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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05242005 - C59 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS William Walker M.D. Health Services Director FROM. ; Contra By: Jacqueline Pigg,Contracts Administrator Costa DATE: April 27, 2005 . � County A� SUBJECT: Approval of Contract#23-242-7 with Michael J. Kent SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION ItECOMMENDATION�S�: Approve and authorize the Health Services Director, or his designee (Wendel Brunner, MD) to execute on behalf of the County, Contract #23-242-7 with Michael J. Kent, a self-employed individual, in an amount not to exceed $74,250, to provide ombudsperson program services with regard to hazardous materials issues, for the period from May 1,2005 through April 30,2006. FISCAL IMPACT: This Contract is funded 100%by Hazardous Materials Division funds (Industry Fees). BACKGROUND/REASON(S)FOR RECOMM[ENDATION�S): The.Board of Supervisors authorized the Health Services Director to establish an ombudsperson program for hazardous materials issues, as a component of the Industrial Safety Ordinance, to provide a single point of contact for people who live or work in the county with regard to environmental health concerns, questions, and complaints about the Hazardous Materials Programs. On May 4, 2004, the Board of Supervisors approved Contract#23-242-6 with Michael J. Kent, for the provision of ombudsperson program services for the Hazardous Material Division, for the period from May 1, 2004 through April 3 0, 2005. Approval of Contract #23-242-7 will allow the Contractor to continue providing services through April 30,2006. r CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECO SNDA ION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURES . ACTION OF BOARD APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER YX F VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS {ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOM- AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. ATTESTED JOHN SWEtf N,CLE-4F THE BOARD OF SUPERVISOTTS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Contact Person: Wendel Brunner,MD 313-6712 CC: Health Services Dept. (Contracts) � t Auditor-Controller ., Risk gy Management .r � DEPUTY Contractor Hazardous Materials Ombudsman Activity Update—October 1.2004 through April 30,20115 I. Introduction On July 15, 1997 the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors authorized creation of an Ombudsman position for the County's Hazardous Materials Programs. The first Hazardous Materials Ombudsman began work on May 1, 1998. The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors adopted an Industrial Safety Ordinance on December 15, 1998. Section 450-8.022 of the Industrial Safety Ordinance requires the Health Services Department to continue to employ an Ombudsman for the Hazardous Materials Programs. Section 450-8.030(B)(vii)of the Industrial Safety Ordinance requires an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the Hazardous Materials Ombudsman, with the first evaluation to be completed on or before October 31, 2000. This activity update covers the period from October 1, 2004 through April 30, 2005 11. Program Elements 1. Continuing the Outreach Strategy During this six-month period efforts were continued at conducting outreach at public meetings and expanding the language capabilities of the outreach. Presentations were made to the Rhodia CAP,the West Boulevard Neighborhood Action Team, and classes at Richmond High School and the University of California. Copies of the Ombudsman Brochure were translated into Spanish and were distributed to the public at meetings, presentations,public events, and through the mail. A contact person was also continued in Public Health that could receive calls from the public in Spanish and serve as an interpreter to respond to these calls. In addition to explaining the services provided by the position, the brochure also provides the phone numbers of several other related County and State programs. The web page was maintained for the program as part of Contra Costa Health Services web site. This page contains *Information about the program, links to other related web sites, and information about upcoming meetings and events. A toll- free phone number is still published in all three Contra Costa County phone books in the Government section, 2. Investigating and Responding to Questions and Complaints,and Assisting in Information Gathering A. Responding to Questions and Complaints During this six-month period,the Hazardous Materials Ombudsman received 120 requests for assistance from the general public. This was a 37%increase over the same period last year. Over 98 percent of these requests occurred via the telephone, and have been requests for information about environmental issues. Most of these requests concern problems around the home such as asbestos removal,household hazardous waste disposal,pesticide misuse, and lead contamination. To help the County better respond to the large number of public inquiries about mold,the Ombudsman help update the County's web-page about mold and wrote a Contra Costa Times article about mold. During this period,the Hazardous Materials Ombudsman did not receive any complaints about the activities or actions of the Hazardous Materials Programs. However,the Ombudsman spent significant time coordinating the community response to a chemical release that occurred at the Conoco-Phillips refinery on October 31, 2004. In the months following the incident the Ombudsman worked with staff from Supervisor Uilkema's office,,the Hazardous Materials Program,the Office of the Sheriff, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to review environmental data, convene a public meeting, and respond to citizen questions. B. Assisting in Information Gathering Many of the environmental pollution issues that Contra Costa residents are concerned about are on-going regulatory programs or industrial activities. Helping people to participate in these regulatory activities or to effectively advocate their interests about an industrial activity usually means providinp,them with more information or advice than can be done With a single phone call. Often these issues are complex and can take months to resolve. Some of this is done through technical assistance, which will be covered in the next sect-ion. Another way of helping the public to gather *information is to ensure the public has the opportunity to be informed about, and participate in, important decisions related to environmental protection. The Hazardous Materials Ombudsman has done this by organizing,promoting and facilitating public involvement in important hazardous materials issues. These are as follows: • Industrial Safety Ordinance Public Participation—The ordinance requires that public meetings be held at various stages of the process. During this six-month period the Ombudsman has been working with staff from the Hazardous Materials Program to prepare the outreach efforts for the facilities up for review in 2005. This public participation effort will take place in the second half of 2005. • Post- Chemical Incident Surveys—As a result of discussions held at a Protecting the Public conference in 1999,the Hazardous Materials Ombudsman took the lead in developing a telephone survey that would be administered to people in the area affected by a chemical accident. During this six-month period one additional survey was conducted after the October 31, 2004 incident at ConocoPhillips. The Ombudsman facilitated the presentation of the results of the survey to two committees of Contra Costa County CAER. • Bay Area Air Quality Management District Workshops and Activities—During this six-month period the Ombudsman assisted an organization hired by the Air District called Community Focus in developing and implementing community involvement projects in the Richmond area. This year,they are developing a workshop►for local businesses on diesel engine retrofit opportunities as part of an overall effort to reduce diesel pollution. The Ombudsman also participated in the Air District's technical work group for developing a refinery flare control rule and attended two public workshops on the proposed refinery flare control rule. • Fish Consumption Advisories—During this six-month period the Ombudsman continued to service on the State Department of Health Service's Contaminated Fish Consumption Advisory Committee. He also assisted two local recipients of grants from DHS to conduct educational outreach activities in Contra Costa County. 3. Participating in a Network of Environmental Programs for the Purpose of Providing Technical Assistance. Technical assistance means helping the public understand the regulatory, scientific, political, and legal aspects of issues. It also means helping them understand how to effectively communicate their concerns within these different arenas. This year,the Ombudsman continued to staff a number of County programs, as well as participate in other programs to be able to provide technical assistance to the participants and the public. CAER(Community Awareness and Emergency Response) - This non-profit organization addresses industrial accident prevention, response and communication. The Ombudsman participated in the Emergency Notification subcommittee of CAER. • Hazardous Materials Commission—In 2001,the Ombudsman took over as staff for the commission. As staff to the commission,, the Ombudsman conducts research, prepares reports, and staffs Commission meetings. During this six-month period the Commission has addressed issues such as electronic waste disposal, Indoor Air Quality Standards, refinery infrastructure permit process,, and the Precautionary Principle. • Public and Environmental Health Advisory Board—As staff to the Environmental Health subcommittee of PEHAB9 the Ombudsman completed a report on pest management issues in the County in March, 2001. In response to this report,the Board of Supervisors asked Health Services and the County Agricultural Commissioner to convene a Task Force to develop an Integrated Pest Management Policy for the County. The Ombudsman represented Health Services as co-chair of this Task Force. The policy was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in November of 2002. During this six-month period the Ombudsman continued to represent Health Services on the Task Force as they implemented the policy, and prepared the annual report to the Board of Supervisors for the IPM program. Asthma Management Team—During this six-month period,the Ombudsman participated in the Public Health Department's asthma management team as a resource on environmental health issues. The Ombudsman also participated in both county-wide and west-county asthma coalitions. He is serving on the technical advisory committee for a report being prepared by the County-wide asthma Coalition, and has provide extensive support for an indoor air-monitoring project being conducted in Richmond as part of the West County Asthma Coalition's diesel pollution reduction strategy. • Community Collaborations—The Ombudsman served in a technical assistance capacity during this six-month period for implementing this Public Health Department Program. The Ombudsman gave two workshops to community residents on Environmental Justice, and is supporting their efforts to identify the environmental risks in their communities. Emergency Communications—Since the events of September 11, 2001 the County, as well as the rest of the Country,has focused more attention on being prepared for emergencies related to weapons of mass destruction and terrorists attacks. In 2003 the Ombudsman was asked to join Health Services' Emergency Management Team. The Ombudsman continued to participate in the EMT during the six-month period. • Environmental Justice—In September of 2003,the Board of Supervisors adopted an Environmental Justice policy. At that time they directed each County Department to designate an existing staff member as a representative to a County-wide Environmental Justice committee. The Ombudsman was designated by the Health Services Director to be the representative for the Health Services Department. During the six-month period the Ombudsman worked with the Public Health Division to develop their Environmental Justice Program. The Hazardous Materials Ombudsman also attended workshops,presentations,meetings and trainings on a variety of environmental issues to be better able to provide technical assistance to the public. These were sponsored the California Air Resources Board,the State Department of Health Services,the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, CalTrans and the Contra Costa Council.