Adams Board of Health Hears of Sewage, Lead Complaints
 The Board of Health heard about issues with sewage, garbage and lead poisoning. |
ADAMS, Mass. — Code Enforcement Officer Scott Koczela said the 10 Murray property that housed alleged terrorist Alexander Ciccolo this summer is still giving the town trouble.
Koczela told the Board of Health on Wednesday that a broken sewer pipe that spewed sewage into the sidewalk was repaired, but it needs to be replaced.
"During the FBI raid we had, there were a few firefighters that said the inside stunk of sewage so it leads me to believe it's coming back into the building," he said.
Koczela said the property owner had until the end of August to respond to the town's demands and clean up the contaminated basement and replace the broken line.
He said the owner has only called Town Hall to complain and will be brought back to court.
Koczela said a lead inspection on a First Street property has to be conducted because a child living in the building was diagnosed with lead poisoning.
Koczela said the property had a letter of compliance on file issued by Charles Ransford from 1993.
He said this triggers a new inspection and investigation by the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program to see if the property fell out of compliance or if the certificate was wrongly issued.
He said Adams has had this issue in the past.
"During 2006 and 2007, we had a string of them," Koczela said. "We had poisoned kids and the state came out to check and they found violations galore so every time one of these comes up, especially when a compliance letter was issued and a child was poisoned, they want to be notified."
He said Summer Street residents have complained to him about a property in the area that smells like garbage. He said initially the garbage was on the front lawn and he believes someone may have stored it inside.
He said the property is condemned, has no utilities, and he has caught people trying to live in it.
He said the owner was indicted in the past for illegally selling cigarettes from the location and it is unknown where he is.
"They were getting cigarettes over the Internet from reservations and reselling them without the taxes," he said. "He's kind of gone off to the wind, and we don't know how to get a hold of him."
Koczela also reported that issues with Braytonville Properties' Columbia Street housing units have been resolved.
Last year during renovations to parts of the property, demolition was piled outside. After cleanup, soil was raked over the top but much of the debris such as glass, nails, and broken plumbing was still present.
Koczela said after Braytonville ignored his orders to clean up company officials were summoned to court but did not attend. After issuing a criminal complaint, Koczela said the site was cleaned up and the charges were dropped.
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