Oakham Health Board Votes to Send Rat Case to Counsel

Board of Health · Meeting of August 27, 2026

Oakham's Board of Health votes to send a rat-infested barn access plan to counsel, delays a toxic-site hearing to September 15. Chair Barbara Piucci said a five-year-vacant barn at 21 Coldbrook Road, where children have been seen entering on bikes, will be boarded up after the estate owner granted written permission to avoid a housing-court warrant; a buyer has offered $34,000 for the property, which carries $15,000 in back taxes. Clerk Elizabeth Weeks said she'd be "worried about proceeding without counsel," and the board voted unanimously to send its documents to town counsel first.

On a second item, Vice Chair Lucille A. DiLeo said a cease-and-desist order against ZOVL Properties LLC covering roughly 40 acres at 358 Coldbrook Road "is in effect" and stays that way regardless of a hearing pushed from Thursday to September 15; a 30-day remediation-plan deadline still falls September 11. DiLeo said she wants to keep the Department of Environmental Protection out for now, arguing "it's still going to be under our control."

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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Source: the Board of Health meeting of August 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.