HomeMy WebLinkAbout201119 - Minutes, Community Health Adv.Washington County Community Health Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
November 19, 2020
Opening
This meeting of the Washington County Community Health Advisory Committee was called to order at 7:35am
by Douglas Spotts, MD, Chair, via virtual meeting.
Present
Earl Stoner, Jennifer Foltz, Heidi Kendall, Rich Eichelberger, Rob Ferree, Cyndi Powell, Douglas Spotts, MD,
Commissioner Randall Wagner, Mark Bradshaw, Ashley Holloway, Dave Chisholm and Peggy Pugh.
Guests: Allen Twigg, Allison Tages and Jill Baker
Old Business
• Approval of Meeting Minutes from October 15'h, 2020. Rob Ferree made the motion to approve as
presented, Cyndi Powell seconded. All voting In favor, minutes approved.
• COVID-19 Update provided by Earl Stoner
o As a county, and as a country, we are not in a good spot with COVID numbers. Rural communities
like ours across the nation are getting hit hard. With numbers surging, it is harder to identify
where/how people are getting infected and harder to perform contact tracing. Infection is so
widespread.
o 8.1% positivity rate, 3rd highest in the state. As of yesterday, 41 hospitalized for COVID, with 7 in
the ICU.
• Douglas Spotts gave an update on creation of Behavioral Health Authority. They have had two meetings so
far, and plan to meet every two weeks moving forward.
New Business
• Introduction of guests and potential new committee members: Allen Twigg, Executive Director of
Behavioral and Community Health Services for Meritus and Allison Tages, Staff Dentist for Family
Healthcare of Hagerstown. They have each submitted application to join this committee, awaiting approval
by County Commissioners.
• Briefly discussed with Commissioner Randall Wagner requirements for members to join this committee.
Currently, the county has a policy that members of a committee must be Washington County residents.
This would greatly limit our current and future membership. Commissioner Wagner said it is something he
hopes to resolve with the other County Commissioners. Douglas Spotts and Allen Twigg shared their
experiences serving on other local boards and suggested people be permitted to participate if they live
and/or work within Washington County.
• Jill Baker, Director of Washington County Planning and Zoning gave a presentation on Water Resources
and Economic Development.
o She shared current maps and boundaries used to define growth areas in Washington County.
There is the Urban Growth Area (UGA) defined by the County through their Comprehensive Plan
and a Mid -Range Growth Area (MGRA) defined by the City of Hagerstown that identifies a growth
area that they feel can be served by public water resources. There is a gap between these two
boundaries and county and city officials are working on ways to stretch and manipulate the
boundaries to allow for economic development.
o Water quality issues were discussed as well as private well and sewer/septic system issues that
plague our county.
Outlook
• Continue working with Krista Hart and County Commissioners on the following action items:
o Approval of Cyndi Powell and Rob Ferree term renewals
o Approval of Allen Twigg to fill vacancy for Medical Community Representative
o Approval of Allison Tages for Dentist Community Representative vacancy
o Coordinating a Date/Time for Douglass Spotts and Earl Stoner to meet with County Commissioners
to discuss this group and hear from them what topics they would like for us to discuss as a group
• December meeting will focus on a broader discussion of COVID
• January meeting, Earl will coordinate with Environmental Health Director to give a presentation to our
group on water/sewer quality issues from perspective of Health Department. The group agreed a
presentation from the health department would be a good follow up to today's presentation from Jill Baker.
Meeting Adjourned at 8:35am with "Three Good Things".
Next Meeting
• Thursday, December 17, 2020 from 7:30am-8:30am — Virtual Meeting
Minutes Submitted by:
Approved by: