Macon County will begin the consolidation of its county board of public health in January.
The vote to move forward with the consolidation came during the Nov. 13 board of commissioners meeting. In the months leading up to the vote, there was serious concern voiced by members of the community, as there were rumblings that commissioners intended to take over human relations and policy-setting operations for the crucial agency.
In July, commissioners began working on a strategy to create a consolidated human services agency with the aim of reducing what multiple people called “silos” that can allow government authorities to operate inefficiently or even perhaps in direct opposition to each other without even knowing it. Around that time, public complaints surfaced against leadership within the department, alleging that the environment had become toxic.
The board’s September meeting brought in enough people that an overflow room had to be opened up in the courthouse where people could watch a video of the meeting taking place just a few doors down.
At that meeting, several options were presented, including the one under which the commissioners would assume control of the health board. They immediately shot down that option but decided to take a bit more time to decide exactly which route to take. At that meeting, Health board director Garrett Higdon, appointed in September, along with several commenters, asked commissioners to delay their vote.
“Our board has not had time to discuss what the new processes would be either,” he said, adding that he thinks it’s best that the board remain intact as is until members have time to discuss what consolidation may look like.
Commissioners obliged, and on Oct. 28, voted to consolidate the health board with the county’s animal services.
During last week’s meeting, Higdon again came up to speak, telling the board that the health department now has its ducks in a row and is ready to move forward with consolidation. When that happens, the current board members will roll over into the new consolidated board, but there will also be four new vacancies to fill.
On Friday, Sept. 11, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall — that a new board would likely mean a new director appointment — Macon County announced the retirement of Public Health Director Kathy McGaha, who will sign off on 30 years of service in the county at the end of 2025.
Because December may be too tight of a timeline to complete the transition and county administration to hire a new director, the motion was made to implement the change on Jan. 13 of next year. The vote was unanimous.