Health department switch advances despite concerns

By Jennifer Eisenbart

EDITOR

While the City of Burlington Common Council took its first steps toward approving a new public health department Tuesday night, it was not without some pretty serious reservations.

The council discussed the new provider – Central Racine County Board of Health – for about 45 minutes Tuesday night, raising concerns about the department not having enough of a presence in Western Racine County.

The city – along with several other municipalities, including the Village of Waterford – are making the switch because the Western Racine County Health Department will cease to exist after Dec. 31. Since Racine County does not have an overall county public health department, the city negotiated with Central Racine to provide the services.

The costs will go up to slightly, but Central Racine will also provide restaurant inspections twice a year and most of the same services, said City of Burlington Mayor Bob Miller. The contract will be for two years, with a one-year notice of non-renewal and one-year renewal periods.

For more than 20 years, Western Racine County Health Department has served the City of Burlington; towns of Burlington, Dover, Norway, Yorkville and Raymond; and villages of Waterford and Rochester.

The Town of Waterford and Village of Union Grove dropped Western Racine in favor of Central Racine in 2013. Their contracts with Central Racine run through 2015.

In May, Waterford Town Chairman Tom Hincz voiced dismay at the prospect of being forced to use new county public health services in 2015 – an idea that would have replaced both Central Racine and Western Racine departments with a newly created county agency.

Both Hincz and Union Grove Village Board President Mike Aimone have praised Central Racine for the state-mandated services it provides to residents, citing lower costs, additional services and better accountability than offered by Western Racine.

Miller stressed the contract under consideration by Burlington is the same as current members (including the Town of Waterford and Village of Union Grove) already have, and includes services such as immunizations, blood pressure checks, communicable disease control and radon/well water testing.

And, as Miller added, Central Racine is the only provider right now – and the city needs to hire a provider. He termed it as “being between a rock and a hard place.”

With Burlington aldermen raising concerns on everything from lack of a permanent office by Central Racine in Burlington to the possibility of people having to drive to Franksville (Central Racine’s home) for service, Alderman Tom Vos seemed to sum up the response to Miller’s statement best.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t like being between a rock and a hard place,” he said. Miller responded, “I don’t either.”

Vos, along with Alderman Tom Preusker, wanted to take the issue back to the state – which is mandating the changes.

“If the state wants us to provide a good health service, then maybe the state should be a little less restrictive,” Vos said.

However, in the meantime, Miller and City Administrator Kevin Lahner are reluctant to rock the boat too much with Central Racine, especially considering the service hadn’t yet started and could very well meet expectations.

Miller warned that if the city pushed too hard, Central Racine could refuse to let them in. The city would then have about three months to find another provider.

As Lahner put it, “we gotta do what we gotta do.”

Keith Hendricks of Central Racine was present at the meeting, and he spoke up during the Common Council meeting to try and calm some of the fears.

Hendricks said that while federal regulations have caused a reduction in vaccinations it can provide, the department would be in Burlington to provide what it needed to and also other health services when demand dictates.

Staff member Patricia Bogumil contributed to this article.