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A MOTION approving a Policy Framework for the Health of the Public.
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WHEREAS, the county is responsible for providing regional public health services to the one million eight hundred thousand residents in King County, as well as the hundreds of thousands of workers and tourists who enter the county each day, and
WHEREAS, examples of the wide range of public health services provided by the county include: ensuring food and water are safe for consumption; monitoring, preventing and controlling communicable diseases and environmental health threats; assessing the health of the public; providing vaccines and assuring the immunization of children and adults; assuring emergency preparedness and response; promoting healthy behaviors and preventing chronic diseases and injury; and assuring personal health care services to uninsured and underserved individuals, and
WHEREAS, regional public health services are supported by significant contributions from the county's general fund, state funds and a variety of federal sources, and
WHEREAS, over the past decade, revenues supporting public health services, such as the motor vehicle excise tax, have been eliminated, reduced or limited, requiring reductions in public health programs and significant increases in the level of county general fund resources, and
WHEREAS, the significant increases in county general fund resources to support public health are not sustainable over the long term, and
WHEREAS, the cost of providing public health services is increasing, and
WHEREAS, the need for and scope of public health services provided is increasing as new mandates are instituted, new communicable disease and environmental health threats emerge, health disparities within the population of King County intensify, the number of medically underserved increases and the burden of preventable chronic disease grows, and
WHEREAS, in Ordinance 15083, the ordinance adopting the 2005 King County budget, the council authorized funding for a Public Health Operational Master Plan ("PHOMP"), and
WHEREAS, a PHOMP will guide development of a sustainable operational and financing model for the provision of regional public health services, and
WHEREAS, the county through Motion 12122 approved the multiyear two-phased workplan for the PHOMP, and
WHEREAS, by resolution, the King County board of health approved the PHOMP workplan, and
WHEREAS, the PHOMP will be a two-year planning effort conducted in two phases. Phase I will establish broad policies on the provision of public health services in King County and Phase II will result in recommendations regarding operational implementation and funding, and
WHEREAS, the adopted workplan created a PHOMP steering committee including representatives from the Seattle-King County department of public health, the board of health, the council and the office of the executive, and
WHEREAS, in Phase I the steering committee, board of health and council have reviewed background information and provided input on the role of a public health department and the health, policy and funding environments in which the department of public health operates, and
WHEREAS, the adopted work plan requires input and feedback from a wide range of community health, funding and service partners on the policy framework, and
WHEREAS, based on background information and a stakeholder survey, on September 8, 2006, the steering committee approved a draft policy framework for the health of the public, and
WHEREAS, the draft policy framework was publicly released and five hundred eighty-one stakeholder responses were received, and
WHEREAS, on January 11, 2007, after substantial consideration, review and revision based on stakeholder feedback, the steering committee unanimously recommended a Policy Framework for the Health of the Public to the executive for his review and transmittal to the council and the board of health for their review and adoption, as required by the adopted work plan, and
WHEREAS, the executive has transmitted to the council with this motion and to the board of health by resolution, A Policy Framework for the Health of the Public;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
A Policy Framework for the Health of the Public, the outcome of Phase I of the public health operational master plan, Attachment A to this motion, is hereby approved.