A few concerned Somerville residents sat in on the meeting to continue the discussion on the house at 31 Wilton Street. The two family building located on Wilton St. has been classified by the owner as a sober house that accommodates recovering addicts for short and long terms stays. The issue at the forefront of the meeting concerned how many residents are legally allowed to stay at the building at one time, and whether or not all residents are officially recovering from substance abuse problems. Under state law, only 4 non-related adults are legally allowed to reside in a one family facility, making the maximum residents for 2 family homes to be limited to 8 people. The home at 31 Wilton Street is said to be exempt to this rule under the Fair Housing Act concerning people with disabilities, and commonly houses 10 people at a time. This issue was brought to the Board due to resident's concerns over the validity of 31 Wilton Street's claims that it is a true sober house and that there is no regulation on who comes and goes from the facility. Deputy Upton stated, "the fact that we don't know who's in there concerns us, but not as much as other properties." He also added that there have been no recent police reports coming from that area. One resident who attended the meeting said he had found a hypodermic needle in the area and had reported it to police.

Aldermen O'Donovan's major concern is over the fact that there is no verification process currently in place for sober or half-way houses. The committee had asked the City Solicitor's Office in the previous meeting to look into possible solutions. Assistant City Solicitor David Shapiro reported back to the committee on Wednesday, stating Somerville has the right to request a 3rd party verification that the residents of a particular facility are entitled to protection under the Fair Housing Act.

The committee asked the City Solicitor's Office and the Superintendent of Inspectional Services to put together a form that will force owners of such facilities to verify the eligibility of its tenants in accordance with the law. Alderman O'Donovan feels that dealing with the issue is an important precedent. "This is way bigger than Wilton Street," said O'Donovan. "What scares me is that it is all incumbent on the housing provider to do the right thing." The City Solicitor's Office will come back to the committee with a form to be approved at their next meeting in August.

In other business, there have been complaints of trespassers in the old Max Pak factory site. Alderman O'Donovan quoted reports of children on the roof and felt it needed to be secured for safety reasons. Deputy Chief Upton stated that the area is now being patrolled and is on their watch list.

Superintendent Landers responded to complaints about health inspectors entering private property without permission. Landers stated that all inspectors denied such accusations, but were reminded of proper protocol.

Another issue brought forth by Committee Chairman White was the problem of dog breeding in residences. Currently there is a maximum number of dogs that one home can legally own, but that does not include puppies that are under six months old as they are not forced to be licenced. Aldermen White asked the City Solicitor's Office and the Superintendent of Inspectional Services to look into the zoning code to see if any changes should be made.

The next Public Health and Public Safety Meeting is tentatively scheduled for August 26th.