CONNECTICUT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
A meeting of the Executive Board of the Connecticut Environmental Health Association was held on Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at the Glastonbury Town Hall, Glastonbury, CT. The following voting members were in attendance: John Deckert, Marco Palmeri (10:00 AM), Steve Civitelli, Elizabeth Kavanah, David Rogers, Scott Cook (10:00 AM), Maryam Hosseini, David Boone, Vicky Carrier, Amanda Clark, Phyllis Amodio, Jeffrey Catlett, Matt Payne, Brian Falkner, Jessica Fletcher and Jeff Polhemus (10:20 AM). Guests: Suzanne Blancaflor, DPH, Francesca Provenzano, DPH and Steve Natrass, FDA.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 9:45 A.M. by President John Deckert.
Additions and Corrections to the Agenda
President Deckert stated that he would be moving the presentation by Steve Natrass to immediately after the President’s Report.
Motion by Elizabeth Kavanah to approve the agenda as amended.
Second by Jessica Fletcher. Motion carried.
Secretary’s Report - Approval of minutes.
Minutes of the May 7, 2013 meeting had been previously distributed.
President Deckert moved to approve the minutes as presented provided there was no objection. There being no objection, the minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report – Deferred
President’s Report – President Deckert is making his plans to attend the NEHA AEC in July.
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – Steve Natrass of the FDA gave a presentation on FSMA which is designed to prevent food safety problems at the processing level. The Act is divided into 4 sections: Prevention (includes written safety plans for all foods), Inspection & Compliance, Response and Partnerships. Steve explained that this will not impact food service establishments or most retail food operations, but is directed at large warehouses and processing plants. The produce safety rule is now in the comment stage, and comments can be directed to FDA. Stave stated that some training funds are available for LHDs that are enrolled in the voluntary retail food standards program.
Treasurer’s Report – Scott Cook distributed reports for the period ending 5/30/13. Major income for the period was from registration fees for the CPO course and the pool refresher class. Expenses were for materials for the CPO course.
President Deckert moved to accept the report as submitted provided there was no objection. There being no objection, the report was accepted.
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STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
Education – Amanda Clark reported that a day care inspection training is being planned for December. A sub group within the Education Committee is doing the planning. She circulated a document with questions and/or issues that should be covered in that training and asked that any additional question be directed to her ASAP as the next meeting will be on June 26th
Amanda reported that the CPO class made a profit of about $1400, the pool refresher made about $1000 and they anticipate that the water seminar will make $1000 as well. Itinerant vendors will be a subject at the Summer Meeting, a housing seminar is being planned for September, soils training in October and day care in December.
She asked about the registration fee for the Summer Meeting in light of the shelter cost being waived. The cost was $20 for members last year.
Motion by Marco Palmeri to make the Summer Meeting free for CEHA members and $30 for non-members. Second by Jeff Catlett. Discussion ensued. Motion carried with 9 aye votes and 4 nay votes.
Motion by David Boone to reduce the cost for non-members to $15. Second by Liz Kavanah. Motion carried.
Legislative – Dave Boone provided an update on the status of some of the bills with one day left in the session.
The following bills have been sent to the Governor for signature:
SB-872 Tanning by persons <18 yrs., HB-6313 concerning locally grown poultry.
HB-6590 concerning the licensing of tattoo artists was tabled by the Senate. The status of SB-952 concerning bedbugs is uncertain.
Membership – Maryam Hosseini circulated 4 new member applications. A plant was sent to Don Mitchell following his recent hospital stay. Maryam stated that the Old Saybrook WPCA had applied for Corporate membership so they could register a number of persons for the soils training at the CEHA member rate. There is a question about if they are a non-profit organization which is a requirement of Corporate membership. A discussion on the definition of Corporate membership and the benefits or such a membership followed. The bylaws state that one person may vote on issues on behalf of a Corporate member, but leave other benefits to the discretion of the Executive Board.
Motion by Scott Cook to specify that up to 3 people can register for CEHA trainings at the member rate on behalf of a Corporate member. Second by Maryam Hosseini. Motion carried with 7 aye votes and 5 nay votes.
This benefit will be added the Policy Manual under Education.
Maryam will contact the Old Saybrook WPCA to verify its non-profit status. If not, the applications will be returned.
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Nominations & Elections – Phyllis Amodio has received the nomination of Amanda Clark for Vice President and Scott Cook as Treasurer.
Publicity/Newsletter – Jeff Catlett is planning to have the next issue of the newsletter out in July to promote the Summer Meeting.
Matt Payne is working to adding meeting minutes to the website. He is studying the issues of getting a mobile credit card reader to use in the field at trainings. There are fees involved and there are many other questions. He will bring more information to the next meeting.
Scholarship & Awards – No report.
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORTS
Housing/Lead & Summer Meeting – Brian Falkner represented CEHA at World Asthma Day at the State Capitol. While the traffic was lighter than he would have liked, he did hand out a number of member applications and had some good interactions with attendees. His committee is looking for topics for future trainings.
Food – Jessica Fletcher has reviewed the info sheets that are on the CEHA website. All are up to date and are working properly. Jessica went to Orlando, FL with the Conference for Food Protection in advance of the 2014 conference that will he held there. The planning committee for the Northeast Regional Food Safety Conference at Mystic in August is meeting the week of June 10.
Subsurface Sewage Disposal – Jeff Polhemus stated that the committee is meeting on June 20th. He is not sure if this will be a joint meeting with the Water Committee or not. The SSDS Code Advisory committee is meeting on June 26th. Jeff reported that 17 have signed up for the soils training so far. 12 of these are CEHA members with 5 others.
Water – No report
SPECIAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
Bylaws – The committee has not met. Liz stated that the President’s talk to students at the sanitarian training class in March needs to be added to the President’s calendar. She also questioned how the honorarium ($50) presented to the President for this talk should be handled. After a discussion, the consensus of the Board was that this should be left to the discretion of the individual.
Commissioner Committee – Marco spoke with Juanita Estrada of DPH who suggested CEHA send a letter to the Commissioner about the proposed meeting. Marco will circulate a draft of the letter to the Board.
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Old Business
2013-2014 Budget – A budget worksheet was circulated for review. Since the Summer Meeting is going to be free for members, the proposed income of $1500 for FY 13-14 needs to be reduced.
Motion by Matt Payne to approve the 2013-2014 budget as submitted with the reduction of Summer Meeting income from $1500 to $100. Second by Maryam Hosseini. Motion carried.
Motion by Scott Cook to amend the 2012-2013 budget by reducing the Summer Meeting income from $670 to $100. Second by Amanda Clark. Motion carried.
Jeff Catlett leaves at 12:45 PM
Healthy People 2020 – Marco Palmeri reported that the committee he is on has narrowed its list of topics to lead, groundwater quality, Healthy Homes, outdoor air, and Healthy Communities (zoning, land use). This list may be reduced further before it is submitted to the full committee.
NEW BUSINESS
Lead Regulations – Francesca Provenzano gave the Board an overview of the Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at DPH and what its various sections do. She also reviewed the surveillance program including Maven. She noted that CDC has removed all its funding for lead, although DPH is still providing funds to LHDs for lead. She noted the new notification and action guidelines that were included in a memo that went to LHDs earlier this year.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn the meeting by Scott Cook at 1:35 P.M.
Second by Matt Payne. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
David Rogers
Secretary
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