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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOH Minutes 7/21/1988BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES .ULY 21, 1988 S� Members Present: Edward Rosenberg, Michael VanSplinter, Donald Steele, Peter Fontanini. Also present, Health Agent Scott Leite. 1. Chairman called meeting to order at 7:30p.m. 2. CONSENT AGENDA Food licenses for the following establishments were signed: Bernie's Ltd. Restaurant Cousin's Pizza & Subs Jim's Old Colony Restaurant Roscoe's Cafe - Sarro's Market Taxi Inn Fresh Catch Homestead Restaurant Honey Dew Donuts Hot Diggity Dogs Mansfield Council on Aging Marcello's Sub Shops Mr. Donut Old Country Store Wendy's Cape Food Cheng Du It was decided to hold the voting on the July 7 minutes until the next meeting, because some of the information was omitted, and some was incorrect. Fontanini /VanSplinter. All in favor. Voted. 3. COMMUNICATIONS Copy of a letter from Health Agent reporting that the situation at Graphic Printers has become a nuisance. Copy of a letter from Conservation Agent to the Secretary of Environmental Affairs concerning the ENF for the proposed Resource Recovery Facility. Offering his comments. Copy of a letter from Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Shooshanian Engineering outlining air pollution regulations . Memo from Board of Selectmen to each board to appoint one member to represent on the new Solid Waste Alternative Commission. Mr. Van Splinter is interested, and is nominated to represent the Board of Health. Fontanini /Steele. All in favor. Voted. Copy of a letter from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts to the Board of Health ?concerning the installation of a septic tank at 1 Oak St. Letter from the Community Health Agency Inc, a summary of stats for January thru March. BOARD OF HEALTH my 21, 1988 -2- Copy of a letter from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts to H &S Engineer, Inc. concerning air pollution control regulations. Memo from Town Manager to Chairman Edward Rosenberg- may appoint Bert Cook as acting Health Agent , but only for emergencies while Scott Leite is on'vacation. Fontanini /VanSplinter. All in favor. Voted. It was decided to give Mr. Cook the members' phone numbers. Copy of a letter from Conservation Law Foundation of New England, Inc. concerning the Mansfield Resource Recovery Facility. 4. HEALTH AGENT'S REPORT HA reported that Samuel Talevera has a septic system that works. Edward Troy was having problems with his apartments, but had them cleaned up. The District Attorney's office in Fall River will go over the case. The trial is set for August 18, and HA will attend. Mr. Fontanini installed an air conditioner in the HA office. HA reported that on Friday, July 22, he will have had a meeting with a representative of the Environmental Notification Office for "scoping" the waste to energy project. It will be an informal meeting to educate in the types of projects , and which require an Environmental Impact Report. Category A is automatically excluded because the project is so small. B and C are grey areas. They may or may not require a report depending on various factors. Category D is automatically included because the project is such a large one. Any waste to energy plant would be Category D, and an Environmental Impact Report would be required. This meeting will inform HA, and others who were invited to the meeting after expressing concern about the project, about what will go into the EIR. In this case, ERT would put all of the pertinent information together, then it is made public and can be reviewed and commented on. Then, ERT's report and the public's comments go the the Secretary of Environmental Affairs, who works out the details with ERT, and issues a final EIR. HA reports that people are calling him,upset, because they think that the project is already going on, and they think more should be done. However, since there is no application before the Board of Health at this time, there is nothing to be done. HA concerned that people are not looking at the facts, they are reacting emotionally. Mr. Rosenberg agreed that this meeting will provide the board and the public with the information to make a rational decision about a project like this, rather than one based on emotion. The board expressed concern about the impact of this plant on the water supply in the area, and Mr. Steele requested an outline of the procedure; where it is headed, what the steps will be, etc. He suggested it be made availible to the public so that people don't think the Board of Health is ignoring it. BOARD OF HEALTH ly 21, 1988 -3- Some of the public's concern involved the fact that the town meeting vote was to allow Municipal Waste to Energy, but not to allow a plant to be built for two years. The proposed plant would be municipal, and it is impossible that it will be completed within two years. HA is due for a review, and each member will fill out a review form, the board will discuss them, and send their joint review to Mr. Dwyer. 5. OLD BUSINESS Some concern was expressed about an article in The Sun Chronicle, which listed Compo as a hazardous waste site. HA reported that it doesn't mean that there is hazardous waste there, it was simply a list of areas from-the EPA. HA reported that Compo was bought, and the plant in Mansfield will be closed. Clean up comes under Section 21E of State Code. The owner of the property will monitor clean up. The board suggested a follow up so that the town doesn't get stuck with the clean up responsibilities. Mr. Steele expressed concern about another article in the newspaper which said that areas along Canoe River near the dump had low levels of carcinogens, and that this was never brought to the Board of Health. Mr. VanSplinter believes it probably occurs naturally. Mr. Steele brought up the fact that Forest Park had been sold off (Mr. Broderick sold 60 lots and kept 100). He had said he would only develop 10 lots per year, and we need to have a way to make developers keep their promises. HA said that there was nothing we could do. Mr. Rosenberg said that we could request studies at the time the plans are filed. He said that state laww says Boards of Health can review the plans and ask for what they want. HA said that there has to be a specific complaint to order a study (based on peres, etc.). We would have to set standards for town drinking water and make subdivisions do automatic studies. He noted that Mansfield does not have drinking water regulations, we go by state codes, which he thinks are adequate. Mr. Steele said that the owner or developer should be responsible for answering any questions. Mr. Fontanini said that there needs to be a regulation preventing underground storage tanks. Mr. Rosenberg said that we should contact Planning Director, Michel LaCasse to be sure we get plans to review. HA brought up the fact that the board had voted last year to hire some extra help. Nothing has come of it, and HA believes that there is too much going on for one person. He needs a part time agent. He believes the board should be doing more lobbying to get extra help. Mr. Rosenberg told him that they needed to build a case by documenting the time HA puts in at various duties, etc. HA said that the random phone calls take up too much time, and often require immediate action. He noted that he had all of the documentation from last year, and that it is still valid. He said that housing inspections take hours, and if anyone needs one, it has to be done within 24 hours. These are the things that cannot be planned for. Mr. Rosenberg said that nothing can be done until the next Town Meeting, because there has to be budget approval for an assistant HA. et Y 1 { OF HEALTH 1988 HA said that it would probably be no problem once it gets to town meeting, since people are so much more health conscious now. The problem is getting it on the warrant. Mr. Rosenberg believes that we have to stop thinking of Mansfield as a town- it is a 21 million dollar a year business, and it can't be run without proper staff. We have to convince the Finance Committee and the Selectmen that we need more. HA will have a proposal at the next meeting with ideas as to what can be done. 6.NEW BUSINESS The board will continue to monitor potential problem concerts at Great Woods. Two of these will be Whitesnake on July 25 and Def Leppard on July 30. 7. PENDING Ongoing Great Woods Edward Troy case 8. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: To adjourn at 8:55p.m. Fontanini /VanSplinter. All in favor. VOTED. Respectfully Submitted. Jennifer M. Crotty, Recording Secretary CLk DATE