Lynn hires new licensed sanitarian to supervise environmental issues

LYNN – Adetokunbo Solarin always thought he would go to medical school until he had what one might call an epiphany.”Medicine focuses on individuals and caring,” he said. “I thought, ?How about preventing, rather than spend money to cure?'”It was then Solarin said he decided to go into public health. He received his master’s from Illinois State, worked in Watertown for three years as an inspector and, as of July 1 has been putting his education to the test as the city’s sanitarian.According to Public Health Director MaryAnn O’Connor, sanitarian is a new but much needed position for the city. Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan said the City Council approved the new position, and it was negotiated with the city’s union.Donovan said having Solarin in place does two things: It brings the city in line with what other sanitation departments around that state are doing, and it brings the city forward in dealing with sanitation problems.If nearly every other community in the state is making a licensed sanitarian a requirement, then Lynn should do it as well, he said.”He’s making changes to bring the city in line with other communities,” Donovan added. “He will help us go where we need to go.”Solarin’s responsibility will be to supervise the day to day operations of the environmental and inspectional side of the Inspectional Services Department/Public Health. That translates to dealing with rodents, bedbugs, trash and housing problems, O’Connor said.O’Connor said prior to Solarin coming on board the oversight was essentially done in bits and pieces by O’Connor, the chief inspector and others.Solarin said his goal is to streamline the office and and deal with complaints and compliance issues in more efficient manner. It is also to get a handle on the city’s rodent issue, fix the trash problem work to keep the city clean and protected from preventable diseases.”And since I live here I’m working to keep my city clean,” he added.Solarin said the most daunting problem he has encountered thus far is the difficulty people seem to have following simple instructions, such as covering trash barrels and not putting trash out until the day of pick up.He said he hopes to counter that problem with education. He is making up fliers in several different languages and said he is determined to get his message across. That could include issuing fines to repeat offenders and taking businesses and individuals to court if they don’t comply. The threat of a court case often gets offenders to fall into line, he said.”I believe in educating and holding people accountable,” he said.When asked how his first few weeks have been Solarin shakes his head.”Really busy,” he said. “I’m trying to managed five or six inspectors and taking calls from the public.”Complaints about rodents and trash make up the bulk of the calls he gets, he said. He did receive one call, however, reporting an inspecting imposter. He said he believes the fake inspector was someone who wanted a certain individual to clean something up and posed as an inspector to get it done.”That is my funniest call so far,” he said before turning serious again. “I am hoping eventually to meet our goals and the goal is to protect the public, keep the city clean and attract more people to Lynn.””This is a positive for the city,” Donovan said. “He has experience working with other communities he brings training, more education ? and if the council wants me to add another inspector to my budget next year. I’ll do that, but having Ade works out well with what we’re trying to do and that’s doing what’s best for the city.”