Present were: Chairman Councillor Dennis L. Irish

Councillor Michael C. Perotto

Councillor Juan A. Gomez @ 4:10 P.M.

Also: Assistant Director of Public Health John Gagliastro

Head Sanitarian Francis Birch

Division of Tobacco Control Richard Wiberg

Division of Tobacco Control William McClune

City Clerk David J. Rushford, clerk

4:00 P.M. Petition of Michael W Galvin request City Council to protect the public and mandate responsible ownership through the licensing of cats and developing strict enforcement guidelines for control of cats.

#12 CC August 22, 2000

Recommend Hold

The petitioner appeared and spoke.

Chairman’s Order request the City Manager provide the City Council with data from communities that license domestic cats and include a narrative on the commentary presented to the Health Committee concerning the public health benefits to licensing cats in the City of Worcester.

Chairman’s Order request the City Manager report to the City Council an approximate number of cats housed in the City of Worcester and offer an opinion on the purported correlation between the licensing of cats and the desire to detect disease passed through roaming cats.

4:30 P.M. Presentation by Dr. Joseph DiFranza of UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Dr. DiFranza, a Princeton, MA resident, appeared and spoke about the history and technique of enforcing the prohibition of sales of tobacco to minors both in Worcester and other Massachusetts communities.

Dave Murdock, Vice President of Honey Farms and Vice President of the New England Convenience Store Association and Lee Ann Kochi Director of Community Relations for New England Convenience Store Association appeared and spoke on their efforts to control the sale of tobacco to minors.

Chairman’s Order request the Administration to work with the New England Convenience Store Association to obtain copies of any local ordinances in effect in New England cities and towns that establish a penalty against the minor who purchases tobacco and also any literature concerning the operation of machinery that uses a swipe card to calculate the age of purchasers.

Chairman’s Order request the City Solicitor report to the City Council an opinion whether or not the City may enact an ordinance that penalizes the under-age purchasers of tobacco similar to the existing provision wherein the seller is penalized.

Chairman’s Order request Administration recommend to the City Council a reasonable compliance check per quarter that provides for on-site checks in the range of 90 %, and in that same communication inform the City Council what the Administration considers to be an acceptable level of violations of the sale of tobacco to minors.

Communication of the City Manager transmitting communication relative to enforcement of laws prohibiting sale of tobacco products to minors.

#20 D CM October 17, 2000

Recommend Hold

Chairman’s Order request the City Manager provide the City Council with data from the local Departments of Public Health in the cities of Leominster, Fitchburg, New Bedford, Fall River, Lowell and Lawrence concerning the percentages of minors successful in purchasing tobacco via sting operations in their communities.