MANSFIELD — Health commissioner Julie Chaya believes that as Richland County grows, the health department must grow with it.
“Previous administrations at the health department were really trying to shrink things,” said Chaya, who took over as head of Richland Public Health (RPH) in February. “I’m really trying to expand it.”
Chaya and Kevin VanMeter, the agency’s director of fiscal operations met with Richland County Commissioners Tuesday morning.
After discussing the RPH’s 10-year financial projections and Chaya’s goals for the agency, the commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a resolution of necessity.
The resolution will allow RPH to put a half-mill levy renewal on the ballot in November. As a renewal, the levy would not cost local property owners additional taxes. According to VanMeter, the issue currently costs the owner of a $100,000 property about $17 a year.
Agency officials will meet with commissioners again at a later date to officially have the issue placed on the ballot.
According to VanMeter, RPH has two 10-year levies totaling 1.4 mills that provide about a third of the agency’s funding. The rest comes primarily from grants and fees.
If renewed, the half-mill provision will continue to generate about $800,000 per year.
VanMeter’s 10-year projections found that if this year’s levy is renewed, along with the other levy up for renewal in 2025, the agency will maintain a positive cash balance until 2032.
VanMeter told commissioners his estimates were based on maintaining current staffing levels, along with 2-percent salary increases and 5-percent hikes in insurance costs.
Nevertheless, both Chaya and VanMeter talked about the department’s potential for growth in the future.
Chaya said the renewal is necessary to ensure the department can expand while continuing to provide public health services throughout the county.
“We want to make sure that our citizens are happy and healthy all throughout Richland County by making sure that no matter what time of the year that they’re able to access quality public health services at any time,” Chaya said.
The officials also said the levy renewal would help keep fees low for county residents, homeowners and businesses.
RPH provides dozens of services, including immunizations, birth and death certificates, community health screenings, tuberculosis testing and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.
The agency also oversees inspections and licensing for restaurant and food trucks, septic and plumbing systems and other environmental health systems. VanMeter said for many of those services, the fees RPH charges don’t cover the cost.
“If you look around at other counties, our fees are on the low end,” VanMeter said.
Chaya said she’d like to increase staffing in the future. According to VanMeter, the department did not add employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This past year at Inkcarceration, I only had 10 environmental health staff members to be able to do the hundreds, if not thousands, of inspections they had to do for all the food, all of the tattoo and body artists, and then all of the campgrounds,” Chaya said.
Commissioner Mears asked if the health department is able to get contractors during such events.
“We tried really hard to dip into neighboring counties or try to find other contractors, that workforce in the public health field is just not there right now,” Chaya said.
“That one weekend, it takes us a whole year to get prepared for that as well. We have months of meetings and preparation and plan reviews.”
Chaya pointed out that Inkcarceration isn’t the only event that requires a robust team of environmental health professionals.
”That’s just one of the events that we cover. Think of any other festival or fair or anything in between that either has camping or food,” she said.
“As the county continues to grow, the health department goes with it to make sure that if we do get an influx of more festivals, more events, more hotels, more restaurants, we’re able to address them quickly.”
Chaya said RPH will be ready for next year’s solar eclipse and is already preparing for a rush of visitors.
“We shouldn’t have any issues with folks who are coming into town with pop-up camps and food trucks and whatnot,” she said.
Chaya said additional staff could also help continue the free AED and CPR training offered through the health department.
The program, which also offers free AED units, started as a grant-funded initiative. RPH has continued it with its own funding due to the overwhelming community response.
“I cannot get AEDs and the Red Cross training out to folks fast enough,” Chaya said.
VanMeter said the RPH currently has 63 staff members. There’s no pre-approved staffing level, but VanMeter shared there were 125 staff members when he joined the agency 14 years ago.
“We have made some some changes to our operations that allowed us to reduce that staff,” VanMeter said. “As we now go back into growth, we’ll kind of grow that.”
Chaya also told commissioners RPH began covering the cost of countywide mosquito spraying and surveillance this spring.
“We have significantly expanded that program,” Chaya said. “Before, every city, township and village in the area, if they wanted to participate in that program, they had to pay for it.”
Before their vote, commissioners complimented Chaya and VanMeter on the RPH’s services.
“I’m just thrilled with the phenomenal work you’re doing to keep the residents healthy in a cost effective fashion,” Commissioner Cliff Mears said.
Commissioner Darrell Banks called attention to the WIC program.
“For 15-20 years I’ve heard so many people say how much that’s helped them,” he said.
Vote no…they do nothing for city residents…no racoon removal no rat bait no home or rental inspection…just plain nothing. Heck they don’t even go to hotels with bed bugs or roaches either. If it isn’t helping the whole county that money could better spent elsewhere.