 So we'll, we should start and then she'll, yeah. Let's see. Yeah, she's in as an attendee. Okay. So we've started the, the meeting. Kyle started. So we're ready to go and I'll move Maureen over. Oh, good. You did already. All right. Okay. So welcome to the April 13th board of health. I don't have the script here. Oh my God. How can I do that? How did I do that? Do you have the script? I have, I have one. Let me find it. I got everything ready today. And I totally forgot. I get that. Let me see if I can. So many folders here. Yep. Shoot. I thought I had it. Under Charles. Oh, there it is. Pursuit. Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order. And you know, we haven't looked it up, but. Governor Healy has extended this. Suspending certain provisions of the opening meeting law under general laws. 30 a section 20 this meeting of the Amherst board of health will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible. For information on remote participation, please see the agenda on the board of health website. There is no in person attendance of members of the. There are no in person attendance members of the public will be permitted. To attend and every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. In the event that we are unable to do so. We will post on the town's website. And a recording of the meeting and approved meeting minutes will be posted on the Amherst board of health website as soon as possible after the meeting. I'm sorry. All set but not. I'm going to do attendees. Tim. Yeah. Maureen. Yeah. Okay. So the first item on the agenda is to review the minutes from the March 9th meeting. And looked over them. I didn't see any changes. Anybody else. But I don't think we have enough. Because Tim wasn't at the last meeting. That's right. So we have to just. Bump it to the main meeting because yes, Tim was not here. So we don't have enough people to vote on this. Or we'll postpone it till. The main meeting. And we have public comments on agenda topics only. I don't know. But I don't think we have enough. Because Tim wasn't at the last meeting. So I don't think we have enough people to vote on this. On agenda topics only. I don't know if anyone. So we do have someone in the, an attendee. Who might be speaking up about the. The body art establishment. Do you want to raise your hand? If there's anyone that wants to speak now. Okay. Kyle, can you let them in? And it's Steven. You're unmuted. Would you like to submit. During our public comment session, we listen and we do not respond to you at that time at this time, but we're very open to listening. Okay. Awesome. So I wrote something up. Bear with me as I've never really done any sort of public speaking. So that's okay. All right. So. Hello, my name is Steven Lambert. I'm the owner of wanderlust tattoo since 2015. I've been operating in downtown and would like y'all to know that I've been tattooing for nine years in total. Wanderlust tattoo has served the community for the past eight years, providing our services to students, locals and patrons from other states as well. Our clients not only get work done here, but also contribute to our local economy through downtown parking, going to local eateries, hotels, music venues and shopping at local stores while they're in town. Over the years we've grown in the past, we've hired people that we knew or had worked with previously or even trained artists ourselves. Now, as we're all aware, the demand for tattooing has grown exponentially. And we're looking to bring on new artists. Artists may come from other towns, states or even other countries. The best and safest way to bring them through the interview process is to invite them here as temporary guest artists. These artists would pay the town a reduced fee and work with us for periods of time ranging from a week to several months to make sure that they're the right fit. It is my duty not only as the owner of my business, but a business owner here in Amherst to do my due diligence to ensure the safety procedures that we are required to follow or that are being conducted. That they are professional and willing to participate in a team-oriented environment and ultimately willing to contribute as an upstanding individual in this community. While I have your ear, I'd also like to propose another change to the regulations. Many people who have applied do not have a GED or high school diploma, but have been wildly talented and licensed artists for years. The regulation has barred several incredible artists from working with us in the past. Amherst is a town known for its education, and many people know that people learn in a multitude of ways. Our trade is an old one passed down from master to apprentice for the past 2,000 years. Though our industry is changing, there is no recognized college or institution to learn tattooing other than the master and apprentice relationship. That being said, the majority of towns and states do not require formal education to become a valued member of the tattoo community. I'd like to grow and contribute to this town for many more decades and contribute to the revenue therein. So I urge you to consider my professional suggestions. I appreciate your time and thank you for your opportunity to open this dialogue. I'm happy to hear any questions or feedback that you have. Thanks for listening. Thank you, Stephen. As we get into our old business, the regulations are coming up at that time. Okay. Anybody else would like to make a public comment at this time? Okay. Dick Evans. Can we let Dick in? Dick, can you hear us? He disappeared. I still see him. He disappeared from my screen. Okay. So Dick, you're muted. Hello, could you hear me? Yes. I'm here to speak about the tobacco license at. Six university drive. I don't know if this is the appropriate time or you want to wait, want me to wait until you get to that point on the agenda. I think it's best to wait until. We discussed that. Okay. Okay. No other comments. So we'll move to old business. And first on the agenda is toxic chemicals. We have Jeremiah LaPlante. And Tim has also contacted. Tourie who will come to a. A later meeting. So I'm going to turn it over to Tim and Jeremiah. Jeremiah, have you looked at our regulations? Yes, yes, I have. Jennifer has shared them with me. Okay. I went back. Into the history of it. And are you aware of the history of it that it came to being. In 2000, I don't have those notes there. 2001 where a. Member of the community went to the select board to ask. About what chemicals are being bought by the town to have it as a bylaw. It was moved to the health department. And this was put in as a regulation back then. Under mainly what was purchased. And we are the only town in the commonwealth. That has such a regulation. So we're looking at all our regulations and trying to figure out. How to revise, update them or what we'll be doing with them. And Tim has been taking lead on that. Yeah, I will say, I will say that. You know, I, that it is interesting to hear that, that we are unique and by having. Those regulations in place. But at the same time, I would say that I think that there has been much more awareness and, and the chemicals that, that municipalities or, or the state has, has been using. If we were to look at the mask off website, they do offer a lot of information regarding those different types of environmentally preferred products. And they have a fairly comprehensive list of, of products that, that I suppose you could say that they would prefer we, we use. So, so as far as a sort of a standard of practice for the town, we try to do our best to abide by those regulations that, that the state has essentially put in stating that, you know, they would prefer that we use chemicals that are more environmentally friendly. So when I'm doing my purchasing, I like to be sure that it does have that green label on that. So say, you know, I'm using some type of company without naming any, you know, wherever I get my cleaning chemicals, I look at the product list and, and the data sheets to ensure that it does have that, that green seal on it. So it looks like just like a little leaf. So that is, that's my practice and, and to make it easier across the buildings, I try to have the same products. So it's same dispensing equipment. And that ensures we are, we do have that sort of standard procedures and it also helps with being familiar with those products. So if we do have individuals that shift between buildings, they know that they're going to see the same types of products in each one of those facilities. I think when looking at some of the more recent items that are, that are on the document, where I find, I feel that we may find some challenges is when we start getting into PFAS chemicals. It's, I haven't necessarily seen anything that makes it easy to identify whether or not a particular product has any PFAS chemicals in it. Instead, you're opening up like the, the data sheets and actually looking at the chemical composition of the products. So I think, I think that one might be a little bit of a hurdle. I don't, I don't think that it's, it's, it's an unachievable item, but that one may, may cause more discussion. I would say it would, it would bring on more discussion. Thank you. Tim, do you have questions? Yes. So the toxic chemicals bylaws is not new or we are the only one. I have seen toxic chemical bylaws for towns which are trying to protect aquifers, water supplies, and I think they have exclusive toxic chemical loss on restrictions and mitigation when they are sitting on a aquifer which supplies the water supplies. You know, so I think they are there. So some of the templates was on certain infiltrates and everything was primarily, we use similar type of language when we are developing ours, you know. So thank you, Jeremy. I think it's a good overview of, you know, how proactive you are in terms of getting the best in the market which can have a minimal environmental impact. So this bylaw was, as Nancy was mentioning, we had a very focused bylaw in terms of acid free papers and that type of very basic procurements. But as it is not only focused on procurements, we are thinking Board of Health should have some sort of a policy on any type of toxic chemicals potentially coming up because we are seeing emerging use of them, you know, either on the grounds, fire control. So many of them, even for water resistant fabrics or that type of thing, this has some sort of a heavy use of PFAS, you know. So it is just a, I think, you know, it is not a regulation which essentially saying you cannot use it. It was some sort of a guidance on saying, minimize those types of impact rather than saying, no, you cannot use it. It is not like a yes or no question. This type of a policy might help in the future when we have someone who is coming after Jeremiah, who is very pro-green, but in the future we might have some sort of, they might ask for some sort of what type of things, what type of things we have. It might be helpful for having that type of standard. So it is just providing some sort of a general baseline on what we should do in terms of procurement. It looks like you are doing perfectly fine in terms of identifying the best in the market. So I don't know if I am clear on our purpose of developing the bylaw. I think you mentioned to me on an e-mail that you were in communication with Tori, the toxic use reduction institute at UMass Low. Are they going to be coming to our May meeting? No. No, I am sorry if I communicated categorically. I am going to meet with them very shortly before our May meeting. But I can invite them to the May meeting to see if one or two of them are available. So these are Tori Institute's director. And he suggested that I also include OTA, which is the office of technical assistant in the state government. They usually handle some of, maybe they are the ones who are putting up that list you see in the meeting. So we are trying to find a common time to meet and just to brainstorm how we could, they are very excited to see, you know, so the town is proactively putting something together for a bylaw. So based on that meeting, I will invite them for our next meeting. But if Jeremy wants to join us, you are welcome to join me. Yes, thank you. But that is the status of it, you know, I will be glad to invite them for, you know, but I plan to find, I plan to find something in the coming week to meet with them, just to compare notes and what their suggestions are. And based on that, I also can invite them. Yes. Well, use your judgment whether May is the right meeting to invite them to or later meeting. I mean, we've been working on this for almost two years. And we need to get it right. And as we read and meet, there's more and more coming out about chemicals, especially PFAS. So we want to make sure that we get this regulation right. So use your judgment, Tim, if they can come to the May meeting, whatever suggestions they have that we can write a good regulation for that would be very helpful. And thank you for all the work you've been doing. Yes, I will do that. I don't know if you heard on the news that EPA has some regulations put out for PFAS and PFOS for drinking water supplies. And so we might see more in the future. But it's also, as Jan may have saying, it's also a very complex issue. It is forever chemicals, which are everywhere. I've seen some of them uptaken by plants to soils and, you know, in a different locations in terms of our commodities we are using day to day. So it's always a challenge on how to handle that. I attended the Region 1 EPA, I mean, EPA meeting on PFAS Tuesday night. And it was an overview of the regulations how they're coming and people who spoke were talking about specific PFAS contaminated areas. But the point of the webinar was to look upstream to prevent any PFAS from getting into the environment as much as possible. So, yeah, it's, every time you turn around, you hear about it. Yeah, when we were looking at the turf field I got into a number of articles about PFAS and into the weeds a little bit. And one of the sources of PFAS and some like products are actually the container that they're sold in. So your cleaning material itself would not have anything added to it. But once it's in this container, it can pick it up. And so I think it's just, you know, with a number of different chemicals and the tiny amounts that can make a difference, it's an unbelievably complicated issue going forward. But the best we can. Yesterday I was cooking and we have a relatively new non-stick griddle. And I said to my husband, I said, I wonder if there's PFAS in this. How do you even know? And I'm cooking on it. Yeah. I think the conversation will eventually become, not necessarily looking at each and every one of the chemicals or products that were used but just one of the easier ways might just be chemical reduction. So if there's any way that we can say for me when I'm, perhaps I'm replacing flooring. I'm choosing a floor that doesn't need to be wax and buffed and stripped. And so there's not all these different chemicals that are used fairly regularly on it, where we can just clean with something that is more environmentally friendly and has a much less impact. So those are also things that I try to think about. If I can, at all possible, I try to reduce, use products that's not going to keep making it so we're using more and more stuff on them. That's great. You know, I'll talk to you in another time, but I think about people that bring in their personal cleaning products, like I see them in the kitchens, like underneath, I think that needs to be restricted. So we, that's another conversation. Well, it's appropriate, but we can talk about it. Yeah, it's something, that's an uphill battle. Oh, you've addressed this. I look, I watch, I watch. I try, you know, if anybody, you don't have to bring it in. I'm happy to get something for you. Yeah. Jeremiah, do you have a link or do you work with the toxic use reduction Institute at UMass Lowell? I don't, but I'm definitely interested in, in want to look into that further. So I will have, have a look at that. Okay. They have some nice resources on their website. Yeah. They also have a very large team, you know, if you want to actually consult or something, and I think they have an outreach team. But the, the PFAS is some sort of a, in my opinion, I think we started the dialogue and talking about it that itself is a good thing. But once the EPA start to, I think, the EPA has some six PFAS, you know, standards developed for drinking water. They might also develop some standards for soils and air quality. And then it'll start to trickle down in terms of the products, which are being used. And also probably treatment. So adding some treatment to it, because most of the treatment doesn't have, they don't really respond to remote, you know, so maybe those additional aspects of filters might be added or to remove the PFAS. So there might be more coming up, you know, but I'm thinking recognizing this as an important one. And having that showcase some sort of a roadmap of, okay, we are recognizing the Board of Health is recognizing this, but we also wanted to be some sort of example in terms of leading this way. So that's how I look at this by live. And using the precautionary principle. Is anyone else have any comments? I see Maria has her hand up. Maureen. Jeremiah. Shall we open it up for Maria? Do we typically wait to the end? Yeah, we'll wait till the end. Okay. So how it stands is Jeremiah is doing his piece. So use the green chemicals in town. Tim is going to be communicating with Tori. And whether Tori comes to our May meeting or future meeting, that's to be determined as we work on this regulation. We have that. Is that correct Tim? Yeah, and also OTA, Office of Technology Assessment in the State. That's right. Okay, great. Thank you again for all your work. Okay. Next is body arts establishment regulation. Thank you, Jeremiah. Thank you. Thank you. So I, I don't know what, if you had a chance to look at the mishmash. I sent out to you. It is like a combination of the original regulations from the town of Amherst with some thoughts and other. Additions mostly from North Hampton, but also a few other places. And I think. There were a lot of details in different places in terms of getting photo IDs and things like that, which I think are just easy to do and make sense. But they're also like, I think, and I think that Nancy outlined some of these earlier where things for us to actually look at. And I think the first one that comes up is. The restrictions and exclusions and restrictions. Like cosmetic tattooing is, is excluded in Amherst. I think that is something that is, I think there's one place in North Hampton that does it. That may be more that, but I didn't see any other ads for that. And it requires a slightly different training. And the other thing is Amherst says, here are the things you can do with piercing in particular, whereas other places say here are the things you can't do. Honestly, I kind of like here are the things you can do because I can't even think of all the things you might, somebody might be asking to be pierced and, you know, and to put them in as you can't do this, but most other places do have a, have a more of a list of things that are not allowed. So that's one area. And then I guess the other big areas are the addition of the guest artist program. And that's pretty straightforward. It would probably be a matter of our deciding the length of stay with the guest artist. And whether we codify the things that sounds like they're already happening is the apprenticeship in, in town. You know, I think that it's fine. And I agree with, was it Stephen, Stephen, right? And, you know, that, that the most places don't require a high school diploma. Now, you know, because it is, it is an art. I guess there's a lot of technical things that being, you know, able to read well and understand practices is a good thing, but I think it's also like he said, different ways of learning about the practices and procedures and protocols. You know, seem reasonable. So that's, and Pramila hasn't been able to really participate in this in this past month. She's had, hasn't really been as available as she would have liked to be. Okay. I did look at them. And other than, I can see where you copy and pasted. And so we, you have Northampton and you have Boston. So that has to be wordsmithed out. Right. Obviously. Yes, I didn't do that. And I didn't try to get all the numbers and letters and lined up because I, I thought, decide what we want to do and then make a document that does it. And bring it around again for a close. There were two questions I had under. It's not, it's not numbered, but application for practitioner license shall be included and has declaration about any prior criminal records. Is that, is that mean doing a Corey check? Or does that mean with what they, you know, I think that should be probably what it is. It's like, because I thought maybe that Amherst. Safety and I don't know that other thing might be, be something to do with getting a Corey check. I mean, for my license, I need to agree to a Corey check every two years. You know, so I think this is another area, which that wouldn't be unreasonable. To, to have a Corey check in province town. And I don't know the law or the practice around this also checks yearly to see if any, I don't know if you have to agree to having, you know, that investigated or not, but they do do that. I would think that that would come up on a Corey check. I just don't know enough about what's included in the, in the Corey. But I think. I think that is one thing that seems like it's, it's not, I don't know if you have to agree to having, you know, that investigated or not, but they do do that. I think that is one thing that seems like it's not, wasn't evident and maybe should be. Yeah, so that was one question I had. The other, and when I look at this and what Stephen brought up, we don't have that you need to show your high school. Diploma or GED, any place in this from what I can see. It says it requires, but it doesn't. Yeah, I say that. I don't remember. This application. I think. It was there. It says name, date of birth, residence address, mailing address, phone number. I think it might be the training and. Section. I seem section nine. There's so much stuff here. Section nine under B. It says something and have a high school diploma or equivalent. Section nine, section eight, section nine, number B. application. No, I don't see it there. I don't know which nine you're looking at. The second night. Second night. Second. Nine application for tattoo practitioner. Okay. 18 years old and have a high school diploma or equivalent. Yeah. And it says omitted in North Hampton. So. I would agree with taking that out. Yeah. And then the other thing is that I had. Put a. 14 days. So this is under. Training guest artists. And, and Stephen said, I thought 14 day period was a sort of short. Or a temporary item. And then he said, but it's. To four temporary permits per calendar year. Is that per person or per establishment? I would think it was per person per artist. Like, but that's how I read it, but I don't know. So I think we, you know, we can, and I remember earlier on, when I was looking at it, some of them had 30 days. You know, I would be very happy having it 30 days. With. Also, maybe. With a renewal. With renewal. Yeah. Just two weeks seems like. Yeah, no, that seems reasonable. Other than that, those are the only two. Other than all the words and nothing, those were the only two questions. Okay. I have. Thank you. I know. You know, like I said, I didn't take the time to kind of. Make everything line up because it's well, if we didn't conclude this, then I have to redo it. And so I'll. Maybe the next time I will make it to a document that looks presentable. Present next time put page numbers on it too. So if you can say page, because there's no page. Right. There are no page numbers. Yeah. It doesn't actually flow very well right now in some of those sections. I think you mentioned this too. When I downloaded the North Hampton one, the formatting was horrible. And. And then I kind of went over to Melrose and Worcester. I was using them a little more when I was looking at them. I'm trying to think if there are other other. Oh, the other thing, you know, I think. Jennifer communicated to me is that Steven had told her that. Nobody uses reusable. Needles or sharps or anything anymore. So nobody has an autoclave. So everything is a single use disposable. So I guess we should continue to keep that in. But a North Hampton actually had a statement. We didn't have that said, if there's no reusable items or if everything is single use, you don't need to have an autoclave. We could. Also, the other thing I like is that you have to have a bona fide sharp container because at a very early flu clinic. When that Anderson Frederick was director, we were using all detergent bottles. And the only time I got a needle stick in my life was through one of those. So I'm glad you had a bona fide sharps container. So a needle would not go through it. Yeah. Because back then, and also they were, they were putting needles into styrofoam. At flu clinics way back then. No, that I've never seen. Leech bottles I have. Yeah, there's so much to do with cleaning and, and. You know, I guess we can just let that ride. But, but with the notion that. Mostly. It's going to be single use items at this point. I should have asked Jeremiah while he was here, there was something like. Something about. The sanitizing liquids that you're using to know that they're up to strength and how, and how to manage that. And. I mean, I guess. I always thought it was just if they had expired, or if you mix them, you date it and you throw it out at a certain time, but I don't know what that meant. Somewhere in there. But I'll, I'll go through it again and. We can then maybe. Go through it line by line at some point. Okay. And I think Primal is happy. So we want to make it. As user friendly in the supportive of our. That to artists as possible. Keeping with all health standards. Yeah. All right. Okay. Can I quickly ask a question. I haven't read this, but I think I'm just wondering if you have. Included some language on risk management. For example, if something happens, you know, what's the. What's the plan they have? Should they have a plan. Yes. Managing bleeding and all whatever it is. The second thing, like, I think I saw something about CPR. Certification, you know. So those are something good. Yeah, I think there is training in, in first aid and CPR, but also. Bloodborne pathogens. And they have to have an emergency plan. And, and a. Kind of a plan for like needle stick injuries. And isn't there something with reporting if I remember. And it has to be reported to the board of health. And there. Yeah, there are a lot of steps that they would take. And that other documents that we got about signing off on different. We can talk about that too. That was new to me that, that form that was a, you know, I will follow these rules. And initial that I don't know if that's something that we need. One of the things that it says in North Hampton is, is this becomes like a policy and procedure manual. Or the establishment and each practitioner needs to have. Have that a copy of it and to have read it looked at it. So, so they know what the rules are. It could be like a tobacco quiz we had. Oh no. Well, I don't know if I'd know the answers. Yeah, so yeah, you know, I. I was surprised that this isn't something regulated at the state level because it is. I don't know. It seems more like in the. Barbering. Cosmetology. I don't know it's, you know, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Art that requires sharp instruments. You know, I. But. So in the fact that each town has. Different regulations as makes it confusing, I think. That's because tattooing is relatively new in Massachusetts. Yeah, I guess it wasn't allowed or something. Right. No. No. Because my son. 20s. So say 20 years ago, he had to go to Connecticut to get his tattoo. And I was like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That I felt my experience with people in town had seemed like they were pretty responsible. I was just going to say that my daughter wanted it. A pierced eyebrow or something when she was 16 or 15. And. And I think that the piercer said, no, you should wait. And, you know, so my husband didn't have to be, you know, I just decided it was worth waiting. So that was, I thought that was pretty responsible now that I look back at it. Any other comments. Thank you, Maureen. Welcome. We'll keep at it. Yes. Okay. So community assessment update. The students are working very hard. They're getting a lot of very good data. And. Some data is not available, but that tells a story too. So they're, they're putting that in. As a matter of fact, they had given me some information. And I shared it with the. Amherst. Affordable housing trust. And they're moving. From instead of having a listening session, they're having a public forum. So the students will be presenting the, the community assessment data on June 8th. To. To us. And this side piece that I mentioned at our last meeting is. Through the community assessment, I got involved with the. Amherst affordable housing trust. Which is, they were going to have a listening session on housing, which is a social determinant of health. And they are having this. Meeting on June 20th that I will attend. As a public forum. Then on July 18th, they are going to have a housing resource fair. And they would like someone from the health department and, or a sanitarian. There it's going to be at July 18th from 630 to 830. At the bank center. So that's a sort of a side piece related to the community assessment. I just was at that meeting yesterday morning. So I will not work out. But I just wanted to make sure that. Jen for the health department and or a sanitary. One of our inspectors related to housing. It can ask. Yeah. Okay. So, and that's July 18th, 630 to 830. That bangs. That's all I have on the community assessment. If anyone has any questions. I just have to say the students are doing amazing work. They're really doing great. And will this, they wrap up at the end of this. Some semester into summer and they'll be completed. Yes. Well, they'll be presenting it on June 8th. But Kyle and another one of the students who are. In their, their four year of their four plus one. We'll still be available so that if there's other areas. That need to be continued with, we can work on a plan for them to continue it. In the next, next year. And I've mentioned it to both of them. And they're aware of that. Okay. New business. The tobacco license at six university drive. Jen, do you want to. Yep. So Kyle, if you could let in. Three people. No, two people. So Akshar. Patel and Dick Evans. And we have Steve McCarthy from permitting here. And I'm going to ask Steve, if you want to summarize what's going on. Akshar and Dick Evans came to me to talk about a tobacco license. And my interpretation was that the license that was previously held by university liquors at six university. Had not been renewed in time and therefore would be sunsetted and not transferred. But there's so many little subtleties. And I just really am happy that. That it's being brought forth to the board so they can hear and make a decision. So with that, I'd like to hand it over to. To Dick Evans. You're muted. There. Thank you. Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. Thanks so much. My name is Dick Evans. And I'm very pleased to represent Oscar Patel, who's on your screen there. Oscar is one of Oscar. Everybody calls him Oscar. Oscar is one of two partners. And no can't associates LLP. An entity. Which has operated a beer and wine store in Belcher town for. Over 18 years. And they recently acquired or in the process required a license. To operate a package store at a six university drive. The site of the former university liquors. Not much is going to change there. Even the signage will remain pretty much the same. Obviously the previous operator of that site did. Sell tobacco. And we're trying. We're here today to seek some guidance from the board. With regard to. No camps. Right or their opportunity to obtain a license or otherwise to sell tobacco from the. The package store. Let me say first that I've looked at the regs very closely. I'm talking about the regs that were adopted. A couple of years ago in 2020. In fact, some of you were authors of them. And to be honest. I can't see where the regs require. A tobacco license. For package stores. They do require them for. Non-age restricted retail establishments like general stores. And they are required for adult only tobacco retail stores. But there's nothing in the regulation that requires. Licenses or permits. For adult only alcohol stores. Am I, am I misreading the. The regulations of. I mean, I'm looking at paragraph. Rumor numeral five one paragraph five. Which says the town of Amherst permits tobacco sales. In two categories of retail establishments. Namely the. Not age restricted retail establishments and the adult only tobacco stores. But it's silent as to adult only alcohol stores. Or adult only other kind of stores that matter, but I don't think Amherst has the adult only bookstores. But so that's. As I read the regulations. They don't govern sales of tobacco from. Package stores. And I'm asking you if I'm reading this wrong. Let me know, please. But let me add. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not trying to shirk his responsibilities. He wants to be a responsible vendor of tobacco products. He recognizes the hazards of tobacco. His views about tobacco are very consistent with all of yours. I'm sure. But on the other hand, he is a businessman and he wants to maximize his profits in that area. He is he anticipates observing fully whether he has a permit from tobacco or not. And he's not going to be doing any advertising. He's not going to put posters in the windows concerning. Tobacco. He's not going to sell any electronic smoking devices. He's going to use the ID science authentication method for authenticating IDs. He's not going to sell any flavored tobacco. As the regulations. Require for license. He's not going to have any promotional sale like sales or price reductions on. Tobacco products. And he'll post the notices required by. General laws. 270 section seven. And required by the regulations. So. When I'm asking what we're asking the board is for some clarification. As to whether. Hack his doors are even governed by the regulations in the first place. And. Or. Ask you to decide. Take no action rather on this decision. Whether or not he needs a permit. Until you've revised the regulations. I was glad to hear some discussions a few minutes ago about revisiting and revising your regulations. That may be something you might want to revisit. And then I'd also ask you to take into account as we opened with the fact that. Not much is changing there, except ownership of that site. And. And Oscar, we very much appreciate the opportunity to assume. The tobacco life. That was held by the previous operator. Or going to do it. And certainly subject himself to all the regulations. So that's what I've got to say. So here to seek some guidance from the board. I hope you have some for us. Let's see. I guess. Morning, Tim and I were on. Yeah. If I look where I recall that. Liquor stores were included, whether the wording is not. Clear it. But in the definition of the non-age restricted retail establishment. It goes on to say. It goes on to say. Tobacco, but does not restrict entry. People under age 21. These include, but are not limited to convenience stores, gas stations, liquor stores, bodega supermarkets and other similar businesses. So. Maybe. I are, you know, excuse my ignorance, but our liquor stores. Are not limited to convenience stores. So. For sure. This is a 21. In the store. Yeah. We are an adult only. Alcohol retail establishment. So I think that was an oversight. I think on our part. Tim. Define that specifically. Do you have a comment? I. I think. I don't know if that is a critical element. In terms of not having a license. So I'm, I'm seeing it. It's still retail, you know. Age-districted retail, you know, whether it's a package store or any, any other type of. In this revision and the earlier revision. And we work with the state on this. I don't know if that is a critical element. In terms of not having a license. So I'm, I'm seeing it. It's still retail, you know. Age-districted retail, you know. So I'm seeing it. In terms of not having a license. I'm seeing it on this. And Cheryl Sabara and TJ Wilson. The point is when a license goes, it's gone. And we want to decrease the number of places. That sell tobacco products in town. And that's clear in section five, number 10. And if you look at a B and C. Are you saying that the regulations do govern package store sales? The regulations, any place that sells tobacco products, that's what the regulations cover. We worked with two lawyers on this, Cheryl Sabara and T.J. Wilson from the state. And the point in this revision and in the revision five years before that was we want to decrease the number of sites that sell tobacco. When a license is gone, it is gone. And it's under section five, number 10. Any permit not renewed because a retailer no longer sells tobacco products or because a retailer closes the retail business, it shall be returned to the Amherst Board of Health and shall be permanently retired by the Board of Health, a total of allowable number of tobacco sales permits under section A above shall be reduced by the number of retired permits. Earlier it says no existing renewal shall be will be denied on the on based on the requirements of this subjects subsection, except any permit holder who has failed to renew his or her permit within 30 days of expiration will need to come before the board. So the former owner, it also says applicants who purchase or acquire an existing business, they bought the business but it did no longer hold a valid tobacco life permit at the time of sale of acquisition. When did he buy this business? He didn't. They let the license go. It's gone. Are you saying that the Amherst regulations do govern sales to tobacco from adult only alcohol stores? Anywhere. Anywhere. Any place that sells tobacco is owned by this regulation. The question is where can tobacco be sold? Is tobacco prohibited from sale from adult only alcohol stores? Can you point to the regulation where it says there prohibited? You'll notice that in section five, it says the town of Amherst permits tobacco sales in two categories of retail establishment. It doesn't say only read two categories of retail establishments, does it? I mean, I don't see the only there. I'm just going by what the regulations say about the licenses. We hold, we give the permission for the licenses. And I just lost it here. And if you go to section five, number 10. Yes, I'm familiar with that section. You just read it. The question is, do the Amherst regulations govern the sale of tobacco from adult only alcohol stores? It doesn't appear to. Say every place that sells tobacco needs a license. Well, does you say that the town of Amherst does, in fact, govern tobacco sales from adult only alcohol stores, not withstanding the language to the contract and the regulations? Yes. Jen, do you have a list of where the licenses are? I don't have that in front of me. Do you want to talk, Steve? Yeah, if I may, and thank you for the board for having me. So I'm Steve McCarthy on the licensing board for inspection services. And you know, I'm the one who initiated this conversation with Jen. And we ultimately came to the point where we thought it would be worth addressing the board. So my job is to, I primarily deal with liquor licenses, rental property regulation, other types of business licenses. And one of the things that's landed in my portfolio there is tobacco licenses. So I have an interesting perspective of interpreting these regulations, but I wasn't, you know, involved in the process of drafting them. And there was a, there's sometimes where situations occur, which may not fall strictly within the provisions of the regulations. And this is one of them. And so I was a bit confused as to how to proceed. So a little bit of background, the previous licensee, University Lickers, was in business there for several years, many years, I believe. And ultimately late last year, they closed up for whatever reason, not sure exactly what happened, but they lost access to the site. And we did not review, renew, their liquor license was not eligible for renewal for reasons that are specific to liquor licenses, you know, in those regulations. And so we did have an open application process to get the new liquor license. And Oscar and his father were the, was the team that won the application along with Dick representing them. And the license commission was impressed with their business plan. And after the liquor license was granted, they acquired about tobacco. And now normally, you know, let's say that they were just opening up a completely new liquor store, you know, somewhere in South Amherst, you know, as you said, the Board of Health has a policy to retire tobacco licenses. And so I would have just told them, you know, it's not possible at a hand. But I do think that there's a place where the regulations are a bit ambiguous on this note. So if you refer to Section 53C6, it says a tobacco product sales permit is non-transferable. A new owner of an establishment that sells tobacco products as defined herein must apply for a new permit. No new permit will be issued unless and until all outstanding penalties incurred by the previous permit holder are satisfied and full. And so I think where a bit of the confusion comes in here is the definition of that word, establishment, it's not defined in the regulations. That can be interpreted a different way, I mean, in different ways. I mean, if you were strictly saying it needs to be the same LLC that owns the business, I mean, that wouldn't necessarily make sense because you'll often have, you know, chances where or, you know, in incidences where a different LLC will buy an existing business but use the same branding, continuing continuous operation and so on. I think most people would consider that the same establishment. And in this case, this is a, you know, somebody who's going into the exact same spot, running the same type of business. They are changing the name. They do have a different LLC, but to layman on the street, I mean, I think most would consider that the same establishment, at least possibly to my mind, it's a bit open to interpretation. And so, you know, what I thought having read through the regulations is that I do think the regulations are clear that if a permit is not renewed within 30 days of expiring the applicant has to go before the Board of Health to, you know, request that they have the opportunity to renew the license and given this case, given those ambiguities and the fact that even if we did determine the same establishment, they would need to petition the Board of Health because no matter what they would be renewing this permit more than 30 days after it expired, that I thought it would be best for them to go to the Board of Health and make their case as to, you know, why they should be given the opportunity to renew that license, you know, if the Board did feel that it would be reasonable to conclude it was the same establishment. Thank you. Maureen or Tim? I'm not clear. When you say it's the same establishment, Steve, looks like it is expired, but it also changed the ownership. I agree it is expired. And I think that word establishment is ambiguous. I mean, we did have another case where there is a tobacco licensee that did not close for any period of time, but that business was bought by a different owner and that owner had a different LLC and they, you know, kept the same branding and everything they continued on the exactly the same business and, you know, to my mind, that's certainly the same establishment, even if the ownership is different. This case is a little bit different. There was a closure, but I think that the definition of establishment isn't really defined and, you know, in one sense of looking at it, you know, there's a liquor store with the same liquor license in the same location. Some people would consider that to be the same establishment. I try to give the benefit of the doubt to any business people or anybody who comes before me or the license commission, you know, regulations. You know, I work with drafting regulations for that and they can often be ambiguous and sometimes, you know, things come up. And I try to just give the greatest, the greatest deference when those are ambiguously written. And in this case, I thought because, you know, certainly whether or not, you know, the board would consider this to be the same establishment or arguably so it certainly was not renewed in time. And I believe Section 5C10A says in the latter half, no existing permit renewal will be denied based on the requirements of the subsection, except any permit holder who has failed to renew his or her permit within 30 days of expiration will need to come before the Amherst Board of Health for a hearing to determine whether the lapse of tobacco product sales permit shall be renewed. So I think regardless of, you know, this establishment question, I think that is certainly true when the applicant here would need to come before you to, you know, request that they be able to renew that since the license has been expired for more than 30 days. But I do think that question of what an establishment is, is ambiguous. And that's that's part of the reason why I brought this up to Jen. Well, then we'd need a hearing. Certainly, which would have to be published publicized. I don't know what are your thoughts, Maureen? I don't know. What about Section B under that number 10? It does seem to say that if it hasn't been renewed because of the retailers no longer sells tobacco or because the retail closes, the retail business shall be returned to the Amherst Board of Health and permanently retired. So I don't know how that that doesn't seem that ambiguous to me, that part of it. I did excuse me. I didn't mean to interrupt. That's OK. No, I do see exactly where you're coming from, Maureen. And I did notice that. And I think, you know, what kind of made me pause with that is is there certainly is a little bit of a bit of. I don't want to say flexibility, but I mean, for example, during COVID, a lot of establishments were required to close and to not sell those kind of tobacco products. And I don't think that that would necessarily, you know, trigger these trigger these provisions. You know, this establishment, I think, did go under in a large part because of the economic impacts of that. You know, I certainly didn't want to make the decision myself. I wanted to present it to the Board of Health and I want to talk to Jen and present at the Board of Health and put it before you. Yeah, I understand. It was a bit too ambiguous of a situation for staff to decide on her own. Yeah, I'm just going to all of our past hearings on our tobacco regulations. The point was to continuously reduce the number of sites where tobacco products are sold in town. And that says that clearly there. If you want to argue what we identify as an establishment, well, we would have to consult with a lawyer, our lawyer. Well, I'd be very grateful if the board would do that and get a reading on whether or not the regulations as has written, in fact, govern all adult only alcohol stores. I think we also need to get Cheryl Sabara and T.J. Wilson to comment on this there from the state and they helped us write these regulations. And I believe T.J. Wilson still helps enforce the regulations. Cheryl Sabara now is the director of the Mass Association of Boards of Health. Well, it sounds like I may be leaving tonight without much guidance. Is that the case? Well, I'm glad that the board would seek some clarification on this. We'll be keen to hear what they have to say. So shall we proceed by contacting Jen? I need some help here contacting Cheryl and T.J. Wilson. And then. Yeah, I can do that. And I don't know. I'm going to our our legal places. I know I know how these regulations were. The intent of them when they were written. And I feel like I'm being. Blindsided here a little bit. I knew this was coming up, but I didn't know it was going to start a legal battle type of thing. But I think we really need legal clarification. So I can definitely contact them and see if our own town attorney can do that. I can do that. But I think when I. Present to them what the, the issue is, I'm going to need help with, with the wording. I don't want to summarize it myself. So I don't know how to do that. I'll try calling Cheryl tomorrow. So we need more legal clarification. I know the intent of these regulations and what they were. And I know COVID and I know this, but. The idea is to decrease the amount of tobacco sales in town. So Nancy, you said you're going to contact Cheryl. I'll contact. So we'll put this on to the May. Agenda. Yeah. And then we'll see if we need a hearing in June and have to be posted for hearing in June. May. Oscar and Dick, is that okay? I mean, calendar wise, the May meeting. It's the second Thursday, so it'd be May 11th. And then we'll see what information we have and then it may proceed to a hearing. Well, yeah, that dates fine. I don't want to see this just drag out indefinitely though. And I frankly, I don't think it's very ambiguous. Maybe I'm wrong. So we'll, I will take it that the board is taking no action today and we'll consult with council and revisit this issue. Next month, is that right? Yeah. And then if we need to then we'll hold a hearing in June. Thank you. Thank you. Steve, thanks for coming. My pleasure. And I hope you all enjoy the beautiful weather out there. Thank you too. Take care. Okay. Next, we have a geothermal well at three Duxbury Lane. Well, 23 C. And Ed has sent us on the permit pictures, the weld drillers license, which is current. Yep. So Ed told me to tell you he's always available for more complicated wells. And he felt this was a pretty general well and should be no big issues for you to proceed without him. Does anyone have any comments or questions on this permit and Ed's support of the well. I don't seem pretty straightforward to me. I don't know, Tim. Tim, see these you have better eyes. I think it's very straightforward. I don't see any problems with this type of simple, simple well installations. I don't see any problems. So only problem. This might be in the future is there are more number of wells. And the scale of the number of well installations like they're proposing in some schools. Those are the ones it's open for discussion. I have a question to approve this geothermal well. I'll move to approve the geothermal well or where is it Duxbury. Three Duxbury Duxbury. I second it. Okay, so we've had a motion that's second. Any more discussion. And we'll vote on it. Tim. Maureen. Hi. And Nancy. Okay. Directors update. Thank you for the geothermal well, I'll let Ed know. So I have a few things and I'm going to go just keep moving through them. Hopefully kind of rapidly. The first one is what Nancy commented on the beginning of the meeting that the remote meeting provision has been extended in March 31st. 2025. So we can stay zoom some meetings in town. I understand may continue hybrid. But for the near future, we'll continue zoom in the same fashion. The second item is, as we know, the Massachusetts declared the public, the declared public health emergency is ending May 11th. And I'm trying to think about how that's going to affect local boards of health. So I made a full, a few bullets. One thing is that we're going to be ending our case management of COVID cases. Our case manager contact tracer Joseph of Foso will be ending his position. He's been with us since 2021. And many of us have spoken to him. You may have spoken to him. He's done thousands of cases for us. But we're going to continue to monitor all our infection diseases, including COVID. So we'll keep the case counts going for the foreseeable future, but at some point that will be changed. We post it daily. We'll probably go to a different model at some point, either weekly or monthly, but we'll continue our infectious disease case management and any high risk cases we always intervene on. Intervene with them. We give people calls in our normal case contact kind of investigation and then offer support to people. And then also to the public, anyone's available to contact the health department. If they have any questions with COVID and infectiousness and timetables, we're always here to help people with any kind of problem solving. Another new vocabulary word for me, this is something from the States called redetermination. And it's just a notice notification for people that the Medicaid mass health that reenrollment was extended through COVID. But now it turns out that extension will be ending. So many people will have to reapply for their mass health. And if you received a blue envelope in the mail, that means you need to reapply. So people are sort of out of the out of sync with doing that for three years. They haven't had to. So it's just a notice to the public to be wary that if you have mass health, make sure that it's up to date. DPH is going to provide COVID vaccine into the fall. So that's a word. I don't know when the adult vaccine will end, but we'll have it at the beginning of the fall. At some point that will end for adults, but we'll be able to continue vaccine, but we'll be able to continue to do that. So we'll have COVID vaccine free for 18 and younger under the vaccine for children program. So we'll always have that. If I find out more about when that free vaccine ends, I'll let people know. And then there's some talk about a second bivalent booster. Still no word yet. It's with the FDA. It's with the FDA that they have two advisory boards, then it goes to DPH and then we get the regulations. So there's some hoops to jump through. Nothing's come to us yet, but sometimes these things happen really fast. So we may know soon, but for now it's just that bivalent booster. If you've had that and they started in September, then you're up to date. When we do get the second bivalent booster, it'll probably be for 65 and older and moderately. You know, you know, compromised any questions about that? Maureen, have you heard anything? No, I think I've heard the same thing you did from the state. Yeah. And. Yeah. Well, it's a complicated, a lot of complicated things about little kids right now. The. The protocols, but. But I think for the fall that there's looks like there'll be a new bivalent vaccine question. Yeah, yeah. And it's. And then at some point it'll probably take sort of the rhythm of flu vaccine. It'll be an annual. I think that's the prediction right now. The other thing under vaccine, we have is that we did the vaccine equity program through DPH. That was the family. COVID clinics and the $75 incentives. I did a zoom meeting with a few people from DPH, maybe six people and they really commended the town of Amherst. It was a meeting just for us, just for Amherst. And they really said thank you to us and our teamwork. We held six clinics and about a thousand people were vaccinated with that program. And I think that were, that was people that were sort of on the edge. And that incentive really worked. And I think there's research that says in general, in Sanfis don't work for vaccination, but if you team it with, with a good relationship and trust, you can really increase vaccination. So thank you to everybody that was involved in that. And a special thank you to Crest. They were really by our side. And then they weren't by our side. They were doing it without us. They just were wonderful partners. And helped a lot of people get vaccinated. Yeah. Now I'm moving on to another topic. Something I did two weeks ago is I took a tour of the wastewater treatment plant and it was wonderful. It's such great teamwork. The people that work there are so knowledgeable. We're really in good hands. But when I think about the wastewater treatment plant. Tim, have you been there? Yes. Yeah. It's impressive, isn't it? Yes. I take my students there. Oh, you do? I just, I, I have a sort of blown away. I have to say, but when I think about public health, so there's three things that came to mind when I was touring and Tim, you might have more, but I got to see where we did the COVID surveillance, not we, but the staff there. And where they take the three times a week sample. And it's quite a setup they have. It's not just dipping, you know, it's obviously a ladle into the effluent. It's a real, real structure they had to build where they get this sample. So it was really good to see that. And I encourage people to continue to look at our wastewater surveillance sampling and the numbers, which have been consistently on the low side. And that's on our website. The second thing I saw was one of the pools where they skimmed the grease off. So the fog, the fats, oil, grease. So if it comes into the wastewater treatment plant and gets to this point, they skim it off and they put it in a bucket. And it's the most solid grease I've ever seen. And on the skimmer, there were actually birds. It was almost like sew it. It was really sort of dramatic, but it's getting skimmed off there, which is the, it's not great, but it means that it's not going into the sewers. And clogging up pipes. So we've talked about that before, how the fog that fat oils grease gets into the sewers. So people either flush it down the toilet or it gets down, put down the wastewater drainage and it gets mixed with dental floss, flushable wipes that shouldn't be flush. And masks, you know, so anything. And these cause sewer overflows. So that's the second thing. And then the third thing I saw, so this is getting my mind going is I saw nips. So the three effluence from North Amherst, UMass and then South Amherst, they come in and it's sort of this little back eddy where water's going in and sort of coming out, but that's where the nips go. And they have to be brought up by this big auger. Tim, is that a good description of that, those effluence? What it means is that these nips are everywhere and they actually get flushed down the toilet. So I see them when I'm walking. The garbage is incredible. When I'm on my bike and a little higher, I actually see more nips by the roadside. And thank you, Nancy Schroeder. We are doing, I just did like a little write up. They are not recyclable. So they're so small. They get mucked up into the recycling. They fall below the recycling belts. I'm going to be saying that wrong and they, they cannot be recycled. So that's something that's our community, our. Transfer station brings our recycling down to Springfield, the material recycling facility. I think that's at the MRF as to our neighboring town. So they're not recycled anywhere in this area. So anyhow, I have nips on my mind. I just wanted everyone to know. Any comments about nips? Okay. Are there any ways of getting them out? Is regulating them or? Well, yes. Our community's doing any, I know this is a big problem everywhere. What other, what might be a solution? Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for asking. I appreciate that. Chickpea. So I have a white paper going. So it's like a little draft. And I'm jotting down things that come into mind. Chickpeas town council has proposed this. I don't think it's passed, but there's about seven communities that it has passed that you're not allowed to have the sale of 50 ml or 100 ml. Alcohol is prohibited in those towns. So it seems like it's sort of this in motion it's becoming. Yeah, I agree. They are everywhere. They are. Yeah. Yeah. And if you're finding them on the road. I mean, you can. Guess that they're being consumed on the road and tossed up. Yeah. So they're coming through the, the sewer system, not the storm system. They're coming through the storm system. And they're coming through the storm. And they're coming through the storm. And they're coming through the storm drains and sewer. Wow. Yeah. They get never think of flushing something like that. You don't want. You want to get caught. Yeah, you don't want somebody to see. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to move on. National. Oh. My public health. Yeah. And the water treatment plant and the water treatment plant for part of our community public health. So I've been to them, but. Oh, I should have asked. It's fascinating. Yeah. But way back in the late 60s, it was part of our public health course. Oh, that's so progressive. And the treatment. Yeah. I haven't been there. Yeah. Fascinating. Yeah, it's really fascinating. So I'm going to move on. Public health. National public health week was the first week in April. And we're going to be. Celebrating it. We're joining forces with the misanti health center and we have a booth at the sustainability fair. That's coming up April 22nd. And that's on the comments. Thank you very much. Kyle O'Connor and Olivia Lara Kahoon. Are going to be working there that day. So please come by the sustainability fair. You sent to health center and the health department will be there. And you can meet our staff and get some information. About health in Amherst. The public health nurse is going to be starting office hours with Craig's doors. She's working closely with them and that will be starting soon. A lot of work goes into that and everyone's very excited. And thank you again to Maureen for helping vaccines for children. And our immunization clinic. It's a real success. And we look forward to, to continuing that program. It's just sort of such a purpose and it's really vital. To get these kids that are under. Inherent. Inherent or no insurance right into school as they come into Amherst. So we'll continue that. And then our public health program assistant. Shout out to Kyle O'Connor. He's going to be starting. The community health improvement plan. That's chip. He's going to be taking all this good information that he and the team have procured through the community health assessment. And we'll be starting looking at how to implement that. And Kyle will be. Working with the board of health meetings and Kyle, thank you so much. You're doing a great job already. I see it. And then another staff information piece of information. Nancy Schroeder is joining with the DEI, the department of equity inclusion. She's a liaison for the health department here. And she's joining as a part of the core equity team. And when I get more information on that, I'll let everyone know, but she's being trained to facilitate community events. She'll still be with you. She's not. Yes. Yeah. I made that sound. Okay. Yeah. And then the last thing is that we have two board of health members leaving and their vacancies for board of health positions. We've had some applicants and thank you to them. We haven't started interviewing yet. Ideal candidate. I think we spoke about has public health background and possibly civil. Or water engineering. I think that's what you said. I don't want to. Not quote you properly. Anyone interested in applying can go to the health department webpage. And there's a link to the community activity form, or you can do that on the town of Amherst. Website. So thank you, everybody. Okay. Thank you. And any public comment, we're down to one attendee now. And. Steven, yes. Can we let Steven in? He has his hand raised. Oh, he's been so patient. Yeah. Oops. He disappeared. Oh, no, he's there. Yeah. Oh, there he is. Cannot serve video because. Okay. All right. So it just sounds. Okay. So I had a couple of questions. So. One, I heard you guys mentioned Corey checks. So I was wondering. One, what you guys would be looking for. And two, what would bar somebody from getting a license in the town? That's a good question. You know, we do these all of the time. You know, I had to do that to go be a. Parent at us. Middle school. Book fair. You know, I think it's looking for something serious. I don't think that. You know, minor issues. With the law would preclude that, but I think it would just be something to consider. Okay. And it's a criminal something. Something record. I can't remember what Corey stands for, but. Yeah. There, if you go to a school, if you're teaching, if you're a nurse, if you're a teacher, if you're a nurse, if you're a nurse, if you're a nurse, if you're a nurse, if you're a nurse, if you're a nurse, if you're volunteering in certain settings. Yeah. It's pretty routine. I think it would have to be something serious that would provoke other conversations. Okay. Okay. Also, so my other question would be, so like you guys. And the my question was, you guys kind of all have the different answers for how long the guest artist permit could be for. Was there like kind of like a general consensus on how long it could be like a month or. I don't know. We talked about it that much but I like, I think it came up to be a month then be renewable, you know, okay. I don't know what your thought is I know you said two weeks is very short. Right, right. So, ideally. So I've been thinking with like hiring people because some. I've gone like across the country to work at French shops over the years and one of the things that I like to do is like have people back like several times. Or I would like to do, ideally, and like possibly have it for like maybe a period of like three months so it'd be like maybe like a quarter of the price of the license. You know so that way like at least it's like a good solid chunk and kind of give somebody like the opportunity to like be here and then like go back to their home shop and then come back for another like few weeks that way if I'm going to hire somebody. Basically I could like really see who they are. I mean, you know like a stretch of three months in a row or maybe they'd come for three weeks and come again later for that period of time, and repeatedly, or like in the space of a year or something. Like I think it would be more or less like they have the opportunity at that point to work for a full three months here or leave and come back and just make more the opportunity to have that like quarter of the year for them to either work continuously or come back. Okay, well we can try to figure something out. Yeah. Look around I know I think this week kind of as we off as towns often do and boards often do look to other other towns to see what they say and I think this two weeks and gotten how many times that's what North Hampton is regulations are and I think East Hampton has is quite the same as North Hampton. One thing I noticed Steven is that we are the only person in Amherst like East Hampton and North Hampton have a lot of body art people. Do you have an sense of why that is, is that have anything to do with the regulations and Amherst doesn't have anything to do with anything else that you know up. Um, so the answer is yes, and no, at the same time. So one like I grew up here. So, being in a town that is basically like their life's blood is is the students right. I've been tattooing for 19 years so when there's no students here, I'm able to have like my own clientele that I've built up over the 19 years so I don't have to worry about that. So like a town like North Hampton has constant people that are like new to the town like coming in and out and like basically like their downtown is built to have more walking traffic that isn't just restaurants and bars. So like having different interests in the town attracts more people to it so basically it makes for a better business diversity. Does that make sense. Yeah, I think so. And also I think when it comes to the body art regulations. One like not having the guest artist availability to like bring new people to the town has definitely blocked. Like I had said before. The Alma is definitely like blocked me from having other artists come work here that I've known for years. So it may have blocked other people from coming to work here in the past. The other big thing is, you guys talked about briefly like the piercing. And the regulations for Amherst, as far as piercing are very restrictive. They are like stating like, I apologize. I know there was like a certain amount of piercings that were allowed in the town. And like they were piercings that were very popular, probably 20 years ago or so when the regulations were made. But now the industry has gone a lot further. I'm not a piercer nor have I ever endeavored into it myself. We did have piercing here for a very short time, but the problem was was that a lot of the stuff that people were asking for was not allowed in the town. Yeah, I wonder as far as body modification. Yeah, I'm sorry I interrupted you I was. No that's okay I interrupted you. I do have a friend that has been piercing, since the mid 90s. And he may be a good contact to talk to you about piercing in today, because it's moved to also like different forms of body modification, which I believe are also not allowed in the town. So I don't know if I should like ask him if it's okay to contact him or whatnot if you guys are ever interested. Let me know and I could try to make that contact. Okay. But I think it would be great for the town because there are a lot of people that want to do that stuff and the students just go to North Hampton, instead of coming to Amherst Center because it's not available. And my last question is, so we went over the stuff. I'm wondering when I would hear what y'all's ruling is like what you guys decided. You might have noticed this, reviewing regulations is a bit of a slow process, because monthly and you know we work on things in between and discuss and review. It's gonna be a couple months, at least. Okay. So as we get our final draft and then there's a public hearing. Okay. And then we vote on them. All right. Sorry about the process. No, no, it's okay. I'm just trying to know what if I should be researching things or like bringing any other like topics up. If you guys have any questions, or I definitely like to be like contacted like when like the next meeting that like this is going to be brought up at that way I can help guide you guys along or answer anything that you have questions about. Can Steven give me information during the month and I can pass along. Is that a good way to do it. And that would be good. Awesome. So come up on our May 11 meeting. Okay. Stephen, we've emailed right. We have not emails. I have your business card which brown j at Amherst mass dot go. Yes. Okay, I will send you an email so you have my email address. Okay, and we can go from there. And thanks for listening to me everybody. Thank you for your input. It's helpful. Very helpful. Thank you. Okay, so topics not anticipated by the chair. I forwarded an email from Michelle Miller about the reparations questionnaire she's asking people to fill it out. You've got the information from zero waste, which is working its way, and I just want to reiterate what Jen said about replacements because hopefully you'll be able to interview and may be getting a June and have replacements for July. Because as today, you never know what's going to happen and if there's only three people and one person is sick or hasn't a crisis, you won't want for a meeting. You need to so. So that's important. Replacements. On for July 1. And any other comments for the good of the board. Thank you all for your work. It's very valuable. A journey. Our next meeting is May 11 at 530. Okay. Thank you and enjoy the beautiful. No, we have to like move to enjoy. Oh, yes, we have to move. I don't know where my head is today. I think it's in the clouds. I don't know whether. Also, the Allen uses. So we need a, a motion to close the meeting. I'll move to adjourn today's meeting. I second it. So it's all in favor, Tim. Hi. Maureen. Hi. Hi. Good night. Thank you, Kyle. No problem. So after I hit end, it should just probably stop recording by itself or should I hit pause recording right now? You can hit pause recording.