Agenda

Return

C. 72

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE
Date:	November 15, 2016

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

ABOLISHMENT OF THE PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 11/15/2016

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Mary N. Piepho, District III Supervisor
Karen Mitchoff, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:	Julie DiMaggio Enea (925) 335-1077
cc:	Heatlh Services Director Public Health Director Clerk of the Board (Maddy Book) IOC Staff

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: November 15, 2016
,

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ABOLISH the Public and Environmental Health Advisory Board.

Until such time that the Public Health Director and Health Services Director are prepared to make recommendations on an advisory body for public health issues, DIRECT the Clerk of the Board and the Health Services Department to remove references to PEHAB from the Board's Appointive List (the "Maddy Book") and the County's website, so as to minimize any confusion that might be caused by maintaining references to the obsolete advisory body.

RECOMMENDATION(S): (CONT'D)

BACKGROUND:

The Public and Environmental Health Advisory Board (PEHAB) was a 19-member community advisory body established by the Board of Supervisors in 1986 to:

Anticipate emerging health needs and initiate prevention programs.
Focus public health interventions in communities with greatest needs.
Balance available resources with growing needs; and
Advocate for increased County action to improve community health

PEHAB, which when fully functioning met bi-monthly, has been inactive for several years. The last member appointment was made in May 2013 and the terms of office for all other seats have lapsed.

One year ago, as part of the Board's triennial review of its advisory bodies, the Internal Operations Committee recommended to the Board of Supervisors that strong consideration should be given to merging the PEHAB with the Hazardous Materials Commission (HMC). This recommendation was predicated on several pertinent facts: that the PEHAB had stopped meeting for an indefinite period, had no available staff support through the Health Services Department, had not maintained the roster of members (whose terms had expired), and did not submit a response to the triennial review survey.

In response to the merger suggestion, the Health Services Department later reported that the HMC and PEHAB missions were not compatible and recommended against a merger of the two bodies. The Department, last March, also requested time to examine with the newly appointed Public Health Director how best to modernize PEHAB to maintain its relevance; however, no further proposal was submitted to the IOC for consideration.

Until such time that the Public Health Director and Health Services Director are prepared to make recommendations on an advisory body for public health issues, the Internal Operations Committee recommends the dissolution of PEHAB and removal of references to it from the Board's Appointive List (the "Maddy Book") and the County's website, so as to minimize any confusion that might be caused by maintaining references to the obsolete advisory body.