Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health February 11th, 2016 Present Excused Absent Dr. Drachler Dr. Sood Ms. Varma Mr. Abbasi Dr. Dave Ms. Jones Thorne Dr. Polin Ms. Nickisch Duggan Dr. Topouzian Dr. Gaynes Ms. Urbanus Dr. Luka Dr. Usman Mr. Nidetz Dr. Vernon Mr. Pandya Dr. Werner Dr. Prince Dr. Williams Dr. Catherine A. Counard, Director of Health Bruce A. Jones, Staff Dr. Edward McCarren – Family Services Commission Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:31 p.m. by Dr. Drachler, Chairman. Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as amended. Presentation: Adam M. Letendre, Assistant to the Public Works Director - Skokie Recycling Programs Please refer to the accompanying presentation for all of the details. A few highlights: Mr. Letendre has been with the Village for 7 years as the Assistant to the Public Works Director, also serves as staff liaison with the Environmental sustainability commission and with Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) Recycling in Skokie • Available to residents, condominiums and commercial entities. • Residential collection provided by Groot Industries • Condominium (over four units) provided by Lakeshore Recycling Systems • Commercial collection (includes apartments) provided by Lakeshore Recycling Systems  Residential Collection provided once per week  Condominium Collection provided as needed  Commercial Collection provided up to six times per week  No user fees for residential and condominium recycling  Commercial recycling pickup costs based on size and quantity of containers, and frequency of pickup. o Residential recycling averages 5,350 tons annually – about 24% diversion rate. o Condominium recycling – 332 tons in 2015 o Commercial recycling – 1,754 tons in 2015 Recycling Opportunities in the future: Textiles, Food scrap and Electronics. Textiles – Companies out there doing this but Skokie has yet to engage in the practice but it is being looked at more closely. #490823 Food Scraps – A unique subject as we currently do not have a hauler set up to handle the potential volume produced at residential and commercial sites. Electronics – Becoming more difficult to find suitable locations to recycle. Best Buy just stopped their program. SWANCC – is looking at the issue since the producers have no responsibility for cradle to grave of products. Producers only required to take in the same amount in weight as produced. Newer electronic products can weight1/4 to 1/3 the amount of older products and Skokie took in 33,000 pounds at the spring greening event last year. Recycling Initiatives; Staff works closely with SWANCC on all refuse and recycling contracts Working with UIC MPA students to review recycling in Skokie NewSkokie articles featuring recycling challenge Discussion during the recycling presentation: Mr. Nidetz asked how much the Village receives from selling recyclables. Mr. Letendre explained the Village receives$10.00 per ton refund currently but this will change with the new contract. With the oil market now dropping it is actually cheaper to buy virgin plastic than recyclables, the program is worth about $50,000 per year on a contract of $950,000. Dr. Counard added that Jewel has the food scrape program in place and produces 6,000 pound of food scrape a month. Mr. Letendre confirmed that they have the weights and ability to run the program as well as Walmart. Dr. Counard added asked about smaller items e.g. coffee makers, CD players etc. Mr. Letendre confirmed that they all are classified as electronics. Mr. Letendre mentioned again that the SWANCC website www.swancc.org is a great resource for recycling information. Skokie was a founding member of SWANCC; Mayor Van Dusen is the current Chairman of the SWANCC Board, Former Village Manager Al Rigoni was the Executive Committee Chairman and that Mary Allen the SWANCC Recycling Coordinator will be speaking at the Boards & Commissions Dinner, Dr. Werner asked about scrap metal haulers. Mr. Letendre explained that they do need to be licensed with the village and that they are extremely helpful in removing items from the alleys/curb line. They are very beneficial and are able to strip the wire and metals form a variety of electronic item. Dr. Drachler questioned why more businesses don’t recycle if garbage collection cost more. Mr. Letendre said it is difficult to understand but has heard many times that “they don’t have the time”. “It’s not mandated, not force to train” and speculates that laziness is a problem. Dr. Drachler mentioned that Skokie Hospital recycles all items in their operating rooms. Mr. Letendre commented that they have an established purpose, either mandated, good will, good public relations, etc. and unfortunately small businesses are not driven by these same factors. Dr. Drachler asked if plastics are the least desirable recyclable what the most desirable products are. Mr. Letendre said currently it would be metals and paper products. Dr. Prince asked what is thrown into recyclables that shouldn’t be. Mr. Letendre said garbage is the most common thing placed into the recycle bins and if it is seen the hauler will sticker the cart and not pick it up until corrected. Dr Drachler asked if that could be tracked. Mr. Letendre said in most instances the product is hidden and not found until dumped onto the sorting floor at the facility. #490823 Dr. Prince also asked about wood and glass being recycled. Mr. Letendre explained that wood is considered a natural product and is not recyclable while glass is very recyclable except for Pyrex glass products. Dr. Williams questioned about outreach using the Skokie Newsletter and if the Boy Scouts or Eagle Scouts could help with a project to promote recycling and outreach to businesses. Dr. Williams offered his services to work with Public Works to be a point of contact for such an initiative. Mr. Letendre explained Public Works relies heavily on NewSkokie for promoting the various recycling programs and that he would be receptive to work on such a program. Mr. Pandya asked if we could mandate recycling for Skokie businesses. Mr. Letendre stated that would be a decision made by the Mayor and Board of Trustees. Dr. Drachler asked about recycling batteries. Mr. Letendre said that is done by the Village through SWANCC and Interstate Battery but added that alkaline batteries no longer contain toxic materials and can be disposed in the garbage since the recyclers do not want them do to the cost. Dr. Counard mentioned that we still encourage people to bring them to the Health Department. Mr. Pandya asked about long fluorescent light bulbs. Dr. Counard added that the Health department accept any small bulbs but refers people to ACE hardware for other bulbs. Dr. Counard said we would look into the topic Dr. Williams questioned recycling LED lights. Mr. Letendre said that they are not on the radar yet since they have such a long life span of 10 years or more. Dr. Drachler thanked Mr. Letendre and reiterated that the Board of Health wants to push increased commercial recycling. Mr. Letendre said that they trying to “crack that nut” and promote commercial recycling Update regarding 2016 Community Health Survey: The 2016 Community Health Survey was launched on February 1. The survey will be available in both electronic and paper forms, and has been translated into Urdu, Russian, Spanish, Korean and Arabic. Again, thank you to the Board of Health and IPLAN Committee for assisting with putting this document together. The survey has been widely distributed to a variety of agencies including: Village of Skokie (Front page of Website and All Village staff) E-mailed link to 1,500 people who received flu shot fall 2015 All Skokie Boards and Commissions English Language Learner (ELL) Parent Center Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie (IMODS) Interagency Network (Social Service Listserve) IPLAN Committee Local Area Network (LAN41) (Social Service Listserve) Niles Township Youth Coalition (NTYC) Oakton Community College: Students and Staff Skokie School Districts NorthShore Women’s Auxiliary Skokie Park District Skokie Public Library Eleven days into the survey and we have over 800 responses so far. Pat Urbanus asked when we would stop taking surveys. Dr. Counard said the survey is open for 6 weeks and the end date is March 13th #490823 Chair’s Report: Dr. Drachler wanted to remind the Board of the upcoming Board’s & Commission’s dinner being held on March 12th and encouraged all to attend if possible. Dr. Drachler also mentioned that he plans to attend the February 16th meeting in support of the proposed “Complete Streets” Policy and again asked members to attend if they can. Dr. Drachler distributed two articles: Chicago Sun-Times Article “Emanuel says Big Tobacco can stall his plan to curb teen smoking, but they can't defeat it”. Chicago Tribune Article “How safe is bottled water”. Director’s Report: January Monthly Report highlights – a copy is attached: Zika Virus Update The Department has been participating in numerous conference calls, communicating with healthcare providers and residents, and engaging in other activities to prepare for potential cases of Zika virus in the Village. Information has been posted on the Village website and is updated regularly. Currently there have been three cases in Illinois, all involving individuals who traveled outside of the United States to affected countries. The Aedes genus mosquitoes that carry Zika virus cannot survive the cold winters in Illinois and are not typically found in our area. Thus there is expected to be little risk of acquiring the virus here, although southern states may be affected at some point. We are communicating closely with the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District and will work with them to monitor the situation over the upcoming summer Launched Customer Satisfaction Surveys for All Divisions The Department launched customer satisfaction surveys for all divisions in January (including Animal Control, Environmental Health, Personal Health, and Rodent Control). The surveys are available in both paper and electronic forms, and will be collected until June 30. Tobacco 21 Meeting Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium Board Dr. A. Michael Drachler, Chair of the Board of Health, and Dr. Larry Williams, Board of Health member, attended the January Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium (NIPHC) Board meeting in Chicago with me. The meeting focused on working towards raising the age level to purchase or sell tobacco to 21 years in Illinois. Many representatives from health agencies attended, including the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and so forth. The plan is to work towards this goal over the next few years! Discussion: Dr. Drachler brought the most current Skokie Hospital policies on Zika virus to follow since they continue to get updates on a daily basis. Dr. Vernon gave a very detailed update about all the testing parameters, protocols and forms being followed at Skokie Hospital which have been set by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the additional testing that he is recommending testing for Chikungunya virus and Dengue fever virus. Dr. Williams recommended that all members subscribe to the Health Alert Network “HAN” to get the most up to date information on public health issues and emerging disease information. Dr. Counard mentioned CDC has over one million subscribers for the HAN network. Dr. McCarren from the Family Services Commission spoke strongly in favor of the Tobacco 21 issue. Dr. Drachler welcomed the support from his commission on the topic. #490823 Dr. Williams mentioned he attended the Chicago meeting on the topic but the issue became a money and tax funding issue rather than focusing on the actually topic of Tobacco 21. Dr. Counard mentioned that there is push by the American Heart Association to have the State of Illinois go Tobacco 21. Dr. Williams mentioned he is also serving on the State Smoking Cessation Program which is looking at a variety of topics from insurance, ACA issues and Tobacco 21. Old Business Pat Urbanus asked about the topic of having an area for breast feeding and diaper changing in Village Hall. Dr. Counard said that she would again bring this topic to the attention of the Managers Office. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:49 p.m. #490823