Board of Health
Board Members in Attendance: Dr. Marie Walsh Condon, Mr. Gregory Leonardos and Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick (Chair)
Staff in Attendance: Christine Connolly, Director of Health and Human Services, Natasha Waden and James Feeney, Health Compliance Officers.
Public in attendance: Davinder Sharma, D.J. Wilson, Wesley Chin, Abenet Desta, Hasena Omanovic, Crystal Simonds, Agnes Jacob
The meeting minutes for April 11, 2012 were accepted as amended
Variance Request: Inspector Waden presented information to the board related to the retail food establishment, Mass Convenience, located at 86 Warren Street. Ms. Waden stated that the owner, Mr. Sharma moved the establishment from a facility across the street to the current location. At that time, a plan review was not conducted and therefore the owner did not present plans to the Health Department for approval prior to moving. As a result, upon inspection of the facility, it was discovered that there was no mop sink on site and the staff were using the hand sink in the bathroom to fill the mop bucket and were using the toilet to dispose of the water. Ms. Waden explained that the Food Code required installation of a hand sink. Establishment owner, Davinder Sharma stated that he obtained a couple of quotes from plumbers to have the mop sink installed and in order to install the sink, he would be required to convert all of the plumbing in the building to bring it up to the current plumbing code. As a result, the quotes for the installation of the mop sink came back quite high. The Board voted to approve a variance and allow Mr. Sharma to not install a mop sink.
Tobacco discussion: D.J. Wilson, Staff Attorney from the Mass Municipal Association and Wesley Chin, Tobacco Control Director for the 5 community collaborative presented new tobacco control initiatives to the board. D.J. Wilson will send a draft set of regulations to the Board for review at the next meeting.
Laura Wiener, Senior Planner from the Planning Department reported to the board on the Master Plan that the town will begin in the fall. Ms. Wiener stated that public health input will be crucial and asked that board members attend a meeting in October.
Hearing: Inspector Feeney reported to the board that during an inspection of the Family Injera establishment in 2011 he found that the 3-bay sink at the establishment did not have a grease trap as required. Additionally, Mr. Feeney reported that there was no one at the establishment that was serve safe certified. Desta, owner of the facility stated that he asked the owner of the building to install the grease trap which he claimed was going to cost between $5,000-$10,000. Desta stated that he was not able to afford the installation. The board voted to require that Desta submit a serve safe certificate to the office for the person in charge within 30 days from the meeting as well as 3 quotes from 3 plumbers to install a grease trap.
Environmental Updates: Inspector Waden reported to the board that there was a new hoarding case on Forest Street, trash complaints have increased, 4 pools have opened and the bathing beaches would be opening soon. Inspector Feeney reported that the Attorney General’s Office has been working on 2 Arlington properties under the Abandoned Housing Initiative.
