County to get health department again
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By Christa Jennings
Senior Staff Writer
Coosa County will be getting a health department once again after the former department closed its doors on October 1, 2016.
There had been some talk recently regarding the possibility of the Coosa County Health Department reopening. Now with official action taken, county residents can expect to eventually have a health department open again.
During last Tuesday morning’s County Commission meeting, commissioners and attendees heard from Tim Hatch, east central district administrator with Alabama Department of Public Health, regarding an update on the health department, stating “we’re coming back.”
Hatch said they worked with Superintendent of Education David Stover, County Administrator Amy Gilliland, EMA Director Sheldon Hutcherson, and partners at AltaPointe.
Hatch explained that the Alabama Department of Public Health will now be AltaPointe’s renter, as the Coosa County Health Department will reopen in its former location. The building, located on U.S. Highway 231 in Rockford, currently houses Accordia Health.
Hatch said that AltaPointe is spending a “tremendous amount of money” on exterior and interior renovations at the Accordia Health facility. Those renovations will be for both entities, with Hatch saying that Accordia will be expanding its services.
He said that ADPH signed a lease on February 1 with AltaPointe, doing business as Accordia Health. However, he said they have not moved in yet and that it will take some time to get all the necessary equipment and identify staff for the health department.
Hatch said they will be “good partners” with AltaPointe and Accordia Health. Initially he said the department will offer vital record services and other types of public health information through a full-time staff that will be there from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“So you can go there for birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, any other type of public health documentation that you may need,” Hatch said. “They will be able to take appointments and give you information initially.”
He added, “We didn’t make the decision to close it overnight. …This opportunity came about, and we’re very excited to be back in [the county]. What we’re planning to do is slowly get back into this.”
He explained that ADPH has a 3-year lease agreement with Accordia and that hopefully by the end of the second year they will have a better idea of what the usage of the Coosa County Health Department will be.
Hatch said they will bring back in-person environmental health and will have a Title 10 women’s health program, as well as offering WIC services and having a nutritionist on site at the Rockford facility part time. He said that family planning and medications will also be offered eventually.
“I have the distinction of being the only administrator that has opened a health department in over 40 years,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to open a health department because there are a lot of federal regulations, accreditation, clearances, inspections… so we’re working on that.”
Hatch said the department will be fully self sustaining, adding that they were not asking the commission for anything other than support and helping spread the news via word of mouth.
He said that they hope to have the health department open within approximately six months.
“We will have fully functioning, albeit on a smaller schedule and smaller scope, public health services back in Coosa County,” Hatch said.
Separate from the commission meeting, Accordia Health CEO Tuerk Schlesinger commented on the health department co-locating with Accordia Health.
“Working in conjunction with the Alabama Department of Public Health creates an opportunity to provide the residents of Coosa County access to high-quality, patient-driven healthcare that is convenient to them,” Schlesinger stated. “The end goal is to help the people living in Coosa County experience better health outcomes without leaving their local community.”
There were only a handful of action items on the agenda for last Tuesday’s meeting, with the majority of those relating to removing obsolete items from inventory.
The commission unanimously approved removing an HP Design Jet 5500 color printer and a Printronix P8000 line matrix printer from the Revenue Commission office inventory. The commission also unanimously approved removing numerous items from the Rockford Senior Center inventory.
Also during the meeting, the commission heard from County Engineer Tad Eason regarding Senate Bill 157. A portion of the report Eason presented to commissioners read, “…Senate Bill 157 flies in the face of our recent progress under the Rebuild Alabama Act and ignores that our county road and bridge system is still very much under repair after 30 years of drastically insufficient funding and susequent deterioration.”
Eason explained that if SB157 passes it would allow for a “significant increase” in the weight that logging trucks can transport on public roads or bridges.
“More specifically, SB157 increases the allowable gross weight and axle weight for certain five-axle and six-axle logging trucks by 10%, allowing for transportation of almost 100,000 pounds in a single trip,” Eason read from the report.
He further added that while 10% may not sound like much, the weight increase is “much more substantial and ultimately doubles the impact to transportation infrastructure.”
Following Eason’s presentation, he also provided the commission with a copy of a resolution for consideration. He said that he would like for the commission to approve it and pass it on to Sen. Clyde Chambliss.
Commission Chair Randall Dunham said that the county roads cannot handle any more weight. Commissioner Lamar Daugherty voiced his agreement with that statement.
Following discussion, the commission unanimously approved and adopted a resolution that in part reads, “Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Coosa County Commission that it expresses its staunch opposition to the provisions and intent of Senate Bill 157 and any other legislation or policy modeled similarly.”
In other business, the commission also unanimously approved appointing Joann Shealey to serve on the Department of Human Resources Board.
The commission also unanimously approved the purchase of a sump pump for the courthouse basement, with an estimated cost of $600-800. During the meeting County Administrator Amy Gilliland and Maintenance Supervisor Todd Brown had explained that recent heavy rains had resulted in the courthouse basement flooding, with Gilliland adding that the basement had about 3 inches of water in it the previous Friday.
In other business, the commission heard an update from Leslie Hardy and Dennis Hill regarding progress being made on the county’s future animal shelter. They reported that everything was moving forward and were excited to report that they had secured a building to house the animal shelter, utilizing the old firehouse building in Stewartville.
They explained that the next step will be getting 501(c)3 nonprofit status, and the next hurdle will be getting donations and volunteers to get the shelter up and going.
Following their presentation, Commission Chair Dunham told Hardy and Hill to let him know once the shelter is operational and that he will be the first to donate $250 per year for the shelter.
Under the public comment portion of the meeting, the commission heard from Jodi McDade with a call for better transparency.
McDade said that the commission meetings are public meetings that should be available to all citizens. She added that the two meetings each month have been a “wonderful start” and that attendance has increased at both meetings.
She and sometimes others have also been live streaming the meetings on social media. She said those typically get an average of 20-25 live views and approximately 200 views later, which Dunham said is good.
McDade further reviewed five suggestions for how the commission might improve its transparency for citizens.
She suggested that the county minutes should be signed immediately after approval and posted on the county’s website. She said that should be able to be done at least by the end of the day for morning meetings and by the end of the next day for evening meetings.
She also explained that this is for minutes approved at those meetings, not the minutes of those meetings themselves.
She also suggested that the commission meeting agendas be posted on the website no later than the day prior to the meeting so citizens can see what will be discussed.
McDade also mentioned having better audio for meetings, particularly for those who are hearing impaired and cannot hear everything being discussed. She mentioned purchased equipment, such as microphones and recording devices, no longer being used for meetings.
Commissioner Unzell Kelley said that former Commissioner Paul Perrett had purchased that equipment, which was utilized in the commission courtroom during meetings, with the microphones also having recording capabilities. He said that was one good thing he agreed with Perrett about.
Regarding that point and suggestion from McDade, the commission mentioned that once it is able to hold meetings regularly in the commission courtroom again that it could try to once again utilize that equipment.
McDade went on to suggest the commission use county equipment with better audio to video and post meetings on the website, since currently that is only done on private Facebook pages.
Lastly, she suggested that the commission make sure the website information is correct and current. She added that the email address provided for the commission office is either not correct or does not work.
Following her presentation, Dunham said that he does not think any one commissioner would disagree or have an issue with what she proposed. He further stated that the commission wants to have that information “out there” for citizens.
Separate from the commission meeting, Dunham mentioned the passing of Sarah Josephine “Mrs. Jo” Scarbrough and expressed the county’s sympathy. He spoke of Scarbrough being a pillar in the community and a great resource, adding that she will be deeply missed.
The County Commission held a special called meeting yesterday evening to approve a settlement agreement between the state and Endo involving the opioid litigation and to authorize Dunham to execute the sign-on agreement.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Coosa County Commission will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 22.
