Flu vaccine clinics scheduled

pressreporter@thefranklinpress.com

The Macon County Public Health Center has received its flu vaccine ahead of time and has scheduled adult flu shot clinics, according to Assistant health director Anne Hyder who gave an update at the board of health meeting Oct. 7 in the Macon County Human Services building.

"We have great hopes for a nice, normal flu season," Hyder said. This year there will be five adult flu shot clinics (for ages 19 and older) offered in Franklin by the public health center and one each in Highlands and Nantahala.

No appointment is needed for the clinics and the flu shots cost $25. The health center bills Medicare, Medicare replacements, BCBS, Cresscent and Tricare, so they recommend that people bring their cards.

Hyder said some pharmacies and private doctor's offices have already started administering flu shots.

Typically the health center starts their clinics in mid-October as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends, according to Hyder.

The first adult clinic provided by the public health center will be October 13 at the Community Facilities Building.

Free vaccine for high-risk children and pregnant women will be available at the Macon County Public Health Center at a later date. This includes all children 6 to 59 months of age and children 5-18 years old who are high risk or do not have insurance.

For more information call the Macon County Public Health Center at 349-2081 or visit their website www.maconnc.org/healthdept/.

Flu vaccine clinics

Franklin/Otto area clinics

Monday, Oct. 13, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Community Facilities Bldg

Monday, Oct. 20 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Community Facilities Bldg

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 4-6p.m., Otto Community Building

Friday, Oct. 24, 1-6 p.m., Community Facilities Building

Saturday, Nov. 1, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Public Health Center

Highlands area clinic

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2-6 p.m.,Highlands Civic Center

Nantahala area clinic

Monday, Oct. 27, 10a.m.-noon, old Head Start Building behind Nantahala School

Other health board news: Environmental health will not freeze third position

The board of health came to a consensus that they will support keeping the fifth environmental health specialist position open for applicants, so they can eventually hire another staff person.

Previously at seven staff members, when two onsite wastewater employees moved into well specialist positions in July, environmental health froze their vacated positions due to the decrease in building permits this year.

Another position has since become vacant and has not yet been filled, meaning onsite wastewater presently has four staff.

A discussion about potentially freezing a third position until the next budget cycle was brought up because the onsite wastewater program is not making money this year during the housing downturn.

The new Private Drinking Water Well program and Food and Lodging are doing well in terms of expenses and revenues, but onsite is not, according to health director Jim Bruckner.

There is currently an $86,000 shortfall in onsite wastewater. Bruckner said freezing a third position would save them an additional $31,000.

However, Bruckner told board members he wanted to keep the position functioning and not drop it, and requested their support before he discusses the issue with county manager Jack Horton.

Member Ron Winecoff asked if the shortfall was a direct result of fewer permits this year.

Bruckner said that it was, noting that 43 applications a month is the average for 2008 whereas at this same time in 2007 the average was 131.

He added that since there is no backlog now, it could allow staff to play catch-up in other areas previously put on hold such as addressing the straight pipe issue in the county. There is work out there, just not work that will generate revenue, Bruckner said.

Environmental health supervisor Barry Patterson said straight pipes are very time consuming for his department and would keep them busy.

Bruckner expressed concern that if environmental health did not hire another staff person soon they might have a backlog again down the road when building permits pick up. "We all know onsite is a manpower intensive function," Bruckner said. "Without the manpower, we have a backlog."

Patterson agreed. While they currently have four onsite wastewater specialists, he said if a couple left and the department got down to two "we'd have a serious problem."

While he qualified that he believed the present staff is dedicated and he expected them to stay, if another county offered a $4,000 or $5,000 increase in salary the reality is they might be tempted to leave.

Bruckner reiterated his stance from prior meetings that Macon needs to offer competitive salaries with other counties in the region and state to avoid staff turnover.

'We are easily $6,000 behind the majority of counties," Bruckner said.

He said he has seen higher average starting salaries for onsite wastewater positions in counties across the state.

"We are behind the curve," Bruckner said.

Bruckner requested environmental health salary increases when he sent the health department budget to county manager Horton earlier this year, and Horton said he wanted to conduct a market study of all county positions before committing an increase in one area. The health department is awaiting the results of the study, Bruckner said.

Fee Policy-Well water testing fee increase

Board of health members voted to adopt the new health center fee policy, with Paul Higdon dissenting.

Bruckner asked the board to give the health director authority to make changes or minor adjustments to fees throughout the year based on what it is actually costing the health department to provide the service.

Presently, both the board of health and the board of commissioners must approve any fee changes.

Bruckner added that if it is something significant or involves a fee they have never charged in the past, the change would still need to go through each board.

The fee policy included some changes to the newly implemented Private Drinking Water Well (PDWW) program, which started July 1, with the major issue being the change in well water testing fees.

Bruckner asked members to go ahead and approve the new well water testing fees, which will be increasing from $45 to $250.

The spike in price is the result of legislation it appears will pass the N.C. General Assembly that would require testing every private well for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), such as pesticides and petroleum-based contaminants.

"There's no doubt it's going to go through," Bruckner said.

Under current well water testing procedures, specialists test for bacteria, nitrates and metals according to environmental health supervisor Barry Patterson.

Based on his conversations with the state, Bruckner said the fee would likely cost $250. Since it will become a requirement, Bruckner said they should get the fee approved now so they do not have to revisit it later.

Bruckner said they would continue to charge the current $45 fee for well testing until the VOCs test becomes law.

The new well water testing fee is a blanket requirement, to which both Patterson and Bruckner object.

"It's a big issue in some of the eastern, more developed areas," Patterson said. "I personally don't think it applies here. But they are doing it statewide."

Bruckner said the well test might be good in certain situations, such as putting in a well in town or near gas stations. "But if you are up on Cowee Mountain, and you are not a mile within a junkyard or gas station, it doesn't make a lot of sense."

Health board member Higdon dissented from the motion to adopt the fee policy because of his opposition to the sharp increase in the well water testing fee.

Other PDWW changes entail raising the well repair fee from $80 to $125 due to the amount of time spent on repairs.

The policy included minor changes to some of the onsite wastewater fees as well, including raising the cost of a site visit from $80 to $125 and proposing a $30 an hour fee for permit research. Bruckner said staff sometimes spends upwards of six hours on research, and is currently getting no return.

Board of health will hold its next meeting Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 6:15 in the Macon County Human Services Building.