The local Board of Health held its annul meeting on Monday night, February 29 and approved its next fiscal year budget, the coming year’s tax rates and elected officers and other board members at a lengthy meeting that lasted an hour and 10 minutes.

Shawn Catron, Director of the Lake Cumberland District Board of Health, presented the board with the proposed 2016-17 fiscal year budget, as well as possible tax rates they could opt to adopt for the upcoming year.

There were three options for tax rates listed, with the board opting to keep the rate unchanged from the current 3.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. At that rate, the local district is projected to increase its total revenue for the year by about $11,400, with estimated property tax receipts at that rate estimated at just over $127,000.

The district’s total estimated budget for the year will be $235,218.

The motion to keep the tax rate unchanged was made by Judge/Executive Richard Armstrong, was seconded by Jake Staton and passed by unanimous vote.

The board then took the budget itself into consideration, with the only questions being whether or not to pay $800 in total dues to two health organizations, including a $500 annual membership to the Kentucky Association of Local Boards of Health and a $350 membership to the Kentucky Public Health Association.

Catron noted that those organizations did issue mission statements on behalf of health departments and other health related organizations and dealt with related issues in the healthcare field. He recommended the board join the groups, saying that each local board of health would have one vote at their meetings.

Following some discussion, a motion to adopt the budget as presented, including the optional memberships, was made by Dr. Charles Daily and passed unanimously.

Officers were then elected for the 2016-17 year. Catron volunteered to take the role as secretary of the local board and on a motion by Fran Hay, the group voted to retain the three remaining officers, including Dr. William C. Powell as Chairman, Carol Denney, Vice-Chairman, and Staton as Treasurer.

The board members nominated to be appointed to the district board included Staton and Judge Armstrong. Also, current board members, whose terms had expired December 31, were re-appointed without opposition, including Judith Brown, Dr. Daily, Lala Haddix, Jake Staton and Heather Brown Conner.

The board also was given a brief overview of the Community Health Improvement Plan for 2015-2017, as well as health ranking for Clinton County, as compared with the rest of the state and nation, and those statistics were cause for concern for some members, with Clinton receiving a poor ranking in many areas.

For example, some of the percentages the county is having to address include the following percent age rates (a few of the total list): adult smoking, 21 percent; adult obesity, 32 percent; physical inactivity, 34 percent; alcohol-impaired driving deaths, 50 percent; and children in poverty, a statistic that especially concerned the judge, 41 percent.

It was noted, however, that there are several ongoing projects and programs that are being, or will be, implemented to help address a lot of the health related problems in the community, including the work of the Healthy Hometown Coalition and Kentucky Foundation for a Healthier Kentucky.

In that same vein, beginning July 1, Clinton County school campuses will be entirely tobacco free, there has been new playground equipment installed at the park, and the Twin Lakes Wellness Center is offering more healthy opportunities for local residents.

Catron also discussed several issues during the director’s address, saying there were some health related grants the county could apply for in the coming year. He further noted, however, that Clinton County was not alone in poor health statistics, but that the Appalachian Region as a whole is in the same situation, some areas worse than others, adding he hoped programs could be implemented to help the area, both economically and health-wise, as both basically go hand-in-hand.