Maybe we should have move a financial reporting with Eric up to maybe number two, one moment, for department
updates. No, this is new business. So can we move it up? That way he doesn't have to be here a long time.
Can I have a motion for that. Okay second. All in favor. All right. Okay so we can move that item. The
minutes from the meeting on September 22nd the executive sessions on this on September 17th and September 28th
and the special session on October 12th have been distributed. Are there any corrections or additions
or is there a motion to approve the minutes as distributed? I motion to approve the minutes as distributed.
I'll second. All in favor? I follow. Motion passes. Regarding public comment, the Monroe County Board
of Health encourages and welcomes public input
Written comments may be submitted at any time via email at Board of Health at co.monroe.in.us. During
meetings, comments related to specific agenda items will be heard after the board's discussion of that
item and prior to taking a vote. At this time, we would like to invite those who would like to comment
on any non-agenda item to speak. For those attending in person, please sign in at the front of the room.
and those joining us online, please use the raise hand feature to indicate you would like to provide
comment. Each speaker will have three minutes and we ask that you please begin by stating your name
for the record. Do we have anyone? Well, is there anyone in the room who would like to make comment?
Okay, and is there anyone online who would like to make public comment?
Is there, is there anywhere? Okay. Seeing none, we will move on to department updates. So our 1st update
is with Linnea with administration. Yeah, so waste water monitoring of COVID and food specifically to
pay. They currently show a moderate level in the community. Food is a little surprising.
starting more slowly this year. As of October 7th, the Indiana Department of Health reported that there
had been 28 new cases of measles statewide in 2026. By yesterday, that number had doubled to 53 cases.
You do have a map in your packet showing where those cases are about to count to.
There have been no suspected or confirmed cases in the county this year. Relatedly, public
health preparedness, staff, and the population health and outreach manager attended a tabletop exercise
with Indiana University Emergency Management and Student Health Services this week, focused on the local
response, so there'd be a positive measles case at the university. I know having talked to Dr. Action
for the board, I believe that.
For vital records, the director and assistant director attended the Indian Revital Records Association
health conference at French Leth. The focus of the conference was records retention, law, and policy.
Of note, assistant director, Jessica Deegan, resaged the Sally Meisenheimer Award, named in honor of
a former Middle County Health Department registrar who passed from cancer a few years ago. According
to the IVRA, quote,
Recipients of the Sally Meisenheimer Award have been a motivating factor in the Indiana Vital Records
Association. Nominees have donated their time and energy to make our membership strong and influential.
They have worked to develop another for us to realize. So congratulations to you. For environmental
health services, the ARPA subject program has been completed.
Two geography professors are interested in collaborating with the department to produce high resolution
risk maps and ticks for mineral county, which could be very helpful for tackling outbreaks of vector-going
diseases. The PHS director has also invited County GIS coordinator, John Bailey, to assist with map
development. The Food Division is working with County Legal to update the mobile ordinance because of
legislative changes.
Phuoc is planning a mobile operator meeting for December to discuss the new state-guide license, planning
reviews, and the licensing process. On October 15th, several cases of illegal and dangerous sniper DDVP,
active ingredients, diphyllidose, were confiscated in Marion County at the department complex,
an international grocery store, and a distribution ramps. The Office of the Indiana State Council was
notified. We just received an alert about that.
If anyone does have that in their possession, make sure to not use it to go to physical contact with
them. Health services. Population Health and Outreach staff are on the Monroe County Substance Use and
Order Awareness Commission, or SUDEP, which held the Monroe County Recovery Summit at the Convention
Center for almost 200 participants in September. SUDEP also held the now incredible Paint the Town Purple
Celebrate Recovery event on September 15th,
to continue to build recovery support and connections within the community and celebrate those in the
recovery. Population health staff also participated in a eight week train the trainer course on three
key ways of understanding the overdose crisis. The training included content delivery and education
to create a foundation of understanding and a new way of thinking about the overdose crisis. It was
a collaborative effort experience that brought past participants from many different backgrounds
including law, medicine, recovery organizations, policy advocates, and farm reduction programs.
And finally, our disease intervention and population health staff continue to offer free walk-in STI
testing on Thursdays right now from 3 to 6 p.m. in the middle. Services include free rapid and confidential
testing for chlamydia, malaria, syphilis, HIV, and HCV, free naloxone and testing strips, and free condoms
and other misdirection supplies.
Awesome. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions or comments? All the stuff came along. So what is
the substance that you referenced that was found in? My understanding is it's a pesticide. It is highly
toxic. It is not legal in the United States.
It was in Marion County. It was in Marion County. It was presumably brought in from some foreign source
and has been confiscated. But if for some reason there are other quantities of it, please, please, please
don't use it. Is it being used? I'm naive. I'm trying to think. Is it being used for its intended purpose?
Drug of abuse or is it not that I don't know. That's what I'm saying. I'm wondering if they're changing
it. Thank you. Next, we're going to hear some updates from Eric with financial and
He is, I think part of why I asked Eric to come was to educate us and let us know about our budget and
to kind of define where we are. I know it's not budget season, we just went through that, but at least
so that we can be thinking about how we can use our funds, especially come January when we start having
discussions with the board and then working with county council, et cetera. So, Eric. So you should
each have a copy of the 12th Department's 2026 Act response. It's a basic report that I brought up,
but you'll see in the first column that we have our council through 2026 appropriations
And then we'll have the 2026 expenses up through September 30th. And the last column is basically what
we have remaining for 2026, which is coming in really good. If you know, the health fund, which has
a large remaining amount of appropriations,
In that appropriations, there are the COVID-19 funds that are currently appropriated, which is $746,573.79.
That is for special use in that. So those funds do not supplant our current budget. So coming down the road,
We will have to decide where those funds need to be spent. I do have all the documentation as far as
what we received, what was paid out on the funds, as well as the letter from Dr. Box talking about how
the funds should be spent. And so moving forward, we can hopefully find programs to understand that.
I did break them down, so we do have the grant separated from there to move forward. And currently,
we have the preparedness, the DIS, harm reduction, crisis COAD, which we're using the remaining funds
for those from there for the positions. I was in the syringe services program. Just having completed
getting everything taken care of
Yes, as far as appropriations for the medical material. Anybody have any questions? So for that first
item, can you get to the members of the board, the letter detailing responsibilities for that? Definitely.
So to be clear, do we have to
decide how to appropriate the funds for the $700,000 in 2026. So those funds are very reasonable. So
they're currently appropriated in 2026, which is going to be difficult to spend anything at this point
in the year. We have 70 lines for 2027. They're currently being held with a dollar in each line. We'll
have a supplies line, a services line, and an equipment line.
So it's decided. So those are set. We'll just, I'll, we'll have to go to council for appropriation on
the funds. Okay. And that, but they are ready to give the judgment. We can get those started. Okay.
They'll carry over on the health fund. Be happy to go each year. I do have it.
full dollar amount track so it will be easier to this is what we have and know what we have and just
have to decide where it needs to be appropriated or supply services or equipment. Okay great. Does anyone
have questions for Eric? I would do a little bit more broad like on that on the back of this page you've
got remaining appropriations what of that do you need to spend five years over here?
What expires? Other than the COVID funds, it just reburts back to the funds. Gotcha. Thank you. You're
welcome. All right, very good. Thanks so much. You're welcome. So we may add
to our agenda for next month discussing what we want to do with those funds. Do we need a motion on
that? Do we need a motion to add it? Okay. Okay, for old and continuing business, you have in your packets
several part-time- We missed the- I'm so sorry.
I missed it. My mistake. I had it aired there. So actually, so we have the Meningococcal response after
action report. And I would like, Linnea, for you to give us an update there. Yeah. So, on 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-
The first summer, you have the after I can afford in your. It's the stuff you know, very clear. And
I'm not going to go over any, you know, as a team, this is a public document. The public is open to
the. And this was our, our team's first experience managing that rapid infectious disease event of this
time. I think this will be able to touch for our systems.
And you were successful in leading our statutory obligations and identified some of the challenges that
should be addressed with an incidental license. The response team included Director of Public Health
Preparedness, health administrator Lori Kelly, population health coverage manager, and health officer
Dr. Sarah Riebermaat. Bryce, we also facilitated the after action review as part of his duties as the
flexibility manager
The review was attended by myself, the health administrator, and Ms. Hewitt. On May 14th, 2006, the
Indiana Department of Health, notifies the Monroe County Health Department of a probable that any properties
can actually be moved by any school corporation. Because post-exposure federal access only works within
a tight window, we need to coordinate contact identification, medication access, and notification within
24 hours per IDHR.
By the following morning, every identified contact had been reached and either received local access
or documented a refusal, which is consistent with their statutory response. Many aspects of our response
worked really well. Our staff worked well outside their normal hours and outside their general duties
and timelines were absolutely met. IUH provided pre-written communication templates and strong
epidemiological support that enabled a prompt response.
MCCSE and IOH collaborated quickly and smoothly to identify post-contacts. Civil flexation was procured
and dispensed rapidly despite this not being a routine health department function at this time. We did
identify some gaps. Emergency public information and family warning. There was some confusion around
the approval process for public messaging and public communications were sent out outside of
the department's established public information officer legal process. As for public health surveillance
and epidemiological investigation, a tough-to-date school emergency contact list was not available at
the time of the incident, following a recent staff departure from our school leads on public health
emergency decision. This day, we slowly made mention of the coordination with MNC-CFC, so it was very
quickly worked out. Medical comprehensive dispensing.
There was no clearly defined backup prescribing authority in place if the health officer were to be
unavailable during the injured incident or in the flight during the response. Operational coordination.
Roles and responsibilities weren't clearly defined for such a small strength point of dispensing of
a child. Decision-making authority was unclear. Internal communication risks. Contact people lacking
secure messaging or HR infrastructure.
After hours, contact information for county support services was landed, and facility access was constrained
on key availability. But none of these gaps prevented the successful emergency response, but they did
cost us time and added stress to staff who were already working outside during one of our hours. The
primary concern, of course, is what happens if the next event has a tighter margins or other feedback
and factors. The recommendations,
Uh, maybe after action review, formally clarify the communications improvement process, including how
and under what circumstances the health administrator as designated public information officer can delegate
that role and ensure that all involved are trained in that process prior to the next incident response
and consider designating the deputy to the PIA.
2. Develop HIPAA compliant internal comms to help with rapid coordination, ensuring that contact lists
are up-to-date and accessible by phone-related parties. 3. Establish a 24-hour Health Department contact
number and designate staff to monitor for that. 4. Develop after-hours contact lists for county support
functions to facilitate unlocking doors, etc. 5.
Develop standing orders for outbreak medications requiring rapid dispensing and consider if any of these
have to be canned. Four, explore alternatives for rapid access to commonly required outbreak medications.
Six, identify alternate providers authorized to prescribe medications or make some of the decisions
under most circumstances. Seven, develop medication reference diets for response staff, including dosing,
contraindications, patient screening questions, pharmacy procedures, and prescription guidance.
8, create standardized templates, including contact investigation forms, medication box, patient screening
forms, prescription templates, situation reports, and incident action plans as appropriate. 9, maintain
readily available supplies, including medication bottles, labeling materials, dispensing supplies, and
standardized targeting templates. 10, clearly defined for small action, small scale incidents,
roles and responsibilities, decision-making authority, and alternates, delegation with authority and
under what circumstances, response window versus medication treatment windows, and activation procedures
for after hour incidents. Some of these items, particularly delegation, authority, policy, and understanding
what the board supports with, the board is reviewed, we comment about putting in staff, we seek to touch
on things in our doors, and we make the action on this. Others, I do see them.
Yes. So I think I think we have a lot of processes to put in place so that we have an adequate response.
I think that's going to require coordination with
the health officer and with staff and with the board as those are developed and then can be approved
by the board. I also would reference that we have in our packet an after action brief or the meningococcal case that
specifically references personnel or rather, well, yes, personnel issues, but this is available for
public consumption. So if you could comment on that as well. So I'll just add a few items just to give
some clarity on my summary of the act that I can look forward to.
So with regard to the Public Information Officer, in our County Emergency Plans and also in the Health
Administrator Job Description, the PIO is designated as their way. During the COVID response, the Health
Officer communicated with the Health Administrator after the fact. She had been in contact with the
press and during the subsequent public meeting provided updates on the patient's condition without
clear documentation of people from the patient or DIO or an operational institute. During the process,
there were points at which the head administrator did have difficulty getting in touch with the health
officer. And there was a need to find back up prescribing authority if the health officer could continue
to be available. The health officer determined PDP to be a single dose of 500 milligrams of oral and
occipital flexation for an individual.
but did decline to order sufficient PEP to cover all identifiable contacts, or to identify alternative
PEPs should secure boxes and be content indicated for any of those contacts. This did require effectively
the rules to seek PEP through their primary care providers rather than the health department EIP. When
the response team contacted like your primary care providers to notify them that patients would be reaching
out for those prescriptions for PEP,
We were told by the staff that they would likely not be able to get that information out to all of them
from all this time. The health officer did indicate that she preferred that the close contacts interface
with their own primary care providers and encouraged to get vaccinated. I will add that only a few of
the contacts had not had both MSCV4 doses or even had the vaccine. So most of those were at least partially
vaccinated.
The contacts vaccination statuses were included on the list provided by MCCSC and there's a standard
question we ask them to contact tracing as well. While in the past health officers have written prescriptions
for identified post-contacts in their name, the self-professor ordered the doses of circumflexation
in the health administrator's name and processed it through their personal insurance. The health administrator
So, two of the corrective actions, formally clarifying the communications approval process and delineation
under PIU rule and identifying alternative prescribing theory responding directly to studies.
We can work internally on. We're seeing these protocols so that. We have them formally available so
that we can respond appropriately. Then we have our next emergency. So are we suggesting that we would have a?
I think that's one option. Quick access to a supply that's not directly located on the site would be
another option. I think it's difficult to coordinate.
multiple prescriptions. So it might be easier to have it here. Yes. You know, there are some issues
with that in terms of, you know, does the medication expire and et cetera. But it might be. First thing
is the same thing in my office. I had emergency medications that were renewed periodically so that I
didn't let them expire, forgot about them.
Uh, so I would think that we would have, could have some system that would allow a small drive for one
of, uh, antibiotics or whatever, uh, in the office and the sauce would be relatively small compared
to the time of the chance that we miss someone. Three people were, uh,
We're involved in this in terms of the people that were offered prophylaxis. Is it such a small number?
I can't say. Yeah, it was less than 10. Yeah, this was a very small number. So we're very fortunate.
Yes. Well, I would say some of these protocols we're talking about may be complicated to come up with,
but need to be done as soon as humanly possible, because it's only a matter of time before we have measles
case. Only a matter of time.
Yeah, for sure. The plans in place for larger scale incidents, it really is a smaller scale for the
decision bill. And just a truth in your comment about not having them on site, what would be the advantage
to not having it on site? Yeah. If you had it,
For instance, I think at some point we talked about there's a small supply that the Iowa emergency department
has on hand, then they are responsible for replenishing them, making sure that they don't expire. They're
handing them out frequently that way they probably don't expire. So it is no longer our responsibility
here to do that. We would kind of farm that out to
wherever. In this case, we were talking about, I think, the emergency department at IU health, but.
That makes sense. But yeah, I mean, I like for Cipro, 20 tablets of Cipro would cost $10 or something.
So it was just a matter of getting it. And that's going safely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just except getting
it, yes. Yeah, that might actually be a good ultimate solution.
Any other comments or concerns? Okay. I would just like to make one clarification. In one pager where
it says that I was, I did not participate, did not attend or respond to the event invitation.
I just want to clarify that the event invitation was a, not even an email to my health officer address.
It was a date and time for a meningococcal hot wash. And I've asked any number of people hot wash was,
and I assume that Jargon may be familiar to some.
I looked it up in the dictionary so I could find out what it meant. But it was at a date and time where
I was already committed. And I had no interest in any hot wash, whatever that was. If I had been invited
to an after action event, I would have responded appropriately. But hot wash, I had no idea what that was.
So I just thought I would make that clear. It's in the second paragraph. So just to let you know, hotwash
is a term that's regularly used in incident response. So it's included in all of the main training that
we do with your greener. It's required for stock. It's also part of our preparedness training. It's
something that's part of the ongoing process for the staff. It's also used in the military, which is
where it actually came from.
in terms of an event where you then go and wash down those weapons that you used in that event. Again,
not common violence. And so I would, I guess, invite any invitation in the future to anyone to an after
action report event
to actually state that. So it'll be abundantly clear what it is they're being entitled to. That's all.
Our next item is approval of part-time job descriptions. You have in your packet actually four, this
four different job descriptions. So I,
wants to make an explanation and then Linnea add to that. So the four positions are instead of public
health nurse, one that is part-time, so there are adjustments for that. Another one that is part-time
as needed, public health nurse. Another for part-time school liaison.
and another for our time communicable diseases assistant. And the relevant job description changes are
marked out and then added the changes in red. And I think that the thinking behind this is that we can
maybe recruit some part-time employees
a little easier than the full-time persons just trying to get our staff or our staffing needs met.
But Linnia, I like your assessment. Yeah. So what this does is like the board of requesting a number
of months ago, he has needed a public health minor's position for a term PRM. And I'd say that
We had a contract with IU Health. I think it was only done in the rest of the summer, some integration
was part time. And there was at least some interest in public health financing for individuals who were
not available for a full-time position. They were not in a full-time position.
the option of having a chronic physician is given a little flexibility amount. It also separates out
from the clinical tasks for the school liaison and community disease investigator roles, which the core
functions do not actually require clinical tasks and have been performed by non-clinical staff
Previously and currently. Right now, those surveys are effectively being done by the fairness staff.
Years ago when we had surveys on staff here in-house, that was under the fairness as well. It has for
the human-able disease camping
that's currently being done by our population health and outreach manager and also the result. And not
a clinician, it's the old group running the practice and being able to be part of it. Contact tracing
is part of it, but they're just one of these ones. So in the past, like during the COVID response, for
example, there were all response and
uh, contact phasing case that were first found when they're under the population of, you know,
that were, you know, long-term hurdles. Um, and that being such a core function. Precious disease tracking
and immune space management aspect, um, in space. And so the development of the clinical
requirement for a full-time staffer who's also gonna have to visit us. So these changes, and most of
the descriptions, they seem somewhat stylistic, but then the last one for the communication, communicative
diseases assistant seemed more extensive. How did these changes come about, and where did they come
from originally?
So the provisions were made by an adoptive pathway to it. My family is an infant and has a lot of experience,
so I was able to speak about that aspect of it. And basically, we just pulled out all of the things
that require a license, but that are not legal.
Before we ask for public comment, do the board members have any other questions or concerns about the
language and the job description changes? So we need to pull these each. We can do them as a batch.
That would be fine. I have a question about the part-time school liaison one on the second page.
It says, participate in cross-training with other clinical divisions for provision of maternal child
health, nursing services, STD exams, and related communicable disease prevention services within SCOPE
as needed. That sounds clinical to me. It says here, nursing license forward.
we're saying doesn't have to have a nursing license. Can a non-clinical person actually be cross-trained
in all these things? Or is that what the within scope is supposed to cover? So within scope covers most
of that. Ultimately, maternal child health non-nursing services would be a non-clinical. So they can
tell them, for example, for the child care coordinator,
that you were absent. Providing better education, better meditation counseling, things like that. Meditation
counseling may be considered medical, but it doesn't require any kind of license to practice, it's just
a sort of function. Okay, so by saying within scope, you allow this person, if it does have a nursing
license, to be able to do a few of these additional things, but if not, okay.
Thank you. Okay, does anyone have any requested changes before we have a motion? Any public comment?
We have to make the motion first and then public comment.
No, but I would make a motion that we approve the job descriptions, the full job descriptions as amended.
That's going to be correct. I have a second. All right. And do I have public comment regarding the job
description changes?
All right. So can I have a vote, please. All those in favor.
new business, that is the approval of the grant amendment for additional D.I.S. funding. That's in your
packet as well.
Our BIS program is entirely grant funded by the state. The BIS program provides three confidential services
to help prevent and secure effective infections. Services include STI and HIV testing, targeted application,
length of use of wear, case follow-up to ensure proper treatment and prevent the infection, and education
outreach to promote prevention and safe practices. Our BIS has over 16 Indiana counties at this time.
It was kind of a week servings, but I was benefiting from it. The amended amount, here's the additional
$110,000, we'll get it through February of 2027. This is one of those grants where we often receive
an amendment for it pretty close to the wiring.
So just so I'm clear, there's, that is the amendment for the 110,000. Yes. So it's very individual amount
to cover the next eight months. Okay. So do I have a motion to accept this adjustment, the DIS grant?
So motion. Second. Is there anyone who wants to give public comment regarding the DIS grant?
Okay, saying none, can I have a vote? All in favor? Aye. Motion passes. So the next item on our agenda
is to discuss the health officer contract. Yeah, the financial reporting, new business. We moved that
item. We moved that. Excellent, Eric.
Let's do that. So I would like to open discussion regarding the Monroe County Board of Health's contract
with the health officer, Dr. Sarah Lagerbrand. I'm referencing page one, number four, which reads, this
agreement may be terminated by the health board or Dr. Lagerbrand at any time with or without cause.
and the health board may remove Dr. Ryderbrand as the local health officer at any time with or without
cause. When making this decision, board members should consider that terminating the health officer
via the without cause choice means there is no discussion of reasoning. And as I referenced last time,
should we have this as an agenda item that we would give Dr. Ryderbrand
an opportunity to speak with us. Is there anything that you would like to say, Sarah? Sure. I was going
to read into comments, but I will. Did I bring an attorney with me this afternoon? No. Why would I?
I don't know what it is that I'm even accused of other than displeasing members of the Monroe County
Board of Health.
by taking lawful action without their blessing. If I regret anything is that back in August, when I
told the chair, I wish to have an executive session with the board, I accepted her refusal. It did not
simply go ahead and schedule the meeting. Had I posted that proposed executive session, then board members
would have been informed of the issues that I was experiencing prior to my action
on the afternoon of September 10th. I'm sad because not one of you reached out to ask what was going
on that I would act in a manner that you must have seen as precipitous. I've known two of you for nearly
four years. Did you really imagine that I would not reply? Or were you under orders? Are you not independent thinking
curious individuals, or had you all entered a state of hive mind? I also didn't bring an attorney because
I sense that the hearing you propose to hold is nothing more than a display of the power of the board
to fire me at will. I don't believe, given the questions I was asked at the closed session that you
held, that any of you is interested in the whys or the wherefores
but only wanted to uncover an excuse to dismiss me. My action was not capricious. I considered it long
and hard. I spoke at length with people at IDOH who understood what I was up against. It also was clearly
not retaliation. Since the HR director, a county attorney, and I were all
Equally bewildered by this faceless accusation made my Ms. Kelly at our last encounter. I'm not willing
to ignore protocol to address the derisable accusations apparently made under oath in her complaint
against the county and me. The fantastical nature of the complaint should tell you everything that you
need to know about how she construes truth. Caveat emptor folks.
The job of health officer was not a position that I sought. I was asked by the former board chair and
her predecessor, Dr. Pritchard, to take on the role and I did not leave at the chance. I considered
the position and whether I could make a difference if I came out of my very comfortable retirement to
do something for this county. I knew that I had made a difference
in the two years I sat on the board, often asking questions that no one else was willing to ask, such
as when did the health officer last have a performance review? While this duty falls to the board, it
had never occurred. It was only this summer that I learned that in more than four years on the job,
the health administrator had never received a performance review. It seems that there had been a reluctance
to perform such a task.
I hope that any future health administrator will have the opportunity to learn and improve from confidential
input by the board, the health officer, the health department managers, and administrators for the county
council and commission. I had wanted to believe that working side by side with the health administrator,
I could relieve some of the burden and the stress that was evident to me
as an astute clinician for my first days on the board. I learned early on when I became a health officer
that this would be extremely challenging and it only became more so. I know that as I completed my first
year, my performance evaluation indicated that I was clearly doing my job, except for at least one individual
who indicated that I was intimidating.
I can well imagine the source of that characterization, but I did not ask. I believe we are each responsible
for our feelings of fear or inadequacy and that owning our vulnerability with honest curiosity is a
special kind of power. I could go on about what I could envision for the board's engagement in learning
and community engagement, but I suspect it might fall on deaf ears. I can only hope that new board members
may infuse some creative and critical thinking and commit to working with other stakeholders as well
as to public engagement. Partnership is key in creating a robust public health presence in our community.
In four years, I have only seen a committee created once when SB4 preceded our HFI funding. Perhaps
the board will form a committee that will educate the members about the basic
precepts of public health, which might be useful when setting priorities and long-term visioning. Maybe
the board will choose to learn about county budgeting as I did from Kim Schell, the council administrator.
Very useful information for a board that is mandated to oversee finances. Maybe the board will choose
to reflect at the start of every meeting on the mission of the health department and the vision of its board
in support of that mission. Maybe the board will perform a self-examination of its own performance with
respect to its statutory obligations. In one of these days, perhaps at least one board member will accept
the health officer's invitation to participate in the now annual IDOH symposium in order to learn more,
interact with peers and leaders in the state.
and to aspire to greatness in Monroe County. Well, anything's possible. It has been interesting partnering
with you all, and I do love you, but I am done. I resign effective immediately.
So Dave, does that, does that render the contract that we have with Dr. Ryderbrand now terminated because
she resigns? Yeah, she terminated it under the terms of the contract. Okay. So do we have to vote to
accept her resignation? I don't believe so.
Okay, so finding ourselves without a health officer. We have a lot of business to conduct. Dr.
Paul Broderick, who currently serves as the Northern County Health Officer, has indicated that he would
be willing to serve as interim health officer
for a few months for us. This is of course pending his approval or rather approval by our commissioners
and also pending approval of his board to allow him to do that because he currently serves in Morgan
County. So I would like to, if the board is in,
Agreeance with that, I would like to have a motion to, well, we'll have to work on a contract. I would
like to have a motion to place Dr. Paul Roderick as the interim health officer pending approval by the
commissioners and pending approval by his board.
second. All in favor, and I'd like to do a roll call. Oh, I'm so sorry. Yes, we need public comment.
Seeing no one for public comment. I'd like to take a roll call vote. Kay? Yes. Steve? Yes. I vote yes.
Yes. Yes. Passes unanimously. Would any board members like to make any additional comments before we
recess? What's our procedure for moving forward with finding a new permanent health officer? And what
do we do in the interim until?
There's a debut set, because Dave can, Paul, can you take over that position? The health officer should,
something happened. So the commissioners would have to approve, I believe there's a form for them, Lise.
So how can we get that before the commissioners, Dave? I will talk to them tomorrow. I might see them tonight.
plan commission hearing, we're going to have about five minutes. But we'll try to get down as an emergency,
as a threat and destruction of the governmental function, because Sarah is no longer the health officer.
So anything that's stamped, issued by the health department with her name on it cannot be issued until
we have some replacement, which we need to do quickly.
Logistically, it would be approval by the commissioners who sign off, approval by his board. Then there's
literally a stamp, I believe he has to get a signature and then have the stamp available so that permits
can go out, etc. Then coordinating for any health emergencies or questions, etc. I personally hate leaving
that open.
tomorrow something happens. I think we're at risk and the community's at risk. Do we have any mechanism
where we can assign someone to that temporary duty before the interim health officer takes over? There's
nothing in the statute that addresses this situation. So we would need to call the state health who
also has to include any appointment of a health officer. We'll get them involved in our morning.
see what they might seem to ask. So then how, what is the process then we'll have to post the health
officer position? Yes. Okay. Or yeah, post it, talk around and see if there's anybody interested. Okay.
And so we'll,
Wait to hear from you tomorrow. Meanwhile, are we still advertising or looking for our health administrator's
position to be replaced? Has that been posted? Yes. And actually, I think Steve and Lene and Kathy are
reviewing applications that we've received.
for the health administrator. Dave, other concerns from your end? No, we just need the answers. Great.
If there is no objection, we will adjourn this regular meeting at the Board of Health. The time is 528.
One question. Yes. Are you going to cancel the hearing, obviously? Yes. So we will cancel the public
hearing that was directly following this meeting. So that's canceled. So everyone knows that.
I have to have those to close. So we'll finish at 529. Thank you. Thank you.