Hill County Health Board still working on city-county agreement

The Hill County Board of Health elected new officers at their quarterly meeting Wednesday where they also set policy for meeting recordings and heard updates on public health programs in the county.

Erica McKeon-Hanson was elected chair, with Kyndra Hall as vice-chair and Jake Strissel as the secretary all by unanimous votes.

The board also discussed new recording requirements for their board that go into effect at their next meeting in July.

After some discussion the board voted to treat meeting minutes as the official record of the meeting, but would, in line with new state laws, post recordings of their meetings within five business days.

Strissel, who is also a Hill County commissioner, said they will also post draft minutes within that five-day period, but it would not become the official meeting record until approved by vote at the next meeting.

Board members also discussed how to go about recording and broadcasting their meetings, with most saying Zoom appears to be the best option.

Board member Mark Peterson, also a Hill County commissioner, said there is a time limit on Zoom meetings which has been a problem for broadcasting commission meetings.

McKeon-Hanson said they need to buy a subscription to Zoom which will get rid of the time limit.

She said she and her colleagues in academia have tested various programs and Zoom is the most solid, so she thinks that is the one to go with.

The board also discussed the status of their ongoing efforts to craft an interlocal agreement with the City of Havre and Hill County, which will eventually result in a restructuring of the board and require an update to their by-laws.

McKeon-Hanson said they've hit a snag, in that the latest version of the document appears to have been misplaced, and they are still trying to find it.

She said they have a version that is recent enough that they can work with it, but it will take them a bit of time to get back to where they were.

"It's moving, just a little bit slower than we'd like," she said.

The board then discussed activities at the Hill County Health Department, presented by Hill County Public Health Director Kim Berg, who also the county's health officer.

Berg said they are continuing to test wastewater for COVID-19 and are hoping to expand testing to other respiratory illnesses like influenza as time goes on.

She said COVID-19 trends are down throughout the state, which is great and the wastewater testing has filled some of the gap left by the decrease in individual COVID-19 testing in Montana.

She said the department is also hoping to have a family planning provider come in soon to handle annual exams and other services, which they haven't had for some time now.

And they are partnering with Head Start and Early Head Start in the area to provide education about the benefits of vaccination and school requirements, as well as checking people's records if they want.

She said they are also making punchable cards for diaper bags given to new mothers with a vaccination schedule that they can keep track of.

Berg also said they are also partnering with neighboring counties to help them get planning grants for improving regional public health crisis response.

The department is also trying to restart their carnival, which they haven't had since the pandemic, she said.

Berg said every year they would rope off a section of street in front of their department and set up a carnival with games for kids, which was an opportunity to support back-to-school vaccinations, with drawings and activities for children who got their shots.

She said they typically partner with local enforcement and emergency services so they can bring things like fire trucks, but they will need a new venue this year, as there will be work going on to install a new H-VAC system at the time.

She said it will likely be in early August this year, but she doesn't have a firm date yet.

Hill County Sanitarian-in-Training William Cochran also provided an update on his ongoing training.

He said he's also spent a substantial amount of time responding to dog bites in town and generally helping people get questions answered.

During the meeting Peterson mentioned that the state has adopted new regulations when it comes to temporary food booths, many of which will now need fire suppression systems.

He said local vendors at the fair have been scrambling to meet these requirements which appear to give very little leeway and will need to be in place for this year's Great Northern Fair.

He said these regulations were announced recently and with little warning, and the contractors that will take on this kind of project are few and far between, which has lead to a mad dash for local vendors to get ready for this year's fair.

Cochran said vendors are trying to raise money for the projects and schedule them strategically so contractors can get them all done with as few trips as possible, and as quickly as possible.

At the end of the meeting, McKeon-Hanson said she was recently speaking with political leaders at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation who are interested in improving coordination between them and the board, so they may have representation at the next meeting.

Strissel also mentioned that he will be in court next month testifying in a restitution hearing which may help pay for damage to a Hill County Health Department window that was broken some time ago.