[0:02] started the meeting and I will call the

[0:04] meeting to order. It is 6:06 p.m. on

[0:07] February 5th. Our first item of business

[0:10] is approval of the minutes. Um we

[0:13] actually have two sets of minutes, one

[0:15] from December and one from January. Do

[0:17] we have a motion to approve the minutes

[0:18] as written?

[0:20] » So move for both of them.

[0:23] » Second. Okay.

[0:25] » Any discussion?

[0:28] Any changes? No. Okay. All in favor,

[0:32] please say I or raise your virtual hand.

[0:34] » I

[0:35] » I

[0:37] » Okay, the eyes have it. We will move to

[0:40] our next order of business. Uh

[0:42] vacancies.

[0:44] Um so, Dr. Ruddy of course had stepped

[0:48] down. Um Dr. Wingert, our vet had

[0:52] stepped down earlier also. Uh believe

[0:56] last August, Dr. Dr. Winger stepped

[0:58] down. Uh just this last week, Dr.

[1:01] Muleman contacted me to say that um

[1:03] unexpectedly he was moving and he'd be

[1:06] moving out of jurisdiction, so he needed

[1:07] to step down. Um so we are down a

[1:11] physician, down a lay person, and down a

[1:14] vet.

[1:16] Um the council members have also been

[1:18] advised of this and asked to assist in

[1:21] recruiting efforts.

[1:23] Um, but I am also letting our board

[1:26] members know if you have anyone that you

[1:28] believe you can convince, those are our

[1:30] current openings. I can also send out

[1:33] again um the links to apply to become

[1:36] members um and who are we looking for?

[1:42] » Um, so Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Jason.

[1:45] » Okay. Yeah. one. Well, one of my

[1:47] questions for

[1:50] um physicians is I mean there's so few

[1:54] physicians that live in independence.

[1:57] There's

[1:59] a rare physician that practices in

[2:02] Independence unless they're employed by

[2:05] a hostel hospital entity. So, have have

[2:08] they ever thought about broadening the

[2:10] criteria

[2:12] of uh qualifications for a physician?

[2:17] So right now um the members just need to

[2:20] either work in Independence or um live

[2:25] in Independence. So if they work for a

[2:27] hospital in Independence, if they work

[2:28] for Centerpoint, that works. If they

[2:30] work for a private practice here in

[2:32] Independence, that works. If they have

[2:33] their own practice, that works. Um they

[2:36] can be retired. Um they can be currently

[2:40] practicing. All of those things will

[2:44] will count. towards the the requirements

[2:47] for this.

[2:54] » Any other questions?

[2:54] » You know, which I mean in my case almost

[2:58] every physician I know does not either

[3:00] live in independence or practice in

[3:03] independence. So it's that's uh that's

[3:05] going to be a challenge.

[3:12] » Jason, did you have a question?

[3:13] » I I did. Well, I did get a nudge um um

[3:18] and I don't know where uh you're going

[3:20] to update us on the the letter we sent

[3:22] in and where the city's headed with the

[3:25] status of the health department, but I

[3:26] did get a nudge from a council member

[3:28] who commented that we were short three

[3:31] board members and and I'd been

[3:33] encouraging them to realize this body

[3:36] could review the I'm hopeful of an RFP

[3:40] for a consultant and then engage with

[3:42] them and And sort of their response was,

[3:45] well, we need to make sure we get the

[3:47] board full. So, it's it's uh you know,

[3:50] the diversity of of the me of a

[3:54] membership of a board is is applied to

[3:56] this effort that I I think is about to

[3:59] come forward. And I thought that was a

[4:01] good comment. So, but I I share the same

[4:05] I haven't thought about it, but I

[4:06] nothing jumps to mind, but guess I'll

[4:09] have to work on it.

[4:18] Okay, there's no further discussion. The

[4:20] next item on the agenda is the

[4:22] department update.

[4:24] Um, I do want to say of course we did

[4:27] share the letter with the council. Um,

[4:31] and then it was also an information item

[4:34] last night on council agenda. Uh, there

[4:37] was no public comment on it. Um, I am

[4:41] still waiting to see how that moves

[4:42] forward. I know, uh, Council Member Dr.

[4:45] McCandless wasn't able to join us this

[4:47] evening. She was going to try to join,

[4:49] but she had, um, a conflict at this time

[4:52] right now, so she was going to try to

[4:53] hurry and jump on if she can. Um, she

[4:56] might have a better knowledge of where

[4:57] they're going with this. Or Jason, you

[5:00] it sounds like you might have a little

[5:01] bit that they're trying to fill the

[5:02] board first.

[5:04] » I Well, I I I don't I I didn't take it

[5:08] that way. I but the comments I've heard

[5:11] from uh three of them were positive. So

[5:15] I I have not been direct in okay are we

[5:21] moving forward with an RFP? Yes or no. I

[5:24] was just accepting the general

[5:26] supportive comments as indicative that

[5:29] they were directing the city manager to

[5:32] find the funds to to do the assessment.

[5:36] Uh so I I take it from your comment.

[5:38] You've not heard anything from city

[5:40] management and we need to be more direct

[5:43] and explicit in in our qu inquiries.

[5:48] » You are correct. I have not heard any

[5:50] additional information being passed down

[5:52] about their next steps um if any that

[5:56] they have.

[5:59] Might I ask are are you all is the

[6:02] department remaining in the structure

[6:05] that it was last year? Did is that

[6:07] conversation

[6:09] um

[6:11] where did that end?

[6:14] That is that is unclear right now. So as

[6:19] of now the structure remains the same. I

[6:21] do not know if that's going to be going

[6:23] forward. Um there are still a lot of

[6:26] pieces and nothing has been finalized.

[6:29] So

[6:30] » So I reached out to a couple of folks

[6:33] fairly directly and um

[6:37] » I was

[6:38] very pleased with the reaction of one

[6:40] after the discussion and the other one

[6:44] uh comment was they thought the only

[6:46] thing in question was where they were

[6:48] going to move you all to. So I assumed

[6:51] that that was resolved. So, uh, just for

[6:54] the benefit of the board, there was some

[6:56] rumors about my words, not anyone

[6:59] else's. Uh, there was some intention on

[7:01] the behalf of some in city management to

[7:03] go ahead and gut out the health

[7:05] department. Uh, while before we even had

[7:08] the consultant come in and and in an

[7:10] evaluation of services needed and and

[7:12] best way to proceed with offering those

[7:14] services. Um uh I'm I strenuously

[7:20] objected to that to two of them invoking

[7:24] communic communication and and I just

[7:27] told you the response. So, um, I I I

[7:31] know we're recorded here and respectful

[7:33] for the board, so I'm speaking for

[7:34] myself and I'm not inferring I'm

[7:36] speaking for the board, but I I didn't

[7:38] appreciate the games uh on behalf of the

[7:41] city management uh because clearly we

[7:44] were working above board and

[7:45] recommending a consultant and a route to

[7:48] do an evaluation and to have others

[7:50] undermining that by trying to radically

[7:53] change the uh reassign health

[7:56] professionals to work for non-health

[7:58] health professionals uh uh made no sense

[8:01] and it it was indicative of the games

[8:03] that are occasionally played in in local

[8:06] government. So uh I apologize for not

[8:09] having followed up on the loop. Uh I

[8:12] will do so and I will report back to

[8:14] everybody this time. Uh I think I got

[8:17] everybody's emails.

[8:19] » Sorry I Christina that may create a open

[8:22] records issue for you but um I I it

[8:26] should have been clear by now. Sorry

[8:28] about that.

[8:30] » Not a problem.

[8:33] I was going to ask Lauren to also just

[8:34] give a general update on communicable

[8:36] disease that we're seeing right now

[8:38] because I know everybody be sick right

[8:40] now um around there. So Lauren, I don't

[8:43] know what you have prepared to update.

[8:46] » Yeah, I've got a little bit. Uh it is in

[8:48] fact respiratory virus season. So we are

[8:52] still seeing a decent amount of flu

[8:55] cases. Last week we saw 164 reported

[8:58] cases. Uh for contacts the same time

[9:01] last year we saw 93 cases. So we're

[9:04] close to double right now. These are of

[9:06] course just the reported cases. So

[9:08] people who are actually getting tested

[9:09] and the doctor's offices that are

[9:11] reporting to us. Uh COVID is also

[9:14] increasing right now. Um it's still

[9:16] lower than flu but it is um up from

[9:18] December. Outside of influenza, we are

[9:23] still seeing a couple of ptasessus

[9:24] cases. We're managing some active TB

[9:27] cases and we are seeing campalobacttor

[9:30] um cases. That's my general CD update if

[9:34] anyone has any questions on that.

[9:39] » Could I ask a question on the

[9:42] communicable diseases and of course some

[9:45] that are vaccinations that are

[9:47] available.

[9:49] My understanding is just recently

[9:52] have they has it come down that the

[9:55] health department is being instructed

[9:57] that polio vaccines are optional now? Um

[10:03] my understanding that's from the CDC,

[10:05] but is that the uh is that what the

[10:08] health department is is following? Is

[10:11] that advice?

[10:13] We are currently following the American

[10:16] Academy of Pediatrics vaccination

[10:18] schedule. Um, and as no none of the

[10:23] school uh vaccines have changed, we are

[10:25] still sticking with that normal

[10:26] schedule. The advice we received from

[10:29] our VFC coordinator was just to continue

[10:31] with the same schedule we've always been

[10:34] following um and just do a little bit

[10:36] more consulting with parents before we

[10:38] do it. So, we'll go through the

[10:40] information sheet a little bit more in

[10:43] depth uh for that shared decision-

[10:44] making that's required um to do most of

[10:47] these vaccines, but we have not changed

[10:49] how we're um doing our schedule or

[10:51] recommendations at this time.

[10:54] » Okay. Thank you.

[10:55] » Yeah.

[11:00] Any other questions?

[11:03] » We'll move on new business. I don't know

[11:05] if there's anything anyone wants to

[11:07] share about any of the work that is

[11:09] going on. Anything else that going on in

[11:12] the community community that they want

[11:14] to share?

[11:17] Of

[11:17] » Course. Go ahead. Anyone?

[11:23] » Okay. Well, then that is short and easy.

[11:26] Um I will entertain a motion for

[11:28] adjournment.

[11:34] Jason waved his hand. I will take that

[11:36] as a motion. Do we have a second?

[11:38] » Second.

[11:39] » Okay.

[11:40] » Third.

[11:42] » Well, it sounds like uh the majority are

[11:45] in favor. We will go ahead and adjourn.

[11:47] It is 6:18. You guys have a lovely

[11:50] evening and take back the rest of your

[11:52] evening. Thanks. All right. Thank you.

[11:54] » Bye.

Advisory Board of Health Feb. 5 2026 Meeting

Transcript