Board of Health - October 3, 2025 Minutes

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 October 3, 2025.

Board of Health – October 3, 2025

The Board members present or absent during roll call were:
Present: Bernie Dardis, Grant Syverson, MD, Meg Forde MS, RD, LRD, John Strand, Andrew McLean, MD, MPH, Jayme Steig, PharmD, RPh, CPHQ, and Jim Kapitan joined at 12:09 pm
Virtual: Valentina Asiedu, MPH, CHES
Absent: Avish Nagpal, MD
Others: Jenn Faul, Holly Scott, Melissa Perala, Abby Lange, Doreen Odera, Grant Larson, Suzanne Schaefer, Jessie Lindemann, MD, Nancy Morris, Jan Eliasson, Lyn Welk, Lori Sall

Approval of Agenda:
Mr. Dardis moved the agenda for approval. Dr. Syverson seconded this motion. All members voted aye. This motion was declared carried.

Approval of Meeting minutes from the July 11, 2025 meeting:
Corrections to the July 11th, 2025, meeting minutes were brought forward by Dr. McLean related to the language of Mister versus Doctor. A motion to approve July 11th, 2025, meeting minutes with corrections was made by Dr. Syverson. Mr. Dardis seconded this motion. All members voted aye. This motion was declared carried.

Department Updates:
Chairman Strand asked for updates from Ms. Faul from Fargo Cass Public Health. Initially there were no updates. Later in the meeting an update was brought forward.

Ms. Faul states that a change in the language of the bylaws was addressed at the July 2025 meeting. The previous language for public notice was that public notice will be given in advance of meeting in the Fargo Forum. The change at the meeting on July 11th, 2025 reads that, “public notice will be given via notification to the city’s media contact list as well as postings on city website, Fargo Cass Public Health Facebook, and X social media accounts in compliance with all open meeting requirements in accordance with state statute North Dakota Century Code Chapter 44, section 04.” The Fargo City Attorney Nancy Morris suggested shortening that to read, “public notice will be given in compliance with North Dakota Century Code Chapter 44 section 04 line 20.” Ms. Faul wanted to give an update on the language change. Attorney Morris reiterates that the Board of Health does not need to identify how the city of Fargo makes notice, it just has to be in compliance with state. Chairman Strand calls for a motion to comply with the amended bylaws going forward. Mr. Kapitan makes the motion. Mr. Dardis seconded this motion. The motion was open for discussion, hearing none a vote was taken. All members voted aye. This motion was declared carried.

Tobacco Program:
An introduction of Abby Lange with the Tobacco Prevention Program at Fargo Cass Public Health was made by Ms. Faul. Ms. Lange spoke about the history and funding source for the North Dakota Tobacco Prevention and Control Program that was funded by a tobacco settlement agreement in 1998. Each year that there are sales of cigarettes in ND, the state receives settlement funds. Each of the public health units could write grants for funding for Tobacco Prevention Programs, mentioning that grant funding is population based. The Fargo Cass Public Health Tobacco Prevention Program focuses on three areas, prevention, cessation, and policy/outreach. With prevention their main focus is deterring youth from ever starting use of nicotine products. She highlights the Youth Action Summit held every year for eastern North Dakota that is hosted in Fargo. Middle school and high school students attend and speak about what tobacco and nicotine products mean to them. They also start peer leadership and the ability to bring the message back to their respective schools. Cessation programs are more adult focused but have started a youth focus as well. The goal is to remove barriers for treatment for all age groups. They present at businesses, PTA groups, and welcome any invitation to present and share the message. She also mentions secondhand smoke exposure and how they handle the smoke-free law complaints from the law that was passed in 2012. Their main message is how nicotine changes the brain both physically and chemically, particularly in youth. Brains are in a development stage until age 25. Nicotine can temporarily reduce anxiety and tension, appetite suppression, cognitive enhancement, memory enhancement. Youth are attracted to these attributes. Nicotine only allows relief for a short period of time and ultimately causes more harm than good. Once the nicotine is out of their system, poor emotional regulation becomes an issue. The good news is once you stop using nicotine these levels go back to normal. Charts are referenced from the North Dakota Tobacco Control Program Synthesis Report that is a public document. According to the charts, tobacco use is going down overall, but e-cigarette use is going up. One of the charts references adverse childhood experiences and the likelihood of using nicotine to cope, even over alcohol or cannabis. Behavioral Risk Factory surveillance survey (BRFSS) is referenced for the ACE data. Another graph is referenced related to vaping statistics from the North Dakota Synthesis report. Youth behavioral risk factor surveillance survey shows use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes are going down, however, with more days of mental health in a row, the higher the rate of nicotine use. Interactions have told Ms. Lange that youth are using nicotine for reduction in anxiety and tension related to mental health. Electronic cigarettes and vapes are the most popular among young people since they landed on the market in 2014. They contain nicotine salt which allows for a high nicotine content in a small device. They contain very few ingredients including a food grade flavor. Combustion is changing the chemical reaction, so even though there are few ingredients listed, more are present once they are heated. They go directly to the lungs which are causing EVALI or popcorn lung. The rate of EVALI has peaked in 2019 and has gone down. She mentions that e-cigarettes do not have tar in them, so no smoker’s cough which makes people feel like it may be better for their lungs. Ms. Lange references nicotine pouches. They are the newest items and are more of a snus type product with nicotine salts that again have a high nicotine content. She references a graph that shows the exponential five-year sales growth. There is very little data on nicotine pouches. Youth are reporting using multiple pouches at a time. Youth are attracted to vaping by several factors including social media influence, advertising, and flavors. Ms. Lange mentions that social media has little regulation of where the products can be seen. Tobacco-free does not make it a safer product. There are over 15,000 flavors currently on the market.
Ms. Lange then opens the floor for questions or comments. Dr. McLean asks if the decrease in EVALI is due to a tightening of counterfeit cartridges? Ms. Lange states it is not due to counterfeit cartridges, and they are exploding everywhere. EVALI was discovered from a microwave popcorn factory in the early 2000s. Since then, some manufacturers have changed ingredients and ingredient ratios. Ultimately, she is unsure if the lower rate is due to manufacturers. Dr. McLean asks what other states have found that have limited the use of flavored e-cigarettes and youth addiction. She says that other states are doing a variety of things including a complete ban of any flavors. In California it did decrease the use overall. Massachusetts and New York are also trying regulations on flavors. There are no long-term numbers yet. Jim Kapitan asked about how nicotine pouches are made and if it is just nicotine. Ms. Lange advised there are a few fillers but high quantities of powdered nicotine. She says there is not a lot of information yet on what is in the fillers and what it does once absorbed into the body. Jim Kapitan asks if there is an increase in use. He has had a conversation with a family member about them being “safe.” Ms. Lange agrees that there is a lot of misinformation about the safety of nicotine pouches. Dr. Syverson asks that aside from doing presentations in schools, are they working with schools in other ways. Ms. Lange states they go into all four high schools and the discussed the concern of vape detectors going off often. They are trying to bring cessation education to the youth. They are also trying to be proactive by offering cessation to all students, not just those that are cited for use. They do health class presentations and provide support for how to address the issues. Some students state they are unable to concentrate during the day without nicotine. They are working on the cessation piece with hopes to grow the program. Bernie Dardis asks what four schools they are in. Ms. Lange says the four public high schools in Fargo. She also goes to West Fargo for presentations at middle schools. Jayme Steig asks, what are some examples of other community level actions that can be taken to help address this issue? Ms. Lange states that people do not know the true harm of the products. There has been strategic advertising by tobacco companies. She mentions that tobacco sales were at the lowest levels they have been and then the companies switched their product and marketing and sales exploded. She also references smoking versus no smoking sections were not that long ago, but people have lost touch with the harm levels. Valentina Asiedu asks if there was a bill that passed for the increase of tobacco taxes. Ms. Lange says the tobacco tax has not gone up in the state of North Dakota since 1993. In the 2023 legislative session, e-cigarettes were added to the regulatory standards throughout the state of North Dakota. She reports that currently there are no excise taxes on e-cigarettes or nicotine pouches. Ms. Asiedu wonders if the tax could impact usage or purchase of the products by youth. Ms. Lange states the CDC puts out the most successful approaches in curbing youth use. Increasing the excise tax is one of the main successful approaches. The more expensive the product is, the more it deters youth.
Chairman Strand thanks Ms. Lange for her presentation and estimates the board will be hearing more about it in the future. He states if there are any policy recommendations or changes in the future they will likely be vetting them at the Board of Health.

Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan:
Ms. Faul references the previous meeting where Maggie Ridl presented the community health assessment. At that time, it was high level data that was filtered through to priority areas. Ms. Faul shows a slide with the steps in the process. She references the Community Health Implementation Plan meeting with internal stakeholders that occurred on August 27th, 2025, where a draft plan was made. Outcomes were identified for some of the goals and objectives, but they are still working on who will be delivering some of those services. She mentions they will be moving into their strategic plan and reminds the board members that have been invited to participate as external stakeholders. The meeting will be facilitated by AchieveIt staff. They will be moving into quality improvement planning after the strategic plan is posted. Ms. Ridl has been working on sections of the Community Health Assessment to accompany the data and to give the narrative version of the assessment. Directors are reviewing and correcting drafts currently. Final reviewed drafts will be presented to board before they are published online for review and to answer any questions the board may have. The Community Health Improvement Plan will be a part of that as well. Priority areas in the CHA were access to healthy foods as well as health and wellness. The CHIP took the priority areas and created goals to increase the distribution and access to healthy food within Cass County. Through conversation the group found that there is a lot of food in our community, but the issue has been getting the available food to the people who need it. It was proposed to establish Fargo Cass Public Health as a satellite food pantry to help support the population that comes through our doors. It would allow access to the population served with in-home services. The capacity for food storage for those in need at the Downtown Engagement Center was addressed. If they do have food, they would have to consume it all that day because they do not have a way to carry, keep, or preserve the food. Also discussed was the current capacity of the kitchen coalition to meet demand for the availability of food repackaging and the potential collaboration with Fargo Cass Public Health within the kitchen area. The kitchen coalition works in the Fargo Moorhead community to take food from restaurants that could be repackaged. The repackaged food is given out to shelters or other areas of need. Fargo Cass Public Health would like to host City of Fargo food drives to support the food insecurity initiative. Another action is to assess the Cass County schools for food insecurity screening and our need and capacity to provide food for students to take home. Multiple schools throughout the county do backpack food programs and food pantries. The environmental health group goes into all the restaurants and food establishments within the Fargo Moorhead community and large parts of Cass County. Through that interaction Fargo Cass Public Health can help connect them with the kitchen coalition or the repackaging of food. We hope to aid in the transportation of food to community members and have Fargo Cass Public Health Employees actively participate in the next growth plan to advocate for healthy food locations, grocery stores and gardens within the community. Goal two of the same priority area was increased awareness of healthy food resources throughout the community. It also includes all the divisions of Fargo Cass Public Health to screen clients for food insecurity. WIC, Maternal Child Health, and the clinic are currently doing this. We want to make sure to ask the question as frequently as we need to be so we can connect people to resources as they are needed. All divisions will provide food resources to clients and entities of public health to include childcare settings, the clinic, the Ryan White program, home services, WIC, Victim Impact Panels, etc. We would like to host healthy food education opportunities through gardening, food preservation, using the teaching kitchen and the dietary impact on disease prevention. Hosting a hunger simulation was proposed. Priority area two was health and wellness and this covered a significant array of services that we could put under health and wellness. The first goal being to improve the prevention and early detection of disease. Actions or tactics include increase policies and outreach activities specific to decreasing youth tobacco use rates, increase responsible drinking through education and awareness, expand outreach and education of STI/STD, increase awareness and outreach for cancer screenings available at FCPH, and FCPH employing an Enrollment Specialist. Enrollment Specialists help with insurance enrollment. With changes to the enrollment requirement frequency and the reduced number of insurance navigators, we would like to hire our own. Goal two in the same priority area is to focus on improving the health outcomes for Cass youth by actively promoting healthy lifestyle choices. We are hoping to increase the requirement time of physical activity in the existing Fargo ordinance for daycares and encourage other after school or summer childcare centers to adopt the same expectation. Health promotion division goes into childcare centers and does checks on them throughout the Fargo area. We would like to provide education on the benefits of healthy food in disease prevention (dieticians developed menus, healthy snacks). Pursue the initiation of a physical activity standard for daycares in Cass County. Ms. Faul then opened for questions from the board. Bernie Dardis asked Ms. Faul to share the scope of food that is provided at the engagement center. Ms. Faul responded that they receive packaged meals from the New Life Center and they are distributed daily. If they are not all used there is a small amount of space to refrigerate and freeze them. Jan Eliassen states that the New Life Center and the Kitchen Coalition work together along with the Great Plains Food Bank. They provide about 600 meals a week. Chairman Strand then says that as he understands it, the highest risk young people face these days is gun violence. Are they at any point or are there any jurisdictions or public health units that delve into that topic for us, at local levels that might be an area they keep an eye on and keep our finger on the pulse of the community and see what issues or policies might need to be discussed or explored? Ms. Faul responds that historically we have done trigger locks for guns through the MCH program. Suzanne Schaefer then responds that within all our nursing programs, our adult health, in home visits as well as our maternal child health visits at admit they bring out information regarding gun safety. We are not taking a political side of it, they are just talking about if you are going to have a gun, let’s have it be safe. We have worked with the VA, and they have provided us with gun locks that can be provided for families to keep their guns safely stored.

Strategic Plan:
The strategic planning will be held at 8:30 am on October 6 and 7 in the Oak Room at FCPH. Ms. Faul mentions Chairman Strand, Jayme Steig, Dr. Syverson, and Valentina Asiedu are invited to participate in the planning on the morning of October 7th. AchieveIt is the digital platform and facilitator of the strategic plan. They work with the CDC, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, multiple colleges and other public health areas throughout the country. The platform will allow an API to be written taking data from other software within the divisions at FCPH. It will have data that will be transparent on a dashboard for the community members to see and so they will know where we are at with our activities and updates on how we are achieving those activities. It will monitor for activity and if we are not meeting the mark it starts to change color. This allows for a quick dashboard look to see where there is not progress being made and we can identify more quickly where we need to focus our efforts.

Lab Director:
Ms. Faul thanks and congratulates Dr. Lindemann for becoming the lab director for Fargo Cass Public Health. She took 20 hours of crediting units of education to have all the moderate complexity labs back in house at Fargo Cass Public Health. The previous lab director had left in July. Dr. Lindemann was willing to take this on and we are now able to do more of our labs in house again. It will expedite the return to the clients and the ability to treat them. It also decreases the amount of labs we need to send out to another lab company which has been costly to do. In addition, insurance companies do not want to reimburse a third-party lab. It is going to save a tremendous amount of money and increase patient care and timeliness. Dr. Lindemann appreciates the opportunity to be able to take this course. She looks forward to working with the other members of the lab and she’s happy about improved patient care with a better turnaround time on labs.

Commission Update:
The commission meeting was on Monday evening and one of the items was discussion of the engagement center and its new location. Three locations have been proposed: 610 North University Drive; 720 14th Street North; 2001 1st Avenue North. A town hall meeting was hosted. Looking at the three sites, the pros and cons of the sites, the costs of the sites and the retrofit of each one of those is what’s currently under development so they can come back with a better understanding of what they can propose to the commission. The town hall meeting was held with our panel of people that are providing services at the engagement center currently and it was well received in the good showing of community members who participated in that conversation. Ms. Faul thanked Jayme Steig for attending the meeting. They will continue to work so they can get into a space and tend to the needs of this population. Also, we passed our budget at the Monday night meeting. Chairman Strand opened up for questions or comments related to the commission update. Jamie Stieg comments that after attending the community forum he wants to compliment and give his appreciation to the staff and the community partners on the panel. Something that he realized with the presentation that was made that there is not an “easy” button on this issue and there are pros and cons to every site. What he appreciates is that the staff is focused on finding solutions and navigating that course. He wanted to compliment all of the panel on their efforts and keeping the focus on trying to serve the members of our community that utilize the engagement center. Mr. Dardis comments that he would like to echo the comments from Jamie Stieg. He participated in the town hall meeting virtually. He observed the passion on both sides of the issue is very strong. He was struck by the professionalism of the staff. He personally mentioned Jan Eliason and complimented how she answered the questions very direct and succinctly on a tough issue. The professionalism and passion of serving this aspect of the public came through.

Current Public Health Matters:
Ms. Faul shared some of the information from state agency, community/city and county health organizations that we have shared with public health administrators as well as hospital preparedness and emergency preparedness. She is sharing slides from North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services. This item was added at the request of Chairman Strand wanting to talk about some of the things that are in the news right now and where they are heading. The first slide references the global measles outbreak in Mexico that was declared and is over now. Canada had 5000 cases from ten different jurisdictions as of September, 14th, 2025. Israel has an outbreak in ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. London England is reporting cases in the same community. In the United States there are just over 1,500 cases currently with 12% of them hospitalized. The current concentration is happening within Arizona and Utah. North Dakota has not had a measles case since July 2025.
Looking at influenza, RSV and Covid-19 for North Dakota, there are currently 91 cases of Covid-19, two with influenza, and one with RSV. Cass County currently has not cases of influenza or RSV but they do have 31 cases of Covid-19. Hospitalizations in North Dakota, there are 20 people hospitalized with Covid-19, and nobody hospitalized with influenza or RSV. In national data from Jennifer Gilbrath, that did an in-service for health administrators in the hospital emergency preparedness groups, said that at the national level COVID numbers with the highest number of people who are getting hospitalized are in the 75-year-old plus group. The next highest group are the less than 6 months of age, then 64–74-year-olds, then 6-11 months of age. The discussion on that is the lack of an immunization for those under 6 months of age. The goal would be to vaccinate women who are pregnant so that they would pass that they would have some immunization when the babies are born. A chart with the current schedule as suggested for vaccinations and age groups that are eligible for that.
Influenza information from the last season was provided. Last flu season in the United States there were 280 pediatric deaths reported and 89% of those were unvaccinated. Also, in the last flu season there were 109 pediatric influenza-associated encephalopathy cases with 55% of the children previously healthy and only 16% had received vaccination. North Dakota did have an Avian bird flu that was brought to our attention. North Dakota had 2 cases in Dickey County. One is a backyard chicken flock, the other is a commercial turkey flock. Those were identified on September 8th, 2025. Those are current and active and they will continue to watch those at the state level. As of 10/2/25 North Dakota has 81 cases of West Nile virus. It is still active this season. Cass County has 16 cases. Hopefully as the weather cools it will be easier to wear long sleeves and cover up a little bit more to avoid bites.
Syphilis rates in North Dakota have 300 cases reported and there is a shortage of vacicillin, we can be using doxicillin because of that shortage. The shortage is expected to continue through June of 2026. There is a multi-state Listeria outbreak tied to packaged meals. There is continued monitoring of that throughout the state as well.
The board that does vaccination recommendations to the CDC and ASIP met on September 18th and 19th, 2025. They made some votes for all pregnant women to be tested for hepatitis B infection. The voted for the pediatric vaccine schedule should be updated to reflect the following changes that a mother who tests HBsAG negative, the first dose of Hepatitis B vaccine is not given until the child is at least one month old. Right now it is given at birth. Infants may receive a dose of hepatitis B vaccine before one month according to individual based decision-making.
The COVID-19 pediatric and adult immunization schedule for administration of FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines should be updated as follows: Adults 65 and older vaccination based on individual-based decision making. Individuals 6 months to 64 years vaccination based on individual-based decision making—with an emphasis that the risk-benefit of vaccination is most favorable for individuals who are at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease and lowest for individuals who are not at an increased risk, according to the CDC list of COVID-19 risk factors. The CDC has not signed off on these recommendations as of 10/1/2025. If the acting CDC director does not sign them in, the director for health and human services will be able to sign them in. Due to the government shutdown we are not sure if or when that will happen. Dr. Syverson asks if the plan for Fargo Cass Public Health to follow whatever the CDC guidelines are. Ms. Faul responds that when she visited with the NACCHO group if there are opportunities for people to use other guidance, we can use the American Academy of Pediatrics or other nationally recognized groups. The NACCHO group is working on writing a standing order that will not include a preamble that you would be able to go through the algorithm of whatever it is on that individual decision making may be and that you can create your standing order from that point. We are currently giving COVID vaccinations and when the CDC does give their indication we will follow the CDC guidelines.
Dr. Syverson then asks about the hepatitis B recommendations. Is a policy going to be that we’re going to tell people not to vaccinate their children to a month of age? Ms. Faul responds that she cannot say right now. What she can say is that as a public health entity, our SACCHO (State Associations of County and City Health Officials) group is still trying to figure out where they are landing on that decision. What we want to lean towards as a national guidance. We have been given guidance that they cannot be one of those regional coalitions where other parts of the country are creating coalitions and are looking to that coalition to create the guidance because when that guidance is then created and recognized by them, insurance companies will cover costs. As the state of North Dakota we are not able to do that with the current political arena. That is something that the current health officer at the state level, Sherry Adams, is working with the governor and his administration to help walk us through this as well as with Molly Howell at the state to work with the public health administrators on what direction we are going to go. They are the ones that said the American Academy of Pediatrics is at local public health disposal to lean to those within Century Code to use that as guidance. She apologizes for not being able to give a solid answer right now. Dr. Syverson then mentions that local health systems are not going to use the CDC guidance on the hepatitis B vaccine at one month of age. He says they are going to be using the professional organizations that they recognize are evidence-based. Chairman Strand comments that he senses that public health issues are going to become more and more front burner and we need to be available to convene if there are issues that are challenging us locally that need to be addressed. He mentions the board does not meet monthly but these topics are unfolding so quickly. His recommendation to staff and to the board is to be available in the wings if there’s a topic that comes our way that we need to address and discuss going forward because he’s expecting that there might be. Jayme Steig asks if the hold up on the guidelines has impacted the availability of COVID 19 vaccines for Fargo Cass Public Health. Ms. Faul says we are not able to give it to some of the VFC programs that are more directed that way. She thinks they can give it to private not VFC. She confers to Suzanne Schaefer to clarify. Suzanne says that was correct until we received an email yesterday that says we can use the VFC and then just work back with the state on getting the vaccine once that comes through federal guidance. She mentions we have been able to get COVID vaccine and we are giving it. They do not have a supply issue at this point. Chairman Strand comments that he’s glad the subject is being talked about because people are not talking about it enough. It is a challenging issue and a local issue and we have people whose health is dependent on us and the deliverers of healthcare locally. Dr. McLean comments that what the numbers are, they are not necessarily accurate because if people are not going in and they have COVID or they test at home, that doesn’t make it to their data. Dr. Syverson states there’s recent literature that shows that repeat COVID infections increases can double the likelihood of developing long COVID in pediatric patients. He doesn’t think it’s as benign as people think.

Budget:
Melissa Perala speaks about budget. 2026 budget was approved Monday night at city commission. One item with of note is the 3% COLA raise for all city employees. She states they have not yet seen final approved numbers for FCPH in totality, but they should be coming soon. The budget through August is on task for where we should be but may need a budget adjustment. Expenditures are at 62% as of August and 69% for September without the month being closed out yet, which is right on budget for the year. There was an increase in travel and conference line items due to workforce grant dollars that were received. Adjustments will be made but that will not be an issue.
Related to revenue, we were previously worried about grant funding. We had not received Women’s Way, Family Planning, Immunizations, WIC and Ryan White funding. That has all been restored to previous funding levels. The one caveat is the WIC contract being on hold due to government shutdown, but it should be able to be backdated retro to October 1 so should not present an issue. We also received additional funding for the Withdrawal Management Unit to fund through the end of this year. We received an additional $51,000 for the WMU. She states everything is right on course for this year. When opened for comment, Chairman Strand asks about gains or losses in staff knowing that there were some cutbacks in staff a year ago. She said they were things that should have been gone last year but they have been cleaned up and removed.

Board Member Terms:
Ms. Faul references that as of December 2025, three members will have terms expiring. Those board members are Dr. Nagpal, Dr. Syverson, and Jayme Steig. She asks that they please let us know if you would like to renew between now and December. She invites them to stay on the board as well. Chairman Strand asks, how do people in the community apply to be considered for an opening on the board? And how do current members whose terms are up confirm that they are open to be reappointed? Current board members can communicate with Ms. Faul to indicate they would like to continue. If anyone is interested in becoming a board member they can go to City of Fargo website and find the FCPH section and apply to be a board member there.

Proposed Board of Health Schedule 2026:
Ms. Faul says that following what they had decided in December of 2024, she asks if quarterly meetings work when we talk about the quarter before following the January, April, July and October meetings.
Chairman Strand asks for introductions of the Fargo Cass Public Health staff so they can put faces to names of the people carrying the loads on a daily basis: Doreen Odera, Abby Lange, Grant Larsen, Jan Eliason, Dr. Lindemann, Holly Scott, Suzanne Schaefer, Lori Sall, Lyn Welk, Melissa Perala, Jenn Faul.
Chairman Strand states there are not adequate words to thank our people appropriately for what they do on a daily basis. Thanks was given to all employees for what they provide. Mr. Dardis asks who the group is observing the meeting. They are NDSU senior nursing students in public health.
Thank you- keep everyone well, all for the greater good of the people.

Next Meeting: 01.09.2026.
Adjourn at: 1:11pm