Board of Health

June 24, 2025 BOH Meeting Draft Minutes Meeting called to order by Celia Bird at 6:27 pm Attending Celia Bird, Jenny Tomczak and Judy Rivers Agenda – Celia asked that we add for items on emerging issues  Leadership Champlain  Herbicide application approvals  Gun safety  The Syringe Report Jenny made a motion to make those four items part of an amended agenda. Judy seconded. Unanimous in favor. Minutes Jenny made a motion to approve the amended agenda. Celia May and April minutes tabled due to participants at tonight’s meeting were not at those meetings. The March minutes were approved based on a motion from Jenny that Bill would add the names of the public forum attendees prior to posting the approved version. Judy seconded it. Unanimous in favor. Juneteenth update Jenny and Judy shared their experiences with hosting a table at Juneteenth this past Saturday on Church Street. The Board’s table give a ways included sunscreen, syringe grabbers, syringe disposal boxes and literature. The grabbers and sunscreen were popular. It was a very positive experience that was well run by the organizers. Budget – Discussion on past donations Judy made a motion to split the remaining $1,800 to The Fire Department CRT, The New American Public Health Initiative and AAP Vermont share an equal amount of $600 each. Jenny seconded. Unanimous in favor. Emerging issues - Tobacco licensing email from Council Litwin – The board will need to review the council meeting minutes where this issue came up for public comments. There is a report of increased applications for tobacco licenses by restaurants and breweries and the board could review the public health implications. The BOH could look into this and engage in discussions with the Tobacco Licensing Commission.   Leadership Champlain – Judy noted her interest in getting an outline of what they had been doing related to the syringe disposal issue and any final reports they produced. Bill will follow up with the group leader John for that update and report back.  Herbicide application approvals – Bill confirmed that the same concentration level of the product is being used at both sites on Intervale Road and Flynn Avenue. Weather updates were received from BED regarding wind and rain limitations specified for any herbicide applications.  Gun safety –The board talked about King Street earlier during the budget discussions. The center was a potential site last year for a parent education presentation on gun safety.  The Syringe Report –Board discussed report back to city council and next steps with the Howard Center. There were several questions posed to the board from city council during the presentation on the syringe program. The Board will discuss next steps for the syringe exchange program report at the summer meeting. Next meeting date will be determined by email poll. It is possible that one month gets skipped due to busy summer schedules. Bill mentioned the public outreach for the month could be completed by sharing the notification that came to his attention from the VT Department of Health regarding Rabies. Jenny suggested we develop a quarterly calendar or list of topics for public outreach such as being aware of the spring and summertime risks of accidental drowning, the annual application process for new board of health members and similar topics. This list of preapproved messages could be used based on a calendar or quarterly period when there are no other messages to be sent out. Judy mentioned recent information she picked up at the Mayor’s office about the City of Burlington participating in Situation Table Training. Bill gave an overview of his introductory meeting on the Situation Table training earlier this month which was hosted by the Mayor at the Spark Space at BED. The board members each shared their words of praise and thanks to Judy Rivers who is completing her board term this month. Judy thanked the board in return for their cooperation and making her feel welcome. Judy made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Jenny seconded it. The vote was unanimous and Celia ended the meeting at 7:48 p.m.