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LISBON -- The Columbiana County Health District board continued efforts to streamline by approving a restructuring of the administrative division, creating a new clerk III position and posting it along with a clerk II job.
"We wanted to gain efficiency and create opportunities for cross-training. We need depth in all of our positions," county Health Commissioner Dr. Wes Vins said.
The board approved the changes Wednesday after meeting in executive session behind closed doors regarding personnel matters. When they returned to open session, one of the decisions board members made besides the restructuring was to hire Sonya Langdon of East Liverpool as the new vital statistics registrar and a clerk II.
Longtime registrar Debbe Chuck will retire effective March 29 after 26 years on the job and spend time training her replacement. The registrar is the person who handles birth and death certificates and works closely with area funeral homes. Chuck announced her retirement earlier this year.
Langdon was one of 51 applicants for the job. Vins said the focus was on people who had some experience with vital statistics. The pool was narrowed down to six applicants who were contacted for interviews, with four actually doing the interviews. Langdon has experience from working at a funeral home. Her start date is Monday.
A clerk II position that was open due to the resignation of former deputy registrar Kayla Rose will now be advertised, with the duties including backup for the registrar, but with the majority of time doing environmental work. The new position, clerk III, also to be advertised, will handle environmental work and administrative duties.
In other business, board voted 3-1 to update the procurement policy to match the state law revision raising the spending ceiling without bidding from $50,000 to $75,000. Board member Linda Garwood was the lone member to vote against the measure, saying "I think you should leave it the way it is."
She said that's a lot of money to go without bidding.
"We want to be consistent with what state law says," Vins said.
He also explained that it's no different than other governmental agencies, including the county commissioners. He said projects will still go out for estimates, preferably for three or more if possible. Commissioner Tim Weigle clarified that's what commissioners try to do if there's a request for proposals, to get at least three.
The board also voted for an emergency adoption of a fee for a new food service category of low risk mobile, with the local fee half of what the local fee is for the current mobile category.
Environmental Director Laura Fauss noted that the board had already approved the new food service fees for 2024, which went into effect on Feb. 1. The Ohio Department of Agriculture created the new rule for a low risk mobile category effective Feb. 12, forcing the health board to have to change the fee quick to comply with new state rules.
Vins said he expressed concerns over the quick turnaround without being able to notify the public ahead of time. For food service fees, the board normally does three readings at separate meetings in the fall and holds a public hearing for food service providers.
Fauss said an example of a low risk mobile food service provider would be Schwan's, which delivers frozen foods to homes. The new fee is $80.50, with $52.50 for the local department and $28 for the state. The other mobile category will now be considered high risk and stay at the higher fee approved in December.
In other matters, the board approved $1,800 in travel expenses for emergency preparedness coordinator Kayla Hamilton to attend the Preparedness Summit in Cleveland March 25-28 and issued board orders against Toneya Roberts, Ninth Avenue, East Liverpool, for an accumulation of trash.
Fauss said Roberts had agreed to get rid of at least six bags of garbage per week until the mess was cleaned up, but when she visited the property in January, nothing had been done. She felt board orders were necessary.
The next health board meeting will be 4:30 p.m. March 20 at the health department on state Route 45.