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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM110316JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES Thursday, November 3, 2016 Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend WA 98368 FINAL 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 Tammey Newton, Community Health Dir Veronica Shaw, Public Health Deputy Dir Michael Dawson, WQ Manager Jenny Matter, Clerk of the Board Chair David Sullivan called the November 3, 2016 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 1 p.m. A quorum was present. Members Present: John Austin, David Sullivan, Jill Buhler, Kathleen Kler Members Excused: Phil Johnson, Catharine Robinson, Sheila Westerman, Staff Present: Michael Dawson, Tom Locke, Vicki Kirkpatrick, Jenny Matter APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Sullivan called for review and approval of the agenda for the 11/3/2016 meeting. Jill Buhler motioned to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded by John Austin. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. OLD BUSINESS AND INFORMATIONAL ITEMS There were no old business and information items to discuss. NEW BUSINESS 1. Public Hearing: On-site Sewage System Management Plan Fees Dr. Tom Locke introduced Linda Atkins to provide a brief summary of the proposed ordinance for on-site sewage system management plan fees. Ms. Atkins said JCPH has worked to identify septic systems and provide information and education about septic system operation, maintenance, and monitoring requirements to home owners and industry professionals. JCPH has sent general mailings to property owners about monitoring requirements. In July of this year, they sent site specific reminders to owners for 1,873 septic systems. Over 50% of them have completed the inspections to date. JCPH is in the process of sending a second reminder. JCPH has also recently conducted classroom training for 150 participants. Ms. Atkins reported that JCPH has been very involved in responding to inspection reports and working with homeowners when corrections need to be made. Ms. Atkins said the intent of the ordinance is not to take punitive action prematurely, but to take a measured approach to ensure compliance with state and local requirements. Up to this point, funding for the program has largely been provided by state and federal grants, with a small part coming from filing fees for report submittal, review and follow up. The State Legislature provided a local funding mechanism for implementation of the local management plan which includes the monitoring of septic systems via RCW 70.05.190. Ms. Atkins highlighted the development of the ordinance and actions taken by the former Environmental Health and Water Quality Director, Jared Keefer. Ms. Atkins reviewed the proposed flat fee and said an annual flat fee per septic system, collected via the property tax statement and reflecting CPI increases, would successfully eliminate the filing fee for inspection reports. It would also provide a source of funding to support the program in order to meet the state code requirements as grant funding is expected to be minimal by mid -2017. In addition, the fee will provide a more equitable method of funding by having all septic system owners share in a fair and equitable manner. Currently, the cost is borne by the homeowners that are compliant with public health codes and the state and federal funding sources that are disappearing. Although inspection reports can be done on-line, Ms. Atkins noted that some people did not want to complete information on a computer. Instead, they can bring in their documentation and the staff at JCPH will enter the data for them. After reviewing the amount of time it took to complete these requests, the JCPH assessed the cost for this service at $43. Ms. Atkins said she anticipates additional work working with the monitoring providers to maintain consistency and audit inspection results. Chair Sullivan opened the hearing on the proposed ordinance to the public. Citizen, Ron Arlo said that he had concerns and would provide them to the Board in writing. Mr. Arlo asked when the ordinance would be voted on. Chair Sullivan informed Mr. Alro they would be voting on the ordinance today. Mr. Arlo said King County got rid of their septic fees and that is why he has concerns. Another citizen asked if John Austin was on the county payroll. Chair Sullivan said he 2 was not and described the membership of the expanded Board of Health. There were no other questions. Chair Sullivan closed the public hearing. John Austin requested minor grammatical changes to be made to the ordinance. John Austin motioned to adopt the on-site sewage ordinance and fees, as amended. The motion was seconded by Jill Buhler. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. ACTIVITY UPDATE Vicki Kirkpatrick reported that JCPH is still recruiting for the position of EH Director. They have received four applications so far. Kathleen Kler informed the Board that she and Dr. Locke attended the first steering committee meeting on the three -county Olympic Community of Health response to the opioid epidemic. A response plan is due by January 31, 2017. There is a summit planned on January 30, 2017 for the three counties. During that intervening time they will be surveying providers, EMS, the user community, and youth to gather information as to where resources should best be focused. Dr. Locke added that the current efforts are driven by the severity of the problem — especially in Port Angeles and Kitsap County. Jefferson County is the least impacted of the three counties, but that could change. He also said that there are several new statewide and federal funding streams to support implementing a plan if one is ready by the end of January. Ms. Kler said a community survey will be coming out soon. Jill Buhler asked if the Board would be addressing the issue of raising the legal age to buy tobacco from 18 to 21. Dr. Locke said it would be on the December agenda. There was a short discussion on current and upcoming legislation regarding the issue. PUBLIC COMMENT Chair Sullivan opened the meeting for public comments. There was no public comment. AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR There will not be a Board of Health meeting in November due to the State Association meeting held that week. The Opioid Summit will be on January 30, 2017. 3 NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING The next Board of Health meeting will be held on December 15, 2016 from 2:30 — 4:30 p.m. at Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA. ADJOURNMENT Chair Sullivan adjourned the November 3, 2016 Jefferson County Board of Health meeting at 1:30 p.m. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH Excused Phil Jo n, Member ID i' r an air Excused Catharine Robinson, Vice -Chair OL lj:�- John ustin, Member 1 uh�� ler, Member Excused Sheila Westerman, Member Kathleen Kler, Member Respectfully submitted Jenny Matter il