MANSFIELD, Ohio – The Richland Public Health Board said hello to new staff members and goodbye to others during their regular meeting on Monday evening, and was brought up to speed on the current levy campaign.
The board unanimously approved the hire of Joe Harrod as the new director of environmental health effective Aug. 31 to fill the pending vacancy created by the retirement of current Director of Environmental Health Matt Work. Work will officially retire on Sept. 30.
“There will be an overlap training period of approximately one month, that way Matt can introduce Joe into our processes and work with him to help him get a good jump-start,” said Rick Grega, director of human resources and IT for Richland Public Health.
Grega explained Harrod is joining Richland Public Health after serving as the program coordinator for Columbus Public Health since March 2004. Grega described Harrod as “a very qualified individual,” and noted Harrod currently lives just outside of the Lexington area.
“He had expressed an interest in my position a few years ago, and said if I ever retired he’d be interested because he lives in this area,” added Work with a laugh. “You won’t find a guy that is more well spoken of professionally, and I think he’ll be a great fit for our agency. I think he’ll do a fantastic job of picking up where I leave off.”
Work has served as the director of environmental health for Richland Public Health since July 2008. On behalf of the board, Chairman Dr. Janice Reed passed along best wishes again to Work for his years of service.
“It’s been my pleasure,” said Work.
Levy update
The board also received an update on the 10-year, 0.9-mill health renewal levy campaign slated to be on the November ballot. The levy, which generates about $1.6 million annually, helps fund many of the services provided by Richland Public Health, including health education, communicable disease surveillance, health clinics, and emergency preparedness.
Kevin VanMeter, director of fiscal operations, stated an internal planning group for the levy met to brainstorm ideas on how to spend the $6,000 allotted for campaign expenses. Suggestions included updated signage and flyers, and VanMeter stated the group is currently looking for organizations that would like to donate advertising space – he noted Graham Auto Mall agreed to donate their billboard space to Richland Public Health.
“We would pay for the paper that would go up, but the donated space would be very much welcome,” said VanMeter. “Donation doesn’t have to come to us in money.”
VanMeter also noted a number of public figures have expressed an interest in speaking in support of the levy campaign, including former Richland County Commissioner Ed Olson, retired Col. Mike Howard and former Mansfield City Council member Ellen Haring. He encouraged board members to think outside the box when promoting the levy.
“There are a lot of people that are really very supportive of Richland Public Health and what missions we do within the community,” said VanMeter. “We have great support but we definitely don’t want to sit back, we need to be out there. The more positive messages we send out into the community, the better we are.”
