Health Hub machine to be installed

By Kevin O’Brien

A vending machine stocked with a range of health-related items, from sunscreen to opiate test strips, will soon be installed at Abbotsford City Hall, but it will not include a safe sex kit based on a vote of the city council on Monday After speaking with Clark County’s public health nurse, Brittany Mews, the council approved a memorandum of understanding that will allow the health department to place a public vending machine at city hall containing free “harm reduction supplies” such as fentanyl testing strips and Narcan, which is used to counteract opiate overdoses.

Known as the “Clark County Health Hub,” the machine will also include a list of 20 other free kits that enable people to take preventative health measures, such as a food safety kit with a meat thermometer and cold and hot packs and a “Cover Your Cough” kit with five surgical masks, hand sanitizer and Kleenex.

Some of the items will be rotated in and out depending on the season, such as a “Fun in the Sun” kit with sunscreen, sunglasses and sun-blocking Chapstick for the summer months and adult and children’s mittens for the winter.

Other items include:

■ ■ Firearm locks for suicide prevention

■ ■ Deterra kits for deactivating and disposing of medications

■ ■ Medication lock bags

■ ■ Oral hygiene kits with toothbrush, mouthwash and floss

■ ■ First aid kits

■ ■ Tick kits

■ ■ Toddler injury prevention kits with outlet covers, cupboard locks and other items

■ ■ Tobacco cessation kits with Chapstick, gum and Quit Line resource

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■ ■ Mental health emergency kits with a Crisis Line keychain, adult coloring books, and resources

■ ■ At-home COVID tests

■ ■ Body-care kits with mini shampoo, mini soap and comb

■ ■ High-visibility walking vests

■ ■ Bilingual information on county health resources and human trafficking One suggested item that will not appear in Abbotsford’s health hub is a safe sex kit, which would have included four condoms and reproductive health information from the health department.

Ald. Jeremiah Zeiset said he is not in favor of having a safe sex kit in the machine, “just simply not to encourage behavior that is going to get people into trouble and isn’t right in any way.”

Ald. Sarah Diedrich said she’s fine with having the safe sex kit in the machine as long as it’s in a gray pouch, as suggested by Mews as a way to shield the items from minors.

“Honestly, they’re going to be doing what they shouldn’t be doing anyway,” she said. “I’d rather have them protected than not, to be honest.”

Ald. Kevin Flink agreed with Diedrich, pointing out that some people are also going to choose to use drugs no matter what, but it’s good to make Narcan available just in case.

“That’s how I feel about it personally,” he said. Ald. Mason Rachu said he was OK with letting the Clark County Health Department decide which items to place in the vending machine based on their discretion.

“I don’t feel like we need to regulate a vending machine,” he said.

Mews said the list of possible items encompasses “pretty much everything we could think of” at this point, but it’s ultimately up to the city council.

“We would never put anything in there that was not approved,” she said.

Ultimately, the council adopted a motion made by Zeiset to approve the entire list of suggested items except for the safe sex kit. The motion passed on a 6-1 vote, with Flink voting no and Ald. Selenia Espino absent.

Mews said the machine will be placed next to the existing vending machine at city hall once it is set up to carry all of the items.

“The machine is just getting configured right now,” she said. “It will actually be the exact same size as the vending machine you have around the corner, except ours will be a little bit wider.”

Other business

■ ■ The council approved the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department’s 2025 budget, which includes a 6.7 percent increase in the city’s share of the $1.1 million spending plan. Under a new costsharing agreement with Colby that increases Abbotsford’s share from xx to 57.5 percent, the city will pay $556,156 next year for police protection, about $34,000 than this year.

“As much work as the police department has done, I think they’ve done a very good job of keeping that to a very small raise in the budget,” said Ald. Roger Weideman, who represents Abbotsford on the joint police commission.

■ ■ The council approved the Central Fire and EMS District’s 2025 budget, which includes a nearly 12 percent decrease in the city’s contribution from this year, or about $11,000 less.

Mayor Jim Weix, who represents the city on the seven-member district commission, said all of the municipalities in the district will be able to pay less next year because of increasing revenue from the ambulance service. “They’re bringing in way more money than they used to,” he said. “Fortunately, our budget is dropping. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

■ ■ City administrator Josh Soyk said the city’s two newest wells were recently test-pumped for 50 hours straight and they held up pretty good.

“After about 36, 37 hours, there was a drop-off,” he said. “It stayed pretty consistent after that.”

Soyk said the two wells should contribute an additional 30,000 to 36,000 gallons per day to the city’s water utility.

■ DPW Craig Stuttgen drew the council’s attention to the issue of landowners with decorative stamped concrete on their driveways, and how the city should handle it when the stamping lands within the city’s right-of-way. He said this was an issue during the recent Elm Street project, when driveway approaches were replaced based on a standard price from the contractor. Stuttgen suggested changing the city’s driveway permit applications, making it clear that the homeowner is responsible for covering the extra cost of replacing stamped concrete as part of a street project. It would be up to the homeowner to match their existing concrete.

“We would pay whatever the bid tabulation is,” he said, referring to the city.

Stuttgen said the city’s ordinance makes it clear that landowners are not allowed to place items within the city’s right-of-way, such as fences and flower gardens, but stamped concrete may not be covered by that ordinance.