The St. Joseph County Board of Health has eliminated the job held by the man who served as the department’s public face during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The board voted 5-1 Wednesday to effectively fire Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox when they approved a new health department organizational chart that didn’t include him.
Interim Health Officer Dr. Joseph Cerbin created the chart with the board’s attorney, Marcel Lebbin.
Health board member Ellen Reilander said it didn’t make financial sense to keep a part-time deputy health officer now that the new full-time health officer, Dr. Diana Purushot am, will begin work next month.
Reilander, who wasn’t on the board then, said it was her understanding that Fox’s part-time position was created only to supplement the position of then-part-time health officer Dr. Luis Galup (Gah LOOP)
“But now we are blessed to have a full-time health officer who can work 40 hours a week and seems extremely competent," Reilander said. "My thought is we should give her an opportunity to come in, be the leader. I don’t know what your thoughts are but it seems like the time to make that change to a full-time health officer is now, besides the fact that we’re paying her as a full-time health officer.”
Health board member Heidi Beidinger cast the only vote against removing Fox. She made a motion, that was voted down, to delay the decision a month so that Dr. Purushotham, who lacks public health education or experience, has a chance to tell the board whether she would like Fox to stay until February when his contract ends, to help her get up to speed in the job.
“We have eight employees who’ve left the department so that’s a lot of institutional knowledge and history that just walked out the door, right?” Beidinger said. “So I’m wondering, does a new health officer want to have time to at least overlap with the deputy health officer so that there is some…”
“Continuity,” interjected Cerbin.
“Thank you for that word,” she continued. “Yes, I just feel like a brand new health officer coming in would really benefit from that kind of stability and that kind of continuity.”
Beidinger noted that the health board a month ago forwarded to the county council a budget for next year that included funding for both the deputy health officer, for two months, and the new health officer.
Fox said he only learned his job was being eliminated when he received the board of health agenda packet on Tuesday. Still no one had discussed it with him as of late Thursday afternoon.
Wednesday’s meeting agenda also included the resignations of seven health department staff, most of whom have told WVPE that they left because of harassment by new Republican county council members Amy Drake and Dan Schaetzle.
“I’m a little baffled, especially given that we’re just on the cusp of what everyone has said, if they accept the Governor’s Public Health Commission funding, that the personnel needs and the activities of the department will grow considerably,” Fox said.
Four of the five health board members who voted to cut Fox’s position have been appointed by the all-Republican county commissioners. Many conservatives had criticized Fox’s advocacy of mask mandates to control the virus’s spread during the height of the pandemic.
“It seems to be neither a function of expertise, time, commitment or finances,” Fox said. “So that either leaves personality or politics. I’m not sure what the motivating factor is, quite honestly.”
