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