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Approved Agenda and Minutes for

Orange County · Board of Health
Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Regular meeting Health and human servicesBudget and appropriationsAppointments and personnelFees and utility ratesHousing and affordabilityImmigration and enforcementPolice and public safety

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved IIIApproval of Meeting Minutes Both approved without dissent

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Orange County's board of health took the health department's FY 2026-27 budget request on February 25, built to stay flat. The department is aiming to add no new spending without matching new revenue, and its request nets out at authorized expenditures minus service revenue, about $10.1 million on the prior year's figures.

The board also welcomed two new members, including a county commissioner, and heard that a resolution in support of expedited newborn screening was coming.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The board approved a $10,734,044 health department budget request for fiscal year 2026-27 and the fee changes that go with it, sending both to the county manager and county commissioners without dissent. It also revised its inactive accounts policy, doubling the time before a debt is written off from twelve months to twenty-four and referring accounts to collections twice as often. Dr. Rachel Royce was recommended for a second full term and Dr. Shielda Rodgers for a third, both votes carrying without dissent and each abstaining on her own. Dr. Lee Pickett declined reappointment, saying she plans to leave the county, and the board formed a committee to find her replacement and a new optometrist representative after Dr. Bruce Baldwin's resignation.

A commissioner on the board told members during board comments that the county faces an $18 million shortfall and urged them to lobby commissioners through budget season; the county manager has since picked the health department for this year's operational audit of staffing, scheduling and operations. Committee reports covered publicizing the board's resolution on immigration and access to health resources, a summer round of Photovoice data collection with Medicaid-eligible residents, and a policy statement on well setbacks due in March. The health director reported that measles cases are still growing in North Carolina and urged schools to review staff immunization records, and that Medicaid funding remains short $319 million with the state budget still unpassed.

How the votes went

The board approved the FY 2026-27 budget request of $10,734,044 and the accompanying fee changes without dissent. It also approved revisions to the inactive accounts policy without dissent, and recommended Dr. Rachel Royce for a second term and Dr. Shielda Rodgers for a third term, both without dissent, with each abstaining on her own vote. The agenda and the minutes of the November 19 and January 21 meetings were approved without dissent; January's minutes were held over for lack of a quorum at that meeting.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (7)

Appointment · 1Minutes approval · 1Procedural · 1Discussion item · 1Staff or committee report · 1Budget action · 1Resolution · 1
  1. I Welcome New Board Members and New Employees
    Appointment Appointments and personnelHealth and human services
    Two newly appointed board members were welcomed, Commissioner Earl McKee and Dr. Natalicio Serrano, along with a new public health nurse.
  2. III Approval of Meeting Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Minutes from both November 19, 2025 and January 21, 2026, the latter held over because the January meeting had no quorum.
    Both approved without dissent
  3. IV Public Comment
    Procedural
    No one spoke during the public comment period for items not on the agenda.
  4. V Board Comments
    Discussion item Budget and appropriationsHealth and human services
    A commissioner reported an $18 million county budget shortfall, likely service cuts and a search for new revenue, and urged members to advocate through budget season. Another member described resigning from a hospital role after a private equity purchase and cited research finding worse patient outcomes under private equity ownership. The chair reported the optometrist representative's resignation, since retirement and a lapsed licence leave him unqualified for that seat.
  5. VI Priority Committee Updates
    Staff or committee report Health and human servicesHousing and affordabilityImmigration and enforcementPolice and public safety
    Access to care is planning how to publicize the board's Resolution on Immigration and Access to Public Health Resources, including to other health departments and law enforcement, and is preparing another round of Photovoice data collection with Medicaid-eligible residents. Behavioral health heard from the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions program on helping people with serious mental illness leave incarceration, and is preparing for National Screen-Free Week in May. Connections to community support is working with local governments on land use and zoning changes following its affordable housing resolution. The ad hoc committee on well rules, formed after a court case over the gap between c…
  6. VII.A Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027
    Budget action Budget and appropriationsFees and utility ratesHealth and human services
    The department's FY 2026-27 budget request and proposed fee changes. The goal is a flat budget, adding no new expenditure without matching revenue, against ongoing cuts and the absence of a state budget. The request is calculated as authorized expenditures net of service revenue, about $10.1 million for FY 2025-26 on $14.35 million of expenditure and $4.193 million of revenue. Projected personnel costs for FY 2026-27 are $13.1 million, with a net operating expense decrease of $47,465 from efficiencies. This is the final year of the dental division's stepwise fee increases. The county manager has selected the health department for this year's outside audit of staffing, scheduling and operati…
  7. VII.B Resolution in Support of Expedited Evaluation of Newborn Screening for MLD and DMD
    Resolution Health and human services
    A resolution urging the state to expedite its evaluation of newborn screening for metachromatic leukodystrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It came back for action at the March 25 meeting.

Agenda changes

What moved between published versions of this agenda. Item numbers shift constantly as things are inserted, so only genuine additions and removals are listed.

Other recent meetings of this board