Meeting Time: June 04, 2024 at 9:00am PDT

Agenda Item

4b) Discussion and Possible Action Including Ratification of Motion to Waive Rule #27 of the Rules of Procedures to Reconsider Agenda Item 4i from the May 7, 2024, Board of Supervisor's Meeting; and Discussion and Possible Action Including Adoption of Resolution Amending the Position Allocation Table as Follows: Budget Unit 4050, Add 1.0 FTE Director of Health Services, Salary Range $162,593.60- $197,620.80/Annually and Delete 1.0 FTE Director Behavioral Health, PN 4472; Budget Unit 4010, Delete 1.0 FTE Director Public Health, PN 4567 (Sponsor: Human Resources)

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    AKesh Eidi 4 months ago

    I would like to state for the record that I am not commenting as the President of the Mendocino County Chapter of SEIU Local 1021, I am commenting as an employee of the county assigned to Public Health, in the Emergency Preparedness unit. I apologize for needing to leave chambers, but I had a 10:00 meeting. This item has somehow turned into a referendum on Dr, Miller and it shouldn't be. It's a necessary move as part of recovery from the COVID-19 disaster. As an employee within the Public Health Department who was present before and during the pandemic, and very active in the recovery, I support this move to consolidate the administrative functions and I have NOT experienced any degradation of support for my program or its deliverables. Quite the opposite. I have a clear chain of command, a functioning set of policies and procedures, and a solid set of quality assurance measures. The methods and tools used to build budgets, pay our vendors, commit to contracts, and enforce county policy are the same in both BH and PH- MUNIS and Cobblestone and WebAPPS are countywide. A public-facing combination of Public Health and Behavioral Health aids in the fight against stigma- mental health is health. Period. Going forward, I see this move as a streamlining of processes that support staff in their day-to-day jobs. My only concern remains that the elimination of the potentially supportive positions of Director of Public Health and Director of Behavioral Health might leave the Director of Health Services (regardless of the person in that position) with less administrative support than is actually needed as both PH and BH emerge from this recovery period. That is, however, a problem for another day. In the meantime, the work does continue, and we *are* recovering. I do see that a Director of Health Services parallels other moves I see happening at the state level with regard to overall recovery from the pandemic, and is *not* out of step with other Public Health departments nor the direction of CDPH. Thank you.