[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.
[11:54] » Bye.