Williamstown Looking into Electrical Issues at Motel
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — For the second time in four months, the inn and restaurant at 910 Cold Spring Road was discussed by the Board of Health.
This time, the inn was the topic of conversation.
Health Inspector Ruth Russell told the board on Monday morning that the town had received "a couple of complaints" about the guest rooms at the 1896 House.
In June, the 6 House Pub, which has the same owner as the motel, was before the board about a boil water order.
On Monday, Russell told the board guests at the inn reported complaints that fell under the board's purview as well as one that she referred to the town's wiring inspector.
No representatives of the 1896 House appeared during Monday morning's meeting. An attorney who represented the owner at June's meeting did not reply as of press time to a Monday morning email from iBerkshires.com seeking comment about the electrical issue.
Russell told the board that the inn had been notified both by email and registered letter about concerns with the building's electrical service.
A letter dated Aug 28 from the wire inspector, Joe Beverly, to 1896 House owner Michael Oring cited seven different areas that needed to be addressed. For example, the letter reads, "We located and removed several cord adapters and plug strips that were used to plug multiple items
into the same receptacle. Very hazardous and are not rated for appliance loads and must not be used."
Overall, Beverly wrote that the inn is an older building with numerous changes needed to bring it up to code but emphasized, "These are serious hazardous conditions," with the last two words underlined.
On the same day, Russell issued an "Order to Correct" dated Aug. 28 that addressed a number of issues unrelated to Beverly's review. But alongside the "Electrical issues" with a reference to the building inspector's report was a requirement that the "timeframe for compliance" was 24 hours.
As of Monday morning, no electrical permits had been pulled to do any work in the guest rooms, Russell told the board.
Russell said she was concerned by what she found in the rooms on a site visit after the town received the complaints this summer.
"I was taken aback by the electrical issues, particularly," she said. "Obviously, these [other] things are smaller but important like tiles being detached. Some of the bathrooms are very moist.
"The electrical was eye-opening to me. All of the outlets were two-prong outlets, but they were using many appliances that require a ground."
Members of the board, likewise, were alarmed, with a couple drawing a connection between the complaints in the guest rooms with the water issue addressed by the board earlier this year.
"There are some signs of heat and arcing in the electrical," James Parkinson said, indicating a photo the board reviewed. "That says fire to me. … I'm concerned now that we have a second issue with this place. I'm concerned, and I'm wondering whether we need to take more serious action with them."
Board member Sandra Goodbody agreed.
"My own impression when we had the hearing [in June] was [the owner] was doing a smooth talking lawyer job," Goodbody said. "It wasn't clear to me how serious they were taking getting the place to a minimum standard."
Parkinson noted that, unlike the issue it had with its well, the business does not have wait on approval from a state agency like the Department of Environmental Protection in order to move forward.
"What concerns me is that with the issue with the water and wells, the can kept getting kicked down the road," Parkinson said. "This is not something that can get kicked down the road. To me, 24 hours means immediately. Quite frankly, I think these people need to be notified that we will shut them down if this isn't done immediately."
Board of Health Chair Win Stuebner said it was worth noting that the town has received no reports of E. coli contamination associated with the '6 House Pub, indicating that mitigation efforts there have been successful. And he said he found the manager of the restaurant to be knowledgeable and cooperative in addressing the water and other issues at the eatery.
That said, Stuebner agreed that a strong response is needed on the electrical issue.
"I think we contact them and say the Board of Health is demanding, within 24 hours, their plan for corrective action and for the corrective action to occur immediately," Stuebner said.
As for the water issue at the '6 House Pub, Russell told the board that the town was cc'd on a letter from Mass DEP giving conditional approval for a new well to serve the eatery. She said the business will need to go before the town's Conservation Commission with a notice of intent before moving forward with that project.
One matter that was concluded on Monday morning was an order to abate a nuisance at a residence at 1033 Simonds Road. Russell told the board that the wood pile in the front yard that was the last remaining item to be addressed from the order has been removed and asked if the board wanted to close matter.
The board agreed to do so, and Goodbody suggested that the letter Russell sends to notify the owner of the property include the town's thanks for addressing the board's concerns.
"I think the boundaries we set were important, but I also think making comments in the note you sent [in August] that acknowledged her efforts was a part of a successful remedy," Goodbody said.
Tags: board of health, electrical,
