ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Health wants to be more proactive in ensuring other town departments have access to its abandoned properties list.

 

Bruce Shepley told his fellow members Wednesday that their office does keep a record of abandoned properties.

 

"I followed up on it and the bottom line is that we have one in our office," he said. 

 

Administrative Assistant Pam Gerry said the office gets a few calls a year about the list but nothing substantial.

 

Shepley suggested making the file more available to other departments.

 

"This may not be pertinent to the Board of Health but this is a book that the town would want when they are looking at properties, community development or the auctions," he said. "I bet real estate agents or people who flip homes would also be interested in it."

 

Shepley added that the file may be more useful if it is digitized. 

 

"It sounds to me like the thing that we are lacking in is the database or spreadsheet," he said. "My gut feeling is I think if we created that spreadsheet ... I think it would create a higher level of interest."

 

In other business, Shepley said he had no real update of the status of the former Curtis Paper Mill on 155 Howland Ave. in which the town is in the process of taking for back taxes.

 

Shepley said he attended a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in which it was stated that no business should be conducted on the property because the property is not supposed to be entered at all.

 

"The property is not supposed to be accessed at all," he said. "No one, not even the town unless they have a warrant, to go on that property."

 

The town officially began the process of taking the property last year and pulled MJD Real Estate's operating permits. Owners Norman Dellaghelfa Jr. and Roberta Dellaghelfa, who used the facility for their trucking business, owe the town more than $450,000 in unpaid real estate and personal property taxes.

 

Since then multiple residents have come forward with the concerns that the property was still being used. 

 

Shepley noted that the property is still out of the Board of Health's hands.