Town Council looks at health

In the past two years, Chapel Hill police officer William Smith lost 75 pounds through the town’s Wellness@Work program.

The Chapel Hill Town Council met Wednesday at the Chapel Hill Public Library for a work session to discuss issues ranging from the health of town staff to flood recovery to recycling.

Dr. Mark Gwynne, director of the UNC Family Medicine Center, presented the council with a summary review of the Wellness@Work program, a 2011 initiative that aims to improve the quality of life for the town’s employees.

He said the organization has worked through 2012-13 to reduce high-risk health behaviors and chronic health conditions employees might encounter. Gwynne said the surest sign of success is on an individual basis, which includes helping employees like Smith lose weight, and getting others to quit smoking.

“Our wellness program pulls from biometric and claims data so we can create a provision for a healthier workforce,” Gwynne said.

Also discussed at the meeting was the current state of Chapel Hill Town Hall. After a flash flood inundated the first floor of Town Hall this summer, Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said Wednesday night that the time has come to rebuild — and get some good out of a bad situation.

Kleinschmidt said while the council has the option to rebuild the first floor to its previous state, he recommended a newer, more open layout to improve connectivity and increase ease of services within the building.

“The original layout never really lent itself to true consolidation,” he said.

“We have an opportunity to take advantage of an opportunity that this crisis has created.”

Kleinschmidt said Town Hall’s permits center needs particular consideration because of its disjointed location within the building.

“We’ve got developers coming in trying to get permits being sent all over the building to different departments,” Kleinschmidt said.

“The way it’s set up right now — it’s a mousetrap game. We need a more effective one-stop shop.”

The council also discussed ways in which Chapel Hill and Carrboro fit into the county’s larger plans after receiving a proposal to privatize the county’s recycling.

With private recycling services such as Waste Management, Waste Industries and Republic Services ready to take over recycling duties from the county, Town Manager Roger Stancil recommended a plan that would allow Orange County another five-year monopoly on recycling services at a set fee.

But council member Gene Pease said the council isn’t ready to decide on the issue yet.

“As far as I’m concerned, the county has been asleep in terms of getting us information about this,” Pease said.

And Kleinschmidt said while the county’s recycling services may continue to work for other parts of the county, it may not be the best fit for Chapel Hill.

“The difference between rural and urban recycling is vast,” Kleinschmidt said. “Perhaps we could benefit from just focusing on our needs and Carrboro’s.”

The recycling issue will be revisited in later meetings.

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