MINUTES OF MEETING
SHARON BOARD OF HEALTH
February 29, 2012
A meeting of the Sharon Board of Health was held on Wednesday, February 29, 2012, beginning at 7:00PM at the Sharon Town Office Building. In attendance were Suzi Peck, Chair, Jay Schwab, Vice-Chair, Stanley Rosen, Andrew Stead, and Ed Welch.
Minutes of the Meeting of February 13, 2012
VOTED: (Stead/Schwab) unanimously to approve the minutes of the meeting of February 13, 2012, as amended.
Draft FY2013 BOH budget
The Board requested that Linda Rosen revise the budget documents with only one budget option which provides for the equivalent of 37.5 hours per week for the Health Administrator (as is currently provided in the FY12 budget). On March 5th the revised budget will be reviewed by the BOH for presentation to the Finance Committee.
Discussion on procedures for hiring Health Administrator
Jay Schwab informed the Board that he had contacted Bridget Sweet and ascertained that, if the Board wished, she could provide an additional 6-10 hours per week for responsibilities to be determined (other than food and pool inspection services..which she currently provides).
Andy Stead: Stead and Welch spoke with Jim Andrews and Joe Kent (neither Eric Hooper nor Peter O’Cain were available) to ask their thoughts on what the focus of the BOH should be. There was not a lot of comment on the way the position of Health Administrator should be modified.
Jay Schwab: Schwab and Peck met with the three regular staff in the Health Office: Sheila Miller, Linda Callan, and Linda Rosen. There was consensus amongst the staff that the BOH and Health Department should be more proactive in disseminating health educational materials to the public; Except for minor details, all staff thought things worked pretty well. Jay Schwab stated that, from his perspective, there aren’t that many changes to be made, but that there may be room to change the way things are done to enhance the way the health dept. works.
Suzi Peck added that there was some discussion about type of person needed: one model is a more technical person with expertise in public health, environmental health, or sanitation....to be a better informed manager...not to do the work. All staff stated that because technical functions are distributed, the strength needed is managerial and administrative. Also: issue of chain of command/whether or not to have a department head, i.e., who reports to whom and who decides what. Suzi Peck summed up that, primarily, the questions are: technical vs. managerial; department head vs. keeping the public health nursing separate.
The Board reviewed summaries of other communities provided by Linda Rosen. Jay Schwab stated that it is hard to believe that Linda Rosen has been able to accomplish the majority of functions done in other communities by numerous people; because we have budgetary constraints, we can’t go out and hire the number of staff existing in other towns. Suzi Peck
stated that, if we add Jim Andrews to our staff listing, the difference isn’t quite as stark, although there is still a difference. Sheila Miller might possibly want some extension of her hours. Linda Callan would like some additional hours.
Schwab: administrative expertise is needed. Rosen: there could be on the job training for some of the technical skills. He added we may need a department head or, at least, an authority figure; perhaps this could be added to job description for health administrator. Personally Rosen stated he thinks we need someone in the office to whom all staff report. Stead: agreed that someone needs to be responsible for staff; agenda for technical staff being set.
Rosen: also need one person to be primary contact for the BOH; and to receive reports from nursing, septic, etc. , to provide direct contact with the BOH. Suzi Peck asked Sheila Miller if a department head would upset her independence. She said it would be fine; but there was a question regarding assigning authority over technical people to someone without as much expertise.
Rosen: not uncommon, e.g., in a hospital environment, for professionals to report to non-professionals. He added that one doesn’t need to have the same credentials to effectively supervise one who does; most organizations are set up so employees of department report to someone; should also be manager’s job to get status reports from each person; to manage the schedule.
Welch: agreed with Rosen, e.g., in the engineering field, that professionals report to non-professionals; managers have all kinds of people reporting to them for day to day operations; he added that the person in charge of the office should be there full-time.
Stead: noted that most of the communities surveyed have an R.S. as Health Director...and staff members, including nursing, report to that person.
Rosen: Stan Rosen and Suzi Peck spoke with Joe Roach and Ben Puritz; Ben’s first issue: licensing document to help residents; Stan believed that Ben was leading towards the department head type arrangement; IF choose to make it a dept. head position there are Town rules about how to fill the position; committee must be chosen via a regulatory process: may take a little longer; OR could meet those needs without an actual department head, but by adding supervisory responsibility to the current job description.
Peck: according to state law the Board has sole discretion to appoint its staff; probably could argue against regulatory process, but political issue. Peck didn’t get the sense that Ben was pushing for a department head. She also added that Ben wanted to remind the Board that the BOH should be accommodating to people and help people as much as possible. Rosen: can only be accommodating within the framework of our regulations.
Peck: re meeting with Joe Roach not much added; Suzi peck suggested quarterly or other routine meetings of all the boards. Roach suggested the BOH belongs in the Selectmen sector vs. finance sector; didn’t seem to feel we should be shifting our focus or organizational structure;
Peck: bottom line: not much direction from outside the board; received some comments from within the health dept., but we are “on our own” with budgetary constraints.
Schwab: added that Sheila Miller felt all all nursing things should be handled by nursing staff, although some coordination may be needed; Linda Callan requested additional hours..since she would like to be eligible for benefits. Rosen: stated the BOH has obligation to increase hours only as appropriate for the position. Schwab: What are the shortcomings of the department as it is run now? What do we want to change?
Rosen: stated it is his own personal feeling that we need an overall coordinator; that it would be easier to find someone with authority over the office.
Peck: repeated that one thing heard was that the BOH should be more proactive with health education; Rosen: there are many kits/plans available from the state, FDA, other organizations, for this purpose. Peck: the Board can’t take the lead on this. Rosen: health promotion involves nursing, administration, involves everyone working together.
Stead: suggested hire someone with certain credentials, educational background. Rosen: we could get an R.S., which would be.most expensive; under that the CHO; Welch: suggested we don’t have the funds for this. Rosen: suggested that Linda Rosen email the 10 contacts for their salary range, as well as population.
Peck: stated that Peck and Schwab appear to be in the minority; i.e., that it seemed to be the sense of the Board majority that, if carve out certain technical prerogatives for the staff, then maybe have someone to whom the non-DPW staff report.
Peck summarized: need to craft a job description that everyone reports to one full-time person, excluding certain technical things; to put out a vacancy announcement which describes all the things we want including someone in charge of the technical people, who is knowledgeable of “technical elements”, while we contract out for technical services. Schwab asked what is meant by “technical elements”; Peck responded that the person should have understanding of what an inspection of a swimming pool means, what all the various reports mean, should have experience in public health and ability to understand.
Peck will draft a suggested revised job description over the new few days and circulate by the weekend...for the BOH to discuss on Monday March 5th.
The Board also reviewed Linda Rosen’s proposal re adjusting her retirement date to accommodate the needs of the department through the beginning of June. The Board asked that she return to the Board with retirement dates including and excluding the additional hours she offered to work during May/June.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 PM.
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