HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOH Minutes 09-14-10OSHKOSH BOARD OF HEALTH
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
September 14, 2010
Members Present: Jamie Bonell, Steve Herman, Stan Kline, Christine Kniep, Susan
Panek, and Mardell Sowers
Members Absent: none
Staff Present: Mark Ziemer, Interim Health Director; Mark Rohloff, City Manager;
and Mary Capen, Office Assistant/Recording Secretary
The Oshkosh Board of Health Meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday,
September 14, 2010, in Room 404 of City Hall by Chairperson Stan Kline.
Motion
Chairperson Kline called for approval of the August 25, 2010 Meeting Minutes. :
Second Vote
Kniep; : Herman; : Unanimous.
Doug Gieryn, Winnebago County Health Director addressed questions and concerns
brought forward by the Board. Dennis Hibray, N.E. Region Health Director spoke to
some of the concerns and provided information from Thomas Schlenker, Director of
Madison Dane County Health regarding the merging of Madison Public Health and Dane
County Public Health departments.
What services will City residents receive th at are not currently available to
them?
Prenatal care coordination (PNCC) would be offered at WIC, and with an
in-take nurse residents would be able to stop in anytime during business hours
and receive immunizations.
Is it possible to build into a negoti ated disbanding agreement “assurances”
that specific services would be continued?
Assurances of specific services
over time would pull resources from other areas. The City goes above and
beyond what is required with inspections and though we are not looking to take
that away from the City at this time, we would need to see how practical it would
be to do inspections in a rural area. A reduction in services is not expected, it
may be handled differently such as not inspecting on a holiday unless we suspect
a reason to do it as a cost saving measure.
What would a countywide Board of Health look like?
Currently there are eight
members but nine are allowed by state statute so if there were a consolidation we
would be able to add one seat for Oshkosh. With termination/resignation of
current Board members we would eventually work towards having equal
representation based on population.
How do city ordinances and county ordinances mesh?
Ordinances may need
to be revamped to allow the county to enforce. The county does not have near as
many ordinances as the city, if there is a need there is usually a state statute that
can be sited.
OSHKOSH BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MINUTES
September 14, 2010 Page 2
Three years after the consolidation there will be a loss of grant funding.
How will the loss of grant dollars affect the prog rams and services offered?
Hopefully there will be efficiencies realized that will cover the loss in funding.
What is the deadline for making a decision?
There isn’t a deadline as far as
the County is concerned. The State has allowed Mark Ziemer to remain the
acting Health Officer as long as there is progress being made on the proposal to
consolidate. Should the City decide to continue offering Health Services there
would need to be a move to hire a qualified Health Officer and backfill open
positions within the department.
An organizational chart was created based on what the county would like to
see develop as a result of a consolidation of health departments. Has an
organizational chart been created or could one be created, based on a zero
dollar increase? What would it look like?
Even with a zero dollar increase,
City residents would still see an increase of $128,000 because of the reallocation
of the tax base. With the original proposal there would be a $147,000 increase.
The Board would like to have a joint meeting with the Common Council to give them an
update and hopefully get a sense from them as to if they are on the right path.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Ziemer, Interim Health Director
Mary Capen, Recorder