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Board of Health
Date: 2023-04-13 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Virtual Location: Zoom
Address: Session: Open Session
Purpose: Open Meeting- Remote Session Version: Final
Attendees: Members - Present:
Chair Richard Lopez, Paula Curren, Kerry Dunnell; Assoicate Members Kevin
Sexton and Geri Cramer
Members - Not Present:
Others Present:
Health Director Ade Solarin, Health Nurse Malorie MacDonald, Mike Bean,
Carlo Bacci, Jackie McCarthy, and Kevin Franey
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Cassidy Keegan
Topics of Discussion:
The meeting was held remotely via Zoom.
Chair Richard Lopez called the meeting to order at 7:01PM and reviewed this evenings
agenda.
Review/Approval of Minutes for February 2nd. 2023 and March 2nd. 2023
February 2"d ,2023 minutes were approved and after we changed the words "Statues" to
"Statutes" March 2nd, 2023 minutes were approved as well.
Roll call: Paula Curren- Yes, Kerry Dunnell- Yes, Richard Lopez- Yes
Public Comment
No Public Comment
4 Summit Drive Unit 419
Health Director Ade Solarin introduces Mike Bean the owner of 4 Summit Drive apartment
419 and gives us the background on what the situation Is. March 27th there was a water
leak and the apartment was deemed unfit for humans due to the damage. Owner Mike Bean
was given seven days to fix the problem and even on April 13t" the apartment was unfit to
live in still. Mr. Bean Is here to ask for an extension and believes he's been reasonable and
granted tenants housing during this time. Richard Lopez asked how soon can the repairs be
finished and Mr. Bean stated the electrical is damaged and needs to be restored and his
contractor is saying about four weeks. All the water damage has to be removed including
the sheet rock. Mr. Bean is requesting for a 5 -week extension so he will have a week of
cushion Incase there are any setbacks.
Richard Lopez makes a motion to grant Mike Bean an extension until May 19th to have all
the construction complete.
Paula Curren Seconds
Roll Call: Kerry Dunnell- Yes, Paula Curren -Yes, Richard Lopez- Yes
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Meadow Brook: Golf Club Tobacco Permit
Meadow Brook's Kevin Franey came to speak in front of the Board to present the Idea of
selling Cigars at his shop. He stated It would be around 100-200 cigars sold a year through
the shop. He is a sole proprietorship and will only be using one vendor. The Board then
proceeds to review what the original regulations ere and what the board agreed on the past
few months. In the original regulations this is what the statement was, "At any given time,
there shall be no more than nineteen (19) Tobacco Product Sales Permits Issued in Reading
reduced by the number of permits not renewed pursuant to Section 6(10) of this
regulation." The Board came together and wanted to decrease It to 12 Tobacco Permits
allowed and if anyone requests a permit they would be on a waiting list until a permit is
retired. Health Director Ade Solarin feels this is not realistic and believes it should be a 17
maximum Permit limit and then the waiting list will be Implemented once that maximum is
reached. The Board felt like this issue should be deferred to next months meeting once
everything Is finalized.
Tobacco Regulations
As the board just spoke on the regulations, the conversation of Tobacco Permits continued
and the Board came to the decision that after they had already changed the regulation to
only 12 permits and in which now is found unrealistic, it will become 17 permits allowed.
The next step with the tobacco regulations is for Health Director Ade Solarin to finalize the
updated regulations with the Town Council and the Board plans to vote next month and
then they will circle back to Meadow Brook. Ade Solarin also states that an Adult -Only
Tobacco store was brought to his and attention and he now would like to add Adult -Only
Retail Tobacco Store into the regulations so everything is simple and in writing.
Update: Community Health Needs Assessment
Health Director Ade Solarin mentions that Pear Associates is holding a 30 -minute meeting
every other week and this will include the planning committee members Ade Solarin,
Richard Lopez, Paula Curren, Marylin Shapleigh, Mary Giuliana, Erica McNamara and
Sudeshna Chatterjee. Kerry Dunnell vocalized and asked why she wasn't Included and Ade
Solarin cleared it up saying there was an email that allowed people to participate and Kerry
Dunnell stated she had missed that email. Ade Solarin said that It would be great to have
her join and that he will check with Town Council If that Is okay legally.
Reading Coalition Update
Kevin Sexton presented that Clinician Tanya was named Employee of the Year because of
how much she has brought to the team. SBIRT screening at RMHS and 197 students
completed the screening so far and the bad news Is substance mis-use is on the rise due to
Pandemic.
Health Department Monthly Report
Health Director Ade Solarin gives the monthly health department update and proceeds with
the numbers for the month.
• 14 Food Inspections
1 Re -Inspection
• 1 Food Complaint
4 Housing Complaints
3 Temporary Food Permits (2 Winterfest, 1 for RMHS)
Public Health Nurse Malorie MacDonald states there are only 8 active cases of COVID at the
moment. Malorie MacDonald Confirms that she will still be holding Vaccine RX Clinics and
Blood Pressure Clinics. Nurse Malone's Narcan Clinic went well including the Mammogram
Bus that was here on March 12th.
Future Board Meetinas
Dr. Richard Lopez brought the topic of future board meetings to focus and wanted to discuss
If changing the meeting to the second Thursday in the month instead of holding it on the
first Thursday was okay. The board agreed once Dr. Lopez explained his own conflicts, that
the meetings will be on the second Thursday of the month. The Board also discussed
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whether or not the meeting should be held remotely or switch back to in-person. Everyone
agreed to stay remote unless a more serious topic arises and then a in-person meeting will
be held. Last topic brought up was July and December meetings. Some towns don't hold
meetings within these months but the Board agreed to keep them until we get closer to the
months and then consider not holding meetings depending on the agenda.
Next Meeting Aaenda Items: Final Comments
Next meeting will be held May 11th 2023.
A ' urn
Dr. Richard Lopez made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:32PM.
Roll Call Vote: Kerry Dunnell- yes, Paula Curren- yes, Richard Lopez- yes
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