Peoria Standard

The Peoria County Board of Health met Oct. 17 to nominate a new president.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the board:

MEMBERS PRESENT: Ms. Harant Dr. Trachtenbarg

Ms. Simpson Ms. Williams

Ms. Sullivan Rev. Duren

Dr. Hippler Dr. Armmer

Dr. Na’Allah Ms. Groves-Allison

MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Anderson Mr. Baker

STAFF PRESENT: Gene Huber, Public Health Administrator

Jean Bellisario, Director of Infectious Disease

Monica Hendrickson, Epidemiologist

Emily Connors, Director of Human Resources

Brian Gulley, Director of Finance

Carey Panier, Assistant Director of Environmental Health

Nicole Ingold, Director of Strategic Performance

Melissa Hall Adamson, Director of Community Health Policy &

Planning/Assistant Administrator

Meredith Littell, Assistant Director of Infectious Disease

OTHERS PRESENT: Elliott Murray, League of Women Voters

Kim Thomas, Head Start

Item 1 – Call to Order

Meeting was called to order at 5:32 pm by Ms. Harant.

Item 2 – Pledge of Allegiance

Item 3 – Comments from the Public

There were no comments from the public.

Ms. Harant stated that, in order to address action items while a quorum was present, the

Board would start with Item #5.

Item 5 – President’s Comments

Ms. Harant stated that she thought it would be good to support the Care & Treatment Board

and Veterans advisory referendum as well as the road referendum as the Board did for the

school tax referendum. She added that up to a one cent increase for the Care & Treatment

Board and up to a.5 cent for veterans assistance is being asked on the advisory referendum.

Ms. Williams stated that the road referendum would be a ¼ percent increase to be used for

repairing and maintaining roads. Nine projects are specified, many of which are within the City

of Peoria. Ms. Williams stated that the goal would be to get roads that are still County roads

fixed and turn them over to the City of Peoria so the County does not have to maintain them

any longer. Dr. Hippler stated he struggled to understand why these items are of concern to

the Board of Health. Ms. Harant stated that for her, the roads are a safety and access issue.

Regarding the Care & Treatment portion of the advisory referendum, an increase would make

Peoria County Board of Health

Minutes of October 17, 2016 Meeting

the community better able to facilitate those with developmental disabilities in the least

restrictive environment and provide stability for families. Dr. Hippler stated that the Board

support general concepts versus specific targeted areas. Ms. Williams stated that she would be

abstaining from voting on both issues. A motion was made by Dr. Armmer to support the Care

& Treatment Board Advisory Referendum. Motion was seconded by Dr. Na’Allah. Ms. Sullivan

stated that last month the Board voted to approve supporting the school tax referendum so

approving support for these issues goes along with that action. Dr. Hippler stated that he

would be abstaining from the vote since he has not read information on the issues. The motion

and second were rescinded by Dr. Armmer and Dr. Na’Allah.

Item 6 – Consent Agenda Items

A motion was made by Ms. Sullivan to approve the consent agenda items. Motion was

seconded by Ms. Simpson. Motion carried (9, 0).

Item 7 – Administrator Comments

A motion was made by Ms. Sullivan to approve the Financial Services Report. Motion was

seconded by Ms. Simpson. The Financial Services Report was summarized by Mr. Gulley. In

response to a question regarding the decrease in billable services, Ms. Huber stated that this is

due to staffing issues. She added that changes have been made to address those issues.

Training is underway and she expects services to increase once staff has been fully trained.

Motion carried (9, 0).

Item 9 – New Business

A motion was made by Ms. Williams to nominate Ms. Groves-Allison as President and Rev.

Duren as Secretary for FY2017. Motion was seconded by Dr. Hippler. Motion carried (9, 0).

Ms. Huber reviewed with the Board the discretionary time off history. She requested one full

day for all staff on Friday, December 23rd. A motion was made by Ms. Simpson to approve

Friday, December 23rd as a paid day off for all staff. Motion was seconded by Ms. Sullivan.

Motion carried (9, 0).

Item 5 – President’s Comments (Continued)

Ms. Hendrickson pulled up the November 8th ballot and read the referendum questions to the

Board. A motion was made by Dr. Armmer to support the Care & Treatment Board Advisory

Referendum. Motion was seconded by Dr. Na’Allah. Motion carried (8, 0, 1-Ms. Williams

abstained). A motion was made by Dr. Hippler to support the road referendum. Motion was

seconded by Ms. Simpson. Motion carried (8, 0, 1-Ms. Williams abstained).

Dr. Na’Allah left the meeting at 5:55 pm.

Rev. Duren entered the meeting at 6:02 pm.

Item 4 – Strategic Planning

Ms. Ingold distributed a handout of the draft Strategic Plan. She stated that goals one, two

and three have not changed so she would not be reviewing that information with the Board.

Ms. Ingold reviewed Goals 4 and 5 as well as the objectives and tasks for those goals. She

stated that Goal 4 is to enhance the Peoria City/County Health Department (PCCHD) as a

valued public health resource with Objective 1 being to develop an internal marketing plan for

PCCHD and Objective 2 being to develop an external marking plan for PCCHD. Ms. Ingold

stated that Goal 5 is to improve health equity; the Community Health Improvement Plan

(CHIP), policy development, and legislative approaches are included in this Goal. Objective 1 is

coordination of funding for CHIP strategies. Objective 2 is to promote system-wide integration

of CHIP to PCCHD and the Board of Health. Objective 3 is to promote system-wide integration

of CHIP to external stakeholders. Ms. Harant stated that Goal 5, Objective 2, Task 3: Leverage

Board of Health and PCCHD staff partnerships and professional relationships to educate and

advocate CHIP strategies and policies is very important and is why she asked Board members

for information regarding their community connections. Ms. Harant asked that Ms. Grubb

send the form out to Board members again and that Board members respond to her with their

information. Ms. Ingold stated that the handout will be sent to Board members via email.

There was discussion regarding data being addressed as part of the Community Health

Improvement Plan. In response to a question regarding if there is a success measure tied to

each Strategic Plan goal, Ms. Ingold stated that each goal is measurable; some are yes/no. In

the areas that data was able to be obtained, there are SMART objectives. Dr. Hippler stated he

was looking more for how the Board will know the goals are being met. Ms. Ingold stated that

the goals are broad range with measurable objectives. Ms. Harant stated that staff is saying

that achieving an objective will meet the goal.

Ms. Simpson left the meeting at 6:07 pm.

Ms. Harant stated that a report recently came out indicating that Peoria is the worst city in

America for African Americans. She stated that she would like to see how violence and social

determinants of violence can fit into the Strategic Plan. Ms. Sullivan suggested putting

subcommittees in place to address certain topics, such as violence/social determinants. She

added that the goals for the Strategic Plan have been identified; however, that does not mean

addressing violence is not also important. Ms. Harant stated that she is in the process of

making an appointment with UIC School of Public Health to receive more information on and

possibly partner with them regarding addressing gun violence. There is also a violence

research group in Chicago attempting to connect research being done with those doing work.

Community listening sessions are being proposed in Chicago. Ms. Harant stated she thinks

this could be brought to Peoria. Ms. Adamson stated that health equity is in the Strategic Plan

and race equity is part of that. Regarding the researchers, Ms. Adamson stated that the Police

Department has written for a grant to bring in efforts to address violence. She would caution

bringing new people in because there are activities going on to build off of rather than

introducing new things. There may be other organizations taking leadership; therefore, Ms.

Adamson suggested the Board be mindful of other players also trying to do similar work.

There was discussion regarding determining the role of the Health Department in multistakeholder

collaboratives, where the community finds value in the Health Department, and

what is the niche of the Health Department. Dr. Trachtenbarg stated that in the past there

have been Community Health Improvement Plans that did not move the dial on issues for

which there is no evidence that anything can be done. Ms. Adamson stated that every strategy

in the Community Health Improvement Plan is a scientifically supported evidence based

strategy. Regarding relationships and how they connect, a project is in process for mapping

collaborations. Ms. Adamson stated that a great deal of information is coming from the Invest

Health Team, which has five pods to visit in other communities to see how those communities

have been successful in areas such as criminal justice, homeless, and complete streets. There

was discussion regarding building on what the community is already doing as well as gaining

information and insight from outside organizations.

Dr. Armmer asked about the Board reviewing the strategies in the Community Health

Improvement Plan since they are drivers of the objectives in the Strategic Plan. Ms. Adamson

stated that the Community Health Improvement Plan is being finalized now so it will be

presented to the Board of Health for approval at the December meeting. Ms. Harant stated that

the objectives in the Strategic Plan related to improving health equity and engaging the Board

will be related to the identified priorities of the Community Health Improvement Plan. There

was consensus that the Board will have both the CHIP and Strategic Plan on the agenda for

the December meeting; a review of the CHIP will be provided to the Board in November.

Item 7 – Administrator Comments (Continued)

Ms. Huber reviewed the FY2017 organizational chart with the Board. She stated that she may

move the Epidemiologist from reporting to the Director of Health Protection and have that

position report to her due to the Epidemiologist working with many areas across the agency.

Ms. Huber stated that she currently has 12 direct reports; the changes implemented as

reflected on the organizational chart will decrease that to six or seven. Ms. Sullivan stated that

she liked the idea of the Epidemiologist reporting directly to Ms. Huber and would also like to

see that for the Director of Strategic Performance.

Item 9 – New Business (Continued)

Ms. Hendrickson reviewed the 2015 Mortality Report and infographic, which she distributed to

the Board. This report is provided to the public. Dr. Hippler asked that Ms. Hendrickson

distribute her infographic to the media.

Item 10 – Adjournment

Being no further business, a motion was made by Dr. Hippler to adjourn the meeting. Motion

was seconded by Ms. Sullivan. Motion carried (8, 0).

Meeting adjourned at 7:04 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Samuel Duren, BA

Secretary