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Board approves draft body-modification ordinance with corrections; adopts investigative search fee and tables fee-for-education proposal
Summary
The Ripley County Board of Health approved a locally drafted "body modification" ordinance (covering tattoos and invasive cosmetic procedures) with changes about sharps disposal and plan-review fees, adopted a revised approach to vital-records search fees (standard vs investigative), and tabled a proposal to authorize fees for community-education courses while staff pursue grant options.
The Ripley County Board of Health voted to approve a draft "body modification" ordinance that would permit and regulate tattooing, piercings and other invasive body procedures under terms aligned with state code and local inspection processes. Staff said the ordinance was drafted with state input and includes a nonrefundable plan-review fee and an inspectable infectious-waste plan; board members asked that commercial sharps disposal contracts be required at opening inspections or be inspectable items.
"I tried very hard to not implement anything that's more strict than what the state code required," staff member (speaker 7) said during discussion, explaining the ordinance language and the rationale for an owner-required plan to handle infectious waste. After discussion, a motion to accept the ordinance with corrections (including clarifying the sharps disposal requirement) passed by voice vote.
Separately, the board revised vital-records language to distinguish standard certificate requests from investigative or genealogy searches that require more staff time. The board agreed to classify a standard search as work that can be completed within a short, defined time (suggested 15 minutes) and to apply an additional investigative-search fee if staff must perform a longer search; members discussed a tiered or capped fee structure to reflect staff time.
The board debated whether to authorize fees for community-education courses (CPR, babysitting, other trainings) to replace lost state HMI funding. Members expressed concern that charging local fees could jeopardize grant funding and hamper access for vulnerable residents. After discussion, the board moved to table the community-education/fee ordinance for further review and possible grant pursuit.
Board motions at the meeting included approval of the April 2026 meeting minutes at the start of the session and a final motion to adjourn. The board directed staff to circulate DocuSign materials to members and confirmed the next meeting date as Oct. 13.
Vote records were voice votes recorded in the meeting; formal tallies were not provided in the transcript for all measures.
