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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM061611RECEIVED JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH JUL 2 S 2011 MINUTES Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 2:30 PM — 4:30 AEFFERSON CUUNTY Public Health Conference Room, 615 Sheridan Street, PodGG"ISSIONERS Board Members Staff Members Phil Johnson, Vice Chair, County Commissioner District V Thomas Locke, MD, MPH Health Officer David Sullivan, County Commissioner, District #2 Jean Baldwin, Public Health Services Director John Austin, County Commissioner, District #3 Julia Danskin, Nursing Services Director Roberta Frissell, Citizen at large (County) Stuart Whitford, Environmental Health Services Director Kristen Nelson, Chair, Port Townsend City Council Sheila Westerman, Citizen at large (City) Jill Buhler, Hospital Commissioner, District #2 Chair Kristen Nelson called the meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 2:30 PM. A quorum was present. Members Present: Phil Johnson, David Sullivan, John Austin, Roberta Frissell, Kristen Nelson, Sheila Westerman, Jill Buhler Staff Present: Dr. Thomas Locke, Jean Baldwin, Julia Danskin, Stuart Whitford APPROVAL OF AGENDA Ms. Danskin recommended that New Business, Item 4; Community Report — Port Townsend/Chimacum Food Bank Report be moved to the July 21, 2011 BOH meeting. Member Westerman moved to approve the agenda as amended and Member Johnson seconded for approval. The agenda was approved unanimously, as amended. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Member Sullivan moved for approval of the April 21, 2011 BOH meeting minutes; Member Buhler seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENTS Larry Dennison, owner of Dos Okies Barbeque in Port Townsend, commented on the new proposed permit charges and requirements for temporary food service permits. In previous years Mr. Dennison was allowed to purchase an annual temporary food service permit for all catering and special events. With the new proposed fee changes, Mr. Dennison will be required to apply and pay for a new permit for every event. Mr. Dennison said Dos Okies will experience a minimum increase of 217% in total permit fees, including a potential 600% increase in temporary food service permits for 2011. Mr. Dennison urged the board to consider a decrease in these fees. OLD BUSINESS and INFORMATIONAL ITEMS Adverse Childhood Events May 2011 Article — American Journal of Public Health Ms. Baldwin announced that the article on Adverse Childhood Events in the Mental Health Discussion, written by Dunia Faulx, Jean Baldwin, Quen Zorrah, Denis Langlois, and Lisa McKenzie was published in the American Journal of Public Health. Jefferson County Public Health — WIC Facts 2010 Ms. Danskin presented the WIC Facts 2010, which was included in the packet. She highlighted the amount of grocery dollars and Farmers Market dollars that come in to our county from the federal government. Ms. Baldwin stated that they are trying to do more outreach to low income families who might not know they are eligible to receive WIC services. Green Business / EnviroStars Awards Ms. Danskin informed the Board that Port Hadlock Marina and The Car Wash have met the guidelines for reducing hazardous waste. Port Hadlock Marina has been awarded the EnviroStars certification and The Car Wash has been awarded the EnviroStars and Green Business Certification. NEW BUSINESS Food Service Awards - Presentation Mr. Whitford announced that there were 40 restaurants and proprietors who were being recognized for their hard work in 2010 to maintain excellent food safety standards. Chair Nelson recognized and congratulated the restaurants and proprietors that were present to receive their award. Environmental Health Food Permit Fee Discussion and Recommended Call for Public Hearing Ms. Baldwin announced that the food worker classes, testing and cards are now available on line at https://www.foodworkereard.wa.gov. Due to a mistake in the 2011 Environmental Health Fee Schedule, Mr. Whitford asked the Board hold a Public Hearing to correct the fees for Grocery Stores (1-3 check outs) and Espresso Stands were reversed. Susan Porto, Environmental Health Specialist, discussed WAC 246-215 which defines a "temporary food establishment" and the permitting requirements for those events. Previously Environmental Health issued temporary food service permits that were valid until the end of the current calendar year and could be used for an unlimited number of events at multiple locations. In reviewing the State code they discovered that the code had been misinterpreted. In 2011 they changed how they handled Temporary Food Service Permits. A Temporary Food Service Permit is valid until the end of the year. Multiple events may be approved for food operations meeting the temporary food establishment definition with a fixed menu and at a fixed location. A new permit is required every time the menu and/or location changes. The fee schedule only has a category for single event or multiple event temporary food service events in a fixed location. There is no fee category for a recurring food service event that occurs in multiple locations. They are currently charging separate fees for events that do not qualify for a multiple event category, which has brought on complaints from vendors about the changes in interpretation and the associated cost. Mr. Whitford recommended a change to the fee schedule for Temporary Food Service Events to reflect a more reasonable approach, because the code and the fees associated with those events are not in line. Member Westerman requested that someone talk to the prosecuting attorney to see if the permit and application can be handled through e-mail to reduce the burden on the vendors. Chair Nelson asked to see information regarding the way other counties are handling temporary food permit issuance. Mr.Whitford suggested that there may be better long term solutions. Right now a fix is needed to relieve an undue fee burden and at a later date discussion could be opened up to look at policies and procedures to streamline the permitting process for next year. Member Sullivan moved to schedule a hearing on the proposed revisions of 2011 Temporary Food Service Fees as provided in the handout and to fix the mistake regarding the reversal of the fees for the Espresso carts for the July 21, 2011 BOH meeting. Member Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Member Westerman moved to temporarily suspend collection of the fees for repeat, same menu, different location events until the Public Hearing on July 21, 2011 when a new fee could be considered. Any changes to this fee would then be retroactive to the date collection of the fee was suspended. Member Buhler seconded the motion. A vote was taken; the motion passed unanimously. Health of Jefferson County Data Summary Dr. Locke said that one of the reasons that the Health Department creates reports on the health of Jefferson County is because it is their statutory responsibility to do periodic community health assessments. The goal has been that the information would be used to drive prioritization, decisions, to identify unmet needs, and allocate resources to those needs and guide policy makers in making better decisions. Dr. Locke stated that one of the Board's statutory duties, as the ones supervising all matters pertaining to the life and health of Jefferson County residents, is to use these reports to look for opportunities for prevention and community health improvement. Reports of this type can identify community health problems that need to be addressed. Dr. Locke stated that another important use of this information is to priorities for action once problems have been identified. Ms. Baldwin focused on how to read the data, because Jefferson County is an older and wealthier community, which skews the data and may not give a clear picture of where the issues may lie. Ms. Baldwin also addressed the healthy youth survey, its findings, and potential areas of concern as state and federal budget cuts take effect. She mentioned other entities that have used the information i.e., EDC, City Council, Public Works, and DCD. Ms. Baldwin pointed out some of the data that has changed significantly over the past decade. Per capita income and median income have gone up, while average earnings per job have declined. Suri Kushner, Epidemiologist for Kitsap Health District continued to highlight some of the data in the report. There were increases in persons living below 100% of the federal poverty level, kids on free and reduced lunches and births that were reimbursed by Medicaid. She pointed out that while the number of free and reduced lunches is up, funding for extracurricular activities for students is gone, and those programs are being eliminated which affects the quality of life for students. Ms. Baldwin stated that it is known that homelessness is a critical issue. Jefferson County has seen an increase in homelessness. The data may not tell us why homelessness has gone up, but we do know who is using the shelters, and this could be an action item. Ms. Kushner suggested that community service providers could capture real life experiences that would bring these numbers to life since just reading this report may not be very useful to the general public. Ms. Baldwin stated that when looking at the issues that have been focused on over the past years the data shows that the numbers are going in the right direction. Ms. Kushner pointed out that the data shows the amount of women that report smoking during pregnancy continues to be high. This is an area to focus on when looking at tobacco use. Dr. Locke concluded with asking the question; where we go from here. He stated that is important to pay attention to community health assessment data because it is part of Public Health's core mission to measure the impact of policy decisions. Dr. Locke pointed out that something positive he is seeing is that community health assessment is moving from local health jurisdictions to more of a community partnership model with the hospitals playing a central role in developing what have come to be known as Community Health Improvement Plans. Substance Abuse Advisory Board Nomination Member Sullivan moved to appoint Kay Pownall to the Substance Abuse Advisory Board; Member Austin seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. Washington State Budget Update Ms. Baldwin announced that the governor signed the 2011 Biennial Budget June 15, 2011. Ms. Danskin also pointed out that the budget starts on July 1, 2011, so there are many contracts that will be coming in to place. The packet included a handout that outlined the Department of Health funding showing reductions in funding for many programs, totaling a reduction of about 11 % in state funding dollars. Ms. Baldwin stated that the immunization and communicable disease program funding known as "5930" was cut by 50%. Member Frissell recommended that press releases may be beneficial when there are state budget cuts so the public knows why programs are being eliminated. Mr. Whitford announced that Environmental Health received a $300,000 grant from Department of Ecology which will help them to respond to the Port Hadlock shellfish growing area issues, and they will also be partnering with the City of Port Townsend to help deal with storm water issues. He also announced that Environmental Health received $80,000.00 so that Jefferson County can do their own local source control program to look at businesses that impact storm water. The site hazard assessment program will most likely continue at the same amount of funding as last biennium. Finally he announced that the Coordinated Prevention Grant looks good, but they do not have any firm numbers yet. ACTIVITY UPDATE Ms. Baldwin stated that there will be the Public Hearing at the July BOH meeting and she will provide the Public Health Standards report. AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR The next scheduled BOH meeting will be held Thursday, July 21, 2011 from 2:30-4:30 PM at the Health Department, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA. ADJOURNMENT Chair Nelson adjourned the BOH meeting at 4:37 PM. JE RSON COUNTY B RD OF HEALTH Kristen Nelson, Chai villuhler, Member Roberta Frissell, Member � �� 4__ ulez' 4el� V_�� Sheila Westerman, Member Phil John -Vice-Chair Jo Austin, Member r David ulliv , Member