Chelsea is down to 37 stores licensed to sell tobacco, from 52 when the city capped the number, and no new licenses are being issued. That count comes from the Board of Health’s minutes for its September 8 meeting, which the city posted on Monday, November 9, one day before the board holds a public hearing on new rules for tattoo and piercing shops.
The hearing is Tuesday, November 10, at 5:45 p.m. in the Williams School Building, 180 Walnut Street, through the Arlington Street entrance. The legal notice says the subject is proposed revisions to the city’s 2001 Body Art Regulations. The notice set Friday, November 6, as the last day to email comments or ask for language help. The hearing itself is in person. We first noted it in our preview of the November 10 meetings.
What the body art rules would change
The proposed text was not posted on the board’s page as of Monday evening, and neither was an agenda for Tuesday. The September minutes give the outline. Community Health Worker Julissa Sandoval told the board the first draft was finished and that she had gone through it section by section with Boston and Cambridge. Staff were preparing a side by side summary of the old and new rules.
One new piece is apprenticeships. Body art shops would be allowed to take on apprentices, who would have to complete a minimum number of hours, with a check-in at the halfway point before they apply for a regular tattoo or piercing license. The minutes do not give the number of hours. Staff told the board in September they hoped the new regulations could be approved by the end of the year.
Tobacco: 37 licenses, and the cap holds
The board voted unanimously to renew 37 tobacco sales licenses. Four license holders chose not to renew. Public Health Director Flor Amaya told the board that under the city’s regulation a license is retired when a store closes, and that the original 52 fell as businesses shut or their buildings became housing.
The new Market Basket liquor store does not add to the total. Amaya said the company would move its existing tobacco license to the new location. A special virtual meeting on October 6 listed that transfer, from Market Basket to Market Basket Spirits, as its only business. The October 13 agenda listed a second transfer, the sale of the permit held by Sabor Especial Restaurant #2 to Chelsea Miles Inc. Minutes for the two October meetings have not been posted, so the votes are not yet in the public record.
Some stores had fines or suspensions during the year. The minutes say all were resolved before the June 30 application deadline, and do not name the stores.
Kratom letters went to every tobacco retailer
The board discussed the state’s emergency order barring the sale of kratom products, which the minutes say took effect August 28, 2026, and can run for up to one year. The department sent letters about the order to all 37 retailers. The board took no local action and may look at the issue again after the state’s review next year.
Five active TB cases, and COVID numbers that doubled
Public Health Nurse Paula McHatton reported five active tuberculosis cases in the city as of September 8. Two former cases came back to her for follow-up after time out of the country, and both had finished treatment there. She reported 17 confirmed COVID cases, a number the minutes say had doubled recently, and no flu.
She also reported one case of Listeria in a resident with a long history of serious illness, who died. The source of the infection was not identified, and state epidemiologists contacted the family about food history.
Help for homebound residents and people with disabilities
- Vaccines at home. McHatton said she will go to the apartments of homebound residents to vaccinate them. Residents can ask by calling 311.
- Special Needs Registry. 153 residents had signed up. New sign-ups are offered a free home visit with a firefighter to check alarms and exits.
- Safety Net. 28 residents, most of them children, wear the program’s tracking bracelet. Supplies are running low and the emergency management director is considering bracelets with GPS and 24-hour tracking.
- New mothers. The department is building a maternal and child health pilot, with a planning grant from the Boston Foundation, that would send a nurse to visit new mothers.
A board member remembered
The meeting opened with a moment of silence for Mariolino Fernandes, a longtime member of the board who had died. The minutes credit him with work on the board’s larger reviews, including the Nicotine Free Generation rule and the removal of menthol products from stores, and say he “always came in with a big smile and a positive attitude.”
Chair Israel Molina and members Jessica Wynns and Samantha Melaragno attended the September meeting, which ran from 5:50 to 6:48 p.m. No one spoke during public comment.