Health Board to hold quarterly evening meetings

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In an effort to give those who may not have the opportunity to attend its monthly meetings, typically held the third Tuesday mornings, the Perry County Board of Public Health plans to hold quarterly, night-time meetings at 6 p.m., starting in 2022.
The decision came at the board’s Nov. 16 meeting held at the Catalyst Center for Business.
The exact dates for when those quarterly meetings will be scheduled has not been determined yet, according to health department director Liz House.
“I’ll present a calendar to the board next month that will have those quarterly 6 p.m. dates already suggested so that it’s on everyone’s schedule for the year and everyone has it,” House said.
House noted there have been fewer people in attendance at the public meetings since the board made a decision to start using modified COVID-19 guidelines for schools.
“I think it’s something that they listened to what the citizens had to say and went back and did their own thoughts and research and I think our board has been very open to public comment, listening and hearing what their concerns are. I would hope that the public felt heard and hopefully they’ll come if they have future concerns later on.”
The next board meeting will take place Tuesday, Dec. 21, at 6 p.m. Board members are planning a lunch with staff earlier that day.
Rent increasing
The Catalyst Center for Business is increasing its room rental from $25 to $40 in the larger room, which is where meetings have been held for the past several months.
The rent amount for the building’s smaller meeting room rental is going from $15 to $25.

The board briefly discussed options of where to host monthly meetings.
“The problem is that you can’t predict a crowd,” board vice president Chris Wibbenmeyer said.
The board later took action to use the Catalyst Center for all of its 2022 meetings. The annual cost to the board will be $480.
In 2021, the board utilized the larger room at the Catalyst Center for its meetings in June, August, September, October and November. The smaller meeting room was used in July, as the larger room was unavailable at the specified meeting time.
Prior to the pandemic, the monthly meetings for the Perry County Board of Health were held at an upstairs conference room and the board was not paying for rent.
health assessment
The department will likely not be getting an intern to assist with this, according to House.
She had hoped to meet with Perry County Hospital staff in an effort to get assistance with completing the health assessment.
The department hired Casey Hotop as an education coordinator. She began Friday, Nov. 12.
It is House’s intent that Hotop “will hopefully be able to do a lot of the outreach that we haven’t been able to do as much with some of our other programs.”