What’s going on with the Wells County Health Department?
That seems to be a question a number of people are asking. It is clear from Holly Gaskill’s account of last Thursday’s meeting that the board is struggling with trying to fill key open positions and pressure from some elected officials. Meanwhile, who is impacted? Who suffers? Clearly those remaining employees and the public.
Reluctant but willing interim administrator Marlene Hoag, the essential definition of “public servant,” has had trouble filling open positions. There is disagreement with the elected officials as to whether the administrator and vital records clerk is one opening or two. It is unclear whether Hoag’s difficulties in filling those positions is the result of insufficient pay or the department’s state of turmoil. Meanwhile, the environmental specialist position also remains open.
Although short-staffed, as reported in the Oct. 20 edition, the department has continued to field public health complaints. However, the commissioners’ request to be notified before the department takes any action has further delayed the department’s ability to respond.
Dr. Kay Johnson, health officer, indicated that the employees are understandably a bit gun-shy after elected officials — at least one commissioner and a county council member — got involved when a local restaurant encountered possible issues. Employees recognize, Johnson said, they have to “increase communications so we don’t get criticized or, you know, our heads taken off.”
Lewis Brown, superintendent of the Regional Sewer District who has been attending meetings in an effort to help, compared the current situation to issues he had experienced in the past when he was in the septic tank business and had some disagreements with former commissioners. “(This) strips the health department of any enforcement,” he said.
And perhaps that is exactly the elected officials’ goal.
One has to wonder if they would have stepped in if the inspections and possible violations had been in regard to any other restaurant in Wells County. Yergy’s BBQ’s run-ins with the department during the pandemic and the subsequent political issues have placed several elected officials at odds with the health department’s role. And now they seem to be handcuffing them.
There is also the matter of the enhanced public health funding offered by the state but turned down by three of Indiana’s 92 counties, including Wells. Gov. Holcomb describes the program as an option, not a state takeover, intended to help communities “address quality of place.”
Hoag told the Indiana Chronicle back in August — as it was also reported to the News-Banner — that the commissioners declined the funding because the timing wasn’t right due to the staffing issues. The Chronicle noted, referring to Wells County, that “not every county forgoing the funding did so due to political reasons.” I’m not so sure.
The situation reminds me of the current mess in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.) essentially succeeded in a palace coup but then walked away with no plan for moving forward. He seemed to be relishing in the subsequent chaos. At least the House has finally chosen a Speaker and have the structure to move on.
Public health is an important part of what government does. Those elected officials involved in blowing up the Wells County Health Department need to be there to help them move forward. Their absence at last week’s board meeting does not indicate a desire to fix things and to allow the department to perform their duties.
The resignations that sparked the department’s issues and the elected officials’ interventions happened in July. Nearly four months later, where are we at?
Taxpayers can rightfully ask: “What’s going on at the health department?”
miller@news-banner.com
