The Jackson County Board of Commissioners held a public hearing over the possible consolidation of the Department of Health and Department of Social Services on Oct. 3. Despite receiving almost an hour of public comments from people opposed to the move, the board chose to proceed forward and will discuss the issue further during a work session this Tuesday, Oct. 10.

The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will likely move to consolidate the Department of Health and the Department of Social Services during its October meeting.

In a mirror image of a vote taken seven months ago, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners has voted to reinstate independent boards to oversee its health and social services departments. 

The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will likely hold yet another vote on potential changes to its health and human services departments during a meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, at the Jackson County Administration Building in Sylva.

There was no discussion as the Jackson County Commissioners voted 3-2 Oct. 1 to uphold a vote they took in August to abolish the Consolidated Human Services Board and put themselves in its place. 

Jackson County commissioners are back to square one after voting to abolish the newly consolidated human services agency and its newly seated board Monday night. 

Eight months have passed since the Jackson County Commissioners voted to merge the county’s health and social services departments, but members of the Consolidated Human Services Board newly created to oversee the consolidated department are still holding out hope that the decision will be reversed. During its Aug. 14 meeting, the board voted to delay hiring a director for the merged department until after the November elections. 

When the Jackson County Health and Human Services Board met for its inaugural meeting June 11, board members made it clear that they had some major questions about county commissioners’ decision to create the consolidated board. The two-hour meeting ended with an exclamation mark when Jerry DeWeese announced his resignation from the board, with the remaining board members taking a split vote in favor of asking commissioners to provide a letter of explanation for the consolidation. 

A pair of party-line votes May 7 triggered the next step in consolidating Jackson County’s social services and health departments, creating a new board to oversee the combined department and approving a new position to manage it. 

After January’s split vote to merge the social services and health departments into one consolidated department, the Jackson County commissioners are moving toward appointing a board and hiring a director to oversee the new department.