Island County Board of Health

Special Meeting (change of date)

Monday, January 7, 2002

 

Members Present:  Commissioners Mike Shelton, William F. Thorn, Mac McDowell; Barbara Saugen, WGH Commissioner; Oak Harbor Mayor Patricia Cohen ;Captain Donald Jensen, MC, USN (Ex-Officio Member); Roger S. Case, MD, Executive Secretary, Board of Health.

 

Chairman Mike Shelton called this scheduled special meeting of the Island County Board of Health to order at 5:00 p.m.

 

Being a Special Board of Health, there were no additions or changes to the agenda.

 

Minutes:  Commissioner Bill Thorn moved that the minutes from the December 17, 2001 meeting be approved as written. Commissioner Mac McDowell said that he was misquoted and requested that the minutes be amended. Mayor Patricia Cohen seconded the approval of the amended minutes. The minutes were approved for the Chair to sign on behalf of the Board after the minutes were amended.

 

Waiver Request: Wentz  -Request for reduction of sanitary radius for the construction of an individual well.

Keith Higman, Director of Environmental Health, presented the Island County Health Department’s staff report on the waiver request, indicating that his recent visit to the site revealed the proposed well site would have to be moved yet another 12 feet toward Sunset Drive, requiring an additional waiver relief beyond that already being requested. This would move the traditional 100-foot well-head radius 48 feet into the county right-of-way, well past the center line of Sunset Drive which fronts the Wentz property on the East. He recommended that the Board of Health decline Mrs. Wentz’s waiver request because the waiver request required a significant deviation from present county code.

Island County Engineer Dick Snyder commented that the Public Works Department would have concern for the effect of the road run-off and the open ditch water filtering into the well-head protection zone, even though the ditching slope was such that no standing water ever accumulated in the roadside ditch.

Mrs. Elsie Wentz and her son-inlaw presented the basis for their request for a waiver from the Island County code, stating that at the time she purchased her 3-lot property at the southwest corner of Sunset Drive and Cool Road on Camano Island, the Rockaway Beach Water System had a design capacity for 10 connections, which included her property. Ms Wentz then installed a mound septic system in 1996. Over time, subsequent connections to the Rockaway Beach Water System and the State Department of Health’s 1997 ruling that this water system’s capacity was at its limit now preclude Mrs. Wentz from obtaining a hook-up to the Rockaway Beach Water System. Negotiations and attempts to regain rights to hooking up to this system have all ended with failure, necessitating her having to drill the proposed well for which she was seeking this waiver.

After much discussion by members of the Board of Health, Health Department staff, Public Works personnel and Mrs. Wentz, Commissioner Mike Shelton asked the Wentz’s to work with Public Works to find a method to preclude road run-off and ditch drainage from accessing the required 100-foot wellhead radius, with the proviso that the Wentz’s pay for any expenses incurred. With the clear understanding that granting this waiver request would encumber only County property, Commissioner Mac McDowell made the motion that the request to move the proposed well site 12 feet further to the east (towards Sunset Drive) be approved with the contingency that the Wentz’s work with the Public Works Department to find amenable solutions as to the design and construction of the Sunset roadway drainage improvements. Mayor Patricia Cohen seconded the motion which passed unanimously for the Chair to approve the waiver application on behalf of the Board 

   

Grant Request: Commissioner Mac McDowell moved that Environmental Health – Coordinated Prevention Grant (CPG) – DOE Contract No. G0200176 for $100,000 – be approved. Mayor Patricia Cohen seconded. The motion passed for the Chair to sign on behalf of the Board.

 

Health Department Report: Health Services Director Tim McDonald distributed a copy of a news update from National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO): Congress Earmarks $865 million for State and Local Public Health Capacity. He noted that a portion of this funding is directed to the authority of the Public Health Threats and Emergencies Act, which calls for assessments of public health needs, provides grants to State and local public health agencies to address core public health capacity needs, and provides assistance to State and local health agencies to enable them to respond effectively to bioterrorist attacks. (see attachment)  Mr. McDonald stated that the Communicable Disease Program seeks :

·       Improved surveillance

·       Education  (bioterrorist threats and/or communicable diseases)

·       Response capacity – prepare for the worst

 

There being no further business, Commissioner Shelton adjourned the meeting at 6:15 p.m. The Board of Health will reconvene Monday, February 4, 2002 at 5:00 p.m.

 

Submitted:  Roger S. Case, MD, Executive Secretary to the Board

 

Minutes approved this 4th day of February 2002. (see attached).  The revised minutes approved this 18th day of  March 2002.

 

ISLAND COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH

Mike Shelton, Chairman