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Date: 4/12/2022
EASTHAMPTON – The Board of Health plans to conduct a public hearing in the future to address revising rules in the city about apprentices who wish to become tattoo artists.
Josh Suchoza, the owner of the Black Labyrinth Tattoo Syndicate, told the board currently the ordinance for Easthampton noted that a tattoo artist who is training an apprentice can only have one apprentice at a time.
The length of time for an apprenticeship as detailed by the ordinance is three years.
Suchoza requested the board look at changing the ordinance so more apprentices can be trained. He added under the present system it would take him 15 years to staff his studio.
He said demand for tattoos is up and the number of artists isn’t meeting the demand.
Suchoza said there is nothing in the state regulations that address apprenticeships. He said no other neighboring communities have rules about apprentices. “It’s great to have an apprentice program,” he added.
Public Health Director Bri Eichstaedt said a public hearing would be conducted with the other tattoo artists in the city invited to join in on the discussion.
Suchoza said that apprentices are not paid and do not get paid until they actually create a tattoo for a customer. He said some apprentices start tattooing well before the end of the three-year period.
There will be further discussion at next month’s meeting of the board.
The board is also going to conduct a public hearing about the noise created by trash trucks picking up refuse in the morning. The board has received four complaints in the last two years about trash trucks making rounds as early as 3:30 a.m.
Eischstaedt said the city’s ordinances about trash pickup are outdated and were last examined in 2005.
Eischstaedt also told the board that Valley Farms, a convenience store in the city has been selling confectionaries under the name “THC Zero.” These products used a synthetic THC, to provide the same effect as natural THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
The products have been removed for sale at the store and other stores will be checked for the illegal product.