mini -grant Ms. Donovan -Palmer is working with the planning department and has a meeting set up for the end of the month with herself, Sarah Raposa the Town Planner the consultant from SERPED, Steve Higgins liaison from an inclusive community, and one more person who can join the board. The committee is looking to include people from the disability community to be a part of the process of developing a plan for the open space and recreation in town. • Free Health Screenings including blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, Hands only CPR and associated prevention information 0 2"d Tuesday at the COA, 255 Hope Street 0 31d Wednesday at Town Hall, 6 Park Row • PH Support and Services to Families in EA Shelter System The Department will no longer be a part of this due to the families being consolidated to more central locations, as well as those within Mansfield moving to different towns. • Permitting The Department has reached the end of permitting season. All locations that needed to have permits in did so by January 3.4 at noon. • Bristol -Norfolk Public Health Partners Coalition Grants Update o Public Health Excellence Grant Program for Shared Services It was stated the shared services were "going along fine". o local health support for COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing It was stated that the grant has been extended to March of the fiscal year of 2026. • PFAS There is a new PFAS treatment station that will be located at the Dustin well. • Website/Social Media Update • Housing Inspections o 17 Erick Road, Apt #1 There continues to be a $50 fine every day, which has continued for two months. • FOG • Grants o FDA Retail Standards Grant It was stated that $14,000 was received, of which a large portion will go to MHOA training and Yankee training in the Fall. o Community Health Inclusion Index mini -grant There were no visitor comments. There were no items not known 48 hours prior. Mr. Maxwell made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Ms. Frenette, vote 3-0 meeting adjourned at 8:24pm Clerk Date