The Union County Health Department’s (UCHD) board discussed levy options for this November at Wednesday morning’s meeting.
The board came to three options, which include replacing, renewing and increasing or proposing a new levy.
“We really want to put things out for the community to digest and provide feedback on before we go to a final decision for the board,” UCHD Health Commissioner Jason Orcena said. “Using April and the first part of May, before the May board meeting, to solicit feedback from the community is important, especially the townships.”
A replacement of its current levy would mean the levy would take current home values, not the 2008 valuations, into consideration.
UCHD public information officer Jennifer Thrush said a second option of a renewal would only be feasible if the board proposed an increase. However, a renewal would only take the values of homes from 2008 for the levy.
The final option is a new levy, which would end up replacing current levies if passed. The new levy would take current home values into consideration. Thrush said the board is looking at what a new levy would do in terms of cost to the homeowner.
Orcena said the board would collect the same amount of money on a renewal or a replacement, but the state would discount part of what the homeowner has to pay. He said a renewal with an increase would save a small amount for homeowners compared to a replacement.
No decisions were made yet, and the board will discuss the issue in the future.
The board also talked about the next chapter in its building renovation plan.
Thrush said the department held a pre-bid conference and contractor walk-through last week. She said Orcena is expecting two contractor bids, which the board will vote on once received. Those bids are due before the April board meeting.
“It allowed any companies interested in bidding on our remodel project to be allowed to walk through our space so they can see and be able to make their bids,” Thrush said.
She said the UCHD is also seeing if the Community Health Center, located at Walnut Street and Professional Parkway, wants to stay in the department’s building during construction. She said the Community Health Center would share clinic and exam rooms in the building, and is willing to pay a certain percentage of the construction costs.
“That’s one of the main reasons we’re looking to remodel, because we think it would be beneficial to the community to have the Community Health Center located inside the Health Department as well,” Thrush said.
The board also started making headway on its 2019 budget. Thrush said the board is expected to turn in a “pro forma budget” to the auditor’s office by April 2.
Finally, Thrush said based off of feedback from community members and town hall meetings, the board is working on a better way for residents to gather information about their septic systems online.
She said, around June, the board will roll out a website dedicated to providing a geographic information system (GIS) to create an interactive map for residents to look up septic system information. She said this has been in the works for a year and is reminiscent of the mosquito GIS system that was available last year.
The board will meet again at 7:30 a.m. April 18.