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Home My WebLink About08 August COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING VITAL $T A IISTI CS ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HEALTH EDUCATION ~ 'iJ~ JEFFERSON COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT 802 SHERIDAN PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. 98368 (206) 385-0722 HEALTH BOARD Minutes: August 18, 1987 BOARD MEMBERS: STAFF MEMBERS: B.G. Brown, Chairman Larry W. Dennison, Member George C. Brown, Member CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND REPRESENTATIVE: Mary Catlin, D.O.N. and Administrator J. Peter Geerlofs, M.D. Rick Miklich, Director of Environmental Health Glenn Ison *********************************************************************** ********************************************************************* Chairman B.G. Brown called the meeting to order in the presence of Commissioner Larry W. Dennison and Commissioner George C. Brown. Health Officer Dr. Peter Geerlofs, Administrator/D.O.N., Mary Catlin, Environmental Health Director Rick Miklich and City Represen- tative, Glenn Ison were also present. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: The Minutes of the July 14, 1987 meeting were approved by motion of Commissioner Larry Dennison, seconded by Commissioner George Brown, ADMINISTRATOR/DIRECTOR OF NURSING REPORT: Administrator's Job Description: Mary Catlin reported that she has received copies of Health Department Administrator job descriptions from several other counties. As Glenn Ison suggested, Commissioner Dennison moved to direct the Administrator to review these descriptions and draft a job description that she feels is appropriate for Jefferson County and then present that to the Board for their consideration. Commissioner George Brown seconded the motion. Health Board Minutes: August 18, 1987 Page: 2 Adoption of New Fee Schedule: The new medical services fee schedule for the Health Department went into effect on August 1, Mary Catlin reported, and there haven't been any complaints from clients so far. The staff has been instructed to advise the clients of the cost to the Department of the procedures, what they would be expected to pay for their income level and then they are asked to donate what they can afford. No one is turned away for inability to pay. It is anticipated that the Department will generate about $7,200 in income just from immunization fees. Computers: The computers are in place and being used for budget tracking, fees, tallying records and word processing. Office Cleanliness: Mary Catlin asked that the Board tour the offices after the meeting to look at the condition of the paint, the floors and the general cleanliness of the facility. The Board advised that a new person will be doing the office cleaning which may help improve the service. Prenatal and Dental Programs: Providing prenatal care and education has been coordinated with the local physicians and twelve women will receive this care who would not have been able to pay for or receive it otherwise. A $10,000.00 grant was received to do a fluoride rinse program in the schools. It is estimated that this program will reduce dental carries in children who are in Kindergarten through sixth grade by about 20 to 35%. The problem is that the grant notification came after the school programs had been set. The Department is trying to enlist volunteers to administer this program in the school. Monthly Statistics: the additional Nurse seeing more clients. The Well Child Clinic quotas are being met with Practitioner staffing. Foot care clinics are Draft Animal Bite Policy: Mary Catlin reported that the major change in the animal bite policy draft since the meeting with Bayshore and the Sheriff, is that for a bite incidence occurring during working hours Bayshore will investigate and make reports and for routine animal bites they will follow the procedures and not be required to call the Health Office. In cases where there is a greater chance of rabies, such as unprovoked bites, wild animal bites (especially bats), sick animal bites, or where the animal's owner can not be found, etc. Bayshore will call the Health Officer for further guidance. The animal will be restrained either by the owner or by Bayshore for a 10 day period. For weekends and after hours when Bayshore is not available, the Sheriff's Office should attempt to contact Bayshore. The Officer responding will attempt to locate the animal, get the name, address and phone number of the animal owner and of the person who was bitten and determine the circumstances surrounding the bite. Bayshore will handle everything else. Health Board Minutes: August 18, 1987 Page: 3 Commissioner B.G. Brown asked that the policy be changed to a more generic form by replacing Bayshore with Animal Control and Sheriff with Law Enforcement. This change will avoid the need to rewrite the policy in the future if the parties involved change. Once the changes are made the policy will be sent to Bayshore, the Sheriff, and the City Police for their review and comments. Fund Generation by the Health Department: One way to generate some funding for the Department, Mary Catlin reported, is to have the Nurse Practitioner do medication reviews for Community Counselling (Jefferson County Human Services Department) clients. This program is advantageous to Community Counselling because currently they pay a Psychiatrist to do medication reviews and it is advantageous to the Health Department because Community Counselling will pay $39.00 per hour for this service which costs about $25.00 an hour to provide. It is estimated that six hour per month will be spent on this program. The Board concurred that an Agreement be drafted and signed by the two departments for this service and then presented for approval. Request for Variance from Ordinance #2-11 Requirina Two Restrooms for Food Service Establishments; Thousand Trails, Inc. Grocerv Store, CoYle Peninsula: Rick Miklich, Environmental Health Director, reviewed this request for a variance from the regulations requiring two restrooms for a small grocery operation on the Coyle Peninsula which serves hamburgers, hot dogs and beverages. Store modifications as well as septic system modifications would have to be done to comply with the two restroom regulation. This would be an excessive hardship on the owners. The food service is a very small operation and Rick Miklich recommends that the variance to allow one restroom be approved. Commissioner Dennison moved to approve the variance as requested by the Thousand Trails, Inc. Grocery. Commissioner George Brown seconded the motion. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH REPORT: Rick Miklich presented a written report of the programs statistics for the month. A new program for water samples to be included on site evaluations of existing systems will be started in order to meet increased demand. The program policies and procedures should be in place before the next meeting. Port Townsend Paper Company Solid Waste Site: Rick Miklich reported that the Port Townsend Paper Company has applied to the State to have their solid waste landfill designated as inert which would mean it would be regulated by the minimum functional standards for solid waste sites. The State Department of Ecology refused to grant the variance to designate it as inert because the samples that were submitted to Health Board Minutes: August 18, 1987 Page: 4 them exceeded the maximum contaminate level for Barium. The level was exceeded by .6 part per million as set forth in the drinking water standards which are the most stringent. This means, Rick continued, that under the "Minimum Purpose Landfill" Standards (these are the same standards that the County landfill must meet) the following would be required for compliance: 1) Ground Water Monitoring - This would require the drilling of four wells which is estimated to cost $100,000.00. 2) Compact the solid waste daily. 3) Top liners would have to be installed on closed portions of the landfill. Currently closed portions would have to be uncovered and then recovered. 4) Underground gas monitoring would have to be done. 5) The entire sixty acre site would have to be fenced. 6) A restroom would have to be installed at the landf i 11. 7) Any new cells would have to have a bottom layer with a leachate collection system. The collected leachate would have to be treated. The only items that are dumped in this landfill are ash from the boilers and shaker grits. The DOE has to grant the variance for the designation, however, the County can grant relief from some of the requirements of the minimum functional standards. The DOE has not responded to the information that the paper company has submitted in response to the first denial of the variance request. Discussion continued regarding acid rain, the minimum functional standards and the effects of Barium. Rick Miklich will provide Commissioner Dennison with information so that he can draft a letter to DOE advising them that the County feels that they should not apply the drinking water standards to these samples and that the variance should be granted. MEETING ADJOURNED a---- Brown, Member