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WC CWF Health District Board Minutes - 07/14/2023 WiICHITA FALLS-WICHITA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD MINUTES 4 q,CaUNTYpoG July 14, 2023 $ Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District y 1700 Third Street— Clements Conference Room Wichita Falls, Texas Public Health BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Keith Williamson, M.D., Chair Physician—City Appointment Paris Ward, M.AAB.S. Citizen At-Large--City Appointment Jered Harlan, D.V.M. Veterinarian —City Appointment Melissa Plowman Restaurant Association—City Appointment Nichole Jefferson, RN Registered Nurse—City Appointment Tonya Egloff, D.D.S. Dentist—County Appointment Raymond Forsythe Citizen At-Large—County Appointment BOARD MEMBERS EXCUSED ABSENCE: OTHERS PRESENT: Amy K. Fagan, M.P.A. Interim Director of Health Robert McBroom, M.D.,FACP Health Authority Jim Johnson County Judge Mark Beauchamp County Commissioner I. CALL TO ORDER Dr. Williamson, Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:05 pm after a quorum of members attained. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES AND ABSENCES Dr. Williamson called for the review and approval of the May 12,2023 minutes. A motion was made by Nichole Jefferson to accept the minutes and Raymond Forsythe seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously. • III. HEALTH DISTRICT STAFFING UPDATE Dr. Williamson introduced Amy Fagan, Director of Health. Amy thanked him and said she was appointed by Darron Leiker, City Manager, on May 31st as Health Director. Amy stated that some of the COVID funds have been rescinded and will not continue after the contract ends on December 31, 2023. There are 4 staff in the DIS program that is being cut. One person has left. We are trying to save the money and let it carry us forward into next year. DSHS has asked CDC for an extension of funds or reallocation of funds..The program is very important. There are outbreaks all over Texas. Our STI numbers are up. The staff does intervention work to get people tested and treated. It is a sad update, but hopefully there will be a resolution. The Assistant Health Director position should be open by the end of the month and posted. Maybe she will be able to introduce the new Assistant Health Director at the next meeting. IV. 88th LEGISLATIVE SESSION UPDATE James McKechnie, Deputy City Attorney, spoke about House bill 1750. During the 88th Legislative Session, House Bill 1750 was passed by both the House and Senate and subsequently signed into law by Governor Abbott on 6/2/23, with an effective date of 9/1/23. The bill does the following: 1) Expands the definition of"Agricultural operation" to include the following: growing vegetation for human food, animal feed, livestock forage for wildlife management, etc. The definition already included raising or keeping livestock or poultry. 2) Defined "Governmental requirement" as any rule, regulation, ordinance, zoning, license or permit requirement, or other requirement or restriction enacted or promulgated by a county, city, or other municipal corporation that has the power to enact or promulgate the requirement or restriction. 3) Amends Section 251.005©of the Agriculture Code to read as follows: (2) applies to an agricultural operation located in the corporate boundaries of the city only if the governmental requirement complies with section 251.0055, which reads as follows: Limitations on city governmental requirements applicable within corporate boundaries. House Bill 1750 states there will need to be a report written to address public health issues. The bill states if you are going to have regulations you will need a report to show clear and convincing evidence why you will have the regulations and how it will protect the citizens and property. The Health District would like to write a report. Amy spoke and explained the Health Districts position. The report will help the Health District keep the current restrictions regarding livestock and poultry within the city limits for the protection of the citizens. We need to be clear and consistent on the issues. We have a week to respond. What this bill calls for is a resolution by City Council if they want to look at and approve the Health Officials report indicating the need and if the City Council agrees with the resolution they can pass the resolution and we can retain our stricter requirements. That is our understanding and interpretation from this bill. It needs to be evidence based and we have lots of evidence. Amy passed out an executive summary draft of what will be in the larger report. Dr. McBroom has agreed to review, add to and additionally sign as our local Health Authority and Medical Director. Dr. McBroom asked if there was a threshold for how many large or small animals constitute an agriculture operation versus having a pet or hobby. James McKechnie, Deputy City Attorney and Nicki Bacon, Administrator for Wichita Falls Animal Services stated no it does not. Amy asked as a Board do you have any input, do you feel this is a good way forward, do you have any suggestions as to how to move forward differently? The challenge becomes with the 5 or 6 weeks we have in order for it to be on the City Council agenda in the month of August it needs to be prepared by August 2nd in order for it to be on the August 15th agenda. Amy asked for the Boards thoughts and feedback on this before proceeding. Dr. Jared Harlan asked for clarification on what happens. Amy explained. Ray Forsythe asked who would do the inspections. Nicki Bacon answered that Animal Services would. 2 Amy asked if the Board felt this was a good direction to take for the city limits for the City of Wichita Falls. The Board answered yes. Dr. Williamson asked for a motion to support the overview and plan of action that is presented in the Executive Summary. Melissa Plowman made a motion to accept and Paris Ward seconded to keep the current restricitons the same. Dr. Williamson took a vote and motion was approved unanimously. James talked about other House Bills 2127 and 876. V. VECTOR CONTROL PROGRAM TECHNOLOGY Dr. Williamson introduced Andrew Skinner, Environmental Sanitarian. Amy gave an introduction for his slides about Vector Control and spoke about what Vector Control does. Drew showed slides and talked about the focus on preventing vector borne diseases. Mosquitoes are the primary insect disease vector works to control locally. There are many different types of mosquitoes but the program focus on controlling Culex quinquefasciatus, the local vector of West Nile Virus. They have a large jurisdiction, separated into 32 City & 15 County Mosquito sectors. West Nile Virus primarily affects birds. Bird to Bird transmission. About 80% of infected people have no symptoms. Febrile illness -About 1 in 5 develop fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting. Recovery in a few weeks to a few months. Neuroinvasive illness —About 1 in 150 develop symptoms affecting Central Nervous System. Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord). 1 in 10 people who develop neuroinvasive symptoms die. Others with permanent CNS damage The Culex quinquefasciatus prefers to breed in nasty, stinky water. It emerges at dust and feeds through the night. It will lay 250-300 eggs that hatch at the same time called a "Brood". From egg to adult is 7— 10 days. Vector Control uses Gravid Traps to attract female mosquitoes that have taken a bloodmeal and are ready to lay eggs. They are sent to the lab in Austin to test for West Nile Virus. Vector Control treats different areas where there is standing water and mosquitoes are present. They use Bti granules, S- mthoprene pellets and water soluble pouches. They also spray which is the most expensive and least effective but, highly visible and useful in specific situations such as where there is West Nile Virus positive mosquitoes are and breeding places. Vector Control has developed a map that is on the City website. It shows problem areas and is divided into Mosquito sectors. The ArcMap tracks exact locations of known Culex breeding sites through systematic sampling, identification and recordkeeping. It also increases program efficiency and transparency with better communication with the public in form of visual maps. ArcMap is a good place to look for more information and is updated weekly. Amy mentioned the ArcMap is also on the Health District web page. 3 VI. NEXT MEETING DATE Next meeting will be September 8, 2023. VII. ADJOURN ' Dr. Williamson adjourned the meeting at 1:05. 1014261e41:617-1"1- Mr) • Signature Print- Keith Williamson, MD, Chair, Tonya Egloff, D.D.S., Vice-Chair, Paris Ward, MA, BS, Secretary •