Kosciusko County Board of Health held its final meeting of 2011 and discussed a wide range of topics.
The board held a lengthy discussion about the implications of a state mandate that requires a dispersal area in addition to the area for the septic system.
Kosciusko County Health Department Environmental Scientist Neal Brown said he was concerned with how it will affect smaller lots.
Jim Moyer, county councilman and Area Plan Commission member, said that he has concerns with his work for an excavation company and how building a new home in a subdivision on a smaller lot can limit both the homeowners as well as those working on the home.
With the dispersal area, nothing can be put on it. That means even when the house is being built, nothing, including dirt, can be placed on the dispersal site.
In the future, if the property owners want to put up a deck or pool, they can’t on the dispersal site.
The board made no decision but instead approved a letter of support for the Area Plan Commission to look into the matter in further detail.
Brown noted that most subdivisions in the county aren’t on sewer but rather septic.
“I don’t think we want to make a blanket policy,” said Brown.
The board looked at what others counties have done to address the dispersal site issue.
Elkhart County has a set-aside ordinance where a certain amount of a property has to be set aside for septic and the dispersal area.
Bruce Hammer, environmental scientist for the county, gave the board an update of a new ordinance that will affect how the county deals with buildings that have been condemned.
Abandoned buildings or those lost to fire will now have a fund that is used to remove those structures.
The ordinance creates a line item in the budget, said Hammer, rather than the county having to scrounge for the funds.
Hammer said the fund should be somewhat self-funding as a lien will be put on those structures and money will be collected after a tax sale.
The new ordinance will also cover properties that need to be exterminated as well as boarded up.
In the last five years, the county has boarded up around five homes and removed the same amount.
The initial amount in the fund will be $10,000.
County Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver went over with the board a lease agreement the health department signed with K21 Health Foundation that runs through 2019. It’s for space at the Health Services Pavilion.
Weaver also gave an update on the Lakeland Regional Sewer District.
“The project is still moving along,” said Weaver. “It’s a slow process.”
Weaver said the LRSD board is still shooting for a spring 2013 open of the facility with construction starting in fall 2012.
County Health Officer Dr. William Remington said that as of Jan. 1, a significant number of the clientele served by the health department in terms of immunizations will have to be served through the private sector rather than the public sector per state law.
Remington then went over the county’s Well Child Clinic program. The United Way funds the program.
Remington then went over influenza numbers so far. The numbers are lower to previous years, especially when th 2009 pandemic of H1N1 hit.
At the end of Wednesday night’s meeting, the board recognized Hammer and Joan Darr, R.N.
Hammer’s last day is Friday and he’s retiring to Florida. Darr will wrap up her eighth and final year on the board.
Remington lauded both Hammer and Darr for their contributions.
The board decided to allow Remington to search for Darr’s replacement on the board.
Board members are Darr, Dr. Karen Boling, Larry Coplen, Dr. Patrick Silveus, Dr. Thomas Howard, Dr. Karen Scripture and Dr. Dennis Woodward, chairman.
