Meeting Minutes
Date: January 22, 2014 - Place: CHD - Health & Human Services Bldg.,
Administration Conference Room
Presiding: Carlos Wise MD
Attending Members: David Arrington for City Manager, Judy Tucker for Mayor,
Ms. Yasmin Cathright, Ravindra Agarwal, MD
Absent Members: Rajinder Chhokar MD
Others Present: Mr. Steve Gunby, Beverley A. Townsend MD, Ed Saidla, Joanne
Strickland, Karon Bush, Brenda Forman, Jack Lockwood, Carol Popwell, Secretary
Special Guest: Jerry ?Pops? Barnes, Columbus City Council member
Agenda Topic Discussion Decision Responsibility
I. Call to order Dr. Townsend called the Columbus Board of Health to order at 1:00pm. None
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II. Election of Officers
1. Dr. Townsend opened the floor for nominations for Board of Health Chairman
for 2014.
2. Dr. Wise opened the floor for nominations for Board of Health Vice Chairman
for 2014. Dr. Wise was nominated by Ms. Cathright, seconded by Dr. Wise and was
approved by all members present.
Dr. Chhokar was nominated by Ms. Cathright, seconded by Dr. Wise approved by
all members present. None
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III. Approval of Minutes Dr. Wise asked if there were any questions or comments on the
previous minutes received (November 20, 2013). Dr. Wise asked for a motion to approve
the minutes. A motion was made by Ms. Cathright, seconded by Dr. Agarwal and
approved by all members present. None
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I. District Health Director?s Report Dr. Wise called on Dr. Townsend to give the
Director?s Report;
1. Commissioner Fitzgerald addressed the staff recently; she reported they have
not received any budget cuts from the Governor?s office
2. Georgia Public Health Association (GPHA) conference is coming up, March
10-11th, flyer provided in notebooks. Included in the conference is a Board
of Health training, contact Carol Popwell if you are interested in attending.
There is a grant available on a 1st come basis that will pay registration and
one night hotel room if traveling more than 50 miles.
3. On May 28th - 29th, GDPH will host a Mega Meeting in Atlanta, District staff
and some key leaders from CHD will attend. This will require changing the May
board meeting to May 14th.
4. Georgia has a high childhood obesity rate; there is a Georgia Shape handout
in notebook. This has a list of elementary and some higher level schools that
have enrolled in the initiative that will allow schools to add 30 additional
minutes of physical exercise to the school day without taking time away from
academics. There are several Columbus schools listed
5. We are planning an In Service Training for all employees- district wide.
During the training CHD will not be able to provide services to our clients, we
will let the board know the exact date once all arrangements have been
finalized.
6. The Health Expo is this Saturday from 9am ? 2pm, we are in need of support
volunteers. This is the 14th year for the Health Expo
7. We were asked by GDPH to participate on a Grant in collaboration with the
nursing workforce and local nursing universities. In your notebook is a copy
of a Letter of Support from the Columbus Board of Health supporting this
project.
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All members present approved the new date for the May meeting.
Ms. Tucker asked if anyone is involved in other childhood obesity programs?
Mr. Saidla responded; yes, we have different representatives within the HD that
are involved; Live Healthy is one.
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?Pop? Barnes commented on the excellent job Jack Lockwood did on his show
?Focus on Health?.
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Carol Popwell will make adjustment on calendar and send to board members.
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II. Financial Report Dr. Wise called on Joanne Strickland to present the financial
report to the Board. Ms. Strickland presented the following;
1. Written copy of the financial report and overview to include FY14 budget is
$5,189,801 with one revision.
2. Expenses are $2,307,752 - compared to this time last year we have saved
$274,179.
3. Fees collected are $608,058, which is down from same time last year of
$33,275. Decrease due to change with Medicaid with the change to the CMO?s and
Family Planning changes.
4. We have removed the Write offs from the report, new numbers will be
available March/April 2014.
5. All other programs on target for 6 months of operation.
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III. Excused Absences Dr. Wise stated there is one Excused Absences for the meeting, Dr.
Chhokar. Dr. Wise asked for a motion to approve the Excused Absence. A motion was made
by Ms. Cathright, seconded by Dr. Agarwal and approved by all members present. None
IV. New Business
Dr. Wise called on Ed Saidla, to present the following to the Board;
1. We have two items we need board approval on equipment purchase;
a) MMRS 2011 funding ? 6 Wheel All-Terrain Utility vehicle to be used by
Chattahoochee County Emergency Medical Services for $12, 696.93.
b) MMRS 2011 funding ? three (3) Electronic message signage board for directing
traffic to be used throughout the region for $9,257. each for a total of
$27,772.
Dr. Wise called on Carol Popwell to present the following to the Board;
1. Ms. Popwell discussed the avenues of communication for each meeting. Each
board member receives the following one week before the board meeting;
a) An email with previous month minutes, tentative agenda and menu
b) A Fax with previous month minutes, tentative agenda and menu
c) Mailing of the previous month minutes, tentative agenda and menu
d) A phone call
Ms. Popwell polled Board members - What is your preferred avenue of
communication or do you want all four notifications?
Dr. Wise asked for a motion to approve the purchase of the All-Terrain vehicle.
A motion was made by Ms. Cathright, seconded by Dr. Agarwal and approved by all
members present.
Dr. Wise asked for a motion to approve the purchase of the All-Terrain vehicle.
A motion was made by Dr. Agarwal, seconded by Ms. Cathright and approved by all
members present.
Board members present agreed to receive the documents via email as the sole
source of communication, with the exception of Dr. Chhokar a fax.
Dr. Agarwal would like a phone call as well.
Dr. Wise would like a text the day of the meeting as a reminder.
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V. Program Reports
Dr. Wise asked if there were any Program Reports.
1. Shawn Taylor, presented information on the Environmental Health Program;
a) Provided handout on New Georgia Tourist Accommodation Rules & Regulations.
State of Georgia adopted new regulation effective January 1, 2014. Will ask
for Board approve soon, then submit to City Council.
b) Recent case of rabies in Harris, flyers were posted in the community to
inform residents.
2. Brenda Forman, presented information on WIC;
a) Case load is down due to the Federal Government shut down that took place
October 2013. In lieu of passing out vouchers for 3 months we could only hand
out one month.
b) The State created a business card initiative, (English and Spanish) to be
given to our clients so they can be an ambassador for WIC.
c) October we started an early clinic, we open from 7:30 am ? 6 pm / Monday ?
Friday. Our clients like this and we also have our Saturday clinic. We
decided to change our hours and not stay until 4pm; clients tend to taper off
around 1pm.
d) We have a centralized call center, with 2 staff persons working calls /
appointments district wide. This is working very well.
e) We have signed on as a pilot location for Internet Based Nutrition
Education. Clients may complete the course online, in lieu of attending WIC
class.
3. Jack Lockwood, presented information on EP, Safe Kids and Public Information;
a) Safe Kids ? December held their Annual Helmet Give Away at the Macon Rd
Library. Staff has been busy with Inspection stations which are held at the
Health Department now. February they will hold another Booster Distribution,
where area Elementary schools are visited and students who qualify receive a
voucher to purchase a booster seat for $5. During April is Safe Kids Day, this
is a fund raiser held at Hollywood Connection. Staff also busy with Poison
Control classes, working on Strategic Planning for the upcoming 3 years and on
a United Way Grant.
b) PIO ? Media planning calendar has gone out to the departments. Family
Planning ads will be going up on billboards in Columbus and some surrounding
counties. We have the Expo coming up, Flu is circulating, Dr. Townsend will
interview this afternoon on the topic.
f) RC ? CHEART POD sites visits are coming up. Our last exercise we included a
Joint information center JIC. We would like to have this more as an active
piece in future exercises with the city.
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Ms Tucker asked for an update on the Vital Records Satellite office. Ms.
Strickland responded; they are making progress and will bring numbers to the
next board meeting.
Will be doing more advertising in the facility. Sending flyers to the area
schools, facility is open to community to pick up birth certificates, not just
for renewing driver?s license.
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VII. Adjourned
Dr. Wise asked if ?Pops? Barnes had any comments. He is an advocate for Public
Health. If there is anything Public Health needs from the City, contact his
office.
With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned by Dr. Wise. None
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