The Board of Health discusses how it should address complaints over an East Road property.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Board of Heath is demanding an East Road property owner clean up his property and remove a derelict mobile home.

The board on Thursday approved a letter written by member Cynthia Schock detailing the health and safety violations and the actions required by the homeowner.

Schock asked her colleagues how they should address the property owner to handle multiple complaints of an abandoned mobile home, debris, an unregistered trailer, open wells, open sewer lines, and a hazardous electrical line connecting to the mobile home.

Board member Mike Rivers said the biggest concern is the mobile home, which is unsecured.

Schock agreed and wrote in a letter to the owner that it needs to be taken down.

"That piece of property, which is now attracting animals, scrappers, and children needs to be taken down, point blank," Schock said. "It is a public health hazard."

As for the reported open sewer pipe, Rivers said he could not find one on the property, however, when the mobile home is removed, there will be one exposed.  

He added that the town may take legal action on the property owner because they are in arrears for the sewer.

Along with any open sewer pipes, Schock wrote that any wells must be covered and that the power should be turned of at the mobile h ome because an electrical line is rubbing against a tree.

Schock said she had crafted the letter on the violations in September and sent it to her fellow board members in October for editing. She said she received no response and needed help with legal citations.  

"The problem with this particular piece of property is that it took a while for us to get the information and now it is taking time getting this letter together because there are all of these little details we want to get into the letter," Schock said. "You would think writing a letter would be a simple task."

Rivers added that they were unsure how many other town boards needed to be involved with the letter.

"We don't want to overstep our realm, and I think that was part of the problem why we didn't move forward with his because there were so many different entities that needed to be involved," Rivers said.  

Rivers said he received the emailed letter, however, Chairman Norman Rolnick said he never saw it. He added that it may be better for board members to call each other if there is time-sensitive material to attend to.

"The only way we are going to know if someone received something is to physically ask them," Rolnick said. "If you text me or email me and if I don't respond that doesn't do any good. If we have something important we are just going to have to call each other."

Schock added to the letter, that will be sent out certified mail, that the property owner had until Dec. 20 to take action.  

She then asked the board if it wanted to share chairman responsibilities.

The other members felt this was a good idea, however, Rolnick added that he may not be on the board in six months because of other responsibilities. Schock said she would be interested in the chairman position.

The board also agreed to hold weekly office hours in Town Hall.

"Just so we have a presence in the building because we are sort of hard to capture," Schock said.

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