Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutM012121is Hea MINUTES Jefferson County Board of Health Regular Meeting, January 21, 2021, 2:30 p.m. Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend WA 98368 Virtual Meeting Board Members Pamela Adams, Port Townsend City Council Greg Brotherton, County Commissioner, District #3 Kate Dean, Chair, County Commissioner District #1 Kees Kolff, Public Hospital District #2 Commissioner Denis Stearns, Vice Chair, Citizen at large Heidi Eisenhour, County Commissioner, District #2 Sheila Westerman, Citizen at large Staff Members Michael Dawson, Water Quality Manager Alisa Hasbrouck, Environmental Health Manager Vicki Kirkpatrick, Public Health Director Thomas Locke, Health Officer Apple Martine, Community Health Director Pinky Mingo, Environmental Public Health Director Veronica Shaw, Public Health Deputy Director Chair Westerman called the January 21, 2021 virtual meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 2:30 p.m. A quorum was present. Members Present: Chair Sheila Westerman, Vice -Chair Pamela Adams, Commissioner Greg Brotherton, Commissioner Kate Dean, Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour, Member Kees Kolff, and Member Denis Stearns. Staff Present: Public Health Officer Dr. Thomas Locke, Community Health Director Apple Martine, Environmental Public Health & Water Quality Director Pinky Mingo, Director of Jefferson County Public Health Vicki Kirkpatrick, Water Quality Manager Michael Dawson, Environmental Health Manager Alisa Hasbrouck, Code Compliance Coordinator Deborah Murdock, Co -Executive Director CHIP Lori Fleming, Community Health Educator Lindsay Scalf, Community Health Educator Karen Obermeyer, and Community Health Educator Denise Banker. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Westerman requested a motion to approve the agenda for January 21, 2021. Member Adams moved to approve the agenda. Member Dean seconded the motion, which carried by a unanimous vote. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE -CHAIR FOR 2021 Chair Westerman called for nominations of officers for 2021. MOTION: Member Adams moved to nominate Member Dean for the position of Chair. Member Brotherton seconded the motion. Member Kolff moved to nominate Member Stearns for Vice -Chair. Member Adams seconded. Chair Westerman called for a vote on both motions. The motions carried by a unanimous vote. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Dean requested approval of the minutes for the December 10, 2020 Joint Special Meeting with the Board of County Commissioners and for the December 17, 2020 Regular Meeting. MOTION: Member Brotherton moved to approve the minutes as presented. Member Adams seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. OLD BUSINESS AND INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 1. Jefferson Healthcare Update Member Kolff provided the Jefferson Healthcare Report. He stated the following: Our report today is once again focused on how Jefferson County Public Hospital District is working to combat the COVID-19 pandemic with a remarkable commitment to getting people vaccinated. 75% of hospital district staff have been vaccinated. This makes it even safer for people to get the health care they need and we urge the community to do so. This level of protection is outstanding this early in the game, and it's pretty cool to think Jefferson Healthcare has nearly achieved herd immunity. Next is the entire community! Our drive through vaccination center, behind Manresa Castle, is working well and we have 300 people scheduled for today. We will run two drive through stations Friday, Saturday and Sunday and will have given 4,000 vaccinations by the end of this weekend. Our current eligibility for vaccination is 75 years of age and above. Due to the size of this group we will be pulling folks from this bracket for quite some time. We have departed from our carefully organized, oldest and frailest first approach because of the Governor's requirement that all vaccines must be used right away. We urge the community to be patient since we are dealing with weekly changing eligibility tiers, reporting rules and incentives, as well as uncertainty regarding our next vaccine shipments. The next few weeks will be frustrating with slow moving sign-up lines, but we expect things will get better in 4-6 weeks when we expect to get more vaccine. The good news is we are working on a dynamic, interactive web site that will track vaccinations, supply levels, percentage of community vaccination and hopefully other interesting data. The site will allow appointment setting for eligible tiers when vaccine is available and a "get in line" feature for folks in later tiers to input their names, ages, addresses and email addresses or phone numbers. We can then reach out to them when they become eligible. This should relieve some of the "why isn't my line moving" and "I don't want to be left behind" anxiety. Unfortunately, this newly -mandated rushed approach means we can no longer reserve vaccine for booster shots. We hope to see more vaccine next week, but have some concerns about the state getting us enough vaccine for us to keep up with timely booster shots. This process will likely remain confusing and needlessly complicated because of the unpredictable supply and poor communication from the government. We do however have good reason to expect major changes for the better from the Biden administration. To end on good news, we are still getting 6 shots out of most of the 5-dose vials. Our diligence has also led to a remarkably low wastage rate of 0.03%. We are truly committed to doing what we can to deal with this pandemic and we urge the residents of this county to do the same. Please be patient and please, continue to follow all of the recommended masking and other safety precautions even after you receive your vaccine. You can still catch the virus and we need to protect each other. 2. Jefferson County Public Health Program Reports No report this month. Page 2 of 4 3. Jefferson County Public Health Compliance Amnesty Program Staff Member Mingo and Code Compliance Coordinator Deborah Murdock gave a presentation regarding the amnesty program. Questions and comments from board members and staff were taken after the presentation. 4. Infographics — Tobacco Quitline, Cannabis Control, Smoking/Vaping and COVID-19 Community Health Educators Karen Obermeyer, Lindsay Scalf and Denise Banker, gave a presentation on the Tobacco Quitline, cannabis control, smoking/vaping and COVID-19. Discussion followed. NEW BUSINESS 1. Jefferson County Community Health Improvement Plan and Behavioral Health Consortium -Update and Next Steps The Board agreed to postpone this topic and discuss at the next meeting. 2. Proposed Regionalization of Local Public Health in Washington State: SB5173, HB1152, and HB5149 Dr. Locke discussed the Governor's proposed bills for the local public health offices restructuring into a regionalized/centralized public health system. There are positives and negatives on regionalization. Dr. Locke and Chair Dean both serve on the Association of Counties and Health Officials Task Force representing Jefferson County. Chair Dean and Dr. Locke will keep the Board updated on the status of the bills. Chair Dean proposed a sub -committee to formulate a position regarding regionalization, propose amendments and outline the county's primary concerns. Chair Dean with Members Kolff and Westerman, with support by Staff Member Kirkpatrick, will serve on the sub -committee. MOTION: Member Kolff moved to approve formation of this sub -committee. Member Brotherton seconded the motion, which carried by a unanimous vote. 3. COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment -Understanding Phase lb and Preparing for Mass Vaccination Dr. Locke gave a report on Jefferson County and Washington State's vaccine deployment. The challenge right now is a supply issue. The supply will increase but not for another 2 to 3 weeks. The Governor diverted many of the vaccines to state - run mass vaccination clinics. It is uncertain what the allocation formulas will be at this time or how the second dose will be provided. Dr. Locke applauds Jefferson Healthcare in terms of how quickly they organized their vaccination efforts. We are currently in the process of recruiting, credentialing and training volunteers for the next stage of mass vaccination clinics. This will be in addition to what the hospital is able to do. This will be a four to seven -month effort to get everyone vaccinated. The State's goal is 45,000 vaccinations per day. Work is being done to simplify the vaccination priority categories. Discussion followed. 4. Healthy Washington-Roadmap to Recovery Plan Dr. Locke included Washington State's Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery, issued by the Governor, in the agenda packet. Dr. Locke added that the data sources driving this are entirely at the State level and they don't match up with our local data. There is a considerable time lag in some of them as well. The bottom line is that COVID-19 prevalence is so high in Washington State right now that opening up to in -person restaurants and some other activities would likely make it a lot worse. The situation is dire in many counties. We are not isolated from those counties. The only thing keeping a lid on the pandemic are the economic restrictions currently in place. Dr. Locke does not recommend that we back off on mitigations. We must get COVID-19 under better control. Questions and comments from board members and staff were taken on this topic. Member Eisenhour recognized and thanked Dr. Locke for his levelness and consistency throughout his reporting on COVID-19 issues. ACTIVITY UPDATE Staff Member Mingo provided information on her previous update regarding the resolution and letter concerning fee waivers, particularly food waivers. Member Brotherton requested bringing the Public Comment period back to the Board of Health meetings. Page 3 of 4 AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR The next Board of Health meeting will be held online as a virtual meeting on Thursday, February 18, 2021 from 2:30 p.m. — 4:30 p.m. C\ l 11111706 01-C'M Chair Dean adjourned the January 21, 2021 Jefferson County Board of Health meeting at 4:35 p.m. until the next Regular Meeting or Special Meeting as properly noticed. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH Kate Dean, Chair Denis S arns, Vi ha' rove 1 eidi Eisenhour, Member, Pam Adams, Member C( I Westerman,, Member z-lvr-- ember Kees Kolff, Membey I U�-z� �11 �20tlkespectfully submitted K. Abbott Page 4 of 4 Department: Division: Section of Procedure Manual: Jefferson County Public Health Board of Health Environmental Public Health On Site Sewage Title: Limited Commercial use of Holding Tanks Policy # 2021 - 01 Subject: Circumstances where holding tanks may be installed in Pages: 2 Jefferson County Limited Commercial use of Holding Tanks Purpose The purpose of this policy is to outline limited additional circumstances where Jefferson County may permit holding tanks under the provisions of WAC246-272A-0240 and the State Department of Health document on Granting Waivers from State On -Site Sewage System Regulations Chapter 246-272A WAC. Applicable Regulations: WAC 246-272A-0240 allows limited uses of holding tanks. The Health Officer may approve the following uses: - Permanent uses for controlled part-time commercial situations such as Recreational vehicle parks and dump stations - Interim Uses in Emergency Situations - Repairs permitted under WAC 246-272A-0280 (1)(c)(i) Applicability This policy applies to: Limited commercial circumstances Policy Statement Jefferson County Board of Health interprets WAC246-272A to allow holding tanks to be designed and installed in Jefferson County in the following additional circumstances, at the discretion of the Health Officer via a waiver from the state code: Additional Commercial Use • Espresso and Coffee Stands/Trailer - small local Jefferson County businesses that generate high waste strength wastewater that do not include seating inside or outside of the facility. • Other commercial small businesses that generate high waste strength wastewater that do not include seating inside or outside of the facility. • Temporary facilities that serve the homeless or at -risk populations consistent with the Basic Sanitation Policy. Application Requirements Board Members Kate Dean, Chair, County Commissioner District #1; Denis Stearns, Vice -Chair, Citizen at Large; Pamela Adams, Member, City of Port Townsend City Council, • Heidi Eisenhour, Member, County Commissioner District #2; Greg Brotherton, Member, County Commissioner District #3; Sheila Westerman, Member, Citizen at Large; Kees Kolff, Member, Hospital Commissioner, District #2 615 Sheridan • Castle Hill Center • Port Townsend • WA • 98368 (360) 385-9400 • Submit an onsite sewage application that includes all items identified in JCC8.15.090 (6) except iv. and v. regarding drainfield and soil test pits. • A person proposing to use a holding tank sewage system shall: (a) Follow design criteria established by the Washington State Department of Health Recommended Standards and Guidance for Holding Tank Sewage Systems and use a holding tank reviewed and approved by the Washington State Department of Health. • Request for waiver from state and local Jefferson County Code • Fees for tank only and waiver application • Submit signed and notarized Notice to Title — Notice to future property owners regarding permit conditions and limitations. Applicant will record the notice after JCPH review of the application and prior to issuance of the permit. Permit Conditions • All holding tanks will require an operational permit issued in compliance with Section 8.15.085 On Site Sewage Code; • A Notice to Title must be recorded that identifies the conditions of approval including the requirement for an annual operational permit. • Contract for holding tank pumping with Jefferson County certified pumper. Board of Health, Jefferson County, Washington By: Y-' -!� Kate Kean, hair, Commissioner Date To ocke, Jefferson County Health t icer Date Board Members Kate Dean, Chair, County Commissioner District #1; Denis Stearns, Vice -Chair, Citizen at Large; Pamela Adams, Member, City of Port Townsend City Council; Heidi Eisenhour, Member, County Commissioner District #2; Greg Brotherton, Member, County Commissioner District #3; Sheila Westerman, Member, Citizen at Large; Kees Kolff, Member, Hospital Commissioner, District #2 615 Sheridan • Castle Hill Center • Port Townsend • WA • 98368 (360) 385-9400