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Jesse Gordon for Randolph Town Council >
Events> Health Violation and Trash ticketing
Health Violation and Trash ticketing
At two Town Council meetings in February, three different Randolph Tenant Unions came to speak publicly about health violations in Randolph apartment buildings. The Town Council Subcommittee on Human Services/Seniors/Recreation will discuss the issue, with public input, on Monday, March 6, at 5 PM, at the Lincoln Room at Randolph Town Hall -- you are welcome to come and share your opinions!
Join Zoom Meeting: (Monday, March 6, at 5 PM)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81153520398?pwd=K2N4akhOdlFNUWJ0eW95aXB3MFJGdz09
Or Dial: +1 301 715 8592 Webinar ID: 811 5352 0398
Click to see Meeting Agenda
SUMMARY OF CURRENT SITUATION: (detailed in all the documents below)
- Yes, the Town has been doing lots of trash ticketing, now at $300 per violation, and the Town has been citing several apartment complexes weekly.
- The Town has also been doing lots of health violation citations, but no ticketing. The Board of Health has been focused on criminal court hearings, but the Town IS allowed to issue civil tickets too.
- The Town is allowed to ticket for health violations up to $300 per violation per day -- the purpose of our meeting, I think, should be to discuss how to get the Town to do exactly that, a lot.
- I focus on rodents, insects, and mold, but health violations can also include security and disrepair issues -- I'm not sure of the rules, but there are several examples listed.
Letter from Tenant Unions to Town Council
Rosemont Square Tenant Association
14106 Chestnut West, Randolph, Massachusetts 02368 (508) 521-8053 southshoretenantaction@gmail.com
February 22, 2023
Town Council
Randolph, Massachusetts
To The Council:
We representatives of tenants in Randolph write you again, following up on our letter of February 6.
The dangerous and unhealthy conditions persist in our apartment homes and complexes, especially at
14 Thompson Drive, Woodview, and Rosemont Square.
We experience daily issues of rodent and insect infestation, mold, lack of heat and hot water, broken
appliances, code violations in wiring, fire safety, unlighted common areas, broken doors and so on.
See the attached photos.
Again, we call on the Council to take action to hold landlords accountable for violations by enforcing
existing ordinances and laws and by creating new punitive ones at levels that landlords will take seriously,
and not just as an acceptable cost of doing business.
We refer you to the flooding at Rosemont Square during the freeze of Feb. 5-6. Also, a shooting this
week at Rosemont Square highlighted security failures. Many of the outside doors of Rosemont buildings
do not lock because of improperly installed carpeting.
We thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Pamela Kelly,
Tenant Representative, Woodview Apartments
Debra Stanley,
Tenant Representative, 14 Thompson Drive Apartments
Bianca Dunbar
Tenant Representative, Rosemont Square Apartments
Gladys McClain
Tenant Leader, Rosemont Square Apartments
Photos demonstrating Health Violations at three apartment complexes
Board of Health response to Health Violations
The Town can take legal action against housing management on rodent infestations, insect infestations, and mold -- but has focused on criminal court complaints to push for compliance. The Board of Health provides examples of what has been done for health violations....
- Jan. 26 Health Violation to Prynne Hills -- 21 days to fix dampness and mold (this is an example of a Health Violation letter)
- Jan. 20 Health Violation to Highland apartments -- 21 days to fix chronic dampness from leaks, and other disrepair (another example of a Health Violation letter)
- Nov. 28 Health Violation at Regina Road -- 21 days to fix insect infestation, and other disrepair -- this one has numerous photos of noth insects and disrepair.
- Jan. 11 Health Violation to Rosemont Square -- 21 days to fix insect infestation and trash violation, and 24 hours to fix a security violation (broken doorknob)
- Dec. 2022 court hearing for Rosemont -- this is a court hearing date because Rosemont didn't respond to a letter like the one above.
- Above are health violations in individual apartments; below are trash violations in the outdoor common property (at trash bins). These are "trash tickets" for repeated violations of overflowing trash in trash bins, based on last year's discussion of increasing the frequency of trash tickets, when the Town Council raised the ticket dollar amount to the state maximum of $200 per incident.
- Trash tickets at Rosemont for 2022 -- 44 tickets of $200 each through November, then two tickets of $300 each in December (after the Town Council raised the maximum ticket amount); total $9,400 fined in 2022 for 46 "Violations of Town Dumpster Ordinance".
- Westwood Apartments Trash Tickets -- 23 fines in 2022 totalling $4,250.
- Highland House Apartments-- 22 fines in 2022 totalling $4,400.
- Both of these actions are good. Pushing for compliance with health violations is good; issuing tickets for trash bin overflows once per week is good. But there's a piece missing -- the Town could issue tickets for individual health violations, once per week in each apartment where they occur. Randolph issues tickets for trash bin overflows almost every week in every housing complex -- Randolph could issue tickets for health violations every week in every apartment -- that's a lot more tickets! Randolph's trash bin tickets totaled over $20,000 for the year 2022 -- that's a good program that was effective in getting the landlords to clean up the trash bins, because $20,000 means a little to them (but only a little). What if we could issue tickets for $20,000 per month? We can do that -- and the landlords will really listen then!
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