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Lynn Board of Health outlines multi-month rollout of updated body-art regulations after tattoo practitioners raise concerns about fee increases
Summary
Board staff said Lynn will adopt body-art regulations developed by the North Shore Public Health Collaborative and that fees were raised earlier this year; tattoo practitioners raised concerns about higher practitioner and apprentice fees and asked for clearer outreach and an explanation of the process.
The Lynn City Board of Health on May 6 described a multi-month plan to adopt updated body-art (tattoo) regulations developed by the North Shore Public Health Collaborative and addressed community concerns about recent fee increases.
Board staff said the collaborative’s model regulations — already adopted by Beverly and Salem — are being circulated to member communities, and Lynn staff plan listening sessions, trainings and a public hearing before final adoption. “We would like to see, like, the meat of the regulations be the same in every community,” a public health staff member said.
Jonathan Robinson, a tattoo practitioner at Latinta Studio, told the board that when he obtained his practitioner license it cost $150 and “within a month, it went up to 3 50.” He said that practitioners and apprentices he spoke with consider the jump large and questioned why apprentices must pay a license fee before they ever “touch skin.” Robinson described apprentices’ duties as often nonclinical — drawing, cleaning, running errands — and said charging apprentices a fee felt unfair.
A public health staff member replied that the fee changes were adopted by the Board of Health earlier in the year as part of a broader fee schedule update. The staff member pointed to the Feb. 4 agenda item, saying, “The agendas and the meeting minutes are all posted,” and noted that the fee changes were posted on the city’s inspectional services site where payments are processed. The staff member said the new licensing categories and fees reflect the collaborative’s standards and include practitioner, apprentice and establishment fees; in Lynn the establishment fee cited during the meeting was $500.
Board members agreed to take a deliberate approach: distribute the draft regulations, hold listening sessions with local tattoo establishments and schedule trainings so practitioners and apprentices can review requirements before a public hearing. Staff offered to help practitioners find the Feb. 4 minutes and to show them where materials and recorded meetings are posted (Lynn Community Television carries meeting video). No new vote was taken on regulations or fees at the May 6 meeting.
Board members also noted that prior to COVID several local tattoo artists participated in drafting previous regulations and that the current effort aims to modernize rules and align them across the collaborative’s communities. Staff said the goal is to complete the process by the end of the year but that it will likely take several months of outreach and review.
