b'C H A P T E R F O U Rinstalled in a house when it was put up for sale, why couldnt the same procedure be applied to septic systems? Martha Stone picks up the sequence of events at that point. Joan Kimball had said to her, we should have a regulation in this town that every time a piece of property is transferred, the septic system has to be inspected; these are the requirements.Mrs. Stones reply: Lets go for it. Locally, they faced one obstacle: the Board of Health, says Martha Stone, was not interested in the idea (of a new regulation). There werent enough professional engineers around to handle the inspections, they told her. This is the kind of answer that quickly turns into a challenge for her. So both Mrs.Kimball and Mrs. Stone sat down at their phones. Systematic calls told them that (1) qualified engineers were available, and (2) installers had enough manpower to do the actualMartha Stone, active in Friends affairs from work. With this information in hand, 83 on, stepped into a big part in making a Mrs. Stone went back to the Board ofreality of the Town regulation requiring Health. Could it draft a regulation? septic system inspection at the time a house Again, the reply was negativenois being sold.Rob Carlislestaff for that. Well, then, said the visitor from FSHW, How aboutif we write it? That was acceptable.Bring it to the next meeting, she was told.Now the tiller was handed to Joan Kimball. Drawing on advice from a helpful Department of Environmental Protection in Lakeville and legal assistance from her husband, she set about writing the regulation. The Board of Health looked over her draft and tossed it back. More research and more rewriting followedthe board was dubious about how defensible the rule might be, and there were no precedents.Months traveled by, and then, after all the wrinkles had presumably been ironed out, the Board of Health finally issued the regulation in mid-November 1985; it wouldbe effective January 1, 1986. Clearly, the board merited applause for its innovative and bold step. Joan Kimball and Batchelder took care of that detail. We believe that the Board .is to be commended for taking this action to protect our public health, they said in their letter to health officials. It was an ideal relationship between acitizens committee and a town board, summarized52'