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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992/06/01 - Board of Health MASON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH JUNE 1, 1992 The Board of Health was called to order at 3:40 p.m. by Chairperson Michael Gibson. ATTENDANCE:- Michael D. Gibson, Chairperson William O. Hunter, Board Member Laura E. Porter, Board Member Brad Banner, Health Services Director J.Joanne Hoover, M.D., Health Officer Sharon Bisser, Health Services/Nursing Supervisor Wayne Clifford,Water Quality Coordinator PERSONAL HEALTH HEALTH OFFICERS REPORT Dr.Hoover,Health Officer,informed the Board she will be attending the National Association of County Health Officials national meeting in Washington D.C. the week of June 16th. This will be paid through grant support from the University. LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH CONFERENCES Dr. Hoover reminded the Board there are meetings on 6-4-92 in Oak Harbor, 6-5-92 in Yakima, and 6-11-92 in Longview. The time is noon to 3:00 p.m. HEPATITIS B FORMS Sharon Bisser, Health Services/Nursing Supervisor, requested approval of a Hepatitis B Declination form and an Employee Immunization Record form. Board Member Porter/Hunter moved and seconded that the Board of Health adopt the forms as policy. Motion carried unanimously. G-aye; H-aye; P-aye. Ms. Bisser pointed out employees do have a choice of exemption. Board Member Porter confirmed these will be mailed out to the Department Heads with a memo encouraging the departments to return the forms within six weeks. A discussion followed as to where the records should be stored. It was determined they should be returned to Central Services Administration for now and they may be transferred elsewhere in the future. Ms. Bisser pointed out that a new hire would complete this form when they are hired, right now the County needs to catch up. IMMUNIZATION GRANT Ms.Bisser stated the State of Washington is applying for funds for providing immunizations. She has completed a"mini-grant"to send to the State for what she sees as appropriate for their local level.She requested a full time clinic nurse to provide immunizations in Shelton, part time clinic nurse to provide immunizations out in the community and a car for this position. She indicated in the grant they would probably have a Saturday morning clinic at least from March through November. She determined this time period because during the holidays immunizations are very low and a lot of children are sick. �� -'} There are no matching funds required. Ir^ If the immunization nurse is paid through this grant, that is all that person could do but it would lessen the load on the present staff so they could do other duties. Board Members Porter/Hunter moved and seconded to concur with the grant application as presented. Motion carried unanimously. G-aye; H-aye; P-aye. RECESS Board Members Porter/Hunter moved and seconded to recess from 3:58 to 4:10. WELL CHILD CARE CLINIC Board Member Porter stated the Board of Health has already recommended to the Mason County Commissioners to authorize advertising and support an enhanced Well Child Care Clinic. Board Members Hunter/Porter moved and seconded that the Board of Health recommend to the Mason County Commissioners to hire the position as advertised. Motion carried unanimously. G-aye; H-aye; P-aye. WATER QUALITY PUBLIC DISCLOSURE POLICY Wayne Clifford, Water Quality Coordinator, requested approval for a Public Disclosure Policy. This policy follows the Public Records Status in the RCW's. Board Member Gibson asked if this follows along with the disclosure policies in the other two divisions of the Health Department. Mr. Banner answered this could be combined with the existing policy. Mr. Clifford pointed out this policy covers more specifically the procedure to follow when they are conducting an investigation.While the investigation is ongoing it protects the records until the case has been brought to a conclusion. An example is in the North Bay closure, the individual homeowners records wouldn't have been available. General information would have been available, but not specific addresses. Mr. Clifford commented this would be up to some staff interpretation. Chairperson Gibson asked Mr.Banner if this policy is something that the entire Health Department could adopt. Suggested that an exception be included stating, "except where otherwise authorized by RCW's." Mr. Banner would like it to apply it to the entire Health Department. Dr. Hoover commented if the policy is looser for Environmental Health and tighter for Personal Health, she would have no objections to the policy. She does not want to be required to release something that they are presently not releasing and know that they should not be releasing. Chairperson Gibson asked if this is a request to adopt in concept or adopt the actual language. Mr.Banner stated he would like to take what they have discussed and combine it with the existing policies and bring the finished product at the next BOH meeting. Board Member Porter asked that this disclosure policy be distributed to the other departments and ask if this - is applicable to them. r r MASON COUNTY.BOARD OF HEALTH ( JUNE 1, 1992 - PAGE 3 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CRITERIA FOR LOAN PROGRAM Mr.Banner requested the criteria for the loan program be amended. This addresses people who have a failing septic system but don't meet the income criteria. The amendment states that until such time that 20% of the total program funds are lent by the County, loans will not be denied solely on the basis of income criteria. Board Member Hunter suggested since the loan program is in the infancy stage and there is no track record, that the language be changed to less than 20%. Board Member Porter stated she is not comfortable with the language. If they are going to try to fully utilize the money by expanding the income criteria,she would rather raise the limits. The county is not in the business of helping people to turn an,investment profit. If they determine the income guidelines are too low to allow anyone to apply,then they can reestablish guidelines. She takes issue with allowing any income to obtain a loan just because they haven't loaned funds yet. Board Member Hunter added that income should still be the criteria, it could be.relaxed a little bit. It would still be a factor,but not as stringent.The purpose of the fund is to clean up the water.If a person can get a low interest loan they may be more willing to install a better system. Board Member Porter commented that regarding the quality of any systems being installed, she assumes the County's checks and balances are in order and the systems that are being installed are adequate. She sees this loan as helping people who are going to have a financial hardship to install a new system. She is comfortable raising the income criteria. Dr. Hoover commented they have a sliding fee scale in the Nursing Division. Mr.Clifford stated they could have a sliding time period scale,if a person is in a higher income level,they would have less time to pay off the loan. Board Member Porter stated they need to build it so there are not profits to be made by using public funds. She would like to see amortization charts. Mr.Banner suggested changing it so that if less than"some arbitrary number"is used, the income criteria could relax by a certain amount. Board Member Porter - on an annual basis they can set income levels. Such as in Veterans' applications. For that program the Board of Commissioners set a percentage of poverty that would qualify for assistance. They then reviewed the criteria and expanded it across the board. The poverty guidelines are put out by the Federal Government annually. Board Member Porter added they are managing a whole pot of money and they can project out once they have some experience, if they need to bump up the criteria. If they use the method proposed, they would be managing differently, the first 20%. Board Member Gibson stated the primary issue is water quality. There can be circumstances when a person - does not qualify due to income only. They need some kind of prioritization. MASON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH JUNE 1, 1992 - PAGE 4 Mr. Clifford, they are currently using what the Farm Home Administration considers to be low income. They do have people who meet the income criteria but have not completed the loan process, others denied because they haven't met the income criteria. Board Member Hunter suggested adding to the guidelines an income ratio relating to the cost of the project. Mr. Clifford stated there is a stipulation, if for some reason there is a financial hardship and the person is not qualified only because of income criteria, they could still consider the loan on a case by case basis. Board Member Porter suggested that if the applicant doesn't meet the guidelines in the regulation, that the income guidelines could be increased to 150% of the FHA rate and shall demonstrate denial of a conventional loan.This rate shall be reviewed and updated annually to determine continuous use of funds over average loan amortization periods. It was agreed that the issue would be continued at the next Board of Health meeting. VARIANCES Mr. Banner stated they now have a new application form for variances. Dr. Hoover stated she likes the new form. It spells everything out much better. SITE HAZARD ASSESSMENTS GRANT MONIES Dr.Hoover stated that grants may be provided to local Health Departments to conduct site hazard assessments. t This is to encourage local governments to clean up hazardous waste sites,both private and public sites, priority given to public sites. FOOD SERVICE REGULATIONS Dr. Hoover commented there are new food service regulations effective in March, 1992. ALTERNATIVE ON-SITE SEWAGE SYSTEMS Dr.Hoover stated there is a list available,distributed by the State Department of Health,of certified proprietary devises for alternative on-site sewage systems. CONFIDENTIALITY LAWS Board Member Porter suggested arranging training for the County department heads and supervisors regarding STD and confidentiality laws. r 4 MASON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH r JUNE 1, 1992 - PAGE 5 MEETING CONTINUED Board Members Porter/Hunter moved and seconded to continue the Board of Health meeting to June 8, 1992 after the advertised public meeting. Motion carried unanimously. G-aye; H-aye; P-aye. Re ectfully Submitted, .�'z A Diane L. Zoren Clerk of the Board MASON COUNTY HEALTH BOARD 'chael D. Gibson, Chairperson t Laura E. oard Member �1 William O Hunter, o d ember r