07/23/1998 BOARD OF HEALTH Minutes

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MINUTES July 23, 1998 3 BOARD OF HEALTH that Mr. Dominie was there at the time and Mr. Cram apparently knows him from the recycling center." "Neither Mr. Cram nor I thought there were any mental deficiencies with Mr. Dominie, not that we're qualified to do that." "He did inform me he what he intends on doing with the debris." "My comment to Mr. Cram is that we as the Board of Health deal with pubic health issues, we cannot order a person to live his life in any particular way other then what he chooses unless we get a complaint from neighbors." "We have had no complaints from any abutting neighbors on this property." Mr. Doherty commented, "The only thing that comes to mind is how much do you intrude on someone's private life?" "If he is stockpiling materials outside that could become an issue." "If he is stockpiling materials inside, well, that doesn't affect anyone else." "It may be a safety issue which the fire department might be interested in." `There is a side issue here, if he is taking the stuff that is being brought into the landfill for recycling and taking it home for his own profit that's not acceptable but if he is picking it up on the side of the road then that is allowed." "If the recyclables are not clean they could attract flies and possibly rodents which would be issue but not an earth breaking issue unless we can show it's detrimental to someone's health other than his own." Mr. Cram relayed, "What I witnessed seeing on the site were all returnables, items that had a deposit value." "When we left there he was going through them." `Based on my knowledge on what we've seen we really don't have a leg to stand on as far as taking corrective action." Mr. McQuaid stated, "There is a state sanitary code which deals with minimum human habitation standards that is primarily directed to tenants if they feel that the landlord has violated certain conditions of the code." "On private property this doesn't apply." "The only way we could use any remediation is if a direct neighbor complains that because of what was going on, on their neighbor's lot, they were being damaged." i Mr. Herbst questioned, "Are there adequate bathroom facilities in there that meet the codes of the health department of this town." Mr. Doherty relayed, "Even if Mr. Dominie had the water shut-off it wouldn't j affect anyone but himself other than there would be a buildup of waste material and then some odor which would be something to work on." "In the absence of that we can't just make him spruce up his house." Mr. Herbst questioned, "It has to meet the code doesn't it?"