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Home My WebLink About2018-05-15 Board of Health Minutes F Town of Reading Meeting Minutes �a c 7; Board - Committee - Commission - Council: 2111 SEP 19 PM It 37 Board of Health Date: 2018-05-15 Time: 5:30 PM Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Berger Room Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Session: General Session Attendees: Members - Present: John Costigan, Kevin Sexton, Members - Not Present: Heidi Pfiefer Others Present: Dan Ensminger, Jean Delios - Assistant Town Manager, Laura Vlasuk - Health Agent, Mary Ellen O'Neill, Gina Snyder, David Pinette Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Kristen Grover and Laura Vlasuk Topics of Discussion: Costigan called the Board of Health meeting to order at 5:30pm in the Berger Room at the Town Hall. Mary Ellen O'Neill, Gina Snyder and David Pinette - members of the Public were present. PUBLIC DISCUSSION O'Neill stated she wanted to talk about the pesticide regulations. Snyder stated she was there to support the pesticide regulation. O'Neill said she is concerned there may be a change in direction regarding the regulation now that the membership of the Board has changed. She further stated the original intent of the Board of Health was to pass the regulations. Snyder views it a multiple safety issues. "A lot of people with pets myself included end up walking in the street and dogs lick it off their paws. It's amazing the number of people with baby carriages and you don't want people running their baby carriages over those little pellets." Snyder stated it is "very unhealthy for babies". Snyder also stated it's very much needed to educate people "about not putting this on the tree lawn and maybe we should educate them about their kids". CHAIR REPORT Costigan opened his chair report with an update on Board of Health matters. He introduced a letter from Brad Jones pertaining to working with legislature to get tobacco legislation passed. He stated the House bill has passed. Ensminger questioned if the legislation covered both possession, and use. Costigan stated this only covers purchase. Ensminger clarified that it does not regulate use but only sales. Costigan stated he will get in touch with Senator Lewis to find out when the bill will go to the Senate. Costigan advised that the increase in illness from mosquitos and ticks more than doubled across the country in the last thirteen years. Costigan mentioned that Nancy Docktor asked for her letter to be read into record. The letter stated the history of the current pesticide regulation goes back to 2015. Marblehead was cited as examples and a Boston Globe article. Page I 1 Costigan thanked Sexton for his comments from the last meeting, saying they helped him look at the topic differently, but convinced him more of where and why he stood on the issue. Costigan agreed causality is difficult. He discussed previous historical drug studies and the effects of the drugs being tested. He mentioned that the point was that a lot is not causal but over the course of time the wisdom can be seen, pointing out that abstracts show that causality is not a definite but sufficient precaution may avoid future effects. Sexton stated that with any implementation they should know what the effect is going to be and would like to be able to point to something that says 'yes -if we implement this, before we put the policy in place, let's make sure there is going to be some positive effect'. Costigan stated that he knows the truth is that the regulation may not save lives but it would be more for prevention. Pinette stated that he came to the meeting in response to Docktor's letter to the Editor where she referenced Agent Orange and the Gulf War Syndrome. He opined that correlating Agent Orange to the use of pesticides on public land is a huge leap and that when talking about pesticides on public grass strips that he thinks it is dangerous for Costigan to bring these into the same class. He raised the issue that pesticides are of the most highly regulated industries in the Country if not the world, stating that companies have to go through strings of testing. He spoke of LD50 where only 50% of insects will die and the requirement to be licensed by the State of MA and Department of Agriculture. He agreed to Docktor's point that pesticides are dangerous - but if applied inappropriately. Pinette cited diatomaceous earth as an example where the application rate if used properly is a safe and legal dosage and targeted intended insects. He mentioned that all pesticides have the potential to be unsafe, that the point is how they are used. Costigan stated that"pesticides in order to be sold use as directed are classified as safe if they're used as directed but again people may not use as directed". Snyder commented "she wouldn't want anyone to misunderstand and think that if you're not a licensed applicator it's illegal to apply pesticides because part of the problem is that home owners are applying them aren't, they're not licensed applicators and they're applying them improperly." Pinette stated that that actually was not true. Costigan mentioned the Board is looking strictly at public land not private property. Sexton reiterated looking for exemptions for property without sidewalks. Ensminger suggested there may need to be a certain number of feet from the edge of the street for enforceability. Costigan said he would love to have unanimous support when presenting the regulation to the Board of Selectmen, and hoped Sexton would support it. Sexton said he would like to see the fines changed, citing the first offense is too harsh. Costigan offered that the object is to alert people that it is not appropriate to put pesticides on Town lands, expecting to give a warning when reported to the BOH, then send out an inspector to investigate, ask the homeowner what they used and take it from there. Ensmiger questioned how the determination would be made. Costigan stated by sight, and he did not think there would be actual testing to see if pellets were a pesticide. Sexton added that there is a section that talks about what is in fact acceptable and that is where the problem arises pertaining to a fine. Ensminger opined the material would have to be tested and suggested easing into this process and acquiring more education. Delios mentioned she was curious about staffing levels in towns that have this regulation implemented. Costigan said he was waiting to hear back. Delios advised that Vlasuk was the only person in the office and may be in meetings, and asked if the Board would take complaints and conduct an inspection. Sexton reiterated that he felt implementation will be the tricky part. He feels a campaign to fashion awareness to educate the Public that this new policy will be coming out, such as the one for the ban on plastic bags campaign, will be helpful. Page 1 2 Costigan stated he was in favor of passing the regulation with a future start date. Sexton agreed as long as there was education for the Public that the regulation will be coming out in the future. The Board agreed there should be a warning for the first offense, they need to come up with a good plan on how to enforce the regulation, and that it will be tricky to prove a fineable offense. Snyder briefly mentioned the Children's Protection Act. The Board discussed the BOS and BOH meetings are both on June 19 and suggested meeting on June 12 in order to prepare for the BOS meeting. They discussed presenting different wording pertaining to fines, an effective date and having a brief discussion about implementation and other communities that already have the regulation in place. HEALTH AGENT REPORT Vlasuk reported that food inspections, routine inspections, and complaints are going smoothly. She noted the package for Lincoln and Prescott Streets and asked if there was anything the Board would like to add. Ensminger stated the bottom line was if there were any problems or not. Vlasuk replied the decision was up to Costigan. He mentioned that according to DEP, everything seemed to be in compliance and in regard to the risk reduction methods it appeared that what DEP suggested is being adhered to. Minutes of 04-24-2018 Motion by Sexton to approve minutes as presented; motion seconded by Costigan. Roll Call vote: Sexton (yes), Costigan (yes). Motion carries 2-0-0. Next meeting Tuesday June 12, 2018 at Spm — Berger Room OTHER BUSINESS Motion to adjourn by Costigan; motion seconded by Sexton. Motion carries 2-0-0 Meeting adjourned at 6:20pm. Page 1 3