Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health Outreach topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee recommends MOU with Cuyahoga County Board of Health for outreach and illicit‑discharge testing
Summary
The committee unanimously recommended a five‑year MOU with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health to handle public education/outreach, illicit‑discharge testing (including e‑coli outfall tests) and internal good‑housekeeping training (MCM 1, 2, 3 and 6) to support Ohio EPA Phase II compliance.
City Engineer Matt Glass told the Storm Water Committee the proposed five‑year memorandum of understanding with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health aligns with the EPA permit period and would assign outreach, education and outfall testing responsibilities to the Board of Health.
"Minimum Control Measures (MCM) 1 is public education and public involvement, 2 is public outreach. The Board of Health will host different events and reach out in different ways to make sure the residents are aware of the different things that they could be doing to keep the storm sewer system operating correctly," Glass said. "MCM 3 is the illicit discharge testing, legal cross connections from sanitary into the storm, failing septic systems, and so on. They will test all the outfalls in the entire system once every permit period and then they will report back to Engineering."
Glass said the board will test for indicators such as e‑coli and report high readings so Engineering can pursue enforcement and investigate sources; he noted the process is related to but distinct from the I&I (inflow and infiltration) process used to place meters in sanitary sewers to detect improper storm connections.
The committee moved to recommend approval of Ordinance 26‑12; the minutes record a 3‑0 vote in favor.
Why it matters: Assigning outreach and outfall testing to the county health department centralizes technical testing and public engagement under an agency experienced in public‑health sampling and community outreach, and provides Engineering with test results to pursue any necessary enforcement.
What’s next: The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for final action.
