Board of Health - July 11, 2025 Minutes
The regular Meeting of the Board of Health of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, was held in the City Commission Chambers at City Hall at 12:00 p.m., Friday, July 11, 2025.
Board of Health – July 11, 2025
The regular Meeting of the Board of Health of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, was held in person at City Hall Commission Chambers at 12:00 p.m., on Friday July 11, 2025.
The Board members present or absent during roll call were:
Present: John Strand; Andrew McLean, MD, MPH; Meg Forde, MS, RD, LRD; Valentina Asiedu, MPH, CHES
Virtual: Bernie Dardis; Grant Syverson, MD
Absent: Jim Kapitan; Avish Nagpal, MD; Jayme Steig, PharmD
Others: Jacob Schroeder; Maggie Ridl; Brenton Nesemeier; Melissa Perala; Jenn Faul; Larry Anenson; Holly Scott, Grant Larson; Kim Vance; Tim Mahoney; Nancy Morris
Approval of Agenda:
Mr. Dardis moved the agenda for approval. Ms. Forde seconded this motion. All members voted aye. This motion was declared carried.
Approval of Meeting minutes from the April 4, 2025, meeting:
Ms. Forde moved the item for approval. Mr. Dardis seconded this motion. All members voted aye. This motion was declared carried.
Department Updates:
Ms. Scott begins by providing an update regarding Credible Mind, online mental health and wellbeing platform, and its recent regional launch along with various partners (Cass, Trail, Ransom, Sargent, Richland, Steele Counties).
Measles Updates:
Ms. Faul introduces Mr. Nesemeier (ND Health and Human Services Epidemiologist) to the Board, who provides an overview of the measles cases being tracked by the State. Additionally, Mr. Nesemeier provides geographical statistics of cases throughout the state. Ms. Faul continues with a brief overview of the response that the agency has taken, which includes multiple MMR vaccination clinics and walk-in appointments were available. Additionally, coordination among area hospitals and clinics, since Fargo Cass Public Health and other local public health units could not do testing. Mr. Strand is interested in learning more about cases in Minnesota, especially nearby in the Moorhead area. Mr. Nesemeier notes that few numbers of cases in Minnesota are primarily near the Minnesota-St. Paul area.
Oral Health Program:
Mr. Anenson introduces an MPH student intern, Mr. Schroeder, who is researching to develop an oral health program (fluoride varnish), or a procedure for FCPH nurses to use. Mr. Schroeder introduces his project and provides background regarding the fluoride project. Mr. Schroeder continues by providing various populations of area people who may benefit from this program in a quick, safe, effective and voluntary method. Mr. Schroeder continues with providing the importance of oral health and the negative effects if not practiced adequately. Mr. Schroeder provides statistics and other facts from research findings, showing this issue is worldwide and a common health condition, thanks to poor oral health infrastructure. Mr. Schroeder does display negative effects from too much fluoride and its occurrence but notes it’s not common due to regulation of fluoride and treatment. Mr. Schroeder does discuss the effectiveness of fluoride varnishes from various systematic reviews, which findings were discussed from these evaluations. Mr. Schroeder provides comparison of dental cavities vs. water fluoridation. Mr. Schroeder continues this topic by providing information of National and North Dakota Fluoride programs. Providing more statistics for dental statistics, Mr. Schroeder discusses this varying age groups who lack preventive dental care and whether they have the means to afford services or not. Mr. Schroeder also looked at the dental workforce within the state. Mr. Schoeder also details the water systems in the county and their level of fluoridation, which plays a role in oral health. Mr. Schroeder lays out an idea to meet the gap of oral health, including this program into a wellness on wheels to make it more accessible to rural populations or others at a disadvantage. Mr. Mclean notes the discrepancy of North Dakota being high in fluoridation versus need for 3rd graders for more oral healthcare. Ms. Forde thanks and asks if this information could be produced in an educational, easy-to-understand format, so everyone can understand what fluoride varnish is. Ms. Asiedu comments that the homeless population presents at being need for this specific oral care and questions if there is an opportunity to provide this program to this population. Strand questions how much of this is related to diet. Mr. Schroeder notes that sugar is one of the biggest contributing factors to oral health and that fluoridated water is not enough to protect the teeth. Mr. Strand calls on Ms. Faul to describe the legislative approach. Ms. Faul describes the proposed bill at the State level to rid usage of fluoride in the water systems, but the bill did not surpass thanks to varying testimony.
Mr. Strand asks about the national level elimination, Ms. Faul notes the national decrease of the program at the federal level. Mr. Strand asks about rural access and if the mobile unit could address the need, Mr. Schroeder notes the van is currently available only to the county because of various constraints. Mr. Anenson adds that the goal of this major project with the wellness van catches on to neighboring counties in hopes of expanding these programs throughout the state. Mr. Strand identifies rural health access specifically among the American Indian population and thanks. Mr. Mclean adds the importance of coordination and partnerships especially in a collaborative way could be beneficial.
Community Health Assessment:
Ms. Faul introduces Maggie Ridl, an MPH intern, focusing on the Community Health Assessment plan and related projects. Ms. Ridl introduces the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) and the benefits they could provide for local public health units by identifying unmet needs and health disparities in hopes of guiding planning and resource allocation, plus foster greater community collaboration. Ms. Ridl notes the current process from the CHNA process, including the MAPP (Mobilizing for Action Planning and Partnerships) system, and notes what work has been completed and the tasks left to be done. Ms. Ridl highlights the importance of collaboration among agencies across both Cass and Clay counties will be vital for this process. She also notes that the CHNA and CHIP plans will be separate, like the major area hospitals. Ms. Ridl displays the primary data collection for the report’s information, which includes a community survey in partnership with area public health experts across Cass County to provide directional input. Ms. Ridl shares the limitations from the survey and areas of improvement for future cycles CHNA cycles, such as more inclusive primary survey data. Ms. Ridl clarifies, following a question from Mr. McLean, that the data being shown is based on survey results ranking categories based on their availability, not importance. Ms. Ridl discusses the areas of focus from both Sanford Health and Essential Health Community Health Needs Assessment plans and notes their similarities and differences. Ms. Ridl is asked to provide a description for “Health and Wellness” by Mr. Strand, which was one of the priority areas chosen from the Community and Stakeholder Meeting survey that Fargo Cass Public Health could have the most impact by focusing on from various polling results. Other top priority areas from the survey questions include Access to Health Foods, Affordable Housing, and Childcare. Plus, other priority areas were discussed. Ms. Ridl describes “Health and Wellness” as an all-encompassing way to formally document and evaluate all the sub-initiatives that fall under this idea. Ms. Forde asks about outcome reporting and sourcing, and Mrs. Ridl notes the data analysis and the data reporting methods that were used will be shown in the plan. Mr. Dardis asks how to measure this information in future planning cycles and the metrics of success. Mrs. Ridl describes the workgroup and need for strategies to evaluate programs that are put forward to have data driven information. Mr. Dardis also asks for a clearer description of health and wellness when discussing this plan development. Mr. Strand notes of Mr. Dardis’s priorities from his jurisdiction (City of West Fargo) and asks how those functions would fit into “health and wellness” category. Ms. Ridl notes some of those priorities across jurisdictions are similar and coordinating across agencies is important.
Ms. Ridl finishes by providing comments from the meeting on how organizations can help the overall community goal. Ms. Faul notes the report will be reported back in the next board meeting along with invitations to participate.
Budget:
Ms. Faul provides a brief overview of the budget process and where the department is. She also discusses the federal grants statuses, specifically the Women’s Way and Ryan White programs temporary pauses but have been reinstated apart from some parts of Ryan White funding. Additionally, immunization dollars have been reinstated. Mr. Dardis asks Mrs. Faul if it would be beneficial for the Board of Health members to be present at the next open meeting for the budget, which is a welcomed idea.
Bylaw Amendment:
Ms. Faul introduces this topic, related to funding, the Board of Health public notice and how it is provided. Currently, public notice is being published in the local newspaper (Fargo Forum) as written in the current Board Bylaws. Ms. Faul is suggesting a motion to update this process to use the City’s Communications and Governmental Affairs Department contact list, which provides public notice at no additional cost to the department. After discussion among the board, department staff, and the City Attorney, the suggested motion is, “Public notice will be given via notification to the City’s media contact list as well as, postings on the City’s website, FCPH Facebook, and X social media accounts in compliance with all open meeting requirements in accordance with state statute North Dakota Century Code Chapter 44-04”. Mr. Dardis moved the motion for approval. Ms. Forde seconded this motion. All members voted aye. This motion was declared carried.
Public Comments: None.
Before meeting closure, Mr. McLean asks about the Fargo Water Quality report and notes the increased PH level and is interested in learning about if this level is standard. Ms. Faul responds by noting that this report was for information and she will report back on the observation made by Mr. McLean. Mr. Strand notes open meeting law information.
Next Meeting: Friday, October 3, 2025.
Adjourn at: 1:11 pm