Board of Health — Skokie, IL
Date: 2016-02-11

Skokie Board of Health
 February 11, 2016
 Village Hall Conf. Rooms D/E
 7:30 p.m.

 AGENDA
 U




 I. Call to Order


 II. Approval of Minutes


 III. Adam M. Letendre
 Assistant to the Public Works Director
 Skokie Recycling Programs


 IV. Update regarding 2016 Community Health Survey



 V. Chair’s Report



 VI. Director’s Monthly Report



 VII. Old/New Items of Business



 VIII. Adjournment/Next Meeting:

 Thursday, March 10, 2016

 Shelley Wax, RN
 Public Health Nurse
 Skokie School Vaccination Rates

 7:30 p.m.
 Village Hall
 nd
 2 Floor Conference Rooms D/E


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Skokie Board of Health
 February 11th, 2016

Present Excused Absent
Dr. Drachler Dr. Sood Ms. Varma Mr. Abbasi
Dr. Dave Ms. Jones Thorne Dr. Polin
Ms. Nickisch Duggan Dr. Topouzian
Dr. Gaynes Ms. Urbanus
Dr. Luka Dr. Usman
Mr. Nidetz Dr. Vernon
Mr. Pandya Dr. Werner
Dr. Prince Dr. Williams

Dr. Catherine A. Counard, Director of Health
Bruce A. Jones, Staff
Dr. Edward McCarren – Family Services Commission

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:31 p.m. by Dr. Drachler, Chairman.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as amended.

Presentation: Adam M. Letendre, Assistant to the Public Works Director - Skokie Recycling Programs

Please refer to the accompanying presentation for all of the details. A few highlights:

Mr. Letendre has been with the Village for 7 years as the Assistant to the Public Works Director, also serves as
staff liaison with the Environmental sustainability commission and with Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook
County (SWANCC)

Recycling in Skokie
 • Available to residents, condominiums and commercial entities.
 • Residential collection provided by Groot Industries
 • Condominium (over four units) provided by Lakeshore Recycling Systems
 • Commercial collection (includes apartments) provided by Lakeshore Recycling Systems

  Residential Collection provided once per week
  Condominium Collection provided as needed
  Commercial Collection provided up to six times per week
  No user fees for residential and condominium recycling
  Commercial recycling pickup costs based on size and quantity of containers, and frequency of pickup.

 o Residential recycling averages 5,350 tons annually – about 24% diversion rate.
 o Condominium recycling – 332 tons in 2015
 o Commercial recycling – 1,754 tons in 2015

Recycling Opportunities in the future:
Textiles, Food scrap and Electronics.

Textiles – Companies out there doing this but Skokie has yet to engage in the practice but it is being looked at
more closely.


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Food Scraps – A unique subject as we currently do not have a hauler set up to handle the potential volume
produced at residential and commercial sites.
Electronics – Becoming more difficult to find suitable locations to recycle. Best Buy just stopped their program.
SWANCC – is looking at the issue since the producers have no responsibility for cradle to grave of products.
Producers only required to take in the same amount in weight as produced. Newer electronic products can
weight1/4 to 1/3 the amount of older products and Skokie took in 33,000 pounds at the spring greening event last
year.

Recycling Initiatives;
Staff works closely with SWANCC on all refuse and recycling contracts
Working with UIC MPA students to review recycling in Skokie
NewSkokie articles featuring recycling challenge

Discussion during the recycling presentation:
Mr. Nidetz asked how much the Village receives from selling recyclables. Mr. Letendre explained the Village
receives$10.00 per ton refund currently but this will change with the new contract. With the oil market now
dropping it is actually cheaper to buy virgin plastic than recyclables, the program is worth about $50,000 per year
on a contract of $950,000.

Dr. Counard added that Jewel has the food scrape program in place and produces 6,000 pound of food scrape a
month. Mr. Letendre confirmed that they have the weights and ability to run the program as well as Walmart.

Dr. Counard added asked about smaller items e.g. coffee makers, CD players etc. Mr. Letendre confirmed that
they all are classified as electronics.

Mr. Letendre mentioned again that the SWANCC website www.swancc.org is a great resource for recycling
information. Skokie was a founding member of SWANCC; Mayor Van Dusen is the current Chairman of the
SWANCC Board, Former Village Manager Al Rigoni was the Executive Committee Chairman and that Mary
Allen the SWANCC Recycling Coordinator will be speaking at the Boards & Commissions Dinner,

Dr. Werner asked about scrap metal haulers. Mr. Letendre explained that they do need to be licensed with the
village and that they are extremely helpful in removing items from the alleys/curb line. They are very beneficial
and are able to strip the wire and metals form a variety of electronic item.

Dr. Drachler questioned why more businesses don’t recycle if garbage collection cost more. Mr. Letendre said it
is difficult to understand but has heard many times that “they don’t have the time”. “It’s not mandated, not force
to train” and speculates that laziness is a problem.

Dr. Drachler mentioned that Skokie Hospital recycles all items in their operating rooms. Mr. Letendre commented
that they have an established purpose, either mandated, good will, good public relations, etc. and unfortunately
small businesses are not driven by these same factors.

Dr. Drachler asked if plastics are the least desirable recyclable what the most desirable products are. Mr. Letendre
said currently it would be metals and paper products.

Dr. Prince asked what is thrown into recyclables that shouldn’t be. Mr. Letendre said garbage is the most common
thing placed into the recycle bins and if it is seen the hauler will sticker the cart and not pick it up until corrected.
Dr Drachler asked if that could be tracked. Mr. Letendre said in most instances the product is hidden and not
found until dumped onto the sorting floor at the facility.



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Dr. Prince also asked about wood and glass being recycled. Mr. Letendre explained that wood is considered a
natural product and is not recyclable while glass is very recyclable except for Pyrex glass products.

Dr. Williams questioned about outreach using the Skokie Newsletter and if the Boy Scouts or Eagle Scouts could
help with a project to promote recycling and outreach to businesses. Dr. Williams offered his services to work
with Public Works to be a point of contact for such an initiative. Mr. Letendre explained Public Works relies
heavily on NewSkokie for promoting the various recycling programs and that he would be receptive to work on
such a program.

Mr. Pandya asked if we could mandate recycling for Skokie businesses. Mr. Letendre stated that would be a
decision made by the Mayor and Board of Trustees.

Dr. Drachler asked about recycling batteries. Mr. Letendre said that is done by the Village through SWANCC and
Interstate Battery but added that alkaline batteries no longer contain toxic materials and can be disposed in the
garbage since the recyclers do not want them do to the cost. Dr. Counard mentioned that we still encourage people
to bring them to the Health Department.

Mr. Pandya asked about long fluorescent light bulbs. Dr. Counard added that the Health department accept any
small bulbs but refers people to ACE hardware for other bulbs. Dr. Counard said we would look into the topic

Dr. Williams questioned recycling LED lights. Mr. Letendre said that they are not on the radar yet since they have
such a long life span of 10 years or more.

Dr. Drachler thanked Mr. Letendre and reiterated that the Board of Health wants to push increased commercial
recycling. Mr. Letendre said that they trying to “crack that nut” and promote commercial recycling

Update regarding 2016 Community Health Survey:
The 2016 Community Health Survey was launched on February 1. The survey will be available in both electronic
and paper forms, and has been translated into Urdu, Russian, Spanish, Korean and Arabic. Again, thank you to the
Board of Health and IPLAN Committee for assisting with putting this document together. The survey has been
widely distributed to a variety of agencies including:
Village of Skokie (Front page of Website and All Village staff)
E-mailed link to 1,500 people who received flu shot fall 2015
All Skokie Boards and Commissions
English Language Learner (ELL) Parent Center
Independent Merchants of Downtown Skokie (IMODS)
Interagency Network (Social Service Listserve)
IPLAN Committee
Local Area Network (LAN41) (Social Service Listserve)
Niles Township Youth Coalition (NTYC)
Oakton Community College: Students and Staff
Skokie School Districts
NorthShore Women’s Auxiliary
Skokie Park District
Skokie Public Library

Eleven days into the survey and we have over 800 responses so far.

Pat Urbanus asked when we would stop taking surveys. Dr. Counard said the survey is open for 6 weeks and the
end date is March 13th


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Chair’s Report:
Dr. Drachler wanted to remind the Board of the upcoming Board’s & Commission’s dinner being held on March
12th and encouraged all to attend if possible.
Dr. Drachler also mentioned that he plans to attend the February 16th meeting in support of the proposed
“Complete Streets” Policy and again asked members to attend if they can.

Dr. Drachler distributed two articles:
Chicago Sun-Times Article “Emanuel says Big Tobacco can stall his plan to curb teen smoking, but they can't
defeat it”.
Chicago Tribune Article “How safe is bottled water”.


Director’s Report:
January Monthly Report highlights – a copy is attached:

Zika Virus Update
The Department has been participating in numerous conference calls, communicating with healthcare providers
and residents, and engaging in other activities to prepare for potential cases of Zika virus in the Village.
Information has been posted on the Village website and is updated regularly. Currently there have been three
cases in Illinois, all involving individuals who traveled outside of the United States to affected countries. The
Aedes genus mosquitoes that carry Zika virus cannot survive the cold winters in Illinois and are not typically
found in our area. Thus there is expected to be little risk of acquiring the virus here, although southern states may
be affected at some point. We are communicating closely with the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District and
will work with them to monitor the situation over the upcoming summer

Launched Customer Satisfaction Surveys for All Divisions
The Department launched customer satisfaction surveys for all divisions in January (including Animal Control,
Environmental Health, Personal Health, and Rodent Control). The surveys are available in both paper and
electronic forms, and will be collected until June 30.

Tobacco 21 Meeting Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium Board
Dr. A. Michael Drachler, Chair of the Board of Health, and Dr. Larry Williams, Board of Health member,
attended the January Northern Illinois Public Health Consortium (NIPHC) Board meeting in Chicago with me.
The meeting focused on working towards raising the age level to purchase or sell tobacco to 21 years in Illinois.
Many representatives from health agencies attended, including the American Heart Association, American Cancer
Society, American Lung Association and so forth. The plan is to work towards this goal over the next few years!


Discussion:
Dr. Drachler brought the most current Skokie Hospital policies on Zika virus to follow since they continue to get
updates on a daily basis. Dr. Vernon gave a very detailed update about all the testing parameters, protocols and
forms being followed at Skokie Hospital which have been set by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the
additional testing that he is recommending testing for Chikungunya virus and Dengue fever virus.

Dr. Williams recommended that all members subscribe to the Health Alert Network “HAN” to get the most up to
date information on public health issues and emerging disease information. Dr. Counard mentioned CDC has over
one million subscribers for the HAN network.

Dr. McCarren from the Family Services Commission spoke strongly in favor of the Tobacco 21 issue. Dr.
Drachler welcomed the support from his commission on the topic.


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Dr. Williams mentioned he attended the Chicago meeting on the topic but the issue became a money and tax
funding issue rather than focusing on the actually topic of Tobacco 21. Dr. Counard mentioned that there is push
by the American Heart Association to have the State of Illinois go Tobacco 21.

Dr. Williams mentioned he is also serving on the State Smoking Cessation Program which is looking at a variety
of topics from insurance, ACA issues and Tobacco 21.

Old Business
Pat Urbanus asked about the topic of having an area for breast feeding and diaper changing in Village Hall. Dr.
Counard said that she would again bring this topic to the attention of the Managers Office.


Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:49 p.m.




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