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Minutes 625 Shadow Lane Chair Fairchild called the meeting of the Chief Health Officer Succession Committee to order at 10:00 a.m. She noted that she had been provided with the Affidavits of Posting and Mailing of Agenda meeting notices, as required by Nevada’s Open Meeting Law. The Affidavits will be incorporated into the Official Minutes. Committee Members Present:
Absent:
Executive Secretary:
Legal Counsel:
Other SNHD Board of Health Attendees:
Staff: Lawrence Sands, DO, MPH: Mike Walsh; Jennifer Sizemore; Stephanie Bethel; Angus MacEachern; Bonnie Sorenson; Jane Shunney; Alice Costello; MaryEllen Harrell; Forrest Hasselbauer; Diana Lindquist; and Shelli Clark Public Attendance:
The following is a verbatim transcription of the Southern Nevada District Board of Health Chief Health Officer Succession Committee meeting. I. Call to Order Chair Fairchild: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are now going to convene the Southern Nevada District Board of Health Chief Health Officer Succession Sub-Committee meeting. And of the four applicants that we sent invitations to, one applicant is here to be interviewed: Dr. Sands. II. Discussion A. Interview Applicant(s) for Assistant Health Officer position Dr. Sands: Good morning. Chair Fairchild: Good morning, sir. I don’t know how everyone wants to perhaps do this. If everyone wants ask a question, or would you like to have Dr. Sands just kind of do an overview, what is the Board’s, or committee’s . . . Dr. Kwalick: Madam Chair, you all received Dr. Sands’ application and his CV, etc.? Chair Fairchild: Mr. Jones? Member Crowley: I think we all gave them back to … Various members: We gave them back. Angus MacEachern: I’ve got them. Member Hardy: If I can while they’re being passed out? Chair Fairchild: Please, Dr. Hardy. Member Hardy: I think we were under the impression we were going to have some questions that were going to be common threads through this whole process so we could like we were being consistent with what we were doing and I don’t know if we’d had those generated or not. Chair Fairchild: Angus, were you able to develop those for us? Angus MacEachern: Excuse me, ma’am? Chair Fairchild: Were you able to develop a list of questions for us? Angus MacEachern: When we only had one applicant, the word I received was that we were just going to do a general interview. I’ve got the applications out for you. Many times we start by asking a person why he wants the job. (Laughter) Angus MacEachern: . . . as a starting point. Chair Fairchild: A Reader’s Digest Condensed Version of why you’d like this position. Dr. Sands: Well, sure. Well as most of you may know, I’ve been here almost two years as the Director of Community Health. I came here originally from after having a public health career in Arizona for about seventeen years, and looking back I’ve been very happy with the decision to come here. There’s certainly a lot of opportunity to do a lot of work in public health here in Nevada, and particularly in Southern Nevada. I have enjoyed my time here with the health district and have found it to be a, you know, special place, very unique, I think compared to some of the other places I’ve worked in terms of, you know, its involvement in the community and its role in the community and particularly, you know, how it’s very much a very important part of the viability of the community. And I like being part of the, part of an enterprise like that. I’ve, in the two years I’ve had a chance to learn about the health district, not just in terms of learning my job, but learning about the community, learning how the health district works, and being able to understand the dynamics of what makes the community run and how the health district plays an important part in helping to maintain, as I said, the viability and the overall infrastructure of the community. And I see by stepping up to take the Assistant Health Officer position, it gives me a chance to be able to work in a much more expanded way in the community, and be able to serve the health district and potentially also be considered as a candidate for Dr. Kwalick’s successor. Chair Fairchild: If you had one professional goal and one personal for the District, what would they be? Dr. Sands: I think professional goal for the District would be to look at, to build on the success of the District, and to develop its image and, you know, its role in the community as in terms of building that support, and building on the support in the community and making it, having it being very much connected to all the different elements of the community that help to make this, Southern Nevada, a wonderful place to live. I think with internally, I think one of the things, I’d like a goal would be to continue to improve, you know, how we communicate, not just with our external partners, but also with staff so that we, how we’re keeping everybody informed about how the District operates, what some of the issues are facing the District, and how, the role we play in the community as, showing that everybody’s on the same page so that we all can work together as a team here in the District to make this a good place to work, but also to provide the maximum benefit to the community. My personal goal is really to continue to grow as a professional and continue to take on leadership role of being able to have an impact on the health of the population. That’s one of the reasons I went into public health and left private practice. It was, you know, quite rewarding to be able, you know, to see patients one-on-one individually, but soon in my career I began wanting to have a little bit, ability to have more impact. And I think by working in public health you get the chance to apply what you know in medicine to the overall health of the population and that’s something that I found in my career to be the most satisfying to me. (Comment) Very good. Chair Fairchild: Mr. Jones? Member Jones: Could you maybe give us an example of one program or process that you got initiated with the public health services here and you put together the overview of the mission and how it became such a success with that? Dr. Sands: Well, a number of different areas. The first charge I had was to create a new division. And in doing that, pulling together the team for that division, creating some and cohesiveness between the different programs that up to that point had worked together in various ways, but never really kind of saw themselves as, you know, I think a cohesive team. Developing a mission, a vision, a strategic plan that has come to be very useful with the initiative we have right now with Knowledge Capital Alliance with the strategic planning process that we have. When that started, we had something in our division that we could start building on to, you know, as far as help us lead that process. So that’s one area. The other is that I’ve been able to initiate some partnerships internally as well as externally. We’ve developed the Disease Prevention Control and Advisory Committee that is, has a role in our public health preparedness program in terms of bringing, identifying expert in the community at different levels, both medicine, different, different levels of medicine, science different aspects of the community so we have this kind of “brain trust” so that when we do get into situations with the community where we may have to issue guidance or actually give directives that really may change medical practice or how we do things in the community, that it’s coming not just from the health district but it’s coming from the peers in the community, so that we can all stand together and say this is how we’re going to do business or how we’re going to respond as a medical community to a particular issue. And that’s been put in place. We’ve met a couple time; we’re going to continue to meet into the new year as well. And then last I would say is that one of the things I identified early on, the health district has been very good to me in supporting me going to an institute in Chicago back in my home medical school, back in Chicago where they’re looking to develop osteopathic medical educators and provide training. And so I was given that opportunity to do that, and in doing my project for that, one of the things I identified is that we had a lot of training going on here of health professionals. And as well as that there was increasing demand for the different health professional programs to use the health district as a training site; but we didn’t have any kind of infrastructure in place – it kind of just kind of happened in different ways. And so what I did was I initiated the Academic Affairs Committee where we developed a process of how we, you know, register students, track them and how we make sure when they’re coming into our facility that they’re meeting our requirements as well as that they’re also going to provide something back to us as much as, well you know, as we’re able to give them what they need to meet their academic needs. Member Jones: Thank you. Chair Fairchild: Dr. Hardy? Member Hardy: I’m just absorbing it all. As I look at your qualifications and everything that you’ve been involved with, I appreciate the experience you’ve had and coming to a new position, and then going to another position, and then going to another position, I think the goals question and what you’ve done is very apropos. The transition. How do you see the transition happening and how would you like to see it happen? What would you like to see that process become in specific ways? Dr. Sands: Are you talking about the transition from my current position … Dr. Hardy: From where you are to assistant to successor. What would facilitate that transition so that staff could say, yes you not only have the vision, but you have the wherewithal to accomplish that? Dr. Sands: Right. I think what I would like to see is, you know, certainly Dr. Kwalick and I identifying some particular areas where, above and beyond what in the areas where I should be, could be initiating work in above and beyond what I’ve already have done that would again help with moving the health district forward, as well as the same time prepare me for having even more knowledge or experience in the workings of the health district, and as well as the, working with the community. I think one of the things that, I think, would help with the transition is to meet with certain key people in the community that a health officer would have to able to have a relationships with and would be having interactions with on a regular basis and certainly represent, key people who represent areas of the community where it’s important for the health district to have partnerships and have a, you know, strategic alliance in that vein. And then the other, I’d say, is to continue looking at developing, using the opportunity of the strategic planning process as a way to be able to help with that transition, because whoever takes, you know, moves up to that position is going to be left with having to use that strategic plan and to see that it comes to reality, and I think the part that I would like to see is, to see how that gets, see that process gets well integrated into the District and how we it gets used as a tool not just by staff, but by management so that it’s not just something on paper, that it is something that we really do use as kind of our compass so that to help develop the health district into the future. Dr. Hardy: Thank you. Chair Fairchild: Ms. Crowley? Member Crowley: I’m doing the same thing; I’m absorbing all of this and taking it in. Chair Fairchild: OK. Member Crowley: No questions. Chair Fairchild: Dr. Christensen? Member Christensen: You’ve lived here for two years? Dr. Sands: Mm-hmm. Member Christensen: What’s your passion? Dr. Sands: What’s my… Member Christensen: What do you want to fix, given unlimited resources? Where do you see your future problems and what’s your passion that you need to fix? Dr. Sands: Passion, need to fix. (Sigh). One of my passions, and this goes back to my, you know, experience in the areas where I’ve had success before is looking at the childhood immunization issue, and that is something that, and it’s not just about protecting children against vaccine preventable disease, I mean it’s certainly, that is the immediate outcome that we’re looking to achieve. But also, it’s, it gets so tied into how we deliver preventive services to children and as well as others in the community that it’s, there’s been a lot of good research into it and we, you can show good associations that children who aren’t getting their immunizations probably aren’t getting other preventive services. And by that token, moving that on, you know, if we’re not able to provide preventive ser…, see the children get preventive services, then what are we doing for preventive services for other members of our population? And so I think that, you know, that’s something that I’d certainly would like to be able to focus in on just for those reasons alone to, again, to look at using that as a model how we work together with, you know, the medical community and others in the, other partners in the community, how do we deliver, ensure that preventive services are getting delivered, both to children, but others in the community so that it’s an integral part of how we deliver care and how we all work together. So there is that emphasis on prevention and that there’s a higher level of emphasis on prevention than there is now because certainly, this is true in a lot of, most places in the country, is that, you know, a lot of the emphasis is still is on acute care and I think by raising that awareness and really focusing on a single issue, like childhood immunizations as a leading indicator of preventive services that we can do a lot to create more of that emphasis on preventive services. Member Christensen: The ILM report says that we’re killing hundreds of thousands of people. There’s a couple campaigns out there that hundred thousands lives leapfrog, things like that. How does that fit into public health? Dr. Sands: In terms of…coming…we’re killing hundred thousands…oh, you mean as far as patient safety? Member Christensen: Acute care and safety. Dr. Sands: Absolutely. OK. Acute care. I mean that certainly is a concern with, again, of public health, cause that again is another form of prevention in looking at how, you know, how can we work with our partners in the community to ensure not only are people getting preventive care and getting the health care they need, but making sure the care is delivered efficiently and safely. And certainly I think one of the areas that the health district has, works with very closely and has a big impact, is through the emergency medical services area which is one the, you know, one of the main goals of that, of our program is to ensure that people get the care they need, they get effective care and they get it safely. And that whole process that we use with the Medical Advisory Board, and you just saw this morning that, you know, the Trauma Advisory Board and the Trauma Medical Advisory Committee, Audit Committee, is that’s working towards trying to, you know, play a role into reduce errors and improve patient care and safety overall. So I’d say that there are ways for us if you use that as a model, there certainly is a role for us to be playing in that. Chair Fairchild: Any questions? Any other questions? Member Christensen: We’ve got time if we keep going. Chair Fairchild: Mr. Empey? Member Empey: Dr. Sands, I’m going to ask you a very hard question and then you can talk to Dr. Kwalick. I’ve given him very front, hard questions, decisions. He and I have been working together for twenty-five years. And my background goes back forty-seven years . . . Dr. Kwalick: Seems like twenty-five. (Laughter) Member Empey: . . . about forty-seven years. As you well now, this is a very large and exciting city and community . . . Dr. Sands: Mm-hmm. Member Empey: If we have a bio-disaster, how you gonna use the staff? Dr. Sands: Well, first of all, I mean, as you’re aware, we do have plans in place. They’re constantly being developed and tested and then, you know, re-developed. Staffing is a big concern that I don’t think any health agency has, will have enough of staff to be able to, to be able to respond in, just with that staff that they have. And I think that the role that we’re going to require everybody here in the District to play some role in responding to, in a bioterrorism event. A lot of times the role is going to be more in terms of leading others into intervention, strategies, countermeasures that we design and put into place. And so that’s how I see, you know, we’re going to use a lot of our staff is, you know, is more in that terms of being able to work together, help to pull together the operations or interventions, and the countermeasures, but also having to organize people, other people in the community to help with the implementation and delivery of those countermeasures. Member Empey: You’re going to make some decisions that people are not going to like. Dr. Sands: That’s correct. I mean, and again that’s one of the reasons why we developed the Disease Prevention Control and Advisory Committee, so not so much as, you know, again, the idea of having that kind of shield, but it’s more for that, you know, that there are going to be some decisions that are going to have to be made together with other partners in the community so it’s, so the decisions come out, say for example closing schools in a pandemic. That that’s something that we’ve talked with the school district about that, you know, that’s a decision that is going, probably should be made together with the school district, the health district and probably some of the, you know, municipalities as well, because that’s going to have a big impact on, you know, operations throughout the county, and so we all to be able to go into that together understanding, you know, what, why that’s being done, why that needs to be done, and how we’re going to be looking at the impacts of that. Member Empey: Thank you. Chair Fairchild: Mr. Vigilante? Member Vigilante: In reference to the hotel/casino industry . . . and the relationship to be built other than put aside the regulations set forth. What goals or possible programs or participation would you consider in having the relationship grow together other than just a regulations set forth? Have you thought about that? Dr. Sands: Yes. It’s, I think we’ve been doing a lot of work in that. I mean, one area is certainly with preparedness and that we’ve already initiated, as you know, several processes to work with the casinos so that they can operate as dispensing sites in an emergency so that, you know, it will help both us be able to achieve our goals, as well as the goals of the casinos. Again, it gets back into that whole thing where, all you know, in an emergency of bioterrorism event I mean, we’re all going to have to respond together as a community. So, exercising together, planning together is ways that we bring everybody together so we’re all clear about how we’re all going to operate during those times, and identify where we need to develop a formal relationship, formal relationships. Like right now, we’re working the formal relationships with the casinos to, so they can serve as dispensing sites and perhaps as alternate care sites of some kind or another. So going from there to the other is that in getting back to having an emphasis on prevention services, I think the other with the casino/resort community and employers in general, but the casino/resort community is a major, the major employer, is to work together on workplace health promotion and chronic disease prevention/health promotion-type activities because certainly there’s a lot of resources we have here, even though, you know, we do have a limited staff, they’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit with the resources they’ve had and develop tools and programs that we, you know, that can certainly be adapted and delivered in the workplace settings. And that’s in fact one of the areas that we’re, you know, looking to move more into with our chronic disease/health promotion program as we go into the future. Member Vigilante: Thank you. Chair Fairchild: Mrs. Toney? Member Toney: My question, and I don’t think, it’s not intended to be the same as Dr. Christensen, but my question would be what challenges, and I’m sure there will be several so maybe you can think about the two challenges that you would be faced with and how you would handle that. Dr. Sands: Two challenges, you mean here in the District? Member Toney: Yeah, you’ve been here, what, for a couple of years? Dr. Sands: Couple years, right. I think, well, you know, I’ll give you two, the challenges. Certainly one is funding . . . Member Toney: Excuse me? Dr. Sands: Funding. Funding is always a problem with all organizations, but particularly with public health organizations, that one of the areas is funding is that, to be sure that we’re getting, I think that Southern Nevada is getting its fair share of federal grant dollars that come through the State, because certainly having the largest part of the population down here and having much of the economic engine for this State, it’s important that, you know, you know, both the scale and the size of the issues that we have are much greater. But also it requires that we have need, can have the resources that match the scale of work that that we’re expected to do to control things like S, sexually transmitted diseases, and to see that kids get immunized, and make sure that we’re able to care for patients, people who have tuberculosis, as well as, you know, be able to prepare for pandemics and so forth. So that’s certainly one of the areas that is going to have to be addressed on a number of fronts both at the federal, you know, working with our federal partners but also with our state partners, and also with the other local health authorities. And that’s something that we’ve experienced in the past year, working with the local health, other local health authorities to address that, how to say it, to be sure that, to assure that there’s equitable allocation of funding within the State when funds come into the State for different public health activities. And the other is, is also to see that, to work with the Assembly, with legislature to see that public health does get the resources it needs to do the job that, you know, we’re that expected to do to protect citizens of Nevada here, particularly in Southern Nevada. So, you know, that’s one and the other one, again, is, I think the other challenge is just the shortage of health care professionals, and just health care resources in the state, not just Southern Nevada. I think that definitely, particularly as a new person, you know, has a family and, you know, you have to seek health care sometimes, it’s, I’ve had personal experience with understand, to bring me to the understanding of that. We just don’t have enough people to meet the demand. I think, you know, we have, people get good health care when they’re able to get it by and large, but they don’t, there just isn’t enough of it. So, and I think that shades everything that we do, it makes, it just adds just another, increases the barriers that people have to getting care, and also increase our barriers to being able to initiate different programs because people are just overloaded, and there’s also, you know, even just maintaining a workforce here at the health district sometimes, you know, we have difficulties in making sure that we have enough trained professionals to do the work that needs to be done. Member Toney: Thanks. Chair Fairchild: Ms. Mattocks? Member Mattocks: If I were to go out to the staff that report to you or that work closely with you, and ask them about your management and leadership style what would they tell me? Dr. Sands: I think they would tell you that I’m, work from a team management approach; that my focus is to try to put together the team, promote leadership among the staff, to, you know, give them direction. There’s definitely times that I have my ideas of how things should be done, or could be done, but, you know, I try to give people enough room to innovate, because that’s a key part of what, you know, we try to strive for in our division, and my experience has always been usually the best question to ask people, well how would you like to do this? Because usually people pretty much come up with some very good ideas and in particularly since, you know, they’re the ones that are going to have implement it or direct it in working the front lines, that they, you know, usually best know what’s going to work at the front lines. I, you know, I think my job is to make sure that, you know, they have the support they need to get, to do their job. So I’d say that. You know, I try to bring some humor to work, to the job, that, you know, that everything’s not so, you know, so deadly serious; but, you know, I think it’s okay to have fun at, you know, your job, but you also have to stay focused on, you know, why you’re here and on the mission. And, I, we, I think people say that I’m dedicated, you know, that I work hard. I try to, you know, put in the time that needs to be put in to get, to see, to get the job done. And to make sure that, again, that people get the support they need so that they can get their work done. Member Mattocks: Thank you very much. Chair Fairchild: Are there any further questions? Very good. Dr. Sands, thank you so much for your time. Dr. Sands: Thank you. III. Public Participation Chair Fairchild: We do have, we are allowing for public participation if anyone from the public would like to speak, you are so welcome. Seeing no one, we’ll close the public participation section. IV. Discussion / Action A. Next steps for Chief Health Officer Succession Committee Chair Fairchild: Now we have to decide as the Board how we want to proceed. And obviously we have several options, which is always good. The potential to recommend that Dr. Sands be appointed to the Assistant Chief Health Officer with the idea that he would succeed to Chief Health Officer position when it becomes available in March; second is to fill the position now and to continue interviewing as there are still two applicants that were not able to join us this month, but would be available perhaps next month. What is the Board’s pleasure, or the Committee’s pleasure? Go ahead, Susan. Member Crowley: OK. My preference is not necessarily what I’m going to recommend, or put out there, but I am very impressed with Dr. Sands, and I have been since he came here. I believe he will fill the position of our Chief Health Officer very well. But we have to be prudent, and we have other applicants to look at as well. I would like, you know if it was the just, like, I would like to put him into the position right now. I‘d like to recommend that; but I think it might be prudent to ask if he would take the Assistant position until we have the opportunity to interview the other two candidates that are still available and then make the decision at that point. Member Jones: Are the other candidates interested in other positions, or are they only interested in this point as the Chief Health Officer? Angus MacEachern: Angus, MacEachern. Sir, the other two candidates initially applied for the Assistant Health Officer position; but when the Chief Health Officer position became available, they expressed an interest in that as well. So, I think the answer to your question is yes, they would like to come here and have one or the others jobs. In reality the way the organization is normally run, is that the Assistant Chief Health Officer position is only filled during the recruitment/transition process. Member Jones: So these persons are not, to our knowledge, are not interested in the Community Health Officer? Angus MacEachern: No, they are interested in the Chief Health Officer position. Member Jones: The current position of Dr. Sands, the community health, Director of the Community Health Division. Angus MacEachern: No, we have not recruited for that position at all, nor discussed it with anyone sir, because it’s not a vacant position. Member Jones: OK. Chair Fairchild: Susan? Member Crowley: I have one more question. I think is for Angus. Is there a problem with, when you interview, if you’ve already got somebody filling the position, well I guess it isn’t a problem with it, because we’re interviewing somewhat the for Chief Health Officer and we still have Dr. Kwalick. I was, I was going to ask is there a problem if Dr. sands is willing to take the Assistant position while we interview, if there was a problem interviewing them for that position, so that then we could choose between say three people, one, you know, do you get what I’m saying? Angus MacEachern: I understand what you’re saying . . . Member Crowley: OK. Angus MacEachern: . . . is that it would be a question in my mind of do you, does the Board want the Assistant Health Officer to be a standing filled position versus a position that used in the transition sense, which is the way it’s always been used before. Member Crowley: Yeah, right. Right. Member Jones: And that is doable? To have a Chief Health Officer and an Assistant, going forward? Angus MacEachern: If the Board chose to fund at that level, yes sir, it’s doable. It’s candidly expensive. Member Mattocks: Could you do, could the Assistant Administrator role . . . OK. So let’s say that Dr. Sands moves forward and we have his current position that he currently has, could you roll that into an Assistant Administrator role so that the Assistant Administrator would also take responsibility for that department? I have FTES on my brain, as you can probably tell, and budget and . . . FTEs on my mind. Angus MacEachern: I hesitate really to get into this because really at this point we’re discussing the organizational structure that a new Chief Health Officer would like to have . . . Dr. Kwalick: Right. Member Mattocks: Right. Angus MacEachern: . . . and I would tend to like to believe that would be the new Chief Health Officer’s prerogative to set that organizational structure. Member Mattocks: Right. Dr. Kwalick: Just a comment. Till two years ago there was one full time physician position in the health department. There were two that were established, but only one classically, and that was the Chief Health Officer. We established the Community Health Services division and recruited a board certified, licensed physician with experience in public health, and at that time I was looking towards succession. We advertised broadly for that and didn’t get a lot of hits. I was surprised. We’ve gone through the same process now, first for an Assistant health Officer starting in the spring, and then for the Chief Health Officer when I, the same item really, when I announce that I was going to retire in March. My feeling is that the Assistant, that if the Assistant Health Officer position is filled, that individual could, for a certain period of time, continue to assume the responsibility for the Community Health Services Division. When I took the job, I mean all those people were reporting directly to me. And that’s why I carved out the division. At the same time, the individual would be able to get a better understanding of what’s happening with the District, with many different programs, and not get into necessarily, we’re going to grow and sometime we’re going to need three or four or five full-time physicians, but at least the position would be there that when the needs did occur, those positions could be filled and move the District forward. So, that’s just background information and my feelings at this point in time. Chair Fairchild: Thank you. Dr. Hardy? Member Hardy: I’m looking at the Assistant position and should the Board decide to move forward with Dr. Sands projected to become the replacement for Dr. Kwalick, that would be a default position should, I mean if something happened today, the default position would be to the Assistant, and he would become the Director of the health district. I mean, that’s what would happen realistically. So if I don’t see another candidate bubble to the surface of this, during this process, the Assistant would become the Chief Health Officer. That’s how I look at this. I appreciate Dr. Sands’ remarks about community, and I think he used community in every single answer that he gave, which is vital to what we’re looking at with this, and the other word that starts with a “C” communication, in that it’s probably similar root word in there somewhere, but those are the kinds of things I think that we’re trying to get at with those goals and objectives and what we’re doing with interfacing with the community. And I concur with the thoughts of trying to get those children protected and do preventive and all of those kinds of things that the Community Health Officer has positioned himself to be involved with as the Director, so I think the Assistant as he is now, is in essence, the de facto follower of the Chief Health Officer when the CHO retires. And that is kind of where I stand at this point. Dr. Kwalick: Madame Chair, just another comment. And, I don’t know if this is what happened, but it is possible. One of Dr. Sands’ references is Jonanthan Weisbuch, who is the Director of the Maricopa County Health Department. And when we sent out the advertisements throughout the country, one of his comments back to the person that got it on the American Association of Public health Physicians website said there is a physician there, Dr. Sands, who may have the inside track on there, since he’s already there and he’s worked for a couple of years for the Chief Health Officer’s job, and therefore that limited some of the applications that would occur, which makes good sense. Why should somebody waste time in a position that’s already been filled. I don’t know if that happened or not, I just throw that out to you. Time’s getting short. I’d like to see a smooth transition into this great agency because it is a very unique setup compared to all the other public health agencies that I’ve worked with or federal agencies throughout the country. And I think the more time that’s given to me to have a transition period with my successor the better. The two individuals that could not make it; one is not available until July. When I spoke to him, back probably four or five months ago, he is getting out of the army and he is interested in a public health job in the private sector or government sector at the local level; he’s the veterinarian physician who I think would be worth interviewing sometime in the future, if he is available. The other one is an individual, you saw my notes in the applications that went out, who is, has been in international health and he was in, I believe, Arizona and California and many other places, who has a great background also, and maybe they should be interviewed, sometime in the future. But my druthers at this point in time, and I’ll just throw it out to you, is that the job of Assistant Health Officer is established. It and the Chief Health Officer are the only two positions that are to be appointed by the Board of Health. The salary and the process of the Assistant Health Officer is an exempt position, just like all the Division Directors and Managers at this point in time, reporting to the Chief Health Officer. And I would just suggest that we move forward, you move forward. And let’s get it done. Get it done. B. Recommendations to the Board of Health Chair Fairchild: Susan? Member Crowley: Madame Chair, I would love to make . . . Can I make a motion? I mean, is that how we . . . Chair Fairchild: Yes, it would be a motion for recommendation to the Board. Member Crowley: OK. I would love to make a, not love, I will make a motion that we recommend to the Board that we extend an offer of the Assistant Health Officer position to Dr. Sands. He is eminently qualified; he has impressed me with his, not his medical background and what he’s done in the past, but he seems to have a very good grasp of the business aspects of our health district; not just the health aspects of it, what our challenges are, the things that we’ve expressed before that we’ve had an interest in furthering in the community. He just seems to be eminently qualified, and he has the right set of goals for what we want to accomplish. So I would recommend that we offer that position to Dr. Sands, with the intent that as Dr. Kwalick moves into retirement that that position would then move into the Health Officer, Chief Health Officer position. Member Jones: Second. Chair Fairchild: So we have a motion and a second. All in favor please say “aye.” Committee members said “aye.” (No “nays” were expressed.) Member Crowley: I can extend that as well that I don’t think we need to move with any more interviews, except perhaps with a new Chief Health Officer deciding that he may want to fill Dr. Sands’ position with some applicants that have already been placed with us. Member Jones: Very good. Chair Fairchild: Does the second agree with that? Member Jones: I concur with that. Chair Fairchild: OK. All in favor, please say “aye.” Board members said “aye.” Chair Fairchild: Are there any opposed? (No “nays” were expressed.) Chair Fairchild: Very good. Then this recommendation will move forward at the January meeting. Dr. Sands, congratulations. V. Adjournment Chair Fairchild: Thank you, everybody, for your participation in this committee. Steve Minagil: Are we adjourned, Madame Chair? Chair Fairchild: And we are adjourned. Steve Minagil: Thank you. Chair Fairchild: Thank you, Mr. Minagil. There being no further business to come before the committee, Chair Fairchild adjourned the meeting at 10:40 a.m. Respectfully Submitted, Donna Fairchild, Chair /src |
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