HomeMy WebLinkAboutM032113JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH
MINUTES
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368
Board Members Staff Members
Phil Johnson, County Commissioner District #I Thomas Locke, MD, MPH Health Officer
David Sullivan, Vice Chair, 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) Jared Keefer, Environmental Health Services Director
Catharine Robinson, Port Townsend City Council
Sheila Westerman, Citizen at large (City)
Jill Buhler, Chair, Hospital Commissioner, District #2
Chair Buhler called the meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 2:30 P.M. A
quorum was present.
Members Present: Jill Buhler, David Sullivan, John Austin, Roberta Frissell, Sheila Westerman,
Catharine Robinson
Staff Present: Dr. Thomas Locke, Jean Baldwin, Jared Keefer, Veronica Shaw
Members Excused: Phil Johnson
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Jean Baldwin suggested a discussion of Dr. Locke's new contract and a discussion of a
letter received from Burt Loomis be added under new business. Member Frissell suggested
adding a letter of appreciation be sent to Mary Selecky under new business. Member
Austin suggested adding a State Board of Health update under old business. Member
Austin moved to approve the agenda as amended. Member Frissell seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Member Austin moved to approve the minutes of the January 17, 2013 BOH meeting.
Member Frissell seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS and INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
Letters to Legislators: Medicaid Administrative Match and Battery Recycling
Ms. Baldwin announced she sent a letter to the state legislators asking for their support in
Governor Inslee's appeal to Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to ask the Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS) at a federal level to treat Washington the same as other states in
regard to the Medicaid Administrative Match (MAM). A copy of the letter was included in the
agenda packet. The effect of the CMS decision to change the MAM program resulted in a
statewide reduction of almost $8.5 million annually to support public health activities. The
impact to Jefferson County will be $58,000 in 2013. Ms. Baldwin suggested the same letter be
sent from the Board.
Member Robinson moved to send a letter from the Board to Washington State Senators
with a copy to the Governor. Member Austin seconded the motion. The motion passed
unanimously.
Jared Keefer addressed the copy of a letter included in the agenda packet which he sent to
Representative Van De Wege in January. The letter, regarding the battery recycling program, is
to ensure that Washington State has an effective recycling program for small rechargeable
batteries that is convenient, environmentally sound and financed fairly.
Governor Inslee Appoints New Secretary of Health
Dr. Locke announced Governor Inslee has appointed John Wiesman as the new Washington
Secretary of Health. Mr. Wiesman will be replacing Mary Selecky who has announced her
retirement.
Member Frissell moved for the Board to send a letter of appreciation to Mary Selecky for
her 15 years of service, which will be signed by the BOH Chair. Member Austin seconded
the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Implementation of Federal Budget Sequester — WA State Impacts
Dr. Locke discussed the testimony Mary Selecky, Secretary of Washington State Department of
Health, gave to Congress regarding the budget cuts known as the Sequester. A copy was
included in the agenda packet. Dr. Locke pointed out that in Ms. Selecky's testimony she is
speaking on behalf of the Board of Directors for the Association of State and Territorial Health
Officials. She reviewed the national impacts of the budget cuts and then used as an example of
what is going on in Washington State. The impact of these funding reductions at the federal,
state and local levels will significantly impact public health's ability to protect the nation's
health.
Healthcare Preparedness Network, 2011-2012 Annual Report
Dr. Locke discussed the role of the Healthcare Preparedness Network which is comprised of four
local coalitions representing Kitsap, Jefferson, East Clallam and West Olympic Peninsula. The
Network's mission is to support and strengthen the ability of community healthcare providers in
Region 2 to respond to healthcare needs in emergency situations.
Update on the State Board of Health
Member Austin updated the Board on a presentation of the Health Benefit Exchange from the
State Board of Health. He announced people will begin receiving services in 2014.
Member Austin also distributed a graph which showed the positive effect of the work done on
youth smoking, including the significant decreased rate of smoking in 12'' graders.
NEW BUSINESS
2012 Environmental Health Performance Measures and Year End Reports
Jared Keefer, Environmental Health Director, updated the Board on the on-site sewage classes.
He stated there have been nine classes for homeowners held with 237 participants. He also gave
a brief overview for each department of Environmental Health's Performance Measures and
Year End Reports for 2012.
Mr. Keefer first discussed the On -Site Sewage and Septic Operations & Monitoring Programs.
He noted that there was an error in the final numbers for the number of workshop participants in
2012 (it should have been 220, not 2203). There were 107 systems found that JCPH did not
previously know about, which shows that the work they are doing is helping. It also showed an
increase in the number of permit applications received, and they continue to increase in 2013.
To present the facts more clearly, Member Westerman asked Mr. Keefer to find a different way
to label the categories for percent of monitoring inspections resulting in some maintenance
needed, required significant maintenance or repair, and percent of failures/major maintenance.
Next Mr. Keefer addressed the Solid Waste and Hazardous Waste Programs. The number of
complaints and violations are down significantly. In addition, a new category was added for
education and outreach activities to show how many contacts are being made to the public.
Activity in hazardous waste increased in 2012.
Thirdly, Mr. Keefer gave an overview of the Food Safety Program. The performance measures
show a trend over the last two years of food worker education shifting from in-person training to
online training. They are also seeing an increase in food safety violations. The performance
measures showed an increase in food establishment permits. Finally he pointed out that the data
for 2011-2012 in the category of "number of routine inspections completed, routine, pre -open,
re -inspections" is blank. This is because each one of those items was separated out and reported
on individually starting in 2011.
Mr. Keefer pointed out that the Drinking Water Program performance measures do not have a
plan for 2012 because the program did not do them that year. The final numbers for 2012 show a
significant drop in well starts and an increase in well decommissioning.
The final performance measures Mr. Keefer discussed was the Water Quality Division. He
explained the changes in the miles of shoreline surveyed for pollution. There was a drop in 2012
because they focused on Mats Mats Bay due to high levels of fecal bacteria detected. Secondly,
they anticipated a large increase in 2012 for sanitary surveys and exceeded what was projected.
Mr. Keefer thanked the Environmental Health staff for their hard work in 2012 which resulted in
several accomplishments in Environmental Health and Water Quality. Mr. Keefer stated there
were 57 notable accomplishments, some were routine but many of which went beyond routine.
He gave an overview of several of the accomplishments from nine different programs. A copy
of the accomplishments was included in the agenda packet.
National Public Health Week, April 1-7,2013
Ms. Baldwin announced National Public Health week is the first week of April, and since there
was no February BOH meeting there was no nomination process. The theme of this year's
National Public Health Week is "Public Health is ROI (Return on Investment): Save Lives, Save
Money". Ms. Baldwin stated that rather than nominating community people for public health
hero awards this year, she has asked JCPH staff for once a month press releases demonstrating
how their work is a ROI.
Resolution Supporting Stable Funding for Foundational Public Health Services
Ms. Baldwin announced the Washington Association of Counties has asked each county to
encourage the State to maintain the current level of funding for the public health system in the
2013-15 biennial budget. The proposed resolution was included in the agenda packet. Member
Austin would like to see the 3rd"Whereas" be expanded to tie it in to the McLeary decision and
emphasize the importance of children's mental and physical health in connection with their
ability to learn, and the State's responsibility to meet the mandate to fund education. Member
Robinson suggested under the heading "Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved" adding at the end of
the sentence "and look for other stable sources of funding for all aspects of State government."
Member Austin moved for Chair Buhler to sign the resolution with the aforementioned
changes. Member Frissell seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Jefferson County Syringe Exchange Program Annual Report 2012
Ms. Baldwin stated JCPH has lost their State funding for the Syringe Exchange Program, but it is
not an expensive program to run and it reaches a targeted group that are otherwise difficult to
reach and build trust with. The graphs included in the agenda packet show that the percent of
single syringe use has gone up from 49% in 2011 to 64% in 2012. They have continued to do
free HIV testing and have State and Federal programs for Hepatitis C testing and free
Hepatitis A & B vaccine.
Port Townsend Municipal Water System Update
Dr. Locke discussed a letter included in the agenda packet which was sent to healthcare
providers and assisted living facilities in Port Townsend regarding maintenance work on City
Lake. The letter addresses the work being done. It also discusses the possibility of a high
turbidity event occurring necessitating a Boil Water Advisory and the proper steps to take should
this occur.
2013 Washington State Food Safety Code Revisions
Mr. Keefer gave a briefing on the Washington State Food Rule changes for 2013 which were
included in the agenda packet. Some of the items included in the change were: the hot holding
temperature went down from 140 to 135, cut leafy greens and cut tomatoes were added to
potentially hazardous foods, egg pooling is now allowed as long as the eggs are cooked
immediately and to a temperature of 155, running water has to be used to wash produce, service
animals have been defined as dog (or a miniature horse) that are trained to perform a task for a
person with a disability, cottage foods are allowed under some circumstances, children cannot be
served raw or under cooked foods, and preschools are now allowed to use a residential kitchen.
Jefferson County Public Health Infrastructure: Permit Plan and Electronic Medical
Records System
Ms. Baldwin announced this agenda item will be moved to the April BOH meeting.
Discussion of Dr. Locke's contract
Ms. Baldwin announced that after a year of discussion and negotiations Jefferson County Public
Health and Clallam County Health and Human Services were unable to come to an agreement
over continuing the Interlocal Agreement regarding health officer services. Clallam County was
asking that a 29% indirect charge be added to the hourly rate for Dr. Locke's services. This
could not be reconciled with the way JCPH charges contracts for indirect expenses. JCPH is
proposing to resume hiring Dr. Locke as a part time Jefferson County employee and pay his
hourly rate plus the percentage of his wage that the County would normally contribute for
retirement.
Member Austin moved to renew Dr. Locke's contract at his Clallam County hourly rate,
plus an additional retirement contribution. This will include county risk pool coverage and
continue his employment as the appointed Jefferson County health officer. Member
Westerman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Letter from Mr. Burt Loomis
Mr. Keefer addressed a letter received by JCPH from Mr. Burt Loomis regarding contaminated
property in Port Ludlow, which includes a drinking water well that is being utilized. It is
currently with the Department of Ecology for site hazard assessment and clean up and State
Department of Health to deal with the drinking water issue. They have recommended that DCD
or DRD get in touch with the two entities to get the background history and figure out whether or
not Mr. Loomis's recommendation should be carried forward through their determination. Ms.
Baldwin stated this will become an issue at which point Port Ludlow wants to do an expansion.
ACTIVITY UPDATE
None
None
PUBLIC COMMENT
AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR
Chair Buhler stated the list of dates for the Jefferson County BOH 2013 meetings is included in
the agenda packet.
Next Board of Health meeting will be held on April 18, 2013 from 2:30 — 4:30 pm at Jefferson
County Public Health, 615 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA 98368
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Buhler adjourned the BOH meeting at 4:30pm.
JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH
IV66Xj1/_
uhler, Chair
Roberta Frissell, Member
Catharine Robinson, Member
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Sheila Westerman, Member
Respectfully Submitted:
Stacie Reid
Da 'd Sul ivan, Vice Chair
Excused
Phil Johnson, Member
Jo r Austin, ember