Environmental Health Continuous
Improvement Board
January 27, 2016 Meeting Take-Home Points and Action Items
Take-Home Points
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The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board (Board) and Minnesota
Department of Health (MDH) are committed to creating a new food, pools, and lodging
services (FPLS) program evaluation process that is fundamentally different than the
previous process. The new FPLS program evaluation process will be based on the
concepts of partnership, collaboration, continuous improvement, and shared
responsibility. It will be viewed as a verification process or “second set of eyes” and a
tool to help programs be successful and continuously improve rather than an MDH
driven assessment. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has also
committed to participating in the work group that will develop and guide the new FPLS
program evaluation process and anticipates applying relevant aspects to their
evaluation process.
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The Environment Health Continuous Improvement Board (Board) made progress on its
recommendation to initiate a work group to develop and guide the new food, pools, and
lodging services (FPLS) program evaluation process. Meeting participants reviewed the
draft workgroup charter and provided feedback. Members of the Board and FPLS staff at
the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will make the edits prior to the March
Board meeting. The Board will be looking for workgroup members once the charter is
finalized at the next meeting in March.
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The Minnesota Departments of Health (Environmental Health Division) and Agriculture
(MDH EH and MDA, respectively) continue their discussions about alignment. Some
progress has been made on the following:
o Food code alignment,
o Alignment of position classifications, and
o Discussions about updating the existing memorandum of understanding (MOU)
about licensing between the two agencies.
The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board’s (Board) local members
expressed the need for local participation in discussions on “alignment” conversations
such as the MOU. Locals expressed a need to be involved now as a partner instead of
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880
later because these decisions have an impact on local programs. MDH EH and MDA
recognize the need for and fully plan to obtain local input.
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The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board (Board) discussed the draft
report from the Bush Grant Advisory Committee (BGAC). The report lists the names of
people from both the Minnesota Departments of Health and Agriculture (MDH and
MDA, respectively) and currently promotes the merging of the food programs within the
two departments. MDH and MDA clarified that they have no official position regarding
the recommendations provided in this draft report, recognizing that the report reflects
the independent recommendations of the BGAC. Following the release of this draft both
agencies have provided comments to the authors and strongly recommend inclusion
of more discussion covering additional options researched for improving communication
during the licensing process. To view the BGAC draft report or for more information
about BGAC please contact Jane Jewett, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture,
at 218-845-2832 or [email protected] or Jan Joannides, Renewing the Countryside, at
612-251-7304 or [email protected].

The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board (Board) made progress
towards its goal: “Clarify and improve environmental health (EH) communication
channels.” January meeting participants completed a matrix of food, pools, and lodging
services (FPLS) communication channels. The Board will use this matrix to identify gaps
and redundancies in FPLS communication and prioritize how and to what entities the
Board communicates.

The Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board’s (Board) four (4) open
Board member positions have been filled. The two-year terms for the new Board
members officially start March 1, 2016.
o The Local Public Health Association (LPHA) determined that the metro, locally
run environmental health (EH) program representative – currently held by Jeff
Travis, Washington Community Health Board – will be filled by Jeff Brown, City
of Edina Community Health Board.
o LPHA determined that the non-metro, locally run EH program representative –
currently held by Karen Swenson, Brown-Nicollet Community Health Board –
will be filled by John Weidner, Carlton-Cook-Lake-St. Louis Community Health
Board.
o City EH programs determined that the city EH program representative will
continue to be John Weinand, City of Minnetonka.
o The State Community Health Services Advisory Committee (SCHSAC)
determined that the SCHSAC representative will continue to be Faribault County
Commissioner Bill Groskreutz.
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880
As always, the Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board (Board) welcomes
and appreciates feedback and participation from others. Everyone is welcome to attend
and participate in all Board meetings.
Action Items
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MDH EH staff and EHCIB members will finishing developing the new FPLS program
evaluation model development workgroup charter, determine necessary resources, and
begin recruitment for the workgroup by the next EHCIB meeting in March 2016.
EHCIB members will gather information from constituents regarding what performance
measure data is currently being collected.
Health Partnerships Division staff will summarize the feedback from participants in the
FPLS program re-evaluation process.
Outgoing EHCIB members will contact incoming members to welcome them and help
answer questions.
Health Partnerships Division staff will edit the draft map/inventory of existing FPLS
committees, networking groups, forums, etc. and help the EHCIB determine next steps.
Health Partnerships Division staff will update the EHCIB’s website.
MDH and MDA will discuss how to get local involvement in alignment discussions.
Upcoming Meetings
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Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Environmental Health Continuous Improvement Board
Minnesota Department of Health
Public Health Practice Section – Health Partnerships Division
P.O. Box 64975
St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
(651) 201-3880