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MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH <br />April 23, 2009 <br />Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 7 April 23, 2009 <br /> <br />Motion to draft a letter of support from the Board of Health was made by Steve Yuhasz, <br />seconded by Tim Carey, and carried without dissent. <br /> <br />F. Committee Reports <br /> <br />The Clinical and Community Programs Committee met since the March Board <br />meeting. The minutes of this meeting were available to the Board. Tim Carey <br />reported that the main issues addressed were the identity theft policy and the <br />pertussis outbreak and immunization exemption issues. Approximately 1% of <br />students are exempted for religious exemptions in Orange County. For the fall, <br />staff will be preparing letters detailing exclusion from school requirements for <br />parents of children with these exemptions. <br /> <br />The Environmental Health and Quality Assurance/Risk Management Committee <br />did not meet since the last Board meeting. <br /> <br />G. Informational Items <br /> <br /> a. Legislative Update <br /> <br />Rosemary Summers pointed out several legislative items of interest to the <br />Board. Senate Bill 202 requires centralization of funding to enable single <br />stream funding. This would disrupt any reallocation in funding streams and <br />add additional stress in an already fragile system that is funded by too few <br />dollars. The same bill would also support regionalization of county health <br />departments. In addition, this bill would suspend the accreditation <br />process for one year. North Carolina has a nationally recognized <br />accreditation program and has proven to be affective at achieving <br />improvements to local health departments. <br /> <br />Orange County Health Department already puts the money it receives <br />from the state to mandated services. This bill would put more limitations <br />on the money. <br /> <br />Board members were asked to review this part of the budget bill and <br />forward any questions to staff. They were also urged to contact their <br />representatives regarding this section of the bill. <br /> <br />Steve Yuhasz asked about the regionalization of health departments. Dr. <br />Summers explained that several of the more sparsely populated and <br />poorer counties are already in a shared regional department. He asked if <br />there were any legal impediments to regionalization of health <br />departments. The only requirement is that the Boards of Health and <br />Boards of Commissioners in those counties all agree to regionalize and <br />provide funds. <br /> <br /> b. 09-10 Budget Update <br />