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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth Board July 30 20191 Whatcom County Council 2 Health Board 3 4 July 30, 2019 5 6 CALL TO ORDER 7 8 Council Chair Rud Browne called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. in the County 9 Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. 10 11 ROLL CALL 12 13 Present: Barbara Brenner, Rud Browne, Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd 14 Donovan, Carol Frazey, and Satpal Sidhu. 15 Absent: None 16 17 1. PUBLIC SESSION 18 19 No one spoke. 20 21 2. DIRECTOR/HEALTH OFFICER REPORT 22 23 Regina Delahunt, Health Department Director, referenced and read from the Health 24 Department Director's reports in the PHAB packet on the following items: 25 . Community Health Improvement Plan 26 • Healthcare access through the Whatcom Alliance for Healthcare Access 27 (WAHA) 28 • The status of a proposed private behavioral health hospital in the area 29 • The status of the Ground -level Response and Coordinated Engagement 30 (GRACE) Program 31 . Housing statistics 32 . Mobile syringe exchange sites 33 . Coordinated water system plan 34 . Solid waste excise tax distribution 35 36 Councilmembers and staff discussed whether the Health Department can take over 37 the WAHA health access clearinghouse services, water association concerns, and House Bill 38 (HB) 1406 housing funds. 39 40 3. AIR QUALITY AND WILDFIRE SMOKE PLANNING 41 42 Mark Buford, Northwest Clean Air Agency Director, submitted and read from a 43 presentation (on file) and answered questions on the following topics: 44 • Federal involvement in clean air issues 45 • How they measure and monitor clean air 46 • Coordinating other state and local agencies 47 • The timeline for monitoring and lowering sulfur dioxide near Alcoa 48 0 A wildlife solution from the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 49 changing management practices 50 0 Monitoring diesel from trucks and trains 51 • Whether there are needs for additional monitoring locations in the county 52 • Whether greenhouse gas emissions is an air quality matter 53 54 Dr. Greg Stern, Health Officer, submitted and read from a presentation on the health 55 impacts of wildfire smoke (on file) and answered questions on the following topics: 56 0 When to postpone indoor exercise when the air quality is bad Health Board, 7/30/2019, Page 1 1 0 How to communicate what the levels are to the community 2 3 John Wolpers, Health Department, referenced information in the packet, reported, 4 and answered questions on: 5 • A repository of consistent information for all the counties 6 0 Focusing on clear messaging to the public on the steps to protect health from 7 smoke 8 • Air pollution concentration thresholds for cancelling outdoor public events 9 • Health Department next steps 10 11 Staff and councilmembers discussed providing early warning to events organizers on 12 the decision process, whether mandatory closures are an option, and air quality filter 13 technology. 14 15 4. PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD (PHAB) UPDATE 16 17 Rachel Lucy, PHAB Chair, referenced the Board packet and reported on the status of: 18 • Child and family wellbeing action planning 19 • Health protection for immigrant families 20 21 Councilmembers and the presenter discussed immigrants being targeted by federal 22 agents regardless of immigration status. 23 24 5. HEALTH BOARD/PHAB 2019 JOINT SESSION FOLLOW-UP 25 26 Regina Delahunt, Health Department Director, referenced the Board packet and 27 reported and answered questions on how policy makers can impact the health of the 28 community and the priority focus on children and families, next steps and moving forward, 29 incentives and penalties. 30 31 OTHER BUSINESS 32 33 Tom Kunesh, Health Department, submitted a handout (on file) and answered 34 questions on food donation regulations. 35 36 ADJOURN 37 38 The meeting adjourned at 11:58 a.m. 39 40 Tl�(i�QR�ncil approved these minutes on September 10, 2019. 41 42 ASf`� o m d ©7� ��, WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL T 43 "'`9���l����@�� �� WHA COM COUNTY, WASHINGTON 44 45 ' w 46 A 47 48 eDana``5 wn- a s; Cou cil uCferk Rud Browne, C ncil Chair 49AW 50 51 52 53 Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription Health Board, 7/30/2019, Page 2