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Home My WebLink AboutM071819JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES Thursday, July 18, 2019 Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend WA 98368 Board Members Kate Dean, County Commissioner District #1 David Sullivan, County Commissioner, District #2 Member Greg Brotherton, County Commissioner, District #3 Pamela Adams, Port Townsend City Council Sheila Westerman, Vice Chair, Citizen at large Kees Kolff, Chair, Public Hospital District #2 Commissioner Denis Stearns, Citizen at large Staff Members Thomas Locke, Health Officer Vicki Kirkpatrick, Public Health Director Stuart Whitford, Env. Public Health Director Veronica Shaw, Public Health Deputy Director Michael Dawson, Water Quality Manager Pinky Mingo, Env. Public Health Manager Apple Martine, Community Health Dir Jenny Matter, Clerk of the Board Chair Kees Kolff called the July 18, 2019 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 2:30 p.m. A quorum was present. Members Present: Pamela Adams, Greg Brotherton, Kate Dean, Kees Kolff, Denis Stearns, David Sullivan, Sheila Westerman Staff Present: Michael Dawson, Vicki Kirkpatrick, Thomas Locke, Apple Martine, Pinky Mingo, Stuart Whitford APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Kees Kolff asked for approval of the agenda for July 18, 2019. Member Kate Dean motioned to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded by Member Pamela Adams. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Kees Kloff asked for approval of the minutes of the June 20, 2019 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health. Michael Dawson, Water Quality Manager, requested to add "State Parks, Department of Ecology, and State Health" to the second sentence in Item 1 under Old Business and Informational Items. Member Pamela Adams motioned to approve the minutes as amended. The motion was seconded by Member David Sullivan. No further discussion. The motion passed. Page 1 of 5 PUBLIC COMMENTS Chair Kees Kolff opened the public comment period. Cynthia Koan, resident of Port Townsend, asked to add a provision to build ultra-low impact structures without a conventional septic system on private property to the Regulatory Reform Worklist. Rebecca Ramsey, resident of Port Townsend, spoke in favor of using entheogens (e.g. psilocybin mushroom, peyote, and ayahuasca compounds) for healing psychological and physiological ailments and as a way to connect with the natural environment. Ms. Ramsey presented a resolution for the Board to support which would help decriminalization and destigmatize entheogens. Chair Kees Kolff closed the public comment period. OLD BUSINESS AND INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 1. Jefferson Healthcare Update Chair Kees Kolff informed the Board that: 1) representatives from JHC attended a conference where they learned about recent legislation to help with the opioid crisis, support sexual assault survivors, etc. 2) Cassie Sour, CEO for the Washington State Hospital Association, will attend the Jefferson Healthcare Board meeting on July 24th to give an update about health care issues, 3) JHC has opened the retail pharmacy in Port Ludlow and the dental clinic in Port Townsend, and 4) JHC now has seven trained sexual assault nurse examiners for the SANE program. 2. Jefferson New Vaccine Exemption Form Takes Effect July 28, 2019 Dr. Tom Locke, Health Officer, informed the Board that exemptions to mumps, measles and rubella vaccines are no longer an option for personal philosophical reasons, but still qualify for religious reasons. Parental counseling by health care providers is still mandated for obtaining vaccine exemptions based on philosophical objections for other vaccines, or, in the case of MMR vaccine, for religious objections that are not associated with an organized religion that opposes medical interventions. Dr. Locke said, in order to prevent an outbreak, it is essential to know the vaccination status of each child and to exclude unvaccinated children from school until the outbreak has subsided. The school districts are working to have the vaccine status (i.e., vaccine records or approved vaccine exemption forms) of all students on file. The Board questioned how school districts will ensure these forms have been submitted. Dr. Locke explained the process and the consequences for being out of compliance. Page 2 of 5 NEW BUSINESS 1. Food Safety Outstanding Achievement Awards Pinky Mingo, JCPH Environmental Health Manager, announced the 2018 Outstanding Food Safety Awards. Each recipient was named and applauded. Award recipients in attendance were Anne Le Brun and Corrine Huin (La Crepe de Quimper), Thysen Scott (GBF Catering), Mike Harbin (Mo -Chili BBQ), Danielle Lund (Lama's), Cornelius Bibb (Summit Food Service) and Gabriella Santiago (Discovery View Retirement). 2. 2018 Annual Report for Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), Maternal Support Services, and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Programs Apple Martine, Community Health Director, introduced the NFP program and played a short video from the Kitsap Public Health District. Yuko Umeda, Public Health Nurse, provided an overview of the NFP, including the types of services offered and goals of the program. Vicki Kirkpatrick, Public Health Director, said there is strong support for the NFP because it is an evidence based approach shown to have statistically significant positive impacts to participants over their lifetime. The Board had questions regarding the significant drop in breastfeeding at six months of age, breastfeeding support for women who had just given birth at JHC, and partnering with other counties for NFP services. 3. Revisions of the Jefferson County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance Regarding Tobacco and Vaping Exposures: Board of Health Policy Options Karen Obermeyer, JCPH Community Health Educator, informed the Board that a consultant has been hired to assist with drafting the ordinance. Based on the consultant's suggestions, Ms. Obermeyer asked the Board for guidance. After reviewing the options presented by Ms. Obermeyer, the Board opted to draft an ordinance to restrict vaping in all places where smoking is restricted. The sole exception to this is to allow tasting (i.e. sampling) from a vapor device only in vapor product stores that exclude people under the age of 21. The Board also opted to prohibit smoking and vaping in any outdoor public place where children congregate. The Board discussed the potential consequences of the various options presented by Ms. Obermeyer and the importance of clearly defined regulations when protecting public health in outdoor places. Some of the items discussed included regulations in other counties, limitations of local authority under state law, and differences in vaping and smoking restrictions. Ms. Obermeyer reviewed the tentative timeline and said the next step would be to send the draft ordinance to Jefferson County legal counsel and the consultant for review. 4. Policy Regarding Closure of Outdoor Public Events during Episodes of Poor Air Quality Pinky Mingo reviewed the draft policy to recommend when events should be closed due to poor air quality. Page 3 of 5 The Board had comments and questions about the dangers of wearing a mask, the readability of the tables on pages one and two, financial implications of the policy to constituents, the Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA) Index Value, the Air Quality Index (AQI), and PM concentrations. Member Dennis Stearns motioned to allow JCPH to recommend closure to outdoor events when air quality is bad. The motion was seconded by Member Pamela Adams. A discussion ensued regarding the readability of the tables on pages one and two. The motion passed unanimously. 5. Draft Regulatory Reform Worklist Stuart Whitford, Environmental Public Health Director, reviewed some of the items that would be discussed at the next Board of Health meeting. Topics to be discussed include plans to encourage more designers and engineers to work in Jefferson County, the possibility of developing a plan to encourage more people to become certified to maintain on-site sewage systems, the review of the minimum land area policy, and the evaluation of policies or regulations that are more stringent than state code. Mr. Whitford said DCD has formed a policy reform task force with Commissioner Brotherton and is reviewing the critical areas ordinance. The Board asked that the current land area requirements be included in the packet for the next BOH meeting and if pit privies would be included in the worklist. ACTIVITY UPDATE Chair Kees Kolff recommended the book, "Common Sense: The Case for and Against Medicare for All" by John Geyman and will give a copy to the commissioners and city council. Lori Fleming, Co -Executive Director for the Community Health Improvement Plan, said there will be a community walk, bike, ride event on Sunday July 21 ` It will begin at Mountain View Commons at 11 am and end at 4pm where Chef Arran Stark will be serving Salmon Chowder. PUBLIC COMMENT Amanda Funaro of Port Townsend said there aren't enough licensed technicians in the area for her sanitation business and lack of clarification to licensure is a significant barrier. She also said she would like to have the subject of pit privies addressed again. AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR Chair Kees Kolff and Member Kate Dean will not be at the next meeting. Page 4 of 5 NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING The next Board of Health meeting will be held on Thursday, August 15, 2019 from 2:30 — 4:30p.m. at Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA. ADJOURNMENT Chair Kees Kolff adjourned the July 18, 2019 Jefferson County Board of Health meeting at 4:32 p.m. COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH Kees Kolff, Chai Sheila tem, Vice -chair avid �5 Ste s, Member Kate Dean, Member teoth oCnM, e 4"A ams, Per_____ Respectfully submitted J. Matter Page 5 of 5