Approved Minutes of June 25, 2025

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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH June 25, 2025 cases. In response to Dr. Royce's question, Ms. Stewart explained that the Town of Hillsborough does not have the infrastructure to add this water monitoring at this time. Ms. Hudson shared that about 60% of the county population is on public water systems. • The 2025-2026 County Budget has been approved, and Ms. Stewart thanked Travis Myren, County Manager, and the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for prioritizing employee benefits in a tight budget year. She noted that state and federal funding forecasts for public health and social service programs are bleak, and that there is a possibility that programs from other county departments, such as Department of Social Services (DSS), may lose their state funding and require county funding to stay afloat. One such program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may lose state funding, causing harm to local businesses and the local economy as well as SNAP beneficiaries. Ms. Stewart said that if this should happen, the county manager may have to make some very difficult decisions. She added that she recently learned that the federal government reserves a tool called 'recission,' which allows them to cancel funding that has already been allocated, and any funds already spent may have to be paid back, making the current budget situation incredibly tenuous. • The Campus Community Coalition (CCC) was recently at risk of losing funding from one of their core funders, as the Town of Chapel Hill was considering reallocating their portion, but after some pushback ultimately decided not to. Ms. Stewart thanked the Board of Health for their consistent support of CCC and shared that the coalition is considering extending their focus more to polysubstance use. • Ms. Stewart shared mockups of name badges for the Board of Health members to wear at future community events and invited feedback from the Board. • In July, the Whitted Medical Clinic will be closed for renovations, and patients will be seen exclusively at Southern Human Services Center (SHSC) in Chapel Hill, while in August and September the SHSC clinic will be closed for renovations and patients will be seen exclusively at Whitted. Ms. Stewart shared that, due to staffing shortages, the clinic may have to scale back on patient care. In response to Dr. Royce's question, Ms. Stewart clarified that the hiring freeze is ongoing, but that it is possible to request an exception, with the process of doing so typically involving several rounds of appeals and justifications. She added that there is no priority given for revenue generating positions. • Carrboro has been designated as a Breastfeeding Family Friendly Community, and Orange County is aiming to also obtain this designation soon. IX. Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Amy Fowler to adjourn the meeting at 8:42 p.m., was seconded by Dr. Rachel Royce, and carried without dissent. The next Board of Health Meeting will be held August 27, 2025, at the Drakeford Library Complex, 203 South Greensboro Street, Carrboro, NC at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Quintana Stewart, MPA Orange County Health Director Secretary to the Board S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agendas &Abstracts\2025 Agenda and Abstracts/ June Page 8