Scott County health board flags rise in public-health nuisance cases, unveils public dashboard and five-year CHIP

The Scott County Community Health Board on Nov. 18 was told by public health staff that formal public-health nuisance cases have climbed this year, and that the department will publish a new performance dashboard and begin a five-year Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP).

Lisa Brodsky, a public-health staff member, said the county has handled roughly 100 nuisance cases over the past decade and already recorded 19 in 2025, with more referrals pending. She said hoarding accounts for about a third of recent cases and attributed part of the uptick to pandemic-era trauma, greater referral activity and increased field presence. Brodsky described the county's approach as primarily voluntary and supportive: staff try to help residents secure resources, provide trash bins or coordinate cleanouts with household consent. She said the county has issued full clean-out orders only twice and that many complaints (for example, restaurant concerns or mold) are referred to other agencies such as the Minnesota Department of Health.

The presentation included photographs and case descriptions to illustrate the kinds of extreme conditions that meet the county's public-health nuisance standard — situations Brodsky said are distinct from routine property-code complaints and often require multidisciplinary responses that can include adult or child-protective services, building inspectors and police.

Public-health staff also demonstrated a new Performance Management/Public Health Measures Dashboard intended to be forward-facing on the Scott County website. Yelena Tran, who led the demonstration, said the interactive dashboard will publish program measures — such as community readiness, substance-use prevention indicators and immunization coverage — and be used by staff internally. Tran said staff are validating program data with coordinators and expect the dashboard to go live by the end of the year.

Natalie Halverson, who led the Community Health Assessment (CHA) and CHIP work, summarized the planning process (more than 90 multi-sector partners, surveys, focus groups and key-informant interviews) and said the CHIP will center on three priorities for 2025–2030: substance use and mental health, chronic disease prevention and management, and access to healthcare, housing and transportation. Halverson described objectives at community, individual and systems levels and said implementation will rely on newly formed internal coordination teams and community work groups, which will begin meeting in Q1.

Why it matters: the county says its actions are intended to reduce preventable harms, improve access to care and track outcomes publicly so residents and local partners can see program-level results.

Next steps: staff will finalize dashboard content with program coordinators and post it publicly when validated; CHIP implementation teams will begin convening early next year.