By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Crawford County General Health District and the District Advisory Council had to face the hard facts: the county’s Health District isn’t operating to the best of its abilities.
That was the message current Health Commissioner Tim Hollinger expressed to the members assembled in the lower level of the Crawford County Administration Building Tuesday morning.
Hollinger became the health commissioner in June after the retirement of Scott Kibler. Hollinger is currently being shared between Crawford and Huron counties, the latter of which he also serves as the health commissioner.
Hollinger has only been on the job for 13 days but he said there are already five things they needed to be looking at:
• A business plan for the health district;
• Increasing efficiency and improving effectiveness;
• Improving communications;
• Creating a transparent budget;
• Improving revenue and decreasing expenditures.
Hollinger is expected to at least finish out the year as Crawford County’s health commissioner while the two counties decide if a partnership would be beneficial. Should he continue past the New Year, Hollinger said a business plan would be in place and ready to be presented to the District Advisory Council at its next meeting in March.
Hollinger is also working on the health district’s budget, something that has caused him concern.
“I have some issues with the finance part – a lot of issues,” Hollinger said as he attempts to wade through the financial reports.
In Hollinger’s eyes, a lot of bad decisions had been made with the county’s health district but he is already working on making changes. As an example, Hollinger said they are moving away from a company that does the Health District’s information technology (IT) work. Rather, it is being done in-house or by phone with a specialist. Hollinger said the changes would save $25,000 to $30,000 a year.
Besides wasteful spending in the IT department, Hollinger also said the current building that houses the Health District at 1520 Isaac Beal Rd. is inefficient and not handicap accessible. He added that the organization is not structured correctly, contracts are written wrong, and the district is not handling grants properly.
The Health District also needs to improve communications and the working relationship within the community as well as develop its competency levels.
“The competency levels have to be improved,” Hollinger said. “Now that doesn’t mean your staff doesn’t have the ability to hit those levels; that just means no one has told them.”
Hollinger has started performance management with the staff at the Health District by teaching them to talk to each specialist there rather than spending hours getting the same information elsewhere. The staff is also being held accountable for what they have accomplished.
In addition to getting the Health District in order, Hollinger said the county also needs to decide if it wants to pursue accreditation. Huron County is currently working on becoming accredited with the State of Ohio. As part of a partnership plan with another county, Huron is looking to share services with a county that is similar in demographics and has similar goals.
“I understand you guys are upset at your health district and about the financial drain on your own budgets to fund this agency,” Hollinger said to the city, county, and township representatives in attendance. “I think, down the road, the more services we can share with each other; the easier it will be as far as finances.”
Hollinger stressed that Huron County is specifically looking for a county that is pursuing accreditation. If Crawford County chooses not to make that move, Hollinger said Huron County would possibly be looking for another partner.