STEUBENVILLE — The Jefferson County Board of Health on Tuesday heard updates on naloxone distribution through community boxes and anticipated changes to how the Jefferson County General Health District will handle plumbing inspections.

Nursing director Kylie Smogonovich said a newspaper stand-style box was installed last month at SELF Discovery in Mingo Junction, where it will provide doses of the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone to the public.

That box is one of four newspaper stand-style boxes — which can hold up to 30 doses — obtained by the JCGHD through an Ohio Department of Health grant, with another six being smaller emergency kit-style ones.

“Since it has been (at SELF Discovery), we have actually had to go again already to give them more naloxone because they had went through what they originally started with, so it is having good success,” Smogonovich said.

She added that, in October, the health department distributed 105 boxes of naloxone to partner agencies in Jefferson County.

Health Commissioner Andrew Henry said the JCGHD has been actively promoting the boxes, hoping to attract organizations that will host one on their property free of charge.

“(A box) seems to be most useful when it’s at a location that’s providing (similar) services,” Henry said.

Amid discussion of other possible locations, board member Dr. Mark Kissinger confirmed that his office in Wintersville has been cleared to host a box.

The health department is investigating how to implement vending machine-type devices in the county that would distribute harm reduction materials such as naloxone, drug test strips and STI tests, Henry said.

Later, Henry informed the board that the anticipated and proximate retirement of the City of Steubenville’s plumbing inspector would also affect the health department, which sees plumbing inspections for new developments in Jefferson County.

For any inspections outside of Steubenville, the JCGHD contracts with Steubenville to have plumbing inspector John Shanley take care of the job. Given Shanley plans to retire at the year’s end, Henry said discussions are taking place regarding the future.

“We don’t want to see public health go backward and not do the inspections,” Henry said. “We certainly don’t want to hand those over to the state of Ohio. If we can manage those internally, that’s what we want to do.”

Henry said he and Steubenville City Manager Jim Mavromatis have discussed acquiring a replacement. If that’s not done soon enough, Shanley has offered to work for the JCGHD part-time. That option would be subject to approval from the JCGHD’s attorney, Henry added.

Separately, Sanitarian Carla Gampolo reported her main takeaways from the Ohio Environmental Health Association Leadership Course, which she attended in November.

“One of the things they stated was (that) 150 years ago, people were dying of dysentery. Today, they’re dying of heart attacks and chronic illnesses,” Gampolo said. “So, environmental health has really worked hard to make sure that our campgrounds and our swimming pools and our food services are health and doing things in a healthy way so we are keeping our community safe.”

Conference officials also recommended that health department’s environmental divisions should “be a team” — something that Gampolo said the JCGHD’s environmental staff does very well.

“When you walk into a division, you shouldn’t be able to pick out who the boss is because everybody has overlap in what they do. We all know a little bit about everything. We are generalists. With 16 programs and 32 sub-programs, we’re well-versed in all of those programs, so no matter who walks through that door, we’re able to help them with whatever questions they might have about any one of those programs.”

A two-year sanitarian-in-training period is necessary to absorb all of those “rules and regulations,” Gampolo said.

College graduates are generally looking to the private sector for work due to higher pay prospects, Gampolo said, but those who enter the public health sphere do so because they’re “passionate about keeping their community safe.”

A supposed testament to the JCGHD environmental division’s positive environment is the fact that employees have a combined total of 60 years of experience in that division alone, Gampolo said. That comes in spite of environmental divisions reportedly having a high burnout rate among staff.

In other business:

• Board members approved the 2025 environmental programs fees after hearing their third and final reading. The fees, some of which saw an increase this year, are based on a cost methodology developed by the Ohio Department of Health. The health department can only charge less than the methodology establishes, though Henry noted that the department is not in a financial position to do so.

• The board approved two purchase orders: $5,600 in annual services fees to the Public Health Accreditation Board and $24,131.25 to Questivity Inc. for the purchase of iPads for local income- and age-eligible seniors. The latter is being paid out of the health department’s remaining funds from its Ohio Department of Aging Healthy Aging Grant, the closeout for which amounted to $311,279 — delivered to local projects benefiting Jefferson County seniors.

• Maragos said that the Environmental Protection Agency conducted a survey of the health department’s solid waste program in early October. An exit survey took place on Oct. 18, after which the EPA officials stated they were “very happy” with the program and would recommend the program to maintain its approval.

• Board member Terry Bell asked how the health department can contribute to school lunches being prepared without potentially harmful substances like pesticides. Gampolo, who handles school inspections, said that local schools do a “really good job” ensuring foods are properly prepared on site to prevent contamination. The same goes, she said, for local nursing homes.

• There were 16 calls made to the Apex Landfill odor complaint hotline in October, Maragos reported, and there have been 12 this month.