County health board continues Apex discussions
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STEUBENVILLE -- A Jefferson County General Health District official told the health board on Tuesday that odor complaints continue to be an issue, originating from the 288-acre Apex Landfill in Amsterdam.
Marc Maragos, director of environmental health, said 27 calls have come to the odor complaint hotline during June, 10 of which were verified, and 36 complaints have been received so far in July. He said representatives at Apex understand the continued complaints are unacceptable, and the topic was addressed at the tour and during a call department environmental staff had with Apex representatives last week.
Time will tell if the issue improves, Maragos said.
Maragos thanked health board members Suzanne Brown and Anthony Mougianis for attending an informational meeting and tour at Apex.
Mougianis said, "There's a lot of misconception in our community. ... (Apex) is quite an operation. ... I feel much more confident in what they're doing out there than ever."
Dr. Patrick Macedonia, board president, said, "The technology out there (at Apex) is great, but it doesn't answer the smell. ... I'm not satisfied with the results. ... This stuff stinks, and it's not fair to the people who live out there."
Macedonia said Maragos should "be very expressive of our dissatisfaction" in a phone call with the Environmental Protection Agency.
Separately, Maragos said his staff was working with the Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District on the Water Pollution Control Loan Fund. The grant funds will be used to repair 15 failing septic systems in the county owned by residents who cannot afford to fix or repair the systems themselves, Maragos said.
In his health commissioner's report, Andrew Henry said the health department is juggling its community outreach work with efforts to gain accreditation -- state-mandated for health departments -- through the Public Health Accreditation Board.
One step toward that end was diversity, equity and inclusion terms presented to the board, the approval of which is "one of the key pieces of accreditation," Henry said. He added that some of the terms on the form, which was prepared by the health department, are "polarizing."
Macedonia said he is not opposed to having a list of terms, but he expressed opposition to the form's "confusing" gender identity content. He also said it is not clear how far the department would extend its list of terms in that regard.
Kelly Wilson, director of finance and administration, said adopting a terms list is necessary for accreditation. The board is free to change the terms list, which she said is in the middle regarding length compared to other health department lists.
The board agreed to table the form, in favor of discussing it at an administration committee meeting and reporting back in August.
Also, the board approved a mileage reimbursement for Wilson, who attended an Ohio Accreditation Learning Community meeting in Columbus on July 12. Henry said it was a cultural linguistics conference for diversity and equity.
In other business:
Henry said individuals should monitor air quality reports at the Environmental Protection Agency's AirNow.gov in response to haze from ongoing Canadian wildfires. On July 29 at 9 a.m., beginning at Fort Steuben Park, the Cycle the City event will offer a community bike ride to encourage active transportation.
Henry said Jefferson County Adult Probation Department had a few individuals who needed community service time help to clean a public nuisance property the board has been monitoring for "quite a while." He said this help from the probation department will not be a precedent for future nuisances, and it is the homeowner's responsibility to clean up, typically. Also, Henry said Johnny's Tire and Auto did not comply with a July 7 deadline to provide a receipt showing proper tire disposal. In response, Henry said, the department will "be working with other entities" to address the situation.
A monetary donation was asked of the board to help fund restrooms for the upcoming Steubenville Nutcracker Village, Henry said. The request was around $4,000, but Henry said, "every little bit helps." A motion to give $2,000 passed, with Macedonia being the only dissenter, saying he was concerned it would create a slippery slope for funding city events that the board would not be able to escape.
Dr. Janie Culp, medical director, said the health department has seen about 30 cases of Lyme disease in the county, peaking in June. She said these cases will not match the state's case statistics because of the additional paperwork, which takes time to prepare and process, required by the Ohio Department of Health to confirm a case.
Hannah Piko, director of nursing, said the nursing staff has begun back-to-school immunizations for those in seventh through 12th grade or those going into college. There are two basic life support classes scheduled for Aug. 2 and Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. Staff members have been visiting local pools to distribute sunscreen and sun hats. Next month there will be a formal presentation about starting a community diaper bank, which Piko said staff are in the preliminary stages of beginning.
Additionally, Piko said there are three August back-to-school bashes planned for Toronto, Steubenville and Edison Local school districts. Nursing staff plans to distribute the overdose-reversing medicine naloxone at the Mount Pleasant Fire Hall and rural areas yet to be determined. Also, Piko said, staff members are beginning their Cribs for Kids application for the next grant year. They have distributed all the cribs they were allotted for this year and received a donation of baby items from First Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Stephanie Chester, Women, Infants and Children director, said another member of the WIC staff became a certified lactation specialist after completing a five-day course. Chester said only one member of the staff is not certified in this way, but she would like that to change by next year.
Additionally, Chester said, the WIC staff has a Breastfeeding Awareness Month Community Resource Fair scheduled for Aug. 18 at 12 p.m., featuring family-related resources and organizations. Staff are also continuing to distribute farmer's market coupons, redeemable with certain farmers at the Steubenville and Wintersville markets, to WIC participants of nine months and over.
Brown, head of the personnel committee, said the health department's employee survey received good results, but eight questions' responses were "a little shaky." A follow-up survey will be conducted, with the results available by August's board meeting.
Board members Terry Bell and Clark Crago were absent from the meeting.