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Health department granted beach-monitoring funds and seeks crisis-intervention grant
Summary
Oakland County's health department accepted state beach-monitoring funds of about $80,000 and applied for a Michigan State Police crisis-intervention grant focused on suicide prevention; commissioners discussed sampling frequency, volunteer testing partnerships and budget trade-offs and approved the items 8-0.
Oakland County's Public Health & Safety Committee approved accepting state beach-monitoring grant funds and authorized an application to the Michigan State Police for a crisis-intervention grant focused on suicide prevention and related interventions, county staff said.
Leanne Stafford (video), a health department representative, told commissioners the county runs a beach-sampling program using student sanitarians and that the department tries to sample 50 public beaches each year while rotating semi-public beaches on a five-year schedule. Stafford said the department is accepting approximately $80,000 from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) to support summer beach sampling, staffing and laboratory costs. She said EGLE provides three grants that together support the sampling season.
"We have about 250 public and semi-public beaches in Oakland County," Stafford said. "We try to do all 50 public beaches every year, and then we rotate the semi-public beaches every five years." Stafford said the county also gets additional smaller EGLE grants (one for about $44,000 and another for roughly $2,000) that help cover the season.
On a separate health-item, staff presented a proposal to apply for a state crisis-intervention grant that the department said would focus, in part, on suicide prevention and related work with the medical examiner and community partners. Commissioners asked whether the grant overlaps with previous crisis-intervention (CIT) efforts and whether local partners such as Oakland Community Health Network are involved; Stafford said the health department commonly coordinates with partners and would confirm collaboration as grant planning continues.
Commissioners debated sampling frequency and budget context. Commissioner Christensen said sampling once every five years for semi-public beaches is insufficient; Stafford said the department is pursuing additional grant options and volunteer testing partnerships and said staff had reached out to a volunteer sampling group for possible collaboration. Commissioner Cavell framed the decision in budget terms and reminded colleagues that local funding choices reflect priorities: the EGLE beach funds come from state sources and do not require a local match, while county-funded programs involve trade-offs in general-fund dollars.
The committee approved the health-department grant acceptance and application by roll call (8 ayes, 0 nays). Stafford said staff will follow up on potential volunteer partnerships and return with implementation details as needed.
Ending The health department will accept the EGLE beach-monitoring funds, pursue the state crisis-intervention application, and report back to the committee on volunteer partnerships and implementation details if the grants are awarded.
