Is being recorded and
summarized.
>> Good morning and welcome
everyone. Calling to order.
Clark County Board of Health
Wednesday, June 24th, 2026.
Let's start with the Pledge of
Allegiance. If you'll join me
in standing, I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to
the Republic for which it
stands one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you.
Then let's move on to the roll
call. Rebecca. Councilor here.
>> Councilor Belkot present.
Councilor Fuentes here. Chair
Marshall here.
>> Thank you. Are there any
amendments to the agenda?
>> Yes, chair, I'd like to add,
under Public Health Advisory
Council, a second bullet point
for a fact or public Health
Advisory Council member to
bring up a topic of discussion
that we had last night at the
fact meeting, which is related
to the WCA funding on domestic
violence.
>> Great. Thank you. Any
objections to that? Seeing none,
we'll add that. Okay. Comments
from the public. Is there
anyone in the room? There's one
person in the room.
>> We do. Chester Castillo
Morales, just press that button.
>> I have to press the button
to be on it.
>> Thank you. I have a lot of
comments, so I'm going to try
to limit to a few of them, and
I would like to see if I can
set an appointment with Mr.
Fuentes, who is a
representative of my district
or where I live, but one of
them is I'm an owner of a of a
restaurant food truck, to be
specific. And. A lot of my
friends or other restaurant
owners. And when it comes time
to pay for the the licenses. ET
cetera. ET cetera. At times,
especially like with Covid and
situations where it's tough,
we've noticed that the health
department or the government
won't work with us at times
when we're in need of, let's
say, making payments. You know,
they you guys want it all up
front. And then if something
happens, if they were to go out
of business in two months,
three months, you don't get
back the money. And I think it,
it behooves all of us because
we're on the same team. If like
one of my businesses friends
just closed Goldie's and
there's others that are, you
know, are finding themselves at
that position. And if they
close, then you guys don't have
any money. So I think there
should be a, a consensus or a,
an area to look into how we can
do that, you know, on whatever.
I don't know what to propose,
but I'm sure there's if you
want the money up front for the
whole year. You can still make
it in, in payments or let's say
if someone in need or something,
you can give them a leeway or
something. We noticed that
there isn't in Covid. There was
basically nothing you had to
plead and it didn't matter. It
was what was said to me several
times is, well, we need the
money, we have the we need a
budget and we have to do this
and that. Well, hello. So do we.
And if we don't have it, then
you guys don't have it. It's
got to we got to work as a team.
It's not us against you or you
against us. So there's got to
be some compassion. The second
thing is this. You guys want
the money? Great. But I myself
have taken pictures. I've
called Bridget and the paths
have talked to Gary who, who
retired and said, you know, you
have businesses that are set up
that are competing against us
but don't pay fees, don't have
licenses. And all I'm told, and
the others are also told, well,
we do look and we do supervise,
we do police it, but nothing,
nothing's happening. They're
not paying. But you guys should
sure count on us paying.
>> Thank you, thank you. Your
time is up. And I'm sure if you
leave your contact information,
Councilor Fuentes will get back
to you.
>> I appreciate you.
>> Thank you so much. Thank you
for coming forward.
>> Yes.
>> Thank you.
>> Chair. There's nobody else
signed up in the room. We do
have some callers online.
>> Okay, great.
>> Caller. You've been sent a
request to unmute yourself.
Please do so. State your name
for the record and go ahead
with your comments.
>> Good morning. Kimberly
Gavenn Elbon. I'd like the
public to know and put it on
record that we have been being
sprayed by chemtrails. Most
every day. The chemtrails that
are supposed to, well, so
normal jet disbursement goes
away after about 2 or 3 minutes
and stuff. I have recordings of
that of course, but the others
stay there all day long and
then they dissipate into that
big white fog that we have over
our land like we did yesterday.
So on Monday there was no
chemtrails in the sky. It was a
perfectly blue sky and things.
And then yesterday they sprayed
the hell out of us. So. And
that's why we had that white
haze all over. I'd like people
to look up at Geoengineering
watch.org to inform themselves.
This, these springs is killing
our insects. And we know that
they're insects are down about
85%. So we need insects for
pollination and the natural
cycle of life. I know they're,
you know, seem meaningless to
most people and stuff, but
they're actually very essential
to prove that. And I've stated
it about five years ago on Lars
Larson, that to prove that you
could there's no bug splatter
on anybody's windshields. I
mean, you'll find very few.
With that said, many states
have banned chemtrails. Florida
is one of them. And I'll read
something. Florida is drawing a
clear line in the in the sky.
No unregulated geoengineering,
no atmospheric experimentation,
and no exceptions. While their
state already bans weather
modification, which. A lot of
this is. The new law takes
protect protection, further
ensuring strong enforcement
against unauthorized activities.
So there are other states that
have banned it. Florida is
enforcing its sovereignty over
its airspace and protecting the
residents. So that's what I'm
asking this Board of Health to
do, to do something about the
chem trails that are killing us.
I have no cherry trees anymore.
It killed all my cherry trees,
and I planted a new one this
year. And it's dead also. So
it's specific to some certain
trees also, but killing our
bugs and stuff and, you know,
have critters that run outside.
They're getting all that bad
air. And then come to find out,
maybe you folks know this, but
you take, you know, a little
pill to clean out all the
metals that they're putting
into the atmosphere. So the
rest of us are dying and
getting emphysema and bad lungs
and all that. But maybe you
guys have an antidote.
>> Okay. Thank you for your
comments.
>> We have another caller.
>> Okay.
>> Caller, you've been sent a
request to unmute yourself.
Please do so and state your
name for the record and go
ahead.
>> Hello, hello.
>> Please go ahead with your
comments.
>> My name is Wayne Jurcich,
and I want to talk about the
chemtrails because they have
been spraying more than just
aluminum oxide, strontium and
barium. They're putting plastic
particles in the air. They're
spreading bugs all over our
yard. I've lived here six years
and I've never had kissing
beetles and ticks in my
backyard, but I do now. And our
homeowners association want you
out there pulling these weeds
that they're also spraying geo
engineered seeds, that these
weeds grow within a day. And
we're supposed to be out there
picking this stuff with these
bugs eating us. And that is
outrageous. And one of the, one
of the big things that you need
to do is fix those two trees
that are right across the
street from your building that
are dead. Because when those
trees fall down, they're going
to kill somebody. It's going to
cost the taxpayers money to fix
the building if it hits the
building. But it can also fall
on the handicapped parking
spaces with people in their
cars. And that is a health
hazard. And that's got to be
done and nothing is being done
about it. And they claim
there's bugs in those trees. If
there was bugs in those trees,
they'd be all over the all the
foliage around there. And one
of the things too, is that I
never hear your health board
talk about things that can
actually help people. There is
a book called cured, and it is
written by Doctor Glenn
Rothschild, and he tells every
kind of thing that you can do
to save your own life, because
your doctor certainly don't
tell you that one of the things
is about parasites. When we're
drinking toilet to tap water
and people took those vaccines
that are toxic, they put bugs
in us and these parasites. One
of the things that you can do
is certain foods that can help
rid yourself of these ugly bugs
is raw garlic, carrots, beets,
coconut, honey, pumpkin seeds,
papaya seeds, cloves, and
pomegranate. Now, I've never
heard this health board ever
mention anything that you could
do. There's all kinds of
dewormers. There's a lady up in
Kelso at Behringer Farm, and
she has a deworming thing, and
it's only open on Wednesdays,
but it's one of the best places.
I've used a lot of her things
to get rid of the problems that
I've had on my skin and other
things, and she has fixed us.
And she's not a medical doctor
like Melnick. So anyway, it's
better to go to a holistic
doctor than it certainly would
be to go to your health board.
And one of the things, too, is
that there should be an
ordinance that no mask are worn
in any public forum like your,
your chambers or any city
council meeting, because we're
not in a pandemic right now.
And these people coming in with
these masks on to stay
anonymous if they're sick, stay
home and call in the way I'm
doing. And it's kind of amazing
to me that these people are
allowed to be on TV with mask
on, because if they're sick,
they're contaminating everybody
else.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> That concludes comments.
>> Okay. That concludes public
comments. We'll move on to the
consent agenda. And that is the
approval of minutes of May 20th,
2026. Are there any corrections?
If not, I'll entertain a motion
to approve.
>> So moved.
>> It's been moved. Second,
moved and seconded. Thank you.
All those in favor say I I I I
motion carries. Okay. Public
health in action. Healthy
communities prioritizing places.
So please go ahead.
>> For the record, doctor Alan
Melnick, public health director
and health officer I'm
delighted to introduce Lauren
Hendrickson and Kathleen
Lovgren from our Healthy
Communities program, who are
going to give the Public Health
in Action presentation on
prioritizing places.
>> Thank you and good morning.
We're happy to be here. Can you
hear me? Okay, okay, okay. You
can go to the next slide,
please. We are here today with
three goals. First, to provide
an overview of place based work
in public health and why it
matters. Secondly, to update
the Board of Health on the
impact of place based work in
fourth place in neighborhoods
of Central Vancouver, and then
finally to introduce a new and
expanded place based framework
that will help us broaden our
work to other neighborhoods in
the county. Next slide please.
This is our organizational
chart. Obviously, Kathleen and
I work on our Healthy
Communities team, which you can
see here on the left hand side
of our org chart in orange.
It's marked with a star. I work
in the life course team under
Melissa Martin, and Kathleen
works on our health assessment
and evaluation team under Adiba
Ali, who's the interim manager
of high. Next slide please. I
want to start by providing some
context and a rationale for
place based public health
approach. When it comes to our
health, the everyday conditions
we experience and live in have
a greater impact on our overall
health and our longevity than
anything that happens in a
hospital or a doctor's office.
What happens in our daily lives
has a huge impact on how
healthy we are. There's a
famous public health phrase.
You've probably heard your zip
code is a better predictor of
your overall health than your
genetics. The point being that
where you live matters in terms
of your overall health. And
that's because the factors of
daily life, known as the social
determinants of health in
public health speak vary a lot
depending on where we live.
Things like whether you have a
safe place to live, whether you
have access to a quality
education, transportation
availability, access to parks
and sidewalks, how safe your
neighborhood is, healthy food
access, and whether that's
affordable. These are the
things that have the largest
impact on how healthy we are,
and our physical environment
and neighborhood really
determine the level of access a
person has to the things that
will make them healthy. Many of
these factors have been
historically influenced by
public investment and public
policies, as well as systemic
issues like racism, inequality,
and many more. And across Clark
County, there is a wide
disparity between the quality
of neighborhood conditions. So
a place based public health
approach is a long term
collaborative strategy that is
applied in a small geographic
area to address the specific
challenges of that community or
neighborhood. This is a
nationally recognized and
utilized model that seeks to
address root causes of health
disparities and inequality by
bringing resources into a
particular area and ensuring
residents of that place are
involved in shaping what their
future looks like. Next slide
please. Public health did a
thorough review of other place
based models and initiatives
across the country before we
launched the Fourth Plane
Coalition, which I'll talk
about in a second place. Based
approaches continue to be a
successful strategy for
improving community conditions
and impacting health and
economic opportunities. This is
an evidence based approach
based on research and best
practices that funders also use.
Because of its impact on
community health. I've linked
to two very successful models
here, in case you'd like to
explore in more detail later.
One is the Harlem Children's
Zone. The other is a purpose
built communities program in
East Lake Atlanta. Next slide.
This slide shows the history
and context of our place based
work in the fourth plane
neighborhoods of Central
Vancouver. The top of the
timeline shows some milestones
and significant activities, and
the bottom shows some funding
received for public health's
place based work. More than 15
years ago, there was a maternal
child health assessment that
identified fourth plane
neighborhoods as areas where
significant health disparities
were occurring. That assessment
led to more public health
investments and attention in
these neighborhoods. At that
same time, the city of
Vancouver was looking at the
economic disparities and the
transportation barriers
residents of fourth Plane were
experiencing. In 2015, a Kaiser
Permanente grant allowed Clark
County Public Health to partner
with the City of Vancouver to
do a bike and pedestrian
analysis and to launch some
physical activity programs.
Because of our shared interest
in these neighborhoods, based
on our research of other
national, place based
initiatives, we learned that
bringing cross-sector partners
together and having a
non-governmental, community
based organization be the lead
or the backbone of the
coalition, are best practices
of a place based approach. As
we began this work, the City of
Vancouver and Clark County
Public Health took on the role
of the backbone organization
with the goal of passing that
on to fourth plane forward,
which was then a small business
association. When they were
ready in 2018, we convened the
Fourth Plane Coalition, a group
of almost 30 community partner
organizations, to come together
and align resources to create a
coordinated effort for change
through a lot of community
engagement, data analysis and
planning with partners, we
organized our work together
around three priorities safe
streets, affordable housing,
and economic opportunity. You
can see our coalition strategy
and evaluation plan in your
packet. They were sent as a
separate handout. Coalition
partners focused efforts on
building capacity and support
for fourth plane forward to
migrate from a business
association to a full fledged
nonprofit that could lead this
neighborhood work as the
backbone organization. In 2022,
Fourth Plane Forward hired its
first executive director and is
embedded in fourth plane
neighborhoods leading this work.
Now, affordable housing was a
key issue we worked to address
together, and in 2023, the
fourth plane Commons broke
ground thanks in large part to
the city of Vancouver,
providing 107 affordable
housing units run by the
Vancouver Housing Authority.
One example of our success was
that the coalition helped to
ensure that community voices
were informing fourth plane
corridor projects, such as the
ground floor space of the
fourth plane Commons, which
includes an event space, a
commissary kitchen, meeting
rooms and a co-working space.
Another example is engaging
residents to determine which
intersections should get
priority for creating safer
crossings. When transportation
funding became available,
centering voices community
voices in projects like these
and others ensures that
neighborhood conditions are
shaped by those who live there.
We have better outcomes when
community members help design
solutions and we foster social
cohesion, self-determination,
and civic engagement at the
same time. One way we have
integrated community engagement
into this effort is through the
fourth Plane Community Advisory
Committee, Clark County Public
Health, the City of Vancouver
and Habitat for humanity have
co-convened the fourth plane
Community Advisory Committee
since 2020. This committee is
comprised of people who live in
fourth plane neighborhoods, and
it ensures we have access to
resident voices. Their
knowledge and lived experience
are guiding all the place based
work we do in fourth plane.
These examples I've mentioned
are intended to provide just a
snapshot of the place based
outcomes with the work with
work in fourth plane, which
continues today on the funding
piece, our our place based work
has been funded in a variety of
ways. When I started at the
county in 2018, we had a Kaiser
Permanente Healthy Eating
Active Living grant that
supported this work. Funding
from private foundations like
the Community Foundation have
come through to support various
projects like transportation
improvements, housing workforce
development programs, and more.
We received a National Build
Health Challenge grant in 2020
that helped us form the
Community Advisory Committee
and mobilized work around
affordable housing funding.
From that, grant went to fourth
plane forward to Public Health
and to habitat for humanity,
who were all partners on the
grant. And now this work is
funded by foundational public
health service dollars from the
state and comes from
categorical life course funds.
Next slide please. Because of
our efforts building this
cross-sector collaboration, we
have collectively brought in
more than $10 million for
fourth plane projects, programs
and improvements. Much of that
is capital investments. I want
to highlight a few examples of
the impact Public Works Public
Health's work has had around
our three priority areas safe
streets, economic opportunity,
and affordable housing. So I'll
start here with Safe Streets
with just one example. Because
of our work between 2018 and
2020, building the coalition
and solidifying partnerships,
when Covid hit, we were ready
to respond. We partnered with
Clark County to do bike
giveaways for families who
found themselves at home, and
without good access to outdoor
recreation. We also piloted a
Slow Streets campaign when
residents complained of cars
moving too quickly through
their neighborhood. When kids
were home and at play, we
partnered with the city to
install temporary signs
encouraging drivers to slow
down, and we installed a street
mural using art designed by a
local youth as another
mechanism to alter behavior and
slow cars. Next slide please.
Another example of our
coalition's impact around
economic outcomes is habitat
for humanity's home repair
program that helps low income
homeowners afford critical
health, safety, and
accessibility repairs. After
becoming a key partner in our
coalition, habitat focused that
program on Fourth Plain
neighborhoods, where there was
a higher need for no cost
repairs. This program allows
people to age in place, avoid
homelessness, and continue to
build wealth in the form of
home equity, which is a
critical way of generating and
passing down generational
wealth during Covid. Fourth
Plane Forward partnered with
the Community Foundation and
the City of Vancouver to
provide hundreds of thousands
of dollars in emergency relief
funding for small businesses on
the Fourth Plain corridor, who
would not have been able to
stay afloat without those funds.
Next slide please. On the
housing front, during Covid, we
worked with our coalition
partners to address emergency
housing needs, including
launching a communications
campaign to every renter in the
fourth Plain Focus area. The
area has 70% renters, so there
are many. The campaign
highlighted resources around
housing assistance, the
eviction moratorium, and
resources available to help
them through the Clark County
Lawyers Program. We also
provided direct rental relief
funding for Fourth Plain
families. Those projects were
made possible through that
National Build Health Challenge
grant. And lastly, just cutting
across all three priority
priority areas. I wanted to
highlight our work building
capacity and technical offering
technical assistance to
culturally specific community
based organizations who are
serving individuals and
families. In Fourth Plain
neighborhoods. Public health
has helped local community
based organizations or CBOs
secure grant funding for their
programs. We've helped them
design evaluation tools,
facilitated strategic planning
sessions, and much more. These
partnerships have also improved
public health's ability to
ensure communities of color and
other communities that have
been historically
underrepresented are included
in decisions, program designs,
project plans, and that our
work is meeting their needs.
PeaceHealth southwest funding
helped public health strengthen
our ability to center their
voices and communities in this
work, and we continue to find
ways to partner and uplift
their work. In Fourth Plain and
beyond this approach, building
CBOs capacity to serve their
own communities matters because
communities experience often
communities experience of
government is of government
doing projects to them,
implementing projects that
affect them, but that they had
no say in or weren't consulted
about. Working closely with our
partners helps to correct that
pattern and ensures that we are
working alongside the community,
partnering with them to provide
services, policies and programs
that meet their real and stated
needs. Next slide please. We
have always been cognizant of
the fact that there are other
neighborhoods in Clark County
that are experiencing health
disparities. We maintain our
commitment to Fourth Plain
neighborhoods, but we wanted to
do a county wide assessment to
help identify other communities
that need increased investment
from public health and other
partners. Prioritizing places
is a new strategy to expand our
place based work across the
county. Based on a data
collection project led by
Kathleen through our Health
Assessment and Evaluation team.
So I'm going to pass it to
Kathleen to tell you a little
bit more about this project.
>> Hi, I'm Kathleen Lovgren.
I'm an epidemiologist on our
health assessment and
evaluation team at Public
Health. I support Noninfectious
disease related epidemiology
data and assessment work,
including supporting Lauren and
the place based work, as well
as the rest of our life course
team at Public Health. As an
epidemiologist, I routinely map
many indicators of health and
well-being at a subcounty level,
meaning like census tract or
zip code. In order to assess
the health of our population.
These include things like life
expectancy and mental health
related outcomes, measures of
social determinants of health
like access to transportation,
renter cost burden, or lack of
health insurance. And we also
look at demographics such as
youth or older populations and
communities of color. Many of
these data and maps that I've
mentioned are available for the
public to view on our Clark
County Public Health Community
Data web page. But when we were
thinking about expanding this
place based work beyond the
Fourth Plain area, we chose to
map three indicators by census
tract in Clark County in order
to identify potential areas for
future place based work. And
these are the percentage, the
percentage of the population
that does not have a high
school diploma or GED. The
percentage of the population
that's living at 200% of the
poverty level or below. And for
reference, the federal poverty
level in 2026 for an individual
was just under $16,000 a year.
And for a family of four, it
was $32,000 a year. So 200%
would be double that. So
$32,000 for an individual or
$66,000 a year for a family of
four. And then the third
indicator we chose to
prioritize was the percentage
of the population that
identifies as a person of color.
We chose to look at these
indicators because we wanted to
focus on root causes of poor
health and inequities, poverty
and low educational attainment
are two social determinants of
health that are powerful
drivers of poor health outcomes.
As Lauren said earlier, these
conditions can play a bigger
role in a person's health than
their genetics or their access
to health care services. We
also wanted to prioritize
communities that have
historically been marginalized
or disinvested in, such as
communities of color, and we
want to acknowledge the
centuries of racism that is a
key driver of health inequities
that still exist today. So when
we mapped these three
indicators by census tract in
Clark County, six neighborhoods,
in addition to the fourth plain
area popped out as potential
areas where we could be doing
future place based work. Next
slide. So these areas are Fruit
Valley, Hazel, Dell,
Battleground Orchards, Cascade
Park and Washougal. These areas
are shown as stars on the map
on this slide. In reality, the
place based work occurring in
these neighborhoods would be
focused in specific census
tracts within these areas. So
for example, in Hazel Dell work
would be focused in three
census tracts east of I-5 and
highway 99 in Cascade Park.
Work would be focused in
neighborhoods north of
McGillivray Boulevard and south
of Mill Plain in Washougal.
Work would be focused in two
census tracts in and around the
downtown area of Washougal, and
then in. Battleground. Work
would be focused in three
census tracts around
battleground High School. You
should have a handout that
provides an overview of this
project and has this map, as
well as the data for each of
our prioritized areas by census
tract for your reference. And
this includes all of the data
we pulled for poverty,
education and communities of
color. For each of these
prioritized areas. And now I'll
pass back to Lauren.
>> So we're excited to embark
on this new phase of our place
based work. We do not have the
resources to do the intensive
work that we'd like to do in
each of these neighborhoods.
Right now, we're in the process
of beginning some work in a few
of these communities. For
example, we are partnering
closely with the city on the
development of their Fruit
Valley Action Plan, which will
guide their investment and
development in that
neighborhood over the next
decade or more. We're helping
to engage the community to
inform the priorities that will
go into that plan, convene a
committee that will help to
draft it, and then in the fall
will be sorting through what
we've heard from all the
engagement we've done and
putting together the plan.
Public health will probably
will definitely have a role in
implementing the health related
priorities that come out of
that work. We're also starting
to convene partners in
Washougal to address youth
mental health, which is a focus
of our community Health
improvement plan and was an
emerging priority when we have
done some foundational work
with partners in Washougal,
there's a lot of concern around
programing and supportive
activities for youth in
Washougal, so our work there is
focused on on those issues, and
that's very much aligned with
our chip, as I mentioned. So
we're excited to come back and
share more with you. And more
work is underway, but this is a
new strategy that we're just
starting to employ. So thanks
for your time and attention.
>> Thank you very much. Are
there questions or comments
from the council?
>> Go ahead.
>> Go ahead, councilor.
>> Thank you, Lauren and
Kathleen for this very thorough
presentation. Lauren, you were
the first community partner I
met when I started working at
Forth Lane.
>> I remember.
>> My very first day. Yeah. So
it's been a pleasure knowing
you and thank you for
continuing to do the work. You
know, I just want to compliment,
you know, you and your team for
identifying other areas of
priority around Clark County.
Now fourth plane, the fourth
plane corridor in the five
surrounding neighborhoods
historically have been the most
under-resourced, low income,
underserved communities in all
of Clark County. But that's not
the case. Right. And it hasn't
been the case for quite some
time. I'm very familiar with
Food Valley, so I'm glad you're
doing work there and
identifying census tracts in
battleground and in Washougal
and other parts of the county
to focus and prioritize and
identify how we can better
support our community members.
So I don't have any any
questions. I think that you've
answered everything, but I just
wanted to thank you and
acknowledge the work that
you're doing and continue to do
the work and figure out how we
can continue to support the
work in the future.
>> Thank you.
>> Councilor Young Chair.
>> Thank you. So thank you for
this presentation. To be honest
with you. And until I saw the
documents online on this, I
didn't realize that we had
played as significant as role
of a role as we have on fourth
plane. You know, I have been
involved with I had been
involved with the city from the
time that this really began to
take place. I'm sure there was
significant planning that took
place before that, that I
wasn't a part of. But I watched
this process unfold. And quite
frankly, I, I believe it's
making a difference, I really
do. One of the thoughts that I
have consistently had around
this, though, are concerns, I
would say, and they may not be
valid concerns, but I think it
it owes it makes sense to make
sure we're keeping track of it.
My, you know, I lived in kind
of central a little bit East
Vancouver when I first moved
here in 20 or 2001 and 2003, I
moved and bought a house in
downtown Vancouver because it
was the cheapest place in the
city to, to get housing. That's
not the case anymore. You know,
there was a significant
investments that the city. I
don't know if the county made
at the at that time and and
things have changed, but I you
know, it is no longer an
affordable place to stay. And
my gut tells me that, you know,
the people that lived there
that were there for
affordability purposes aren't
still there. You know, they got
priced out. It's not that they
benefited from it. So my
question or my, you know, my
concern with this is. Downtown
was nothing like we're doing
now, right? I mean, there is a
concerted effort now to look at
these issues and make sure
we're doing our best to help
the people that need the help
the most. Downtown was just a
blanket investment without much
thought into that. So that is a
big change. But like when we
look at fourth plane, you know,
any time you invest in a
community, the prices, the
values of properties will go up.
And so what are we doing to
make sure that the folks that
are living there now are the
ones that are benefiting from
that, you know, and, and making
sure displacement, making sure
that they're not being moved to
another area of town where it,
it's cheap still or cheaper
because they've now been priced
out of their area. So are we
following this like from a real
strong data, you know, data
capturing to make sure who are,
who is benefiting from this the
most and looking at ways that
we can continue to focus to
make sure that we are very
intentional in everything that
we do to ensure that the
communities that need the help
most receive that, and that the
some of the mistakes from the
past are not repeated.
>> Yeah, it's a great question,
and it's been top of mind for
us during this whole initiative.
It's really, really hard to do
community development without
displacement. But that and I
think it's almost impossible to
prevent that happening entirely.
However, we have been really
grounded in that goal that I
would direct you to check out
the City of Vancouver's Reside
Vancouver report. That is an
anti displacement development
strategy. And there are really
important kind of policy
recommendations and programs
that we've worked to implement
to, from everything from making
home ownership more affordable
to preserving the affordability
of housing to, you know, mixed
use or low income housing
projects like the commons that
we've prioritized. So there are
really good strategies in there
that we've, we're continuing to
try to implement to prevent
displacement. But yeah, it is a
really, it is a really big top
of mind thing. And it's hard to
collect the data too around is
what you're seeing. Maybe you
can speak to this some, but is,
is what you're seeing the same
data set as what you saw ten
years ago? You know, is change
actually happening or are
people are you looking at
different things? So I don't
know. Yeah, okay.
>> And I would say I am very
familiar with Anti-displacement
strategy. I just don't know to
what level it's being
implemented. It's kind of a
silent thing. It's not I don't
know that there's anywhere that
you can go to see all the
efforts that they have done,
specifically in Forth Plain
Area. And the other thing too
is, you know, how we can
organize co-ops and help folks
that live in apartments be able
to purchase their buildings so
that they can benefit from the
increase in value that comes. I
don't think enough intentional
work has been done on that, and
I'd love to see that take place.
Create a vehicle where people
can figure out how to do this.
But thank you. I appreciate
your work on this.
>> Thanks for that question.
That was very good question.
Councilor Belkot, did you have
anything you wanted to add?
>> My comments are similar to
Councilor Jen's. I had no idea
all the work that was involved
in this and all the outreach
that's involved. This was a
great education for me. And
Lauren, did you say you.
Because I was writing notes as
you were talking, you mentioned
the displacement. It's called
the reside report on City of
Vancouver's website.
>> Yes. Yeah. Reside. Vancouver.
>> Reside. Vancouver. Okay. I
was going to I'm just
interested in looking at that
for further information. But
thank you for all the work you
you've done. This is awesome.
Thanks so much.
>> Great. I just want to thank
you as well. And likewise, I
was not aware of the role that
Public Health had played with
fourth plane. And, you know, I
know public health, you know,
often works behind the scenes,
not looking for a lot of
attention and collects the data
and, you know, figures out a
strategy of action, highly
collaborative with the
community. So and leveraging
dollars to I think this
demonstrates all of those very
important strategies that
public health plays. How long
has this approach actually been
in, in play?
>> Well, I think I mentioned we
started working pretty
intensively in the early 2000,
but it wasn't until 2018 that
we formed like the coalition,
which created a more organized,
coordinated strategy. So I
would say 2018 is when things
really.
>> Picked up really relatively
new. And how large is your team?
Because just looking at the,
the chart here doesn't look
like it's very big.
>> It's me.
>> Really good job.
>> And I was part time for.
>> Most of that those years. I
was part.
>> Time.
>> Really good job. And I
appreciate identifying the
other areas where there are
need. That's good for us to be
aware of that, even if we don't
have the resources to do
everything we'd like to do
right now. And I know the
foundational public health
dollars are shrinking. So those
are some decisions that lie
ahead. And I would just I just
was wondering, are you I'm
imagining that you're working
with the schools as well.
>> Yes. Vancouver Public
Schools was on our steering
committee for the for the
coalition. They also have had a
hard time resourcing this work.
So they can be difficult
sometimes it can be hard to
work with really closely with
them just because they're over
tapped with all of the needs
they're trying to meet. But yes,
they're a close partner and
we'd love to work more with
schools as well.
>> Great, great. So thanks for
bringing this forward. We'll
look forward to hearing more
about this and coming coming
months. Chair. Thank you. Oh,
yes. Please go ahead.
>> I just want to add a couple.
I want to piggyback on what.
>> Councilor Young mentioned
earlier and expressing his
concerns about displacement.
Right. Particularly in areas
along the fourth corridor. Now,
the city of Vancouver is fully
committed to ensuring that
Anti-displacement doesn't
happen along the corridor.
Right. Or development without
displacement. And I'll give you
a really quick couple examples
for Krout. The City of
Vancouver just released a RFP,
a request for proposal for Folk
Road, a property on the corner
of Fork Road and Fourth Plain
Boulevard, three acres that
will support workforce housing
so that individuals can afford
home ownership. The operation
center, which is 16 acres
currently for the City of
Vancouver, will be transferring
out of that current location
and into the new location on
Padden Parkway. Now, they don't
have a solid plan yet, as far
as I know, in conversations
with the elected officials. But
what they envision is 16 acres
of affordable housing, 16 acres
of affordable commercial space.
So I believe, and as a City of
Vancouver resident and support
this 100%, that the city of
Vancouver is really making an
effort to ensure that that
affordable housing continues to
be built along the corridor.
People do not get displaced
because where do they go? Right?
And now we don't have influence
over this jurisdiction, but we
can certainly support it. We
don't have influence in the
city of battle ground in those
census tracts that you're doing
the work in. But we can
certainly support and encourage
these jurisdictions to continue
to support economic development
in those areas and and
encourage affordable housing.
So the effort is being made.
Now, we'll have to see what
that 16 acres of currently on
Fourth Plain Boulevard will
look like in the future. I'm
excited for it. But but I think
the city is doing an amazing
job.
>> Great. Thank you. Okay, more
to come. Great work. Thank you.
Okay. Moving on. Public Health
Advisory Council and Doctor
Melnick. I think you'll start
that off.
>> Yes. Thank you. So one of
the positions on the Public
Health Advisory Council is a a
youth representative. It's a
representative just from the
bylaws, a representative from
the Clark County Youth
Commission, Clark County Youth,
or representative of a local
area high school or local area
college. And the current member
and the bylaws also state that
if you've had two unexplained
absences in a in a year or two
consecutive absences that's
caused to be removed from the
from the Council, those are the
requirements in the bylaws.
Well, our current youth
representative has missed more
than that, significantly more
than that. And our chair has
reached out to that. Person.
And we haven't really gotten a
response. So what we're asking
the Board of Health today is,
of course, you appoint these
physicians to the council to
remove that representative so
we can recruit for another
youth representative that will
bring to you for approval.
>> Thoughts from the council?
Great. Sounds like a reasonable
request. And you've done what
you can to reach out and see if
there's anything you can do to
help or support this person.
And I think we can thank them
for the time that they did
serve and appreciate that. I
met recently with our youth
commission, and I know they're
very interested and concerned
about mental health. So I think
reaching out to them, you might
be able to find a lively
candidate.
>> Part of the recruitment
process. He will certainly
reach out to the Youth
Commission, which we've done in
the past. Sure.
>> Yeah. Okay. Is there
agreement all around on that?
Yes. I guess thumbs up all
around. So thank you for
bringing that forward. And now
I think our next bullet point
is a topic from the FAC.
Welcome.
>> My name is Emily Estes and
I'm the vice chair of the
Public Health Advisory Council.
Last night the FAC voted by
consensus to bring before the
board our concern regarding the
loss of a state grant to the
YWCA. The grant was from the
Department of Commerce and you
can and may already have read
this information in the
Colombian. But the YWCA for
over a year trained their staff
and established partnerships
with local law enforcement and
attorneys to identify victims
of domestic violence who were
most at risk of being killed or
seriously injured by their
abusers. The program identified
and provided wraparound
supports to 88 people. The
$90,000 grant from Commerce
will not be renewed to the YWCA
Clark County, and will instead
go to other counties to build
new pilot programs. In the year
prior to the grant, there were.
Years prior to the grant, there
were 13 domestic violence
related homicides. In the year
since the grant, there were
three. The Columbian also
reported a statement from the
Clark County Sheriff's
Commander, Jason Camp, that the
high risk team created by the
YWCA program helped to provide
information that might
otherwise not have been
provided to law enforcement.
That information could help
prosecutors in better
protecting victims of domestic
violence. Concerns about the
loss of funding came to FAC
last night, during community
updates, and the time
sensitivity of this made us
want to bring it to the board.
It is the position of FAC
members unanimously that this
issue should be brought to the
board's attention, as the loss
of this program is a public
health concern.
>> Okay. Thank you. Comments
from the board?
>> No, but I think this is a
topic that we'll continue to
have on the FAC over the next
couple of months and and see if
we can identify any way that we
can support.
>> Thank you.
>> Go ahead counselor.
>> What is the timeline look
like? How long are they funded
for? At this point.
>> I don't actually have that
information. I know that they
learned of their grant loss in
March, and as far as I know,
services continue till at least
June 1st. I believe they might
have had to stop at that point,
but I am not privy to that.
>> I'm getting information back
here that it ends at the end of
June.
>> Oh.
>> So it's a fiscal year.
>> Okay. Thank you. Well, thank
you very much for bringing this
forward. I think we can think
about this in our role as the
Board of Health and also in our
role as the county Council. And
I know we have some dedicated
funds for certain grants. I
know that one is for mental
health. I don't know if there
was a way that this could.
Align with with that need, but
we'll be thanks. And we'll
we'll try and figure something
out. That's the problem with
grants. You know, they come and
they go and they're often.
Meant they're meant to be
temporary, but they're often
filling a permanent need. So
thanks a lot. Okay. Directors
update.
>> For the director's report.
I'm just going to mention some
foundational public health
services cuts to the Department
of State, Department of Health
that will affect local health
jurisdictions, including ours.
So one of them is the state
Department of Health, had a
contract, has had a contract
with the Poison Control Center,
the poison center for after our
calls. So emergency calls, for
example, for public health
after hours and held a contract
for that. And that allowed that
supported local health
jurisdictions in terms of calls
from our emergency calls and
our they would take the calls
for for Clark County Public
Health. That they extended it.
The contract through July 31st
because of the FIFA World Cup.
But starting in August, August
1st, local health jurisdictions,
including Clark County Public
Health, must. Will have to
contract with the Poison Center
poison control directly for
these services. Fortunately for
us, compared to some other
jurisdictions for the
notifiable conditions, you know,
communicable disease and things
like that, we have after hours
coverage internally and
providers, for example,
reporting communicable disease
after hours can report directly
to us. So the number of calls
we we the poison center has
taken for us has been pretty
small. I believe the last year
was about 15 calls where some
jurisdictions have everything
go to their to poison center,
and we're looking at 400 to 500
>> A year. So the bottom line
is it will be a minimal cost
for us. For the previous 12
month period, it was about
$1,500. And we're seeing a
maximum impact of about $5,000
to us in the next year. So that
was one cut. But fortunately,
it's pretty small. The other
cut, the other foundational
public health service services
loss is around community health
data systems that that the
state Department of Health
manages. And that means that
will impact several statewide
surveys that we use in terms of
community health. They collect
population level data on on a
variety of topics that inform
our work and also inform the
work of our community partners.
So we're seeing where we need
to get more information on the
extent of those reductions. But
there will be some it looks
like there will be some
reductions there and we'll keep
you posted.
>> Great. Thank you for that.
And what the impacts of that
data collection might be,
because I know data informs
everything that you do. So it
might sound like a dry item,
but it's the basis of your all
of your actions. So I'd like to
understand the impacts when you
know them.
>> We'll get you more
information.
>> Great. Thank you. Okay.
Anything else?
>> That's all I've got. Thank
you.
>> Okay. Any comments from the
board chair? Yes.
>> I was contacted by somebody
who mentioned something that
has been happening frequently
in our community that I think
it's kind of become so frequent.
It seems like we don't notice
it very much. And that would be
teen violence, as in
specifically with with guns,
gun violence. We read in the
paper just a day or two ago
about another incident that
happened here in Vancouver. And
I would like to add this as an
agenda item for our next Board
of Health meeting to have a
discussion on this, and maybe
staff can do some work on data
gathering. You know, is it a
perceived increase? Is it not?
You know, we're just noticing
it more so we can get kind of
trending data on that to see if
we do have a problem on our
hands that we need to look at,
seeing how we can solve that,
and also to look into what our
role is currently, what our
role could or should be, what
other role players are in this,
and give us some advice as to
what we can and what we should
do to combat this. If it does
show to be a trending problem.
Growing problem.
>> Thank you. Go ahead doctor.
>> We're prepared to provide
more information on that. I
point out that in in people
ages 1 to 19 across the United
States, firearms are the number
one cause of death in that
population. So and they impact
our community as well as all
other communities. So we can we
have a lot of information on
that. Some of the data we
collect and we'll be happy to
we can put that on for an
upcoming Board of Health
meeting. If that works.
>> I'd also be interested
related to suicide and guns.
>> Number one, cause of suicide
as well.
>> Yeah. Yes. Councilor Belkot.
>> I was just wondering if we
should include the sheriff's
offices. They probably have a
lot of that data available as
well.
>> I think that's a good idea.
We can reach out to them. Okay.
Yeah. I think there's agreement
on that. And Doctor Melnick
seems willing. And so we'll
look forward to that on our
next month. Agenda. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay. Nothing else
from the Board of Health. And
we've completed our agenda. And
with that, this meeting without
objection is adjourned. Thank
you.