Board of Health President: We Hit the 'Reset Button'

It was the Board of Health’s turn to discuss its budget requests and goals for 2012 at Saturday’s public budget hearing at the as it looks forward to its first full year with Health Officer James Norgalis at the helm.

“2011 was a period of fixing and change, and what I would like to call a pushing of the reset button,” Board of Health President John Hoover said. “I got more deeply involved than I would normally like to as the president of the board. The goal of 2012 to enhance and improve what we’re doing.”

Hoover was hopeful that the process started on Saturday, as he and Norgalis informed the governing body and those in attendance of the board’s current mission.

“One of the important things, I think, for us to do is share with you what the Board of Health contributes for the Borough of Madison and its citizens,” Hoover said.

The board provides health education, public health nursing, environmental health, licensing and administrative services ranging anywhere from pet and business licensing to disease control, immunization and restaurant inspecitons. Overall, the expected expenditures for the Board of Health to provide all of these services, as well as salary, overtime and benefits to its employees, are projected to be $735,505 in 2012.

“My job is to make sure that people have the tools to be able to do their job,” Norgalis said.

Much of that revenue comes from five other municipalities—Butler, Chatham Borough, Chatham Township, Morris Plains and Victory Gardens—with which Madison shares its health services. Expected revenue from those five contracts is expected to amount to $372,549.

Revenue is also drawn annually from animal licensing, business licensing, vital statistics and nursing, clinical and vaccination services. Over the past five years, the department has generated an average of $110,642 from those services alone, which would bring the total cost of health services to the borough to $252,404; significantly less than the health department’s expenditures.

“I felt that using a five-year average was more representative than using a one-year average,” said Norgalis. “You have fluctuations (from year-to-year) like Medicare reimbursements and people who attended clinics.”

If approved, the borough’s health department will be able to offer health services to each of its residents in 2012 for just $15.93 per year, which is the second lowest total between the borough and the five municipalities with which it holds a shared health services contract.

“We offer comprehensive services, a place people can go into in Madison, ask questions and get immunizations,” Norgalis said.

Another goal for Norgalis’ department is to draft a five-year business plan, which Mayor Bob Conley has requested for each of the borough’s different departments.

Norgalis has stated that, while the board had hoped to accomplish this earlier, his arrival in mid-2011 coupled with recent natural disasters have made this task difficult.

“Part of the issue was that, when I came on board on the first of June, I had from June to September to learn the infrastructure of Madison, deal with weather emergencies and create a business plan for the year,” Norgalis said.

The Board of Health hopes to have its business plan completed by September, after surveying local business and residents to get their feelings as to what the department should include.

“We are going to involve the citizens,” Hoover said. “We are starting a survey of retail food establishments starting next month. That’s just the beginning; we’re going to get more feedback from the citizens as far as what should go into a business plan. There’s more involved; it’s not a simple matter of just writing this out.”