MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Board of Health held its monthly meeting Wednesday evening.
The report of non-action items included a report on the solid waste nuisance at 11337 Armentrout Road in Berlin Township. At a hearing in Knox County Common Pleas Court on May 8, it was discovered the owner of the property, David Proper, had not been duly served with notice of the hearing.
A newly file-stamped amended entry was used to calculate the 30-day period Proper has to clean solid waste debris from his property. The amended entry, sent to Proper by certified mail, was returned unclaimed. Brian Benick of the health department will visit the property the last week of June or the first week of July to see if any progress has been made.
The board renewed a contract with S&I Associates for completing the 2008 Medicare cost report for the Home Health Program. The cost was to remain the same and the contract was signed by Health Commissioner Dennis Murray on May 21.
The midyear communicable disease report was given to the board. It showed Knox County had 82 cases of state-reportable class A and B diseases in the first half of 2009. This was an increase of 141.2 percent from the first half of 2008, which had 34 reportable cases. It was noted the increase is not necessarily because there are more instances of disease, but because more cases are being reported or that reporting rules changed.
The county investigated multiple suspected cases of the H1Ni virus, with only one being confirmed. The report also showed 83 percent of reportable diseases were made on time to the health department.
Murray updated the board on the continuing effects of the poor economic times. He said the new budget for fiscal year 2010-11 is in conference committee between the state House of Representatives and the state Senate. Murray said he believed several funding streams will be impacted by the budget; tobacco control funding and the Help Me grow program funding will probably experience cuts. A fee increase for vital statistics (birth and death certificates) was expected to be put in place, but was taken out of the bill in the House.
An administrative hearing with officials at Camp Mohaven was held regarding recurring violations in the food service at the resident camp. A follow-up inspection showed all violations were addressed and no further action against its license was warranted.
In other news:
•The Mamovan made the first of its biannual visits to the health department on June 1. Thirteen women were seen.
•Benick participated in a tour of the old middle school on North Mulberry Street on June 10. He reported the building still had many points for bird entry and he anticipated the Mount Vernon Law Director’s office will be filing criminal charges.
•The mosquito sprayer is loaded onto its truck and is ready to go. The board purchased a new product called Duet for spraying. The product has an extra ingredient that stimulates mosquito flight to achieve an increased kill rate.
The board went into executive session to discuss personnel matters. After the session, Murray reported the board moved to give him the authority to enter into negotiations for the renewal of two personal services contracts for Spanish translation services. The contract renewals involved Jeremy Ketterman and Hedwig Evans. In a third contract matter, the board authorized Murray to enter into a personal services contract with Amy Schuman to provide dental hygene services in the dental clinic.
