The Emery County Commission held a special meeting to discuss a resolution regarding their intent to withdraw from the Southeastern Utah District Health Department.
Commissioner Lynn Sitterud said the resolution sets in motion the proper time frame of notice should the board of commissioners decide to withdraw from the Southeastern Utah District Health Department. Notice must be given to the health department 90 days in advance of the Dec. 31 deadline for withdrawal each year.
Carbon County has filed a resolution showing their intent to withdraw from the health department.
Emery County can rescind the resolution at any time before Dec. 31.
Roxanne Jensen is the current chairman of the board for the health department. She addressed the commission saying she was very concerned and hopes the issues can be resolved so the tri-county health department can remain intact.
She suggested the commissioners talk to the state health department to receive input from them.
Commissioner Sitterud said they value Jensen’s service and they are not trying to ram something through, but they need to have options in place come Dec. 31. He said the commission will look closely at the issues, there is an apparent dysfunction on the board and differences of opinions. He hopes these differences aren’t so big that Carbon County and Grand County cannot come together. Carbon County is the host county for the health department.
The Emery County Commission would like to see a functioning board. The health department has been operating with an interim director since the retirement of Dave Cunningham.
County Attorney Mike Olsen suggested they hire the interim director Brady Bradford and move forward.
Commissioner Kent Wilson said the commission must do what’s best for the citizens of Emery County and at this time the health department board is not functioning well.
The search for a director started in May, it turned out the person the board had selected to hire, didn’t meet the qualifications, not having three years of executive service.
Wilson said it’s been six months and a director still hasn’t been hired. The issue of a director has been consuming the meetings and there haven’t been reports from the entities and discussion on the status of the health department.
Commissioner Wilson said Carbon County has conflicts and they would like to see a new board put in place. There will be a meeting on Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. to see if the issues Carbon County has can be resolved. Carbon County will address their concerns and offer solutions.
The health department has been operating and services are still being provided, the concern of the Emery Commissioners is with the board. Commissioner Wilson said there is a need to straighten out the board of directors, they have one employee and that’s the director; the board gives policy and guidance to help the director do their job. Wilson feels if an entire new board is created they will put everything at risk, there needs to be some experienced members remain on the board.
Commissioner Sitterud said they hope to do what’s best for Emery County. No official decisions have been made, the process just needed to begin in case a change needs to be made.
The interim director, Bradford is allowed to serve for one year, which will be up in March 2018.
“So you can’t agree on a permanent director? Is that the problem,” asked Attorney Olsen.
Jensen said when the director they chose didn’t meet the criteria, there were those on the board who wanted to offer it to the second choice and those who wanted to reopen it to applicants from around the United States.
Currently everything is on hold, but Jensen said they are ready to move forward to advertise the position again.
Now that things are up in the air, it’s hard to offer a position to someone without knowing how many counties will be involved and what the position will look like. Another problem is the board said the vote to hire a new director must be a unanimous vote. This is a departure from their usual procedure which state two-thirds vote was enough. The board consists of nine members.
Attorney Olsen said he didn’t understand the need for a worldwide search. Cunningham before he left was working with Bradford and Bradford is the interim director, so just hire him and get on with the business of running the health department.
Attorney Olsen suggested they get a meeting set-up with the board, get the six votes needed and hire a new director.
The commission voted to approve the resolution to withdraw from the Southeastern Utah District Health Department. Commissioner Sitterud will be attending the meeting on Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. to hear Carbon County’s concerns.
Commissioner Wilson said he will meet with Roxanne Jensen and Kathy-Kearney-Reeves (health department board members) on Oct. 9 to discuss what happened at the Oct. 6 meeting. Carbon County’s attorney will be at the meeting as well as Attorney Olsen for Emery County.
If Carbon County moves on, since they are the host county, many decisions would need to be made as to the future of the health department for Emery County.
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