Adams Revokes Turn Hall Food Permit; Hears 'Malicious' Hoarding Case

The Board of Health revoked Turn Hall's ability to serve food in any form.

ADAMS, Mass. – The Board of Health has revoked Turn Hall's ability to serve food for lack of a permit.

The board voted Wednesday to prohibit all food service in Turn Hall because the club has failed to renew permitting that the board issued in November.

Administrative Assistant Susan Foster said club President Anthony Scieszka has been sent letters and has been contacted by phone several times

Board of Health member Patricia Clairmont said Turn Hall is the only establishment in town that has not yet complied and that it is not exempt.

"They have been given ample opportunity and I say we pull everything. We shouldn't have to go and beg," Clairmont said. "Everyone else has to conform to getting permits."

Code Enforcement Officer Scott Koczela said this service lift also covers prepackaged food and any food brought in. He added it will also affect the club's ability to rent out the facilities.

"This puts anything they have scheduled in jeopardy," Koczela said. "They can't serve food if they have a baby shower or a wedding reception."

Clairmont said the board has no idea what the club's facilities look like or what their process is.

"We don't know what they are doing there, and I don't think the matter should be taken lightly because it's serious," she said.

She added that the ban will only be lifted if the club goes the proper permitting and comes to a Board of Health meeting to discuss the issue.

Koczela said its officers will be notified of the ban by certified mail.

Board members will frequently visit the location to see if it is complying. If any food is found, they can issue a fine on the spot.

In other business, Koczela said a property on Summer Street has been severally damaged by hoarding and negligence by the occupant. He said the sheriff's office has visited the location and was forced to call Koczela because of the high level of damage, trash and animal feces.

"In the 10 years I have been on this job, it is the worst thing I have ever seen in my career," Koczela.

Pictures presented at the meeting showed piled garbage and cat feces throughout the home. Unwashed dishes, food containers, and uneaten food overflowed from the sink and most surfaces within the home.

He said the destruction and negligence shown in the apartment seemed to be malicious. He said the occupant destroyed bathroom faucets and left them running in attempt to flood the structure. He said attempts to plug the drain thankfully were unsuccessful.

"I was forced to go in and lay a pizza box down so I wasn't standing in the cat feces that were piled there to get under the sink to turn the water off with the shut offs," he said.

Koczela said there was a similar case in the upstairs bathroom.

"They stuffed roll of toilet paper in the upstairs toilet and left it full of urine and feces," he said.

Koczela said the tenant, a woman, has two daughters over the age of 18 and one daughter they believed to be a teenager that may have lived with her in these conditions.

"We don't know who she is, how old she is, or what her name is, but it would fall under DCF (Department of Children and Families) protection because both the mother and young daughter were living in this filth and it was unfit for human habitation," he said.

The apartment is now vacated and the woman is living in another property in Adams.

Koczela said the property owner has been notified and that he will be pressing criminal charges.

He said they are working on cleaning up what used to be a beautiful home, which he has inspected before.

"It's a nice little home. It was in beautiful shape," he said. "You can see it in the photographs if you look past the trash. It has nice cabinets and hardwood floors. This person maliciously destroyed the place."

A property owner, Greg Nowicki, who attended the meeting, said he has seen worse conditions in his own properties and that it is unfair what some renters get away with.

"We had one tenant who cut the bottom of his door off because he had chickens and he wanted them to run around inside," Nowicki said. "It's just amazing what these people do to our houses … we don't have a leg to stand on a half time."