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Approved Board of Health Agenda and

Orange County · Board of Health
Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Regular meeting Health and human servicesHousing and affordabilitySchools and educationAppointments and personnelBroadband and technologyBudget and appropriationsContracts and procurementDrugs and addictionEconomic development incentivesElections and districtsEnvironment and sustainabilityImmigration and enforcementLitigation and settlementsState legislative agendaTransitWater and sewer

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved VIII.AElections (Chair & Vice-Chair) Both carried without dissent
  2. Approved VIII.CDebt Write-Off and Debt Set-Off Carried without dissent
  3. Approved VIII.DWastewater Rules Revisions Carried without dissent
  4. Received XClosed Session to Discuss Health Director's Annual Review Entered and closed without dissent

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Orange County's Board of Health adopted revisions to the county wastewater rules on November 20, 2024, elected officers for 2025, and set its annual work plan. Members asked that concerns about federal public health policy under the incoming administration be added to that plan.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The wastewater revisions are mandatory, forced by state legislation, and staff described them as technical corrections. One member noted most changes are definitional, with some adjusting setbacks, design numbers and flow rates, and questioned a revision that folds wells and wastewater systems into a single setback requirement. The environmental health director agreed it was odd and said that is how the state chose to combine them. She also said she disliked one change removing the requirement for a second septic tank for quiescence in households with a garbage disposal, and that her division is planning an education campaign promoting composting instead. The board can still keep requirements stricter than the state's. The revisions carried without dissent.

On the annual work plan the chair presents to commissioners each spring, members asked to add concerns about changes to the public health system under the incoming presidential administration, naming fluoridation, vaccination, infectious and chronic disease monitoring, Medicaid, immigrant wellbeing, mental health, and changes to the CDC's structure. One member argued for proactive messaging on trusting science and vaccines; another suggested framing public health in Vital Conditions terms, saying 'humane housing' rather than 'affordable housing and homelessness.' The health director suggested taking it up at the March retreat. The plan will be formally approved in January.

The board elected Dr. Alison Stuebe chair and Tony Whitaker vice-chair for 2025, each recusing themselves from their own vote. It approved the 2025 meeting schedule with the retreat on March 8, after settling around several members' conflicts, and moved $10,008 of bad debt from active to inactive status. Staff presented a year of the Family Success Alliance: navigators certified as community health workers and trained in mental health first aid, each carrying 18 to 21 families averaging four children, and a Connections program now serving nearly 300 families with two navigators. Mini grants have paid for a picnic table at a mobile home park, with some landlords matching for further improvements. The health director reported the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools' new phone policies, phones in lockers at middle schools and out of sight in high school classes, and said staff report students socializing more. Orange County Schools has no standardized policy yet. The board went into closed session on the health director's annual review from 8:48 to 9:39 p.m.

How the votes went

All votes carried without dissent: the agenda, the October minutes, the election of Dr. Alison Stuebe as 2025 chair and Tony Whitaker as vice-chair with each recusing from their own vote, the 2025 meeting schedule with a March 8 retreat, a $10,008 bad debt write-off, the wastewater rules revisions, entering and leaving closed session, and adjournment.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Jump to an item (16 on this agenda)
  1. IWelcome New Employees
  2. IIPublic Comment for Items Not on Printed Agenda
  3. IIIBoard Comments
  4. IVPriority Committee Updates
  5. VApproval of the November 20, 2024 Agenda
  6. VIApproval of October 23, 2024 Minutes
  7. VII.AEducational Session: Family Success Alliance Update
  8. VIII.AElections (Chair & Vice-Chair)
  9. VIII.B2025 BOH Meeting Schedule
  10. VIII.CDebt Write-Off and Debt Set-Off
  11. VIII.DWastewater Rules Revisions
  12. VIII.EBOH Annual Workplan
  13. IX.AMedia Items
  14. IX.BHealth Director's Report
  15. XClosed Session to Discuss Health Director's Annual Review
  16. XIAdjournment

Agenda items (16)

Procedural · 5Staff or committee report · 5Minutes approval · 1Presentation · 1Appointment · 1Budget action · 1Ordinance · 1Closed session · 1
  1. I Welcome New Employees
    Procedural
    The health director introduced three new staff: a dental hygienist, a registered dietician program manager, and a Family Success Alliance navigator.
  2. II Public Comment for Items Not on Printed Agenda
    Procedural
    None.
  3. III Board Comments
    Staff or committee report Health and human servicesHousing and affordability
    Members reported on an emergency preparedness webinar, a Justice United meeting on preserving affordable housing and creating permanent supportive housing for people leaving incarceration or behavioral health care, and Medicaid enrollment now at 63 percent of the projected target and rising slowly. One member described a meeting on infant feeding in emergencies, where bottles cannot be sanitized without clean water, and said re-lactation, chemical sanitizing kits and disposable bottles are the workable responses, with formula donations routed through the emergency team so nothing expired or powdered reaches families.
  4. IV Priority Committee Updates
    Staff or committee report Health and human servicesSchools and educationTransit
    The behavioral health committee looked at cell phone policies in both school districts and at ways to encourage screen-free time, including education through the schools, help for parents in limiting screen time, and billboards. Members agreed events should be held at accessible times and along transit routes, and that parent education should run both online and in person. The committee next meets in late February.
  5. V Approval of the November 20, 2024 Agenda
    Procedural
    Carried without dissent.
  6. VI Approval of October 23, 2024 Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Carried without dissent.
  7. VII.A Educational Session: Family Success Alliance Update
    Presentation Economic development incentivesHealth and human servicesHousing and affordability
    A year's report on the Family Success Alliance, which connects families below the poverty line to resources through a partner network, the Gateway initiative, the Navigator program and the Connections program. Navigators are certified community health workers trained in mental health first aid and in working with neurodiverse people, and two staff can now install car seats. Each case manager carries 18 to 21 families averaging four children. The Navigator program aims at six to nine months of concentrated support; Connections offers lighter help for as long as needed and now serves nearly 300 families with two navigators and a manager, taking warm handoffs from Navigator graduates. Its comm…
  8. VIII.A Elections (Chair & Vice-Chair)
    Appointment Appointments and personnelElections and districts
    Dr. Alison Stuebe was elected 2025 chair and Tony Whitaker vice-chair, each recusing from their own vote.
    Both carried without dissent
  9. VIII.B 2025 BOH Meeting Schedule
    Procedural
    The 2025 schedule was approved with the board retreat on Saturday, March 8. Members worked around several conflicts, including a UNC-Duke basketball game on that date for which health department staff may be on call for the emergency operations center. The September date may move if a national conference is scheduled against it.
    Carried without dissent
  10. VIII.C Debt Write-Off and Debt Set-Off
    Budget action Budget and appropriationsHealth and human services
    The board moved $10,008 in bad debt from active to inactive status.
    Carried without dissent
  11. VIII.D Wastewater Rules Revisions
    Ordinance Environment and sustainabilityHealth and human servicesWater and sewer
    Revisions to the Orange County wastewater rules required by state legislation, treated legally as technical corrections. Most changes are definitional, with some adjusting setbacks, design numbers and flow rates. One combines wells and wastewater systems into a single setback requirement, which a member questioned and staff agreed was odd but is how the state wrote it. Another removes the requirement for a second septic tank for quiescence where a household has a garbage disposal; the environmental health director said she disliked that change and is planning an education campaign promoting composting. The county may keep requirements stricter than the state's.
    Carried without dissent
  12. VIII.E BOH Annual Workplan
    Staff or committee report Health and human servicesImmigration and enforcementState legislative agenda
    A draft of the report the board chair presents to commissioners each spring. Members asked to add concerns about changes to the public health system under the incoming presidential administration, naming fluoridation, vaccination, infectious and chronic disease monitoring, Medicaid, immigrant wellbeing, mental health effects, and changes to the CDC's structure. One member urged proactive messaging on trusting science and vaccines; another suggested framing public health in Vital Conditions terms. The board will formally approve the plan in January.
  13. IX.A Media Items
    Staff or committee report Broadband and technologyDrugs and addictionHealth and human services
    The communications manager presented the media packet: the Bridging the Gap initiative to reduce adolescent vaping, digital literacy classes at local libraries, the Horizons program and maternal mortality, an urgent care reopening in Hillsborough, and a rabies case in the county.
  14. IX.B Health Director's Report
    Staff or committee report Contracts and procurementHealth and human servicesLitigation and settlementsSchools and education
    The outside agencies application process has been revised so board members no longer review applications. The director met the Chapel Hill-Carrboro superintendent on November 13 about the district's new aligned phone policies, phones locked away all day in middle schools and out of sight during high school classes, and said staff report students socializing more. Orange County Schools has no standardized policy, though its superintendent has expressed interest. The department has hired The Carden Group for six months of leadership and culture work, beginning with three staff roundtables. The Gurlitz hearing appeal is set for District Court on December 6, with no staff or board members summo…
  15. X Closed Session to Discuss Health Director's Annual Review
    Closed session
    The board met in closed session from 8:48 to 9:39 p.m. on the health director's job description and annual performance review.
    Entered and closed without dissent
  16. XI Adjournment
    Procedural
    Adjourned at 9:39 p.m.

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