[0:03] was like

[0:07] in my mind I was like, "Oh god, he's going to suffer through that." But I saw

[0:10] like he's just, you know, babies. Yeah. Like we

[0:16] just

[0:57] So, um, Bernardo wrestled him down this morning. Let us pray.

[1:03] Russell, he was not having this morning.

[6:34] No, I'm like

[6:38] » I think

[6:42] travel. >> Yes.

[6:48] » Yes. It snowed again on Monday. You know,

[6:55] » bring you while you live here. So, you have farm clothes.

[7:01] » You need like a farm.

[7:06] » My dad's like that, too. All right. So, let's go ahead and everyone

[7:10] uh we're going to go ahead and get started here.

[7:13] » Welcome. Let's go ahead and get the >> I call them we need to order. So,

[7:18] welcome everyone. Um we it does after discuss discussing with

[7:24] uh Dina um it does it does seem like oh my gosh [laughter] I'm thinking of

[7:32] » yes >> um we do it does look like we do have

[7:36] today. So, let's get started with just um reorganization of the board. Um oh, I

[7:43] think we >> Yeah, that was accidentally left on

[7:45] there from uh the January meeting. I apologize about that. There doesn't need

[7:49] to be a reorganization because y'all settled that in January.

[7:52] » Perfect. So, let's go ahead and start with just um some updates from our

[7:56] community partners. So, uh let's start with Be County Tobacco Prevention and

[8:00] Beta Chain Proex Coalition Spotlight.

[8:06] So, first SA, she's our new

[8:11] project coordinator, uh, executive director, so we can call her director,

[8:16] project coordinator at Be the Change 406. Um, she's got a degree in

[8:22] communications. Chelsea's really good at speaking and guiding and gets a lot of

[8:28] communicating. Um, and she actually came over. I had

[8:34] presentations, daily presentations in ENS with elementary kids and middle

[8:38] schoolers who take it over with me and kind of saw how that works and how it

[8:42] goes. And then she's been getting all trained back before she gets her

[8:50] talk to you guys about. But before she does that, I'll give a quick update for

[8:55] some of our other stuff. So,

[8:59] um has asked to come do a little cross on market at the Wednesday senior lunch

[9:07] here. Um so that'll be different because usually when we go when we talk about

[9:12] that it's like to young people. So we're going to like show them how to properly

[9:18] dispose of things and kind of research how you talk to because that age group

[9:22] needs to be up to date. They a lot of them are taking opiates for maintenance,

[9:28] pain maintenance and things like that. So, that would be cool. Um, and then

[9:34] let's see. I've got three days with the discipliners

[9:39] um here in Dylan coming up in next week actually. And JB's going to um go there

[9:48] with me as well. Um the third day once again I'll bring some uh road

[9:55] to talk to the fifth graders. So we'll have three days of that which I I love.

[10:00] That's so fun. Uh what else do we have? We've got

[10:08] as for tobacco. We still I just talked to uh the county attorney's office.

[10:14] We're still on for our 30 foot distance. So the kids,

[10:21] a lot of our kids in our coalition and we want them to be a part of it. Um they

[10:27] are really engaged in everything in the spring. I mean plus they've got like

[10:32] travel ball going at the same time as all their regular sports and I'm going

[10:39] and we've got a couple kids practicing for the the western play which is

[10:43] awesome. One of them got the roll of really long. So, we're thinking

[10:50] it's preg. And so, I think that we're going to prep

[10:56] for that >> and then I know we've been talking about

[10:59] it for like a year, but we're going to prep for it on our own and then bring

[11:03] the kids in in in June once that's all set. So, we will want your buy in on

[11:10] that at that time. Uh we also wanted to know if

[11:16] um Megan if you would be maybe interested in talking to the kids about

[11:22] how the like vaping and these other things actually affect your body

[11:28] internally. And like one thing that I keep saying is you go to the doctor, you

[11:35] go to the dentist and there's signs and people can recognize um like already as

[11:42] a teenager or as a young adult that the damage that you're already incurring. So

[11:49] yeah, if you want if you don't get in touch.

[11:52] » Yeah, that'd be fine. >> Okay. Yeah, perfect.

[11:55] Um I guess I could go on and on. like it's a lot of good stuff. It's kind of

[12:00] fun. So, anything you guys want to um work on my

[12:05] stuff? Yes, please. >> So, I have a question and I guess I

[12:08] didn't realize this. I was talking. >> Yeah. And he's going to do all the um

[12:16] things where they go in and have

[12:22] compliance. Yeah. >> Yeah.

[12:24] » For that. How does that work with you guys? We don't I don't do that cuz we're

[12:28] I was DPA test so we're not supposed to do that.

[12:33] » She is a different

[12:39] » she was she did she did my job in the past. We're not supposed to

[12:44] » we're supposed to go in and check but we're not supposed to send we don't send

[12:48] people in. The gambling control division weirdly enough is actually the one

[12:53] » that must be her boss. She's been doing it for seven years. I did not know.

[12:57] » Oh, >> yeah.

[13:01] » They do that. Um, we just we just uh work with the businesses themselves,

[13:07] » but I don't send kids in. So, she that must be where she

[13:12] » Okay. I was just confused. I thought, "Oh, so

[13:16] » yeah, that's crazy. I didn't know that." >> So, I was just wondering how that was.

[13:21] So if if it happened, we I would get a report

[13:26] that and then uh address it with a local business.

[13:30] But as far as um doing that work, I do that.

[13:37] on the baking thing. Another thing I wish I would like to do communitywide

[13:41] and I've started doing my plans because there is a huge amount of people

[13:50] that think, "Oh, I'll just give up cigarettes. I'll start vaping." And they

[13:53] think it's better somehow and it's not. >> They're still exposing their baby to

[13:59] harmful chemicals. So, >> um it's really interesting. I mean, that

[14:02] is a huge misconception that is very much so happening on a pretty large

[14:07] scale. >> And it's interesting cuz it's like this

[14:10] generation, the generation of people who could be pregnant right now because the

[14:14] the young kids know [clears throat] when I go talk to the young kids are

[14:18] like worse than smoking, >> but I think we're still confused.

[14:22] » So that's really I don't think it's confusion or

[14:26] » denial. Exactly. denial because they want

[14:29] something to replace that cigarette or something that's better and they're

[14:34] telling me like, "Well, my doctor said it's okay." I'm like, "No, they didn't."

[14:37] [laughter] >> Is there something that shows you can

[14:40] use vaping to, you know, as long as you off to ease off? Yes. Like it can't. But

[14:45] the problem is is that people don't follow like the nicotine milligram and

[14:49] the vaping allows for so much higher dosing that then that's what usually

[14:53] happens. So this like theoretically could help you but

[14:57] » it doesn't in the end right >> like my program

[15:04] has a pregnancy but that's dedicated to it and they get

[15:09] every time they make the phone call it

[15:21] » call me if if they agree only but offering them to talk to them and then I

[15:27] can come in and chat with them from the book club. So I would love I'd actually

[15:31] love to do that. >> That'd be a little bit of a different

[15:35] deal. Um as far as the recycling and stuff um the vape recycling, we still

[15:42] want to work on that. Also, my uh seventh graders in Mis really want to

[15:50] take a part of and I told them >> that that maybe they

[15:56] » recommended maybe

[15:59] have somebody somebody else do it.

[16:03] » Joe Revel said that he would do it. >> That's what I was going to say. It's

[16:06] like, you know, somebody that's got some experience

[16:11] on the outside. >> Yeah.

[16:13] Um, another thing that's really neat to do

[16:16] is for a training lesson is stab one of those batteries, which you know people

[16:22] doing that. >> We went through a whole training on

[16:25] those um lithium ion batteries.

[16:30] » Years ago, I had to try it for myself. It's not insect stuff.

[16:37] » It's not. >> It's a good learning experience. But

[16:40] » that's the real problem with those those bays. Well, of course, you know the

[16:44] chemicals in them. >> But those under the right conditions,

[16:48] those batteries get punctured, they will burn and they will burn hot

[16:52] » and they are really difficult to hell. >> Yeah. I mean, there's a family that once

[16:59] that happened in their whole house. So it happens.

[17:03] » Oh, it happens. >> They really want to see that. They just

[17:05] want to see what's in it. They're just kids and they want a really

[17:09] » Yeah. I mean, I'm just saying that first of all, be good science experience for

[17:14] kids because you wouldn't want them doing it.

[17:17] » Yeah. >> If you can get somebody like Rumble to

[17:19] do it or, you know, me and some of the other people on fire here or something

[17:24] like that. >> That's what I was thinking. I was like,

[17:26] I'll just talk to the DS guy. They're both crazy and all that stuff.

[17:35] » So maybe uh so I have to go back to now so we can take a part of me and uh maybe

[17:42] we're I think J had a good idea maybe to video it. But maybe if the fifth graders

[17:47] are interested maybe you could help them out.

[17:52] and you thought you might start putting out some video.

[17:59] » So, I'm going to go ahead and talk about her.

[18:03] » Um, uh, forgive me. I've only been in the

[18:07] role about a month, so not a lot of updates on my end, but did partner with

[18:12] public health to get all of the Narcan supply at the middle school and

[18:17] elementary school back up to date. Um, so we got the stickers that were

[18:21] required, put them all in the boxes. We have our CADKA midyear conference in

[18:27] Orlando this year. Kids are super excited. The actual um heavy focus this

[18:32] year is fentanel. So that'll be really interesting to see what the kids take

[18:37] back from that especially. I think it's just a small amount that's so legal.

[18:40] » We're partnering it's they're partnering with the DEA. So the DEA is bringing

[18:44] anticipation. So, it'll be really really good to see.

[18:49] And then, um, freedom seems to be popping up in a lot of different places.

[18:52] We know Idaho right now is trying to make it a a substrolled substance. Um,

[18:59] they're trying to get that passed through their legislation. I know it's

[19:02] failed in our legislation previous state level, but um, there's a lot of

[19:07] misconception that is not yet in our county, but I'm

[19:12] hearing otherwise. So we Aaron has a scavenger hunt already for other things

[19:17] that we're going to tweet and make for freedoms and see if we can go around

[19:22] town and find it. >> So please help keep your eyes open.

[19:26] » Yeah. Yeah. Um, you want to say something here?

[19:32] » You and I, >> the Well, they just had a presentation

[19:36] on it at the state um conference in Billings and um there are some things

[19:43] that are being presented to the legislature about banning it in Montana.

[19:49] Um it is addictive as apparently heroin and it they're selling it, but the

[19:54] problem is I think it was used in Asia. That's like a

[19:57] » T a natural. But then in the United

[20:01] States, what they've done is take the one chemical and isolate it and make it

[20:05] really strong and they're putting it in these energy drinks and they're causing

[20:11] major health problems. People are are ending up in the ER. People have died um

[20:17] because it interacts with other drugs that they're taking. Um and so um

[20:22] Riverstone Health, which is the Yellowstone County, uh health

[20:26] department, the herb sanitarians, uh have put together, in fact, in their

[20:32] county, it's banned. Um if we could get it banned in this county, it would be

[20:36] great. Um, I think it's being sold really in a sneaky way and that a lot of

[20:42] people don't read labels and it it could be on the label and they're just

[20:47] thinking it's an energy drink when it might have caffeine, but it really has

[20:52] gluten in it, too. And it could do a lot of damage. So, um, it's it's definitely

[20:58] something that's at the front of everyone's mind as far as trying to

[21:02] maybe get the legal. Um but I think the legislature still clearly they're the

[21:08] industry itself is promoting this cradle rights that you know so that people have

[21:14] the right to take it but it's a drug I mean pretty much so it's like there's

[21:18] all this other medical proof that it's very dangerous to be an overthe-counter

[21:23] product and that apparently on some levels it's used for addiction

[21:28] withdrawal from opioids but that's under medically supervised situations. It's

[21:33] not like um I actually talked to an anthropath doctor who was a friend of

[21:36] ours and he told me he was never he never used it. He we knew of other

[21:41] anthropaths that did um use it but he never thought it was something safe to

[21:46] give to his patients. And so it went from being this thing that was a natural

[21:51] thing to being processed to something at the level of really being a dangerous

[21:58] substance that's being put in things. Energy drinks. You should see the

[22:02] packaging. It looks harmless. It looks really good.

[22:14] » I mean, you don't I've gotten so well being a sanitarian so obsessed with

[22:19] reading ingredients out because ingredients are snuck into things

[22:24] » and let me see because we >> it's out of

[22:28] » the packaging. Yes. And then just pass this around. This is what Riverstone

[22:34] Health and I'm going to make a copy of this and give this out too just when I

[22:37] go out and inspection. And if Megan wants some copies, I mean because it is

[22:43] being marketed >> um in a really attractive way. It sounds

[22:50] good. And the thing the beverage distributor is really who got it um this

[22:56] beverage that has it in there and started putting it in these mini marks

[23:00] right like gas stations and people thinking it's harmless when they put up

[23:06] some data when people were I mean people calling it

[23:10] I mean they just it was just interactive so it's not harmless and and so we went

[23:15] around in Yellowstone County and they actually have three people that are

[23:19] trying to still sell it because it's addictive and they sell out of it

[23:25] » because it's >> I also talked about like when you're

[23:30] doing your inspections that maybe you'll go around and look and kind of get a

[23:35] gauge of what's going on around here if anybody in your head is selling again.

[23:39] » Yeah, email us all and let us know if I see it anywhere. I mean, you know, I'm

[23:44] thinking like Town Pump apparently, according to Beverh Hill, has banned it

[23:50] from all their stores. So, Town Pump is a big one to say, man, it opens up a lot

[23:56] of liability for these, you know, store owner. I don't think they see it that

[24:00] way, but you sell something that ends up killing somebody. And I will tell you

[24:03] right now, there's >> Should we be talking about doing

[24:07] something here? >> We're steady in the counter.

[24:11] » I think so. Because when I did that little presentation with the confluence

[24:16] people um and I the other on the other was

[24:22] Riverstone Health and like she said a big reason they got that pushed through

[24:28] was because of the sanitariums and it's still legal in vape shops in

[24:33] Riverstone um or I mean in Yellowstone County. It's

[24:38] still legal in a vape shop, but it's not legal in places where food is sold. So

[24:44] that means gas stations, bars, things like that. So they're trying to figure

[24:49] out how to also make it legal across the board because their loophole, how they

[24:53] got in is through the sanitarian's office because they were able to get in

[24:58] there because of the >> when they started legalizing marijuana,

[25:02] okay, they started to put it in things like brownies and cookies. So when we

[25:06] inspect places and we look at food, we have to look at ingredients. And when an

[25:10] ingredient in a food is a drug, considered a drug, it's considered an

[25:15] altered food. And so sanitarians have hands off when it comes to altered food

[25:21] products. We can't inspect them. We can't inspect how they're made. However,

[25:26] we can by law pull from the shelves of a retail food establishment because

[25:32] restaurants and grocery stores cannot sell altered food products like Tom and

[25:38] Country. You can't sell pot >> altered or you can't sell in the law.

[25:43] So, you adored

[25:52] food product. So like we have the right to take it away from food establishments

[25:57] because it's not a food. It's actually a drug that's in a food and but a vape

[26:02] shop is not under our jurisdiction at all. Like we don't license them. That's

[26:06] the department of revenue and they handle all the tobacco products like

[26:11] that. So that's where we might get in there and

[26:16] you see this >> look at labels when you're buying these

[26:20] energy products because if it says create them on it you're killing

[26:24] yourself you drink it. I'm not kidding you like just

[26:27] » and the narcan like we said last time it takes a lot more narc

[26:37] what what I mean anybody in this room can you talk about the symptoms or how

[26:43] they're going to present if they are under the influence of this stuff

[26:48] because you see I'm an EMT also usually what we're looking for when we apply or

[26:54] introduce Maran is pinpoint high and they're going

[26:59] to be, you know, really pretty much in all of it. I already made a presentation

[27:04] for this that I gave in February and so we could look at that and use it just as

[27:10] a foundation because it would need to be expanded a lot cuz I didn't have a lot

[27:14] of time to talk but we could look at that and expand it out so that you could

[27:19] get it out to the EMTs and stuff so that they have a base knowledge and then know

[27:23] what to look for or just come in

[27:29] and commissioners are all on board with Can we ban it from Beaverhead County so

[27:34] that it's easier from for us to just say not even big chops can have it? I mean

[27:39] like we could take it out of here like we don't want it here. It's dangerous.

[27:44] Um I mean it would be kind of put in the park before the horse before the

[27:49] legislature actually passes it in statewide. But we don't know when that's

[27:53] going to happen and until that happens if we can get supportive Tom can talk to

[27:58] the commissioners and I'll get copies of that about about the dangers of it and

[28:03] then we can

[28:07] you know I would get we kill some kindly

[28:15] legal one. >> Yeah.

[28:20] And Tom, um, actually the Black Indian reservation,

[28:24] » but that's Blackbeard Indian res,

[28:34] but in Yellowstone County, it's not banned from big shops. You can still

[28:37] legally walk in. So, I'm wondering if we look at the language.

[28:43] Well, we could call Riverstone and get whatever was our primary attorney

[28:47] together for it and then >> well be county

[28:52] they were successful. They obviously they're they have the biggest

[28:56] » the biggest law firm in the state. >> Okay. But they have the most

[29:03] » research. I would follow suit with him before I

[29:12] » would love to help because the guy that is the head of it is really really nice.

[29:17] Um you might know who he is but he um he was like very generous about they're not

[29:24] trying to gauge. I I'm sticking like too like one of the

[29:30] easier ways to get things people to comply by things is to scare them into

[29:35] compliance which I hate to give up but you know if you're in a a establishment

[29:40] and you see them in there you say you realize here's all this information

[29:43] about what to do to people do you want to be liable for that because that is

[29:49] going to be on you if something bad happens and if you don't think people

[29:53] will turn around and sue you they I just want you to know that this

[29:58] settled once debts and according to what I heard it

[30:03] settled for more than the insurance company

[30:07] was covering them for. So someone got taken into cleaners after that. That's

[30:12] what Boseman that happened a couple years back where two people died from

[30:16] undercooked morale mushrooms. The point is if you don't think when someone dies

[30:20] from eating something that from your establishment that the big lawyers come

[30:23] in, they will come in and there's people that just just lawyers that concentrate

[30:28] on that will come in and take you to the CL. This is a great thing that I tell

[30:34] people to like try to get them to do the right thing.

[30:38] » This is so it sounds like >> creative is dangerous. I think we could

[30:41] make a little committee to work on it and then we could talk about it copies

[30:45] of this decide it included on our >> I think that'd be wonderful. I think we

[30:48] need our first steps because there's going to be I mean this is a great

[30:52] discussion that even came up at the last board of health meeting um maybe just

[30:56] even connecting with Yellowstone names all of the

[31:01] » so maybe let's just start by connecting and getting all of information and then

[31:06] um yeah we we can establish a subcommittee after we have everything

[31:10] put together to see exactly what our actions could be moving forward. So

[31:14] thank you so much. >> Thank you. That's a rare opportunity to

[31:18] actually do prevention instead of intervention.

[31:23] » Right. >> Proactive.

[31:26] » So yes, because we can move on. We can talk hours regarding that [laughter]

[31:32] discovery, but let's >> Yes. So let's go ahead in with our

[31:36] public health update. >> Yeah. So our main project right now

[31:39] working on the community health needs assessment with their hospital. Um we

[31:44] basically survey is closed on the 15th of this month, but we do the community

[31:49] health needs assessment to keep us in mind and to figure out what our like

[31:53] next um pro like next project's going to be for

[31:58] public health and the community, what needs what we can improve realistically.

[32:02] Um so we've been doing that with Barrett Hospital the last few times. We they do

[32:07] them every two years and we just partner with them. It makes more sense to work

[32:11] together. um so we can tackle whatever it is together rather than just alone.

[32:17] And that's how a lot of the counties operate too. We found just from going to

[32:21] the conference, a lot of counties made healthy assessments with their

[32:25] hospitals. So um we've had our first steering committee. We're going to have

[32:30] a second one. Um, and then this is how we were able to uh hire our behavioral

[32:37] health coordinator to relay uh was through identifying that there's a lack

[32:42] of behavioral health services um just across the board. So, we were able to

[32:47] get funding um to bring her on and she's been working a lot with uh getting focus

[32:52] groups put together trying to get in beyond what we've been able to reach in

[32:57] the past. So, she's been busy with that. And then from the results of what we get

[33:02] this year, um she can identify, you know, like a priority of projects and

[33:07] then um work on it for the next year or so cuz our funding is only 2 years. So

[33:14] we're already a year in basically. Uh as far as activity goes, we have had

[33:22] 112, right? 112 cases since January, which is a lot for us, I think. I don't

[33:29] know what numbers have been in the past, but it hasn't been they haven't been up

[33:32] in the hundreds, I don't think. So, that's a lot. And it's been a

[33:35] combination of everything. So, A B um is there.

[33:43] » Um there's like subar. It's mostly that >> I mean, so just to make sure of

[33:48] everything. So, we had a I guess a high flu activity year. Um so, I hope

[33:58] we get more people vaccinated for this next coming year. And I don't know what

[34:03] the efficacy of the vaccine was this year. Do you know?

[34:07] » I don't think we'll know until the K variant was not that was one that

[34:13] got missed. So we did see a lot of influenza A. It was K.

[34:19] » H3. It was um

[34:26] » the symptom very severe so much AMD.

[34:29] » Yes. >> And so much RSD so much RSC been very

[34:34] delayed this year. >> So yeah, so those have been cases that

[34:38] have been reported to us. So it doesn't count everything else that reported. So

[34:43] we we can expect that it's just been really high across the board.

[34:48] Um it was subplate. It was H but sub plate K that didn't get caught early

[34:54] enough for the vaccine to cover it. So that'll be in the next vaccine for next

[34:58] year. Supposedly the next year's vaccine is supposed to be much better matched.

[35:01] » Yeah. So that's what we keep hearing.

[35:06] [laughter] >> So So I mean that's the hope you know

[35:09] hopefully we can do better vaccination coverage for this for this coming fall.

[35:15] I don't know. I I don't know. I haven't heard a lot on CO. Have you

[35:20] » Not there's been a little bit of but not as much.

[35:23] » Um for sure. >> But as far as co vaccination goes. Oh, I

[35:27] think um Karen was telling me that I think that it's coming out with a

[35:31] different they're matching that too in the fall and that Madna I think they

[35:36] have a a combo for CO that's going to come out and then they have Madna has a

[35:41] new one that's going to have a little lower dose which might be nice for

[35:45] people who have a really aggressive vaccine reaction you know so that might

[35:49] » be really nice Fiser has had a lower dose than the

[35:53] » and Karen's not here today so I apologize she left

[35:56] conference this week >> um out of town. So, um, she would have

[36:01] the, you know, the other updates that she's the one, she's our disease

[36:05] investigator and is really good at. >> That's where I'm getting all my

[36:10] exactly. So, um, but other than

[36:15] » um I know the other things he's been seeing a lot of

[36:19] a large part of that is increased testing. Um, adults are at high risk for

[36:24] it. Like a lot of people have been living with it and don't know. So

[36:28] definitely, you know, something to be aware of and promote. Our doctors are

[36:34] doing a really good job of testing for it now. So mostly for women. Yeah. Very

[36:38] good. Yep. >> Thank you. Um and other than that, we're

[36:43] just doing business as usual. Our clinics, um we've seen an uptick in

[36:48] travel vaccinations, but I feel like that's just been great.

[36:51] » Yeah, it's great sign. Everyone's How can they afford to travel?

[36:57] That was your credit card. [laughter] >> Exactly. Um is um

[37:03] um Oh my gosh. As Joyce mentioned, we we

[37:08] went to confluence this week, which was a conference put on by three

[37:11] organizations at the state level. Um not state level, but three different

[37:16] organizations from that. So we had Montana public health association,

[37:20] environmental health association and then um public health official

[37:24] association and they had a board of health track this year which they had a

[37:28] year ago as well and it was really good. Uh we had Damian attend from the board

[37:32] of health and I attended a few of the sessions and they were very very useful.

[37:38] Um my favorite one was the um budgeting and board of health and then just

[37:44] learning about the funding at the state level and what's going on with public

[37:47] health. Um we knew we knew that we you know we got a lot of money during CO and

[37:53] how that has gone from 274 million to 29 million now. So you can see where all

[38:01] the budget cuts are happening with public health. Um and that is true for

[38:07] us too. Our workforce, we get funding to um have Karen as a disease investigator

[38:15] and that is going to come to an end next year, so 2027.

[38:20] Um there is so we don't know what's going to happen. Um I talked to the the

[38:26] gal that kind of is in charge of that and she's like, "Yeah, that one's my

[38:32] position, too." Um but you know there's a sliver of hope um that something else

[38:39] will will come through. Um and she kind of has been hearing a little talk about

[38:45] it but not much. So we'll just see where it goes. Um and that's going to be huge.

[38:50] I mean I feel like we were a three person you know three person um operate

[38:56] we were operating with three people co you know co came and now we were able to

[39:00] hire a fourth person and it's been wonderful like it's it is a full-time

[39:05] job um it's you know disease investigation goes beyond co you know so

[39:11] like you know uh Karen handles all the communicable diseases in Beaverhead

[39:16] County um coordinating those and investigating those. So, it's so we're

[39:21] we don't know what's going to happen, but I mean, we just know that funding

[39:24] for public health in general obviously is down. Um, they did talk about talk

[39:28] about a rural health transformation grant that we're going to be getting.

[39:31] Montana's going to be getting in the next 5 years and that's 233 million. So,

[39:38] um, we'll see what comes of that and what projects. I feel like that's what

[39:42] public health is. we just kind of like hop from one grant to the other to see,

[39:47] you know, we take on projects that um continue to fund us because just like

[39:52] other counties, like a major part of our expenses is our staff. You know, we we

[39:59] we utilize our funding to pay our staff. And then I'd say,

[40:06] you know, we're pretty much the same as other counties. They do the same. like

[40:10] it costs a lot of money to have staffing. So probably 70% is for um

[40:18] you know for staffing and then the other 30 for operational. So so that's what

[40:23] we're looking at. Um it is going to be the end of the year so

[40:27] July 1st of the new year. Um I'm going to be working on the budget uh for this

[40:33] year probably in the next coming month. I haven't started it yet. Um, but I can

[40:38] expect it to be pretty much the same as last year and I had all that. Um, you

[40:44] know, during co we didn't utilize all all of our mill levies and this year we

[40:49] did uh which is five mill levies but the rest of our funding is grant funding. So

[40:55] like I you know a little less than 3/4 or around 3/4 of our funding comes from

[41:01] grants and like keeps us going. So, um I'll be um working on that and

[41:11] um you know, one of the presentations that confluence was presenting it to the

[41:16] board of health. So, I will be working on that, but you

[41:21] know, I don't know how you guys want to proceed going forward.

[41:26] » We'll better develop that process when we get a pool board. Right now, we're

[41:29] just trying to get everyone on board. >> Okay. So, I'll just keep working. you

[41:32] know, it gets approved with the commission. Um, and then I can share

[41:37] that with you all.

[41:41] » I have a question. >> So, I see the $15,000 grant through the

[41:46] institute is coming up again. Yes, you guys have plans. Can How many times can

[41:50] you It's >> apply for that.

[41:52] » You can apply for it once. >> Oh, just once.

[41:55] » Once. Um, and initially I had applied for the resource from centers to get

[42:02] funding, but it didn't really work out cuz it was a little bit more entailed

[42:06] than just funding the RAC. So, it would require more work on our part. So, we

[42:11] kind of, you know, it wouldn't get approved for it. Um, yeah, this next

[42:15] round closes the 22nd, so next week, and I am planning to submit it to get

[42:21] funding for the community health needs assessment.

[42:24] So, I'm wrapping that up. Um, and should be it next week. I'm just waiting on one

[42:31] little piece from uh the office of rural health.

[42:36] » Thank you. Have you guys gone to the one institute summer conference? I know it's

[42:42] in June at Big Sky. Have you guys gone to that before? Because I am registering

[42:47] to go to that and >> Oh, okay.

[42:50] » RB coordinator will be going to that. receiving it as the public health stuff.

[42:55] » Um, >> yeah, that's one of our like kind of

[43:00] requirements for this grant that we got with her. She attends that. So, and it's

[43:04] an expensive one. >> It's really expensive.

[43:07] » So, we're kind of limited to just sending her. We do have the funding for

[43:11] it under that behavior. >> Yeah.

[43:17] We don't know. >> Um,

[43:22] » I think that's all I have right now. I mean, as far as public health goes. Um,

[43:33] » and thank you. I I don't um I don't I I really like listening to the updates and

[43:39] they're very important for just education for a community that reads our

[43:43] minutes. Uh, but today um Dr. does have to uh leave us at um in a

[43:50] minuteish. Um so um I will go ahead and do you think it's appropriate to um come

[43:57] back to the discussion or um >> yeah [snorts]

[44:02] we need to get that through

[44:07] » um because ultimately ultimately if we aren't able

[44:12] if we do have to leave we can go ahead and do the action items at the next

[44:17] point too. So >> okay

[44:19] » is that okay? That's fine. >> Okay. Wonderful.

[44:21] » Um the I can So as far as the lab specimen plan, but next time I'll just

[44:28] bring it around to you guys is okay. >> It doesn't have to be We went over it at

[44:33] the board of health meeting. Nobody had any objections to it, so we can I just

[44:38] need Damian and Dr. Evans and I think on it

[44:42] already signed it. >> The last specimen transport. Yeah.

[44:46] » Yeah. So I'll just bring it I'll just bring it to you guys. Okay,

[44:50] » that's easy enough. >> All right. Um, so, um, let's go ahead

[44:55] and move forward with DES update.

[45:01] » Yes.

[45:04] » There you go. Where to start? [laughter]

[45:10] Well, they have hired a new um, fire chief for Dylan. He's not fully on

[45:17] board yet. So, that's a step in the right direction. Um, I've met with him a

[45:23] little bit. It hasn't been really much, but uh, you know, this will

[45:29] be it'll take a while to phase into,

[45:34] obviously. Um, >> what's his name?

[45:38] » Yeah. >> What's that?

[45:40] » What's his name? >> J. Eperson.

[45:45] » Is he a local person? No, he's out of somewhere by like Salem or what?

[45:52] » So, they put the the advertisement out there. Well, I mean, first of all,

[45:56] anybody locally and they didn't get any takers on it and then they had to move

[46:01] on and spread out and so we wish them the best of luck and hit the ground

[46:08] running with that. We all know um

[46:13] what was about two weeks ago I attended the state of Montana. It's called the

[46:17] county assist team, state incident management training. I'm

[46:24] a liaison officer traininee with that team.

[46:28] So that's kind of to get everybody on the ground, have a premeating to see

[46:33] what is going to potentially happen this year with uh fire season. And I think

[46:40] you run into this every time with that group of people over there that I mean

[46:45] right now things well even two weeks ago things look really bad with the moisture

[46:51] that we be been getting around the state in the last couple weeks. I mean we look

[46:55] better. So, nobody really wants to put a prediction on this. And you ask a lot of

[47:01] these season fire guys, what's this, [clears throat] excuse me, fire season

[47:07] going to be like? And they're going to say that they'll tell you about

[47:10] September. So, right now, things don't look good. I

[47:15] mean, we don't have snow pack in in a lot of areas around the state.

[47:21] um it has very bad potential as us kind of every year. But if we see this trend

[47:27] to where we have higher humidities and precipitation and less wind, then you

[47:33] know, maybe we'll we'll luck out. Um

[47:39] dealt with a couple truck wrecks here recently. This is kind of both

[47:42] sanitation. One of them just weird stuff that we end

[47:47] up dealing with. This particular truck, I think it was March 3rd,

[47:54] Jack here by Clark Canyon Dam. Didn't do a

[47:59] whole lot of damage to the the trailer. They towed it back, sat attorney shop

[48:06] under refrigeration. the um

[48:11] Cardi Towing told the company to come and get it that the trailer wasn't

[48:16] damaged that bad. And I'm using this as a really good example of stuff that we

[48:20] end up dealing with. It is still sitting there today under refrigeration

[48:27] waiting for the insurance companies to do something about it.

[48:32] » This is about 40,000 pounds of pork. And I have we we tried to get the

[48:40] Montana food bank to take it, but it sat a little too high. It is at 25 degrees

[48:46] is kind of a higher freeze. It it sat too long at a higher freezing temp and

[48:51] so they wouldn't take it. So it wasn't good for human consumption. So then I

[48:56] called the yellow the grizzly discovery center in West Yellowstone and an animal

[49:01] feed it to grizzly bears or wolf because the fat content of pork is too high.

[49:10] I called the building zoo. I called I called another grizzly bear place near

[49:15] Boseman. Again, the same story, but these wild animals don't name that

[49:20] fatty. And so, uh, it was ready as then what happened.

[49:26] » So, I've been talking to somebody out of Edmonton, this broker. Yeah. It

[49:32] originated out of out of uh out of Red Deer, Alberta, [laughter] and

[49:37] it was going somewhere in Mexico.

[49:42] » We're talking 404 $40,000 of pork, which is well, they said at a minimum that it

[49:48] was worth about uh they said about $40,000, $38,000 US.

[49:55] » Yeah. >> But that is in the form that it's in,

[49:58] which is what is it by like by cut shank. So it was it was hit with fresh

[50:05] » and then they set the reapfer unit at like 25° F

[50:09] so it just slightly freezes it so it's not frozen solid as a frozen load.

[50:15] Otherwise it'd be a big ice cube out there and we wouldn't worry about it so

[50:19] much. There is another point to this story that I tell. So then it comes up

[50:25] that we're you know I'm pressuring them. Hey, you know, we want that thing gone

[50:30] now because we locally don't want people going in there and grabbing it now. And

[50:36] then I get the word back out of Edmonton that they sold it to a hoodterite colony

[50:42] in Manitoba. >> So now it's got

[50:44] » So it's supposed to get shipped from here

[50:47] » back to Canada. >> Back to Canada back to Manitoba

[50:51] for human consumption. >> And then are they going to resupply

[50:56] there? I

[50:57] » there's an outbreak.

[51:05] » We've we've done our duty here. Like we documented it like we're not

[51:09] recommending that this goes anywhere now >> and nobody's giving us the direct in

[51:15] order to say, you know, you're going to watch it bury it in the dub so we know

[51:19] that it's gone. >> Yeah.

[51:20] » Because technically, you know, we don't own it. insurance company or the

[51:25] trucking company or whatever else it >> so this is just it's a better example

[51:30] but this is kind of a typical example of what we deal with when we have a load of

[51:36] perishables that goes into an accident and then you also see kind of the

[51:40] potential there for you know um foodborne illnesses to to arise in the

[51:46] community from something like this and this is common really all over the state

[51:53] and it's insurance companies don't want to pay out on it. It it seems more like

[51:58] they don't want to do anything. So, they just let it sit there and then it ends

[52:03] up costing them more and more money and storage fees and putting fuel in that

[52:09] refrigerate the the reefer unit and on and on. It It makes no sense to anybody.

[52:16] » Yeah. Um,

[52:18] » that's crazy. >> With fire. I don't know. That's that's

[52:23] kind of all I have. I guess I've been working on emergency operations plans

[52:29] trying to get those going a little bit further and that's always a work in pro

[52:34] progress. Um, so >> um, is there any coordination with the

[52:39] military on the munition cleanup by Hispanics? Yeah,

[52:44] » I was like, "Wow, that's interesting."

[52:49] » Yes, there is. So, Dylan Fire and DNRC are actually the ones that found that

[52:55] there was a fire out there probably, how long ago was that? Four or five

[53:02] years ago, I bet. And as it burned into the grass,

[53:07] somebody was up there. I don't remember whether it was still fire, guys. I think

[53:12] it was actually low and they had a low you know what moment with them saying

[53:17] the word and they found this really strange thing laying there in the out

[53:22] the grass and sage brush burn up and they did the right thing and they didn't

[53:28] go play with it. They backed off like we're trying to do and then as the

[53:34] ground crews were up there looking around that that site, they found more

[53:38] of it. And then come to find out, you know, through some kind of like local

[53:42] history, somebody said, "Yeah, they used to fire a tail artillery at that

[53:47] hillside right there." >> So then it was recorded through state DS

[53:53] like it's supposed to be. Um the guard went down and did an assessment on it.

[53:59] They sent me several letters on it letting me know what's going on. And you

[54:05] know, it's it's taken a lot of years, which is

[54:09] kind of strange because, you know, when people when you find something like

[54:14] that, especially in the area that it's in, I mean, there's a lot of people that

[54:17] want to go up there and see if they can find more.

[54:22] I guess that's what they want to do, but I'm not going to recommend it because

[54:26] there is some potential that there could be live rounds up there and it's

[54:33] probably not really high um explosive rounds, but the fuses are

[54:41] are enough or you know the little the smaller rounds are are enough for a lot

[54:46] of damage. So they have this plan where they're going to go an accessible site

[54:52] and if they find something they'll remove it remove it and disclose the

[54:57] property. >> I just thought that was a lot of large

[55:01] site. I mean 3,000 over 3,000 acres. >> Yeah.

[55:13] » Nice sanitation bar too. >> Yeah. And then after that we can

[55:17] transition to Joyce. Yeah. >> Okay. So

[55:22] usual stuff and we have it's not a big rush of building going on

[55:29] recently, but there's definitely kind of a steady flow of new septic permits

[55:35] being applied for. Not a whole lot of subdivisions.

[55:39] Um, we've had some pretty major violations here of people building RV

[55:46] spaces. People over a period of time have done some

[55:55] built where they weren't supposed to build in flood floodprone areas

[56:02] and we have had to go to enforcement on a bunch of these things.

[56:08] um out in my tours around the county and going into,

[56:13] you know, different areas, it seems like every time that I take a little bit of a

[56:18] drive, I find another violation of something. Somebody pulling in, you

[56:25] know, new RVs into a site that's that's on a property and obviously living in

[56:32] them. The state of Montana, the rules on RV or trailer spaces are two or two or

[56:40] more open to the public are required to be licensed. Then that requires a DEEQ

[56:47] approval as well as the DPHS planning and licensing approval.

[56:53] [snorts] um if they're not open public for a rent

[56:59] then it becomes sanitation and potentially a subdivision violation.

[57:04] And the other one is people just starting to build things without getting

[57:09] any kind of permissions and if it snowballs um lawyers get

[57:16] involved in a lot of cases. We had to tell somebody to tear out a

[57:22] foundation that was built in the wrong spot and these things get very very

[57:27] contentious and expensive. So we always want the word out there to people that

[57:33] if you're going to do something, if you're going to build something, please

[57:37] get a hold of us and ask the questions first because prevention is a lot easier

[57:43] and cheaper than the aftermath. Then moving on, um, Commissioner Rice

[57:51] just got a hold of me on, you know, another big sanitation violation of

[57:55] somebody that's collecting everything that you can imagine. Junk

[58:00] vehicles, junk equipment. This has been going on for a long, long time.

[58:06] Countyy's rules and regulations on this are

[58:10] kind of difficult to enforce, but we've got several of these big um

[58:16] kind of boring cases of >> just junk

[58:20] and there are several there are many around the county and

[58:25] » and in the city >> we we and in the city

[58:28] » and we have had some success of pressuring them to clean some of the

[58:33] stuff up. We have we do have a fund that we work jointly with Montana EQ and it

[58:39] kind of administers that is for a little while called our junk vehicle fund. So

[58:45] if it's a vehicle that is supposed to be licensed we can use that funding to pay

[58:52] for it to be removed

[58:58] all these other things. So, we're gradually working on this with

[59:04] some mixed success, I guess, would be the way to put it.

[59:08] » Reporting cases in the city limits, too, and I've made the city aware of it. No

[59:13] one from the city is here this morning. Um, but uh that that that the

[59:18] enforcement for that, there is an ordinance in the city for us. And these

[59:24] uh hoarding cases in the city are actually more dangerous, I think,

[59:27] sometimes than the ones out in the county because the properties are real

[59:31] close together. And so somebody has a lot of fire um hazard stuff sitting

[59:36] there piled up um old vehicles, things like that. It it's a harbor. It it

[59:41] basically makes homes for our rodents. We have problems with um Jessica had

[59:46] that problem with her neighbor and I written letters to the city about it and

[59:50] I' not there's been no enforcement um from them on these cases. I have to I

[59:56] can't enforce it myself because it's not within the city limit. So, but um you do

[1:00:01] have and I did go to a hoarding workshop. I'd like to let this person

[1:00:05] come talk to us. Um but they have a hoarding task force and it went last

[1:00:09] year. Um, a lot of times, you know, people like hoard that have like these

[1:00:15] huge amounts of things that they can't get rid of, there's a mental aspect to

[1:00:20] that and you have to really coach them in getting rid of their stuff and

[1:00:24] understand the bigger picture of the hazards they're creating around that.

[1:00:29] And then it helps them understand why do we need to clean some of that out

[1:00:32] sometimes and sometimes they won't be written but and you have to you know

[1:00:36] citations and stuff but there are there's a lot to learn about wording

[1:00:41] itself like when it is becoming more of a problem. It's kind of it's definitely

[1:00:46] public. Well, you know, our little that little building in Lyman next to the

[1:00:51] post office that broke down in >> February that made it a little bit

[1:01:09] » um do you want to ask Megan if she approved you approved the minutes that

[1:01:12] were sent out? Yeah, there's a

[1:01:17] » long approve. Thank you.

[1:01:23] » You're okay with my best

[1:01:29] sanitarian stuff. Um, one of the biggest things Todd and I have tried to do is

[1:01:35] make all of our forms accessibility. I like accessibility as one of our goals

[1:01:40] to make sure that the public because we are, you know, government is a service

[1:01:46] to the people. That's why they pay taxes. And so to give them a service to

[1:01:50] be able to access all the current forms and information that they need for their

[1:01:55] businesses on the environmental health page on the website, which you can

[1:02:00] access by going to behike countym.gov and then go to environmental health.

[1:02:04] There's drop- down menus on that page. I know some of you are very familiar with

[1:02:08] them. They have everything, all the licensing information, septic permitting

[1:02:13] information, other information, but it makes it really easy when I'm on a hold

[1:02:17] with people to just tell them, "Okay, get off your computer and go to this

[1:02:21] place, get this form, and print it out." So, it's really been a big thing to keep

[1:02:25] these forms updated. Um, the other thing is we also are one of the only counties,

[1:02:30] if not the only county, and I'm not kidding you, I talked to the lady that's

[1:02:34] in charge of the Missoula Health Department this week and she was

[1:02:39] impressed and we offer a food handler certificate course on our website and

[1:02:44] you can take it. It's a half an hour course. It's actually hosted by the

[1:02:49] Tacoma Pierce Health Department who was actually noticed it by Nationwide by

[1:02:55] their cutting edge food safety stuff and they were featured on PBS um for so it's

[1:03:01] a food code course. They're hosting it but we're linked into the course and you

[1:03:06] get a card a two-year food handler card for Beaverhead County for $25 and it's

[1:03:11] only a half an hour class. Anybody that's touching food should take this

[1:03:16] class. If you are wanting a more in-depth class, there's actually a law

[1:03:19] in Montana that anybody that owns a food establishment, one person should have a

[1:03:25] food manager level course and that's a little more intense. And that's an all

[1:03:29] day course. I offered it in January. We had it cut off registration because we

[1:03:34] had so many people wanted to take it. We had 20 people take it. Of those 20

[1:03:38] people, 17 passed it and the other remaining three hopefully will come back

[1:03:43] because I talked to the Stillwater County. We did a joint last for nine

[1:03:47] Stillwater County Extension and we co-taught it and she's planning on

[1:03:51] coming back in early October. We just had to solidify the date with the Elks

[1:03:55] because they donated the room that day. And that is a all day course. Um it's

[1:04:00] usually that class, I'm not kidding, there's up in Boseman a company that

[1:04:03] charges like over $200 for it. We got her down to 75 bucks a so this is a

[1:04:10] gallant. We need to give people a gift. So $75.

[1:04:14] Um hopefully she'll still be able to keep that cost for the October course,

[1:04:18] but it details will be coming on our Facebook page for that. In climate, the

[1:04:24] kids are opening. We expanded our concession stand in our gym area and the

[1:04:29] kids uh worked on that as part of like a CT

[1:04:33] and so this summer they're going to operate a beverage bar and everything

[1:04:37] and I wanted to see if they could do surf day with you and we could donate

[1:04:44] the space at the school and anything else. I don't know if we have time for

[1:04:49] something like that or what it would take, but maybe we wait till October.

[1:04:53] But >> yeah,

[1:04:54] » I think the kids that would be working in there, it would be really great. And

[1:04:57] most especially Mrs. Bernard and the the business teacher is going to be running

[1:05:02] everything. That way she has the capacity to kind of um have her agency

[1:05:08] over what they're doing instead of the line.

[1:05:11] » Yeah. And I think what we maybe should do is just do the $25 food handler for

[1:05:15] them. >> Would that be enough? Yeah, for just

[1:05:18] beverages and and snack prepaid prep preackaged stuff that they're selling.

[1:05:22] » Yeah, they want to cook some stuff like stuff over there in the cafeteria and

[1:05:27] then bring it over. So, >> because the only reason I would hesitate

[1:05:31] to open up another Surf Safe manager is there's a little bit involved with

[1:05:34] ordering the exams and the booklets from Surf Safe and Okay,

[1:05:39] » it'd be better if we had a whole like we could certainly reserve a couple spots

[1:05:44] and not fill the class. So they just go later

[1:05:48] and then the kids. >> Yeah. Have them have most of them take

[1:05:52] the food handler and then the person that's kind of in charge we'll get them

[1:05:55] in that other class later. >> Okay.

[1:05:57] » That way. Yeah. So um and then uh good though. I'm glad that you're thinking

[1:06:03] about that. And then uh we're enrolled in the FDA food standards

[1:06:07] again this year for four years. We got a grant um this year uh 20 or I I asked

[1:06:13] for 26,000. They gave us 14,000. The programs have all been cut. So we were

[1:06:18] lucky to get the boards that uh 4,000 of it is going to go to training. It has to

[1:06:22] go to training. So Tom and I are going to go to the NIH um annual um meeting

[1:06:28] which is basically a really informative nationwide food safety um which will be

[1:06:34] in um oh August, early August. um we're already enrolled for that and that is

[1:06:40] paid for by this grant and then the remaining funds 10,000 will go toward

[1:06:45] our general fund in our department which we will we use for salaries and also

[1:06:51] supplies like I buy pro thermometers and give them out at every inspection cuz

[1:06:55] believe me every time I ask people if they're using their probe thermometer

[1:06:58] they go look in a junk drawer and try to find it and tell me that they're using

[1:07:02] it every day and I'm like really it's that available to you that you're You

[1:07:07] see it get every day that you have to go look for them. Anyway, um yeah. Anyway,

[1:07:11] so then uh and then let's see. Oh yeah. So then office constantly works with

[1:07:17] public uh least water compliance. Miss Farmer and I have been writing letters.

[1:07:21] I've been sending out letters about people parking our lease on their win.

[1:07:25] And then some of these people, we have found one already. This tapped into it

[1:07:31] just opened up the lid of their septic and put the se the septic tank tube from

[1:07:37] their RV that's parked in their yard flowing in so that when these houses are

[1:07:41] originally designed, the septic system is usually designed just for the house.

[1:07:47] Unless when they design the septic knowing there's going to be an extra pad

[1:07:52] next door, they already design it for the additional load, but a lot of times

[1:07:57] that's not the case. And we've been checking up on these ones that were

[1:08:03] » parked and people do say I can do whatever I want with my land. Yeah, you

[1:08:08] can, but you also your contain is going to fail. We should help you with that,

[1:08:12] right? you guys talking about >> with a lot of these cases like that,

[1:08:15] what Joyce is talking about, they um they're in subdivisions and

[1:08:22] the safety system is designed for one single family residence. So then they're

[1:08:26] out of compliance with that. then they're also out of compliance with your

[1:08:31] subdivision um covenant and then you're expecting or

[1:08:38] kind of that authority falls onto the the homeowners association to enforce

[1:08:43] that covenant and then usually this falls to pieces right there. Then they

[1:08:48] throw it back on us and it becomes just the circle and and it's difficult to get

[1:08:54] something done with it. Most of the time, 90% of people really want to do

[1:08:58] the right thing. We do have occasions where they don't want to do the right

[1:09:02] thing. And those who are the ones that take up most of our time

[1:09:06] » cuz we have to really >> kind of massage them into like doing the

[1:09:11] right thing. Like, yeah, you really need to do the right thing because if there's

[1:09:14] a bunch of septage on your yard and somebody's dog runs or a little kid's

[1:09:18] balloons or when your neighbor's kids are out playing and they get sick,

[1:09:23] that's going to be a problem for you, you know. So, you have to really, like,

[1:09:26] again, scare them to comply all the time.

[1:09:30] » Uh, then we have a Facebook page. Environmental health has had one for

[1:09:35] four years now, and it's grown on every year. we get more people that like our

[1:09:39] page and repost things on that. Then we repost it on pages with more traffic

[1:09:44] like the middle community page has like what 15,000 followers. So that way we

[1:09:48] get the word out about things like this thing. I'm going up there and then the

[1:09:53] hass training Tom and I went to last year in Iowa which is a hazard analysis

[1:09:57] critical control point. This is actually really good because we have a lot of we

[1:10:01] have meat processors in this county. Um people that are manufacturing their own

[1:10:05] foods, they have to follow certain guidelines. They have to fill out uh

[1:10:09] HASA plan. Um the only state inspected meat processing plant in this county is

[1:10:17] Del. And they're the only ones that can sell their meat to a grocery store. The

[1:10:22] other places are just custom processors and they do it for private parties only.

[1:10:27] That's through not just other ones, that's through USDA.

[1:10:32] There's like some strict laws about meat in the state of Montana. Um, so but ASIP

[1:10:36] is really something in that training was really great

[1:10:40] because the forms that one of those out that are crazy long and now we have all

[1:10:43] the blank templates and so I can help people with that. Uh, work to create

[1:10:47] positive relationship with people in our area. people that are not doing things

[1:10:51] that they should be. We really try to um get them to understand doing the right

[1:10:55] thing is in the best interest of everyone like uh so that's what we're

[1:11:00] doing is of course there's people that don't like our health department because

[1:11:04] we try to change their thoughts on how they're doing something but we're trying

[1:11:08] to work on that with people that are the most difficult and again they take a lot

[1:11:12] of our time off but that's part of our job. Anyway, okay. Thank you.

[1:11:18] » We appreciate you. >> She reminded me of something. Okay.

[1:11:23] » Oh, here. >> So, um, disaster and emergency services.

[1:11:29] You see the I'm a halftime coordinator and um

[1:11:37] Michelle Or is the halftime administrator

[1:11:40] and we do in the past have received quite a bit of money to to fund this

[1:11:45] program. So for example about three years ago $50,000 two years ago it was

[1:11:51] about $40,000. Last year it was $15,000.

[1:11:59] um that less than $15,000 figure just got we've been running on that grant

[1:12:08] for this past fiscal year. Um and it was just approved probably about two weeks

[1:12:15] ago. Um, usually the grant for the what's

[1:12:20] called the EMPG, which I'm talking about now, emergency planning grant opens up

[1:12:27] probably usually around I don't know beginning of uh wait a minute

[1:12:33] beginning mid January somewhere in there as well as the state homeland security

[1:12:39] grant which that's the one that we've used to put the generator in over at the

[1:12:46] uh at the courthouse which thankfully has just been completed.

[1:12:51] Um we've received quite a bit of funding to do different things even to kind of

[1:12:57] do some upgrades on this building. Well, we received the grant. Didn't receive

[1:13:01] the funding yet. Back to that. So the point being here is

[1:13:08] the grants that were supposed to open up about January and close probably the

[1:13:15] beginning of March still have a lock on them that says that the federal

[1:13:19] government is not giving any information on these grants. So we don't know what

[1:13:24] the future of these programs are. And with that being said, it's just not

[1:13:30] that's not just Beaverhead County. Yes, every jurisdiction that is under

[1:13:35] disaster and emergency services within the state if not the whole nation. And

[1:13:42] right now, I think kind of the word out there on the street is that if we have a

[1:13:48] natural disaster, we don't know the status of FEMA.

[1:13:54] Yeah, we tried to log on there to do like our yearly just a yearly IC

[1:13:59] training and the website is down because we don't have access and the online

[1:14:03] courses at this point totally. >> Yeah, that's concerning for sure.

[1:14:08] » Um, how much Joyce, how much of your salary is grant funed? Well, exceeds

[1:14:15] like almost a good portion of the money. So, like we get I mean the FDA grant is

[1:14:22] isn't as much as what we get back from the state because every inspect and the

[1:14:27] fees went up uh because the legislature passed increase in fees last year. So,

[1:14:32] all the fees for licensed establishments went up and they needed to. I mean, it

[1:14:35] was like ridiculously low. And so, um every quarter I do an audit and I have

[1:14:41] to send in a sampling. They they send me a list of inspections I entered and then

[1:14:45] they send me a sampling and I have to send them back those inspections that

[1:14:50] they asked for and then they reimburse me 90% of the fees that are paid. So um

[1:14:58] of all the licensed establishments I haven't actually come up with a number

[1:15:01] but I would say probably about um 80% of my salaries funded by grants.

[1:15:06] » So how much should we save back from those licensing fees? Right now I can't

[1:15:11] meet everything changed for this year. I'm gonna guess that everything almost

[1:15:15] double. So

[1:15:20] » $40,000 a year now. >> 40.

[1:15:24] » Oh, I mean I don't probably >> 80%.

[1:15:29] » I just say that because because I feel like everyone needs to know how much

[1:15:34] work goes into what you do and >> a lot of running around. I don't think

[1:15:38] people realize that part, >> right? Why do you need a car?

[1:15:42] » Well, again, >> the the really good thing with Joyce's

[1:15:46] position is um it's sort of like the harder that she works with with reaching

[1:15:51] out to the establishments, the more she raises that percentage, the

[1:15:56] more money that we receive back into that fund, the ends of going to the

[1:16:02] department. And I guess her salary and then she's been bringing in a pile of

[1:16:09] that grand honey through USDA. So she's Joyce is kind of selfplugged her

[1:16:14] position. >> Yeah.

[1:16:16] » Which we've never done.

[1:16:21] [laughter]

[1:16:26] [laughter] This was the answer why you don't see Joyce in the office all that

[1:16:30] much because her office is the whole county.

[1:16:33] » And just as a reminder, we do have the biggest county in Montana. She has a lot

[1:16:37] of >> Yeah. take me longer way longer to get

[1:16:42] it somewhere. >> Well,

[1:16:44] » but you know what? I also want you to know that one of the things that I've

[1:16:48] worked on is making people not afraid of this. I mean, there's always people that

[1:16:53] and I'm working right now with someone that's resistant to it. Like, why do I

[1:16:56] need to make selfies? >> Well, for safety,

[1:17:00] » like, don't you want to do the same thing?

[1:17:03] Like, I mean, in other words, >> yeah. But most of the time, like today,

[1:17:07] I got somebody that said, "Hey, I'm going to be in this UI shop." Like, it's

[1:17:11] already a business owner and they're already contacting me ahead of time

[1:17:14] saying, "We're going to be calling you in a couple weeks to come in and do this

[1:17:18] inspection of licenses." So if you're on that term with people that they like

[1:17:21] you, they're definitely going to not be afraid of you. I mean, when I see

[1:17:26] something establishment says, scary, I tell them. I'm like, you know, I don't

[1:17:29] know if I do this because

[1:17:33] » I don't, you know, try to be there are sometimes when some things are really

[1:17:37] out of control and I'll go in and be like, what are you guys going to do? Cuz

[1:17:40] like this cooler does not look good. Holy crap. What's there some stuff in

[1:17:44] here that's pretty scary? Like I get like that a little bit but you know

[1:17:49] try to not be so awful that they don't want to call you. You know what I mean?

[1:17:53] And then they don't tell you stuff. So we have that same outlook with the land

[1:17:59] use side of it as well as with planning because uh you know if somebody's

[1:18:04] getting ready to do a subdivision or just a survey or whatever or put in a

[1:18:08] septic you know that there is a history of it in this area that they literally

[1:18:15] put something in and then they ask for forgiveness.

[1:18:19] And like what I was mentioning earlier, when it come when it comes to like these

[1:18:24] flood plane issues, we're on three major ones right now. They literally built in

[1:18:30] this area and when we have to go to enforcement on something like that, it

[1:18:35] it's horrible. It's horrible for everybody and it costs a lot of money.

[1:18:40] So we we kind of think of ourselves more like teachers and a resource. We want

[1:18:48] the public to come in and ask us if it's about a septic, whatever it is. And

[1:18:55] we've gotten like like with the way that I work that we're on pretty much a

[1:18:59] firstname basis with every one of the contractors out there that's doing this

[1:19:04] work, the surveyors, um probably 98% of the railers. And we want them to know

[1:19:13] that they could be, can be, should be, are welcome to get a hold of us at any

[1:19:19] point with questions to try and, you know, re resolve these issues

[1:19:23] beforehand. And it works well for the most part.

[1:19:27] » I mean, I think a building permit down the road could be a good idea tied to

[1:19:32] your septic permit because people start construction before they contact you and

[1:19:38] they might even put a level in in the wrong spot. because they think they know

[1:19:41] what they're doing. And I think a building permit process, we could pass

[1:19:45] it in this county uh would help with a lot of mis perception that it's the wild

[1:19:54] west and people do whatever they want because they can't just build. We've had

[1:19:59] stuff built in flood planes. I mean, there's people doing things that they

[1:20:02] shouldn't be permit. They have to ask ahead of time

[1:20:06] before they start construction. And that would be

[1:20:10] » the word of the assumption out there is we don't have any building permits.

[1:20:14] Well, we don't have code enforcement. We don't have building permits, but

[1:20:21] that's only partially true. You have to go through subdivision. You have to get

[1:20:26] the proper survey done. In some cases, you have to have an electrical permit.

[1:20:31] You have to have um plumbing is supposed to be permitted and expect and

[1:20:36] inspected. If it's commercial, it's subject to coding with the state of

[1:20:41] Montana. There to say that there is no building permits out there is not 100%

[1:20:49] true. >> But people don't know that. But you see

[1:20:53] the county and

[1:20:56] » people people say that and that is kind of the answer that they get

[1:21:01] » cuz we don't have any building and that leads them to believe that they can do

[1:21:06] anything that they want.

[1:21:11] » Yeah. Well, thank you all for that update for those updates and um

[1:21:16] hopefully at the next meeting or even the city council have better better

[1:21:22] recommendations at the federal level in regards to some of the programs that

[1:21:25] we're just waiting to see if they're going to be reopening. So um regardless

[1:21:29] I think all of you that are in our public service because I realized um

[1:21:35] even after attending this conference like even here in Vera County we're

[1:21:38] quite fortunate to have such a great team of just resource and um you all are

[1:21:46] subject matters and what you do and I was um I was very impressed at how you

[1:21:51] all represented county at that conference. So I appreciate it all. All

[1:21:56] right. So yes, thank you. >> I agree.

[1:22:01] » Um so let's go ahead and move forward with um some discussion. And so with

[1:22:06] with action items with Dr. Evans leaving and saying that she uh went ahead and

[1:22:12] approved the is an approval of the minutes and the transfer plan, what do

[1:22:17] we need to do? Um, so you discuss it as you usually would, but when it's time to

[1:22:24] motion and second and all in favor, you just count Dr. Evans that she's already

[1:22:29] in favor of. >> Okay.

[1:22:41] » When Dr. Evans was here, they did because only two members are absent

[1:22:45] right now because we're short. to >> Yeah.

[1:22:50] » And

[1:22:54] » yes,

[1:22:59] » Tom Rice sits on the board, but he doesn't vote. Yeah.

[1:23:02] » Dr. Evans and then Jeremy Crawford is the city appointed right now. And um

[1:23:08] Dena from L. >> All right. So, um, for the approval of

[1:23:13] the January minutes, um, is there any discussion or any motion?

[1:23:19] » I move to approve the January. >> Second. All right.

[1:23:25] Without any change. So, all in favor say I.

[1:23:28] » I. >> All right. Um, that motion passes. So,

[1:23:33] um, the second discussion is a foundational public health information

[1:23:38] sessions. This was an email that Sue sent to me

[1:23:43] and she asked me to add it to the agenda. I'm not It's a Sue.

[1:23:48] Take it away, Sue. Get to it. All right.

[1:24:17] Okay. So, I don't know if um everyone got a chance to look at it, but I found

[1:24:25] this interesting. is through the Montana Public Health Institute and they send

[1:24:30] out a newsletter and um in that newsletter it has little

[1:24:35] snippets of what's going on with them. And

[1:24:40] this one that I sent you out, they do um Montana Board of Health member calls

[1:24:49] and they they're quarterly and so it's

[1:24:54] training basically and I just thought maybe that is

[1:24:59] something that we could do with our board of

[1:25:03] health meetings. I think that they are some of the training is um

[1:25:14] recorded but you do have to register for those

[1:25:18] calls um

[1:25:23] that looks like oh I got to be connected

[1:25:29] and I didn't hurry >> yeah

[1:25:34] so Sue I will go ahead and and I think that um we did have that sent out to the

[1:25:39] whole board and participate in that first quarterly call and I would

[1:25:43] encourage the rest that are on the board to join that as well. Um it's just

[1:25:47] basically just um um as soon as I receive it because she's going to be

[1:25:52] sending me sending all the chairs that email for that invitation on their

[1:25:56] email. I will forward it to the rest of the board. So there is participation

[1:26:00] because it's not necessarily just training, but it is a great place to

[1:26:04] discuss with other Ber board of health members throughout the state of Montana

[1:26:07] and a great just share and knowledge of resources that we might not have here in

[1:26:12] in Dylan. So um I did feel that that skull was very beneficial as just an

[1:26:17] introduction. But moving forward, we really hope to expand that to all of the

[1:26:22] board of health members to the state of Montana as a great place for us to come

[1:26:26] together and have discussions on things that might be a little bit tricky for us

[1:26:30] in smaller communities, right? Um there is also um they have been developing

[1:26:35] through many resources in the state of Montana um great training for both board

[1:26:40] of health members that I am going to recommend uh we we go ahead and take and

[1:26:43] then there's one even for Dr. Evans as a um as a officer of our board. Uh so um

[1:26:51] there there's a lot of great resources that are generating from even from this

[1:26:55] last conference and I will go ahead and share that information with everyone but

[1:26:59] those become available soon. I think for sure

[1:27:01] » and I do think if we can do a training during our meeting

[1:27:07] it would be a good idea if it's a short one.

[1:27:09] » Okay. >> Because we all know how

[1:27:12] » I can I can I do have some resources from the conference that I will I'll

[1:27:17] reach out to them and see if they can make that possible. That'd be wonderful.

[1:27:20] Thank you. So that's a great idea. >> And I know they talked about going

[1:27:24] putting um trainings online July 1st I think is what they said. Oh, July 1. Um,

[1:27:30] » they have them available already. >> They are. They're available.

[1:27:35] » So, I'll share that information. So, all right.

[1:27:39] » Well, thank you. Um, we did go ahead and the board did receive um the um specimen

[1:27:47] transport plan uh that Katie from public health had sent out and it was it was

[1:27:52] actually recently. >> Was it last year?

[1:27:55] » It was last year. We did review it, but um July,

[1:28:00] » is there any everything's the same?

[1:28:04] » It's the same as last year. Yeah. Um we just had to go through Karen and I went

[1:28:10] through the checklist and Damian and I have gone through it last year and

[1:28:14] everything was um in line with the state requirements. So,

[1:28:21] does everybody know what that is? We talked about it. We talked about it in

[1:28:26] New York. >> Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I know we didn't go

[1:28:30] through it word by word last year. Basically, it's just the way we

[1:28:33] transport lab specimen. So, if there was an infectious disease or a food form

[1:28:37] illness outbreak, we would be able to send specimens in a timely manner

[1:28:41] appropriately to the state lab for testing. Um, it can be pretty

[1:28:47] multiaceted if we don't have the courier from the state coming. So, I think they

[1:28:51] come on like 100. Yeah. Um, and so if it was a Saturday, you know, we might have

[1:28:57] to get one of us or an officer or highway patrol even I believe has worked

[1:29:04] with Sue in the past um to get specimens. They won't anymore. They

[1:29:08] won't do it, but one of us would be able to fill in.

[1:29:11] » Yeah, it was a good um it was a good thing to have in place

[1:29:16] during CO because we were sending estimates all the time and on the

[1:29:21] weekend too. So, um, it's just not one of those plans that we had to do just

[1:29:26] because they said we had to do, you know,

[1:29:30] » I will add it's I mean it's it's not just public health. It's like all the

[1:29:34] all the medical community partners that are the organization that have to have a

[1:29:38] chance to review it and say yes, we do have this is how we're going to manage

[1:29:41] this and this would happen at the hospital or community health or health.

[1:29:46] So, um, it was a great collaboration a year ago and it sounds like when I was

[1:29:51] reading it, there just wasn't any changes from when it was like

[1:29:55] thoroughly. >> Yeah. So, big changes inside, but

[1:29:58] » Exactly. >> So, all right.

[1:30:02] » There's one more thing I want to remember or to say about the [snorts]

[1:30:07] online food safety class we have on our website. There's a food handler course.

[1:30:11] It's a half an hour. It costs $25. $4 of it goes to the Tacoma Health Department

[1:30:17] for hosting and the $21 goes to Beaverhead County. So, it is a small

[1:30:22] revenue stream for [laughter] us. I will say that I got a call from Chad over in

[1:30:27] Nikana who is in the Tri County Deer Lodge. I think it's Granite, but he

[1:30:32] covers three counties. He asked me if he could send people from restaurants over

[1:30:37] there that need food handling to our website to use our course and pay us to

[1:30:43] take our course and I will pay.

[1:30:49] So, uh we're getting people from out of our area that are accessing it and

[1:30:54] that's a big deal like to increase safety all over the region. Um

[1:31:00] and other counties don't have access to that. So that's even Missoula County who

[1:31:04] has elated or budget. So anyway, >> all right. Thank you, Joyce.

[1:31:08] » Regarding the specimen transplant plan, is there any other discussion in regards

[1:31:12] to it before we go ahead and open for motions?

[1:31:17] All right. >> I move to approve the uh specimen

[1:31:21] transport plan. >> Okay. All those in favor?

[1:31:25] » I. All right. The motion passes. Um, wonderful. Thank you all. So, I will go

[1:31:31] ahead and open this up now to any public discuss discussion or comments. Um,

[1:31:37] remember these are subjects under the board of health jurisdiction that are

[1:31:40] not listed on the agenda.

[1:31:44] » All right, wonderful. Well, seeing none, any new business,

[1:31:50] guys, now you guys are all quiet. [laughter]

[1:31:55] Tom is >> again being sick.

[1:32:00] » Again, I I do want to reiterate what a wonderful public health team that we

[1:32:05] have here and I'm very am very thankful for all of you and what you do. So, the

[1:32:10] last the last thing on the agenda is we do have our next meeting scheduled for

[1:32:15] July 17th in Lima. Think that works for everyone?

[1:32:21] » Oh, yes. >> All right. [laughter]

[1:32:23] » We will see you there. Wonderful.

[1:32:27] » Maybe it won't be an adventure this time. [laughter]

[1:32:30] » All right. All right. help

[1:32:38] » if you want to give us an update before you go.

[1:32:42] » Anyone here ever is interested in coming to one of those conferences

[1:32:48] to take community members who are in prevention and

[1:32:55] » all right so we will go ahead and return the meeting. Thank you all.

[1:33:01] expectations. >> Yes.

BOH Meeting City Hall 04-17-2026

Transcript