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Health & Fitness

Upcoming Town Council items, Carbon Monoxide Detectors

Read about the Town's 2011-12 budget and a proposed garbage increase, and more.

Town Council News

At the meeting of Tuesday, July 12, the Town Council will review and consider approval of the preliminary proposed 2011-12 budget. Also on the agenda will be a public hearing on a proposed rate increase of 31.48 percent from Marin Sanitary Service, which would include returning to every week green waste and instituting a food composting program. The agendas and staff reports for Town Council meetings are posted on the town website here the Friday afternoon before the meeting.

Carbon Monoxide Detectors

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A new state law goes into effect on July 1, requiring all California homeowners with an attached garage or fossil fuel source to install a carbon monoxide detector.

According to Calfire, 90 percent of all California homes are without carbon monoxide detectors, a device that saves lives. Fuel-fired appliances, such as cooking stoves, heaters, and gas dryers can produce this odorless gas without the homeowner knowing it. When these appliances aren’t working properly, they can give off deadly amounts of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless and tasteless, so it’s easy to ignore the warning signs. Up to 40 California residents die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning.

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The law requires that alarm devices, which can cost less than $30, be installed in existing single-family homes that have a fossil-fuel burning appliance, fireplace or attached garage. Owners of multi-family rental properties like apartment buildings will have until January 1, 2013 to comply.

Carbon monoxide (CO) detectors are available at most hardware or drug stores. It is recommended that they be installed outside each bedroom on every level of the home, including the basement. And, like smoke detectors, they’re easy to install.

Animal Noise

San Anselmo has adopted section 8.04 of the Marin County Code addressing animals. Section 179 provides that it is unlawful for any person to suffer or permit any dog, cat, fowl or other animal to habitually bark, yelp, howl or create noise in such a manner which unreasonably disturbs the peace of any persons.

It can, of course, be very difficult to define “unreasonable,” and one person’s tolerance for neighborhood animal noise may be very different than another’s.  With summer finally here, and windows opened most of the time, please be aware that habitual dog barking may disturb others.

Safe Return Home Registry

This program is designed to get information to police officers about missing elderly or disabled persons as quickly as possible to assist officers in locating your loved ones.

This is a free voluntary program that allows relatives or caregivers to register people who tend to wander away from their homes due to Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome, as well as other debilitating illnesses.                         

The information collected in this program is to assist officers in the search for missing persons, including person’s name, age, physical description, color photo, place of residence, favorite places he or she might go and other pertinent information.

This information will allow officers to quickly identify the reported missing person and take him or her home and assist police when they encounter someone in the field who appears to be lost or confused.

Information provided will be accessed only by the police. The Safe Return Home Registry is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and does not collect or disseminate medical information.

This program does not guarantee the immediate return of loved ones, but will provide officers with an additional tool to locate and return your loved one. Numerous police agencies across the state have similar programs.

 

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