Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Member Handbook
April 2015
Table of Contents
Purposes of the CHC……………………………………………………………………………………………………….2
History of the CHC………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
Member job description………………………………………………………………………………………………...5
Together! Healthy Knox and MAPP…………………………………………………………………………………6
Bylaws……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
Ordinances & resolutions (foundational documents)…………………………………………………..13
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Purposes of the Community Health Council
1. Support and steer Knox County’s MAPP process (Mobilizing for Action through
Planning and Partnerships) with facilitation and support from the Knox County
Health Department. The CHC will act as a leadership team for the MAPP process.
2. Assess and evaluate health, the perception of health, the performance of the
local public health system, and future conditions relating to health in Knox
County.
3. Promulgate goals and objectives for the local public health system in Knox
County in the form of an action plan every three years.
4. Communicate MAPP assessment results and action plans to community partners,
the public, and the organizations and agencies of the local public health system.
5. Act as a forum for discussion and coordination of community-wide efforts to
improve health outcomes and local public health system function in Knox
County.
6. Act as an advisory body to elected and appointed officials in matters of health.
2
Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
History of the Community Health Council
The Community Health Council grew from an initiative called Together! Healthy Knox
(T!HK) that began in May 2010 with twenty community partners and the mission, “a
community approach to better health.” Those twenty partners made up the T!HK
Leadership Team:
• Marie Alcorn, United Way
• Kristy Altman, Knoxville Track Club
• David Brace, City of Knoxville
• Martha Buchanan, Knox County Health Department
• Jim Decker, MEDIC Regional Blood Center
• Jim Dickson, YMCA of East Tennessee
• Paul Erwin, University of Tennessee Center for Public Health
• Mark Field, Knoxville Chamber
• Coral Getino, HoLa Hora Latina
• Carolyn Hansen, Compassion Coalition
• Ben Harrington, Mental Health Association of East Tennessee
• Melissa Knight, Interfaith Health Clinic
• Jack Lacey, University of Tennessee Medical Center
• Aneisa McDonald, Coordinated School Health, Knox County Schools
• Gus Paidousis, Knoxville Police Department
• Karen Pershing, Metropolitan Drug Commission
• Madeline Rogero, City of Knoxville Community Development
• Grant Rosenberg, Knox County Community Development
• Warren Sayre, Summit Medical Group
• Rosalyn Tillman, Pellissippi State Community College
This original Leadership Team’s vision for the future was “building a diverse, vibrant
community that nurtures good health and quality of life.” They hoped to encourage a
broad understanding of the concept of health in our community: physical, mental,
spiritual and social. Using the MAPP model (Mobilizing for Action through Planning and
Partnerships, more information on page 7 of this member handbook), the Leadership
Team utilized data collected by the Knox County Health Department, along with data
they collected through about perceptions of local health resources to identify three
overarching strategic issues for health improvement:
1. How can we achieve equitable health outcomes for all community
members? (equity)
2. How can we create a sustainable network of partnerships that effectively
contributes to improved community health? (partnerships)
3. How can we position health as a consideration in community policy and
planning decisions? (policy)
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
In May 2011, the T!HK Leadership Team invited a wider circle of community partners to
tackle these issues. As a result, three Action Teams (Equity, Partnerships, and Policy)
with representatives from more than fifty community organizations and agencies
convened and spent over a year creating an action plan to address these strategic
issues. Implementation of this action plan began in January 2013 and will run until
approximately June 2014, after which an evaluation and new assessment period will
begin.
Also in January 2013, the T!HK Leadership Team officially became the Community
Health Council (CHC) serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of
Farragut. The CHC was established by an ordinance of the Knox County Commission,
with a supporting resolution from the City of Knoxville and a supporting ordinance from
the Town of Farragut (all included in this member handbook). Together! Healthy Knox is
now officially an initiative of the Community Health Council.
The second iteration of THK began in January 2014. The Community Health Assessment
report is expected to be completed in June 2015, and the Community Health
Improvement Plan by the end of 2015. Implementation of the plan will last through
2016 and 2017, if not longer.
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Member Job Description
The Community Health Council serving Knox County, the City of Knoxville, and the Town
of Farragut (hereafter referred to as “our community”) was convened in January 2013
for the following purposes:
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Support and steer a health improvement process in our community, with
facilitation and support from the Knox County Health Department.
Assess and evaluate health, the perception of health, the performance of the
local public health system, and future conditions relating to health in our
community.
Establish strategic objectives for improving health in our community.
Promulgate goals and objectives for the local public health system in our
community in the form of an action plan every three years.
Communicate assessment results and action plans to community partners, the
public, and the organizations and agencies of the local public health system.
Act as a forum for discussion and coordination of community-wide efforts to
improve health outcomes and local public health system function in our
community.
Act as an advisory body to elected and appointed officials in our community in
matters of health.
Diversity of Membership:
Members will be selected so as to assure the CHC represents a broad cross-section of
interests. Factors for consideration include, but are not limited to: geographic
representation; business, non-profit, government and grassroots community interests;
populations or sectors typically underrepresented or disproportionately affected by
health concerns; populations, individuals or sectors with the ability to affect change.
Length of Commitment:
• Members will serve three-year terms.
Estimated Time Required:
• One monthly meeting lasting two hours (24 hours per year).
• Possibly one to two hours a month in meeting preparation or follow-up.
Desired Attributes:
• Commitment to improving the health of our community.
• Knowledge related to various health issues and/or community resources, and a
willingness to participate in the planning and implementation process.
• Ability to represent an important perspective, organization, or sector of our
community.
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Together! Healthy Knox and MAPP
The Together! Healthy Knox (T!HK) initiative is based on the MAPP model (Mobilizing for
Action through Planning and Partnerships) created by the National Association of
County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC). MAPP is both a community-wide strategic planning tool for
improving public health, and a method to help communities prioritize public health
issues, identify and coordinate resources for addressing them, and take action. A
successful MAPP process is driven by three key ideas:
• strategic thinking: using data to make decisions and carefully evaluating process
and outcomes to inform the next iteration of the model.
• the community as driver: decisions are made by consensus among those
involved, not from the top down.
• and a focus on the local public health system: this is all the entities with an
impact on health, from the Health Department and care providers to businesses
to churches to law enforcement to community groups. MAPP is most successful
when stakeholders from all these groups and more are involved in planning and
implementation.
MAPP is an iterative process with
specific steps meant to be repeated
every three to five years:
1. Organize for success: identify
lead agencies or organizations
and build organizational
commitment to the process.
2. Partnership development:
identify stakeholder
organizations, partners and
community residents who will
participate. Make it clear the
level of commitment will need to
be high.
3. Visioning: Ask stakeholders to agree on a shared vision and common values to
provide a framework for pursuing long-range community goals.
4. Four assessments (summary reports available at www.healthyknox.org):
a. Community Health Status Assessment: identifies priority community
health and quality of life issues. Questions answered include, “How
healthy are our residents?” and “What does the health status of our
community look like?”
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
b. Community Themes & Strengths Assessment: provides a deep
understanding of the issues residents feel are important by answering the
questions, “What is important to our community?” “How is quality of life
perceived by our community?” and “What assets do we have that can be
used to improve community health?”
c. Local Public Health System Assessment: a comprehensive assessment
that includes all of the organizations and entities that contribute to the
public’s health. Answers the questions, “What are the activities,
competencies, and capacities of our local public health system?” and
“How are the Ten Essential Public Health Services being provided to our
community?”
d. Forces of Change Assessment: focuses on the identification of forces such
as legislation, technology, and other impending changes that affect the
context in which the community and its public health system operate.
Answers the questions, “What is occurring or might occur that affects
that health of our community or the local public health system?” and
“What specific threats or opportunities are generated by these
occurrences?”
5. Identify strategic issues: participants identify linkages between the MAPP
assessment results to determine the most critical issues that must be addressed
for the community to achieve its vision. (In our community, the T!HK Leadership
Team performed this step.)
6. Formulate goals & strategies: participants set down how to address each
strategic issue. (In our community, the T!HK Equity, Partnerships, and Policy
Action Teams performed this step.)
7. Action Cycle
a. Plan: Action Teams created an action plan.
b. Implement: our implementation period for this action plan is January
2013 to June 2014.
c. Evaluate: evaluation will be an important part of implementation.
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Bylaws
January 8, 2015
Article 1. Name
The name of the organization shall be the Community Health Council, also referred to in
this document as the CHC. The CHC shall serve Knoxville, Knox County, and the town of
Farragut. This organization was established as a result of the Together! Healthy Knox
initiative begun in 2009.
Article 2. Purposes
Section 1. Support and steer Knox County’s MAPP process (Mobilizing for Action
through Planning and Partnerships) with facilitation and support from the Knox County
Health Department. The CHC will act as a leadership team for the MAPP process.
Section 2. Assess and evaluate health, the perception of health, the performance of the
local public health system, and future conditions relating to health in Knox County.
Section 3. Promulgate goals and objectives for the local public health system in Knox
County in the form of an action plan every three years.
Section 4. Communicate MAPP assessment results and action plans to community
partners, the public, and the organizations and agencies of the local public health
system.
Section 5. Act as a forum for discussion and coordination of community-wide efforts to
improve health outcomes and local public health system function in Knox County.
Section 6. Act as an advisory body to elected and appointed officials in matters of
health.
Article 3. Members
Section 1. There shall be no fewer than thirteen members and no more than twenty-one
members on the CHC. One each shall be appointed by the following entities, for a total
of six appointed members:
• City Mayor
• County Mayor
• City Council
• County Commission
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
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Town of Farragut Mayor
Town of Farragut Board of Alderman
Section 2. The Director of the Knox County Health Department or his/her designee shall
be a standing member of the CHC.
Section 3. Terms of service will be three years in length, and will begin in April. If an
appointing authority has not appointed a member by April 1, then the member whose
term has expired shall serve until a successor has been appointed.
Section 4. Members shall be nominated and appointed to the CHC pursuant to the
following procedures:
4.01. Members shall begin their terms in a ‘staggered’ manner with no more than onethird of the membership rotating off per year.
4.02. The Executive Team (see Article 7 for more information) shall prepare and present
a list of recommended candidates to the members of the CHC for consideration and
action at the January meeting. The Chair of the CHC will forward a list of these
prospective members to the City Mayor, the County Mayor, the City Council, the County
Commission, the Town of Farragut Mayor and the Town of Farragut Board of Alderman
as potential appointees. The remainder of the prospective members will be invited to
join the CHC contingent upon a majority vote by CHC members.
4.03. The Executive Team will consider the diversity of Knox County when deliberating
over recommended candidates to assure the CHC represents a broad cross-section of
interests. Factors for consideration include, but are not limited to: geographic
representation; business, non-profit, government and grassroots community interests;
socio-economic diversity; race, ethnicity, disability, gender, and sexual orientation;
other populations or sectors typically underrepresented or disproportionately affected
by health concerns; populations, individuals or sectors with the ability to affect change.
4.04. In the event of inability to serve or resignation, the Chair of the CHC, in
consultation with the Executive Team, will make a recommendation to the CHC for a
replacement to complete the vacated term. Specially appointed members are then
eligible to be nominated for a full term after completing their appointed term.
Section 5. No person shall serve more than two consecutive terms as a member.
Exceptions may be made upon majority vote of the CHC.
Section 6. CHC member attendance is expected at every meeting of the CHC. In the
event of three consecutive absences without contacting either the Chair or facilitating
staff, a CHC member will be sent an advisory letter informing him or her of non9
Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
compliance with bylaws. In the event of one further unannounced absence with no
response to the initial letter, the member will be sent a second letter in which he or she
may be asked to resign.
Section 7. Any CHC member may resign at any time by submitting a written resignation
to the Chair. Resignations will be reported at the next regularly scheduled meeting of
the CHC.
Section 8. No member or staff shall represent him/herself or act as CHC spokesperson
without prior designation from the CHC.
Section 9. Each CHC member is required to review and sign a conflict of interest form
annually.
Article 4. Officers
Section 1. CHC officers shall be a Chair, a Chair-Elect, and a Past Chair, and such other
officers as may from time to time be elected by the CHC.
Section 2. The Chair shall preside at meetings and perform other duties prescribed by
these bylaws. The Chair shall be the principal spokesperson for the CHC and shall sign
official communications from the CHC. The Chair, from time to time, may appoint
committees to perform specific duties related to the CHC’s purpose.
Section 3. The Chair-Elect shall preside in the absence of the Chair and may perform
other duties of the Chair when empowered by the Chair to do so. Upon completion of
the one-year term, the Chair-Elect will assume the position of Chair for the following
year.
Section 4. The position of Past Chair shall be filled by the immediate past chair of the
CHC. The Past Chair shall act in an advisory role to the Chair and the Chair-Elect.
Section 5. Officers shall be elected at the March meeting. Nominations may be made
from the floor at that time. In the event of contest for an office, voting shall be by
secret ballot.
Section 6. Terms of office shall begin in April and shall continue for one year and until a
successor assumes office.
Section 7. No person may serve more than two consecutive terms in the same office.
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Section 8. In the event an officer is unable to serve or resigns from his or her office, the
Executive Team shall place name(s) in nomination for the election of a replacement at
the next regular meeting of the CHC.
Section 9. An officer may be recalled from office by a majority vote of the full
membership at a regular or called meeting of the CHC.
Article 5. Meetings
Section 1. Regular meetings of the full CHC shall be held at least six times per year.
Section 2. The date, time and place of the regular meetings shall be fixed by the CHC and
announced to members at least one week prior to the meeting date.
Section 3. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum for conduct of business
except as specified elsewhere in these bylaws.
Section 4. Special meetings may be called by the Chair for a specific purpose, with three
days’ notice. In order to conduct business, a quorum must be present.
Section 5. The Executive Team shall meet as necessary.
Section 6. Visitors and non-members are welcome to attend and observe CHC meetings.
Participation in discussion will be time-limited and only upon recognition by the Chair.
Article 6. Voting
Section 1. At all meetings of the CHC, except as otherwise expressly required by these
bylaws, all matters shall be decided upon by the affirmative vote of a majority of
members present at or teleconferencing/video-conferencing into the meeting. The
Chair shall be entitled to vote on all matters.
Section 2. Voting by email is permissible. The call for vote must be sent by email to all
members and will be closed after the stated due date and will remain open for at least
two full business days after the call was sent. A quorum of members must respond for
the vote to be valid, and the decision will go to the majority of votes cast. All decisions
made by email vote must be ratified at the next regular meeting and recorded in the
minutes.
Article 7. Committees
Section 1. The officers (Chair, Chair-Elect and Past Chair) together with at least two (2)
CHC members appointed at the March meeting by the Chair shall constitute the
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Executive Team, which is empowered to act for the CHC in emergencies or when timely
action is required between regular meetings. All Executive Team actions in the name of
the CHC must be ratified at the next regular meeting of the CHC and recorded in the
minutes. The duties and responsibilities of the Executive Team shall include assisting
the Chair in preparing for CHC meetings and nominating candidates for membership on
the CHC. The Executive Team shall also perform other such duties as may be assigned
by the CHC and which are not inconsistent with these bylaws.
Section 2. The CHC membership may establish and dissolve committees in order to
research, study, evaluate, and make recommendations, etc. on various issues. Special
Committee members will be recognized and/or appointed by the CHC Chair from council
membership and from other appropriate organizations or groups as needed. Special
Committees will report regularly to the Executive Team and/or the CHC. The chair or
another designee from each Special Committee should serve on the CHC, pursuant to
the following procedures:
2.01. The Special Committee shall nominate a minimum of 2, preferably 3, active
committee participants to serve on the CHC as the committee’s designee, and the CHC
will choose one.
Section 3. No one member shall serve as chair for more than one standing committee
and special committee at any one time. Every committee will consist of at least three
people.
Article 8. Amendments
Section 1. These bylaws may be amended by affirmative vote of a majority of the total
membership at a regular meeting or at a special meeting called for that purpose.
Written notice of the proposed changes shall be in the hands of members at least two
weeks prior to the meeting at which the vote to approve is scheduled.
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Community Health Council
serving the City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the Town of Farragut
Foundational Documents
1. Knox County Commission ordinance O-12-11-101
2. Knoxville City Council resolution R-369-2012 (in support of County Commission
ordinance O-12-11-101)
3. Town of Farragut Board of Aldermen ordinance 12-18 (in support of County
Commission ordinance O-12-11-101)
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