10-11-1978 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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STATLNENP OF THE PROBLEM Suburban Ramsey County is experiencing and will continue to experience substantial population growth, according to Metropolitan Council statistics. This growth means increased demand on and consequently the increased need for monitoring of the environment to ensure healthful living conditions for those within its perimeter. There is a wide range of environmental services in Ramsey County; some municipalities have very complete and sophisticated services while others have few services. Besides this distribution of service imbalance, the County has no fo al mechanism for the coordination or delivery of environmental health services, and no consistently adeouate environmental standard ordinances. To effectively, efficently and fairly provide services, there needs to be established some system for a more equalized distribution of services. There is also the problem of a lack of knowledge on the part of most people of the scope and need for environmental health services. Until awareness of the problem is achieved, municipalities will continue to react to health problems rather than act to prevent them. Certain environmental health services provided by the Minnesota Department of Health were discontinued as of the effective date of subsidy funding to the Ramsey County Board of Health. The following environmental health services discontinued: inspection of swimming pools, childrens camps, private water supplies, general sanitation and analysis of water samples from private water supplies. Currently the Minnesota Department of Health continues to license and provide minimum inspections of food and lodging establishments in suburban Ramsey County with the exception of Roseville and New Brighton. were Some examples of the type and scope of problems that need to be met by the County follow. In 1974, the Metropolitan Council estimated that 767 of the total housing units in suburban Ramsey County need major rehabilitation, 1,512 need 14