SAUGUS — At the last Board of Health meeting before the new year, a discussion began on the difficulty of communicating with the Board on certain incidents regarding nuisance complaints. Monday night, the discussion continued with the Board emphasizing that the public continues to reach out to them.
“Just to touch base on last meeting, we did have some action items as far as the protocols for complaints. We have begun a draft of a public health complaint intake form that we’re going to be posting on our website after we do some tweaks,” Public Health Director John Fralick said during his director’s report.
One of the issues from the last meeting was the public not knowing whether they could contact the Board directly or whether they should contact the Police Department when the Board was unavailable.
“We did speak with the Public Safety Department and the police chief regarding the contact protocol for the Board of Health… I did speak with Chief (Michael) Ricciardelli regarding any off-hours 911 calls that have to do with noise, or odors, or any type of complaint after hours surrounding the area around WIN Waste,” he said.
Fralick added that during office hours, people can reach out directly to them at the office or call and email the Board.
“But any sort of issues regarding the ongoing questions regarding noise can be brought directly to the 911 dispatch line, and they’ll be reaching out to me directly,” he said.
He pushed that residents do need to call the Board directly and not just post on social media so that the information can be properly documented.
“It needs to be a formal complaint that’s logged this way (so) we have a case file. That way, we can follow up directly on it,” Fralick said.
For now, the form that will be provided will be available to the general public, which can be downloaded, printed out, and brought to the office to log the complaint.
“The tools are there. It’s just a matter of making sure everything’s in place to incorporate,” he said.
Board Chair Maria Tamagna noted that she believes the Board is moving in the right direction by logging more information and maintaining records of public complaints.
“I would like to once again reiterate when people have a complaint or concern, calling, and calling the police department after hours, and calling our office during hours, so that we can get this concrete data,” Tamagna said.
It was also noted that, for those who call the Board’s office after hours, there is a voicemail to leave information, but if it is an emergency, call the police.
Town Meeting member Peter Manoogian commented that the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards did not state anywhere that one should call the police first.
“I think what people need is a phone number that’s clearly identified either on the website or through other means, and no one needs to answer the phone at 3 o’clock in the morning, but when these incidents occur, they should be documented so that you can address them as you’re trying to do,” Manoogian said.
He continued that contacting the police department seemed like an unnecessary step unless there was an emergency happening.
“Oftentimes, these complaints are of a nuisance nature, and on the Mass Association of Health Boards, they say the local Board of Health is responsible for the assignment of sites, the operation of noisome trades, and regulation thereafter. Not the police department,” he said.
Manoogian stated that this was an ongoing frustration, and the protocol has “gotten hazy over the years.”
Fralick said that he and the Board are trying to provide that information to residents and are working on establishing a proper line of communication.
“We’d like to see not necessarily an immediate response, but an immediate notice to you guys that it’s taking place… Maybe you’re close to getting there,” Manoogian said.
Fralick stated that he is being notified when calls go to the police after hours and that his line is open for people to call him, so that situations can be addressed.
