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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH May 25, 2011 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Lisa Smith May 25, 2011 4 Informational items are provided to the Board to cover topics that Board members should be aware of or for general interest. Items are not discussed during the meeting unless Board members ask for discussion. No informational items presented were selected for discussion or questions at this meeting. A synopsis of the items follows. 1. Health Director Report The final two positions in the new Finance and Administrative Operations Division have been filled. You will meet Erin Langston, the Director of the Division at the Board meeting. Erin most recently worked with the City of Dallas Texas in several different departments and has experience in Charlotte and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. She is a graduate of the MPA program at UNC. Steven Campbell has been hired as the new Informational Technology Support Analyst for the Health Department and will begin work on May 25. He will likely attend the Board meeting in June to be introduced. Mr. Campbell has more than 7 years of experience with UNC Information Technology and was assigned to the School of Public Health. In addition, he has experience with IBM. We are very pleased that these two individuals will complete the reorganization of this division. We have one additional staff retirement, Diane Perry a communicable disease nurse who has also handled our refugee health screenings will be retiring June 3. We are temporarily reassigning staff to cover the duties in this position while we seek permission to fill the vacancy. Staff is currently waiting for Piedmont Health Services to respond to our contract proposal for a ½ time shared position to provide medical nutrition therapy and diabetes self management programs specifically for one of their Alamance locations. As the Board will recall we currently have a half-time nutritionist position vacant that is difficult to fill because it is part-time. This position “upgrade” to full time was included in our budget and is a part of the County Manager’s recommended budget. At the Smart Start Board meeting this morning, we heard a report from the Allocations Committee on funding for the upcoming fiscal year. The House budget that was passed includes Smart Start but contains a 20% cut. Because this partnership is one of the original ones in the state and it therefore has more funding than more recently organized agencies, it will take a proportionately higher percentage of the cuts; anticipated to be 35%. The Senate’s version is still out. The recommendation was to fund the Families in Focus Program and the Child Care Health Consultant/NAPSACC Programs, but funding levels cannot be determined at this time. The funding for these programs is nearly all tied up in salary and benefits support for one social worker II and one public health nurse II. Without full funding, these programs will not be able to be sustained. Next week staff will discuss options to discontinue these programs now and transfer staff to the two vacant positions we have available that are suitable for the currently employed staff. If a decision is made to take a chance on full funding, there may need to be a subsequent reduction in force if funding is not allocated by the legislature. The House Budget transfers the Health and Wellness Trust Fund in part to the Division of Public Health and discontinues the teen tobacco program for next year. This means that we would lose a health education position that leads this successful program with both school systems. We are currently examining our options for retaining the excellent staff member that is currently employed in this position. The Health Director’s Association is considering how to collaborate with Senator Hartsell around his legislative proposals to regionalize public health. There will be many challenges around bringing this model to fruition.