Approved Minutes of February 25, 2026

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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 25, 2026 • In response to Mr. Whitaker, Ms. Quatrone confirmed that the cost of things like facilities, building renovations, and utilities do not come out of the Health Department budget but through other county funding. However, the cost of things like equipment replacements do come from the Health Department budget. • Mr. Perschau reviewed the proposed fee changes by division. Mr. Whitaker asked about fees listed as "at acquisition cost", which Ms. Stewart confirmed means that the fee charged to the client cannot exceed the cost to the Health Department to purchase the item. Most common item for this criterion are the 340B drugs. • Commissioner McKee noted that he is planning to call for a 2% countywide budget cut and so the budget as presented may need to be cut further in the future. Ms. Stewart clarified that the task for this meeting is for the Board to pass a budget request asking for what the Health Department needs for FY26-27 and that modifications would be coordinated between the Health Department, the County Manager's Office, Budget Office and the BOCC. She added that she will be completing a worksheet to determine what Health Department functions are truly mandated and what may be able to be cut to help meet the shortfall. A motion to approve the total budget requested in the amount of$10,734,044 for FY 2026- 2027 as presented, and forward to the County Manager and Board of County Commissioners for action was made by Dr. Alison Stuebe, was seconded by Dr. Lee Pickett, and carried without dissent. A motion to approve all fee changes for FY 2026-2027 as presented, and forward to the Board of County Commissioners for action was made by Dr. Lee Pickett, was seconded by Dr. Aparna Jonnal, and carried without dissent. B. Resolution on Newborn Screening for Metachromatic Leukodystrophy and Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy Jean Phillips-Weiner, Board of Health Strategic Plan Manager, presented a draft resolution advocating for the inclusion of Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD) and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) on the North Carolina Newborn Screening Panel. Some highlights of her presentation are below: • At the January meeting, Vrinda from the nonprofit Youth for Rare Diseases presented about the importance of adding MLD and DMD to the North Carolina Newborn Screening Panel, and she has since helped draft this resolution for the Board's consideration. The hope is for local lawmakers to encourage state law and policymakers to amend the NC Newborn Screening Panel to include MLD and DMD. • MLD is a neurodegenerative disorder and DMD is a progressive muscular wasting disorder. Both are inherited, both have effective screening tests and gene therapy treatments, and in both cases, time lost on diagnosis means function lost for the individual with the condition and that, once lost, the function cannot be regained. • Though MLD and DMD were added to the Federal Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) at the end of 2025, this is no guarantee that the conditions will be added to the North Carolina panel in a timely manner; in the past, the condition Pompe was added to the NC Newborn Screening Panel fifteen years after it was added to the RUSP. • North Carolina already has screening infrastructure in place to screen for DMD, as well as scientific expertise at Duke and UNC, posing them to be a leader in newborn screening for MLD and DMD. S:\Managers Working Files\BOH\Agendas &Abstracts\2026 Agenda and Abstracts\ February Page 5