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Home My WebLink AboutM051916JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES Thursday, May 19, 2016 Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend WA 98368 Board Members Phil Johnson, County Commissioner District #1 David Sullivan, Chair, County Commissioner, District #2 Kathleen Kler, County Commissioner, District #3 Catharine Robinson, Vice -Chair, Port Townsend City Council Sheila Westerman, Citizen at large Jill Buhler, Hospital Commissioner, District #2 John Austin, Citizen at large Staff Members Thomas Locke, Health Officer Vicki Kirkpatrick, Public Health Dir Julia Danskin, Public Health Manager Jared Keefer, Env. Health Dir Veronica Shaw, Public Health Deputy Dir Michael Dawson, WQ Manager Dunia Faulx, Community Health Dir Denise Banker, Clerk of the Board Chair David Sullivan called the May, 2016 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 2:30 p.m. A quorum was present. Members Present: John Austin, Phil Johnson, David Sullivan, Sheila Westerman, Kathleen Kler Members Excused: Jill Buhler, Catharine Robinson Staff Present: Denise Banker, Michael Dawson, Lori Fleming, Dunia Faulx, Jared Keefer, Vicki Kirkpatrick, Tom Locke APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Sullivan asked for approval of the Agenda of the May 19, 2016 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health. Member Phil Johnson motioned to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded by Member Kathleen Kler. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Sullivan asked for approval of the minutes of the April 21, 2016 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health. Member John Austin motioned to approve the minutes; the motion was seconded by Member Kathleen Kler. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT Kees Kolff, commended the Jefferson County Public Health staff who gave presentations at the Affordable Dental Care Options meeting held April 27, 2016 at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Avenue. Mr. Kolff also invited board and staff members to participate in the Tour de Forts, June 5, 2016, a healthy living and fundraising effort, sponsored by the Port Townsend Recyclery, a non-profit bike shop. OLD BUSINESS AND INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 1. Breastfeeding Tea Denise Banker, Board of Health Clerk, presented a new flyer the Community Health Division created in order to highlight services and providers in an effort to broaden community reach and advertise the highly successful Breastfeeding Tea, hosted each Wednesday at JCPH. !�A'- - 2. Hood Canal Growing Area 3 Downgrade Threat Michael Dawson, Water Quality Manager, reported on a letter received by Jefferson County Public Health, Environmental Health. The State Department of Health (DOH) informed Jefferson County Environmental Health of a potential downgrade in water quality within the Hood Canal 3 growing area. DOH, which classifies areas, lists an area as threatened when a water sampling station passes established water quality standards yet registers bacteria levels near the limit, or when a shoreline survey identifies pollution sources. Mr. Dawson gave a Power Point presentation that explained and clarified DOH methodologies and locations of areas threatened with downgrade. JCPH Water Quality division identified two projects, Strait Priority Basins Project and Central Hood Canal Project, to address these problems and submitted two grant proposals, both of which are under consideration. Grants will provide funding to address these pollution threats. Funding awards will be announced by the end of June. Shoreline surveys, stream MW monitoring, and additional monthly monitoring will be supported by the funds. As well, a large part of each project awaiting funding is pollution identification correction, sanitary system investigation, identifying hot spots, and enforcing on-site repair where needed. There are also opportunities for technical and financial assistance. NEW BUSINESS 1. Communicable Disease Performance Measures Lisa McKenzie, Jefferson County Public Health, summarized for the Board highlights of the Communicable Disease Program. Notifiable conditions reports have increased, which has enabled the Health Department to better monitor pertussis outbreaks; tracking trends in travel immunization programs has helped in increasing measles vaccination among school-age travelers; in children 19-35 months, the number of children receiving the full MMR series has increased; Kindergarten immunization exemptions are falling, which may be attributable to a law passed in 2011 requiring parents to get physician signed exemptions. Ms. McKenzie reiterated her belief that the Community Health Improvement Project (CHIP) would help across the board in improving immunization rates among county residents. 2 The Communicable Disease team is focusing on two priorities in the upcoming months one of which is developing a staffing plan to replace retiring staff and the other is fully participating in the CHIP process to improve immunization rates in the county among all demographics: Infants, School -aged Children, Adolescents, and Adults. 2. On-site Sewage Management Plan Fee Linda Atkins, Jefferson County Environmental Health, presented data connected with reduced funding in the septic program. Jared Keefer, Environmental Health Director, reported that Environmental Health is investigating and developing a proposal, which is in keeping with state- wide trends among counties, to implement an annual, flat fee for septic systems that would be collected via property taxes and reflect CPI increases. This fee would in turn eliminate an��i-_y inspecton The annual for the sepic program. ��dependlon local and program needs, andbwould be dee would stailize fundingveloped us ntg program data. s would 3. Food Code Revision - Risk-based Food Permit Mr. Keefer reported to the board on proposed risk-based food fee restructuring. There will be - three categories under which all food establishments in the county will fall depending on whether or not food is being cooked and whether or not food is being cooled and reheated. Establishments that cook, cool, and reheat foods will be category 3 - most complex. There will be endorsements to Food Permits allowing for variety establishments, i.e. those that have lounges, dining -rooms, and catering services; Mobile establishments would be required to of their mobile unit as well as their kitchen. Average increases will be between $11.00 and $50.00 dollars. 4. Zika Virus Preparedness Dr. Tom Locke, Jefferson County Health Officer, updated the board on the Zika Virus, which is expected to become established in the Southeastern U.S., particularly Florida and Texas, this summer. The range for the vector mosquitos is the Southern two tiers of the States, a 20 -state territory. Spread to other parts of the U.S. can occur when travelers become infected in outbreak areas and then travel to other areas. Zika will likely reach the Pacific Northwest via this route. Unlike most other mosquito borne illnesses, Zika virus has the potential for person-to-person transmission, mainly by a sexual route. While life threatening illness is rare from Zika virus, it has been linked to increased birth defects and miscarriages. Department of Health protocols for diagnosis are complicated and, as these protocols continue to change, the onus of staying current with the changing standards will be the responsibility of local health jurisdictions. Federal funding for Zika Virus response has been stalled in Congress and the CDC has been diverting Ebola response funding for use in Zika control efforts pending Congressional approval. What is hoped for is funding for research to develop a vaccine for Zika Virus, which is in the flavavirus family of diseases that includes Yellow Fever, West Nile, and Dengue. Natural infection with these viruses typically induces long term immunity and there is a very effective vaccine for Yellow Fever, raising hopes that an effective vaccine can be developed for Zika virus. ACTIVITY UPDATE There was no report. 3 PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR There were no items. Vicki Kirkpatrick, Jefferson County Public Health Director, announced to the board the resignation of Dunia Faulx, Community Health Director. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING The next Board of Health meeting will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2016 from 2:30 — 4:30 p.m. at Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA. ADJOURNMENT Chair Sullivan adjourned the May 19th, 2016 Jefferson County Board of Health meeting at 4:20 p.m. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH Ph Da Excused Catharine Robinson, Vice -Chair J9Z Austi�, Member Excused Jill Buhler, Member Sheila Westerman, iMember Kathleen Kler, Member Respectfully submitted Denise Banker al