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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 24, 2006 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 4 August 24, 2006 The BOCC adopted the environmental responsibility in county government goal and asked the Environment and Conservation Resource Department to coordinate with relevant boards and departments to develop action strategies to accomplish this goal. The intent of the Commissioners was that this should be focused on county government itself and not on services to the public. Rosemary Summers reported that some Boards/Departments have had a hard time separating county government from services that governmental agencies provide to the public in distinguishing their recommendations for action strategies. The Board considered all the objectives, however, it was asked to focus on Objective #8: Consider innovative new technologies for conserving and protecting ground water, indoor air quality and wastewater, to lessen impacts on the natural environment, and promote water conservation, collection and reuse in both current and future County facilities. Staff met with Alan Rimer to discuss alternative strategies that could be presented to the Board for consideration and Board members were given a copy of the draft memo of the strategies that were discussed at that meeting. The Board commended the development of the strategies as written. There was no further discussion or additions to the memo. Motion to approve and forward the memo to ERCD was made by Alan Rimer, seconded by Matt Vizithum, and carried without dissent. D. Community Assessment Outline and Timeline The Health Department is required to engage in and produce a comprehensive community health assessment every four years that is intended to guide a community health improvement plan for the county. Our next required date of submission to the state is December 2007. A well-developed, comprehensive community assessment is also a key component of accreditation for local health departments. Maria Hitt, Healthy Carolinians Coordinator, is the designated project manager for the comprehensive community assessment. She prepared an outline for the Board’s consideration along with a preliminary timeline and discussed the significant points all along the timeline and process that engage various sectors and members of the community directly in the process. She will begin to pull the community partners together in September to begin work on the project. For this community assessment, staff is very interested in emphasizing the links between environmental factors and how they impact health conditions. Tim Carey made the point that environmental health is a broad topic and asked about how the most important questions would be determined for this area of concern. Maria replied that the last assessment determined what the issues are in Orange County. These issues have not changed. This assessment will take the issues identified in the previous assessment and ask more specific questions targeting those issues. Maria reported that Ron Holdway went with her to a Commission for the Environment meeting to seek their input and collaboration in this effort, especially since they publish a bi-annual