Town of Waterford will probably pull out anyway
By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
The State of Wisconsin has erected roadblocks to a planned change in public health care providers for the Town of Waterford.
The state’s entry into the issue will likely mean a quick halt by the Town to a planned switch to ProHealth Care Medical Associates for 2013, immediately followed by a sharp swerve to Central Racine County Health Department, based in Franksville.
A U-turn back to Aurora/Western Racine County Health Department for 2013 is possible but not likely.
Everything depends on the outcome of communications going back and forth this week between local and state officials, ending in a special meeting at the Town Hall Dec. 27 – a day ahead of a reply deadline the state has set.
West end contracts
Town Chairman Robert Langmesser expressed frustration this week that the state took so long to provide feedback about the issue.
Two months ago, he and Town Supervisor Tom Hincz discussed the Town’s plans and options for public health in a meeting at the Town Hall with Georgia Cameron, a regional deputy director with the Department of Health Services. “She did not provide us with anything we could act on. She gave us no direction on what we could move on,” Langmesser said.
So, the Town researched and found another suitable agency to provide the mandated services, he said.
On Dec. 10, the Town Board unanimously voted not to renew a contract with Aurora/Western Racine for mandated 2013 public health services, which include areas such as surveillance, prevention and control of communicable diseases; health promotion; and disease prevention.
Instead, the Town Board voted to contract with ProHealth Care of Waukesha for those services in 2013.
The Town gave Aurora/Western Racine notice of its intent not to renew on Nov. 13.
Last January, the Village of Union Grove notified Aurora/Western Racine that it would not renew for 2013. Union Grove has since signed with Central Racine County Health Department for 2013.
The Town of Yorkville will continue with Aurora/Western Racine for 2013, but this fall its attorney sent notice that it does not plan to renew for 2014.
Other west end communities still being served in 2013 by Aurora/Western Racine are the city and town of Burlington, villages of Rochester and Waterford, and towns of Dover, Norway and Raymond.
In its decision, the Waterford Town Board cited better affordability and accountability offered by ProHealth. For years, Town officials have complained about rising costs and lack of accountability from Aurora/Western Racine.
The state steps in
In a Dec. 21 letter to Langmesser, state Health Officer Henry Anderson outlines what he calls the “serious concern of the Division of Public Health” about the Town’s proposed withdrawal from Aurora/Western Racine.
“The Division is concerned about the legality of the proposed action and the potentially deleterious consequences for public health in the Town of Waterford and the other municipalities served by the Western Racine County Health Department,” Anderson said.
• He notes that although a required Town board of health was established by ordinance years ago and is still on the books, it has not functioned in the years since Waterford township has been with Aurora/Western Racine, and it would need to be resurrected to conform to current statutes.
“If the Town intends to proceed with its withdrawal from the Western Racine County Health Department, we ask that you provide a legal justification for doing so.”
• Anderson also expressed concern about the “legality and potentially harmful consequences” of giving “such short notice” of the Town’s withdrawal from Aurora/Western Racine.
He cites a state statute requiring that written notice of at least one fiscal year be given to the remaining municipalities. (The contract with Aurora/Western Racine does not contain such a one-year clause, both Langmesser and Hincz noted).
“The fact that Union Grove gave 11 months’ notice of its withdrawal is not a valid precedent for Waterford giving notice Nov. 13,” Anderson added.
• He also noted that ProHealth Care Medical Associates “is not a currently operating local health department” and questioned whether it can provide “the full range of public health services required by statute.”
ProHealth Care did not reply with information to a request sent by the Waterford Post. An agreement with ProHealth was never signed, Hincz said, because of the nature of the recent communications with the state.
Coming up
Whatever happens next will be decided soon.
In a Dec. 26 email to Hincz, Cameron said Central Racine County Health Department is “a viable option that you may consider for interim or long-term public health services if you withdraw from the Western Racine County Health Department on Dec. 31, 2012. Her email and other information and options will be discussed Dec. 27 at the special Town Board meeting, Hincz said.
“This health services issue is a nightmare,” Langmesser commented.
While the state can mandate which services must be provided, he said, “I don’t know how they can mandate who you have to have to provide those services.”
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