8/21/1997 BOARD OF HEALTH Minutes

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MNUTES April 21, 1997. 2 BOARD OF HEALTH Mr. Sherman stated, "I just wanted to be here and have the C nmissi n here so as to give you our perspective on things." "As Mr. McQuaid knows that even though you may or may not agree with Ms. Wolk or the gentlemen from the Department of Public Health the cutting comes directly under our jurisdiction." `But certainly cognizant of the dangers ofdeer ticks we would like to urge caution however, ire whatever approach that they take in that Ms. Wolk already has a permit for some selective cutting on her property." "we do have selective cutting and allow to clear paths so that people walking from point A to point B don't pick up ticks and so forth but the maintenance of a fundamentally intact vegetated buffer strip has been proven in science to be very important in wildlife habitats." "we don't want the specter of tick disease to be so prevalent in peoples minds that they, like in Ms. w lk's mind, take out most of the vegetation." "we are requesting that when the Board comes to a decision as to what response you are going to have to this letter, you keep in mind that we agree with you that there is a threat from the deer tick but the threat can be mitigated without a full scale clearing." Mr. Ball commented, "I was going to suggest to the Board that the next step is t go through the Conservation Commission," Mr. McQuaid stated, "I have been out to the site on several occasions and at first it was the mosquitoes." "The Mosquit6 Control District tested the stale water in one of the bog dikes and found no larvae in the water." "Thea it became the ticks." "I've walked in that area several tines and see no reason for concern but Ms. Wolk has been adarnent." "The Board finally instructed me to s nd all correspondence to D.P.H., which I did.' `This is the response we received." "It totally surprised me however, it is not unlike the D.P.H. to be ultraconservative in these issues to ever themselves." "I don't know whether the Board warts to make a decision to send a letter ofsupport based on this later or just simply to acknowledge and refer it to the Conservation Commission because allowing her to clear the land, as she wishes to, is a precedent setting action," "Anywhere you have open fields ticks quid be prevalent." Mr. Sherman commented, "ff the Board wants to wait a week until Mr. McQuaid and I discuss the matter and decide ghat is a sensible respne to this and then present it to both Board's for approval." Mr. Rosenberg, Conservation Conunission member, relayed, "'Phe statement from D.P.H. is based on a letter from Ms. Wolk." "we went through this last year all the way to the Selectmen." "Everyone agreed that Ms. w lk's factual statements as to what is going on out there were completely c ntiary." "There is no relevance to reality." "All the abutter's around Ms. Wolk had the samepinion.93