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LAGRANGE — The query of who will function the subsequent well being officer for LaGrange County stays within the air after Thursday night time’s assembly of the members of the well being board, the place they acknowledged they nonetheless don’t know why the commissioners voted to reject their appointee.
The board, which oversees the operation of the LaGrange County Well being Division, voted in October to reappoint Dr. Tony Pechin to a different four-year time period as well being officer, however his appointment was derailed when the commissioners exercised their proper lately granted by a change in state regulation to disclaim that appointment.
The well being board members finally voted to request a gathering with the commissioners to debate why they selected to disclaim Dr. Tony Pechin one other time period as LaGrange County Well being Officer. The board is requesting the commissioners sit down with them in an govt session.
In October, the well being board voted to nominate Pechin to a different four-year time period because the county well being officer. Pechin has served in that position since 2000. However due to a 2021 change in state regulation, the commissioners have been granted the ultimate authority for that appointment, and at their Nov. 21 assembly, they caught the well being board unexpectedly voting to disclaim Pechin one other time period. The commissioners additionally provided little clarification as to why.
Throughout that November assembly, Commissioner Kevin Myers, who made the movement to disclaim Pechin one other time period, stated he thought it was time for a change. After the assembly, Myers would solely say that as well being officer, Pechin made some selections that “didn’t meet with our approval,” however opted to not elaborate on what these selections have been.
By regulation, the county well being officer have to be a licensed doctor. She or he acts because the chief govt of the well being division, chargeable for hiring the division’s employees, and overseeing all applications carried out by the employees, such because the WIC program and different public well being campaigns. The well being officer additionally has the authority to sentence properties when they’re deemed uninhabitable and unsafe.
Pechin and the well being division, by means of the well being division’s legal professional, served the Michiana Occasions Middle in Shipshewana with the emergency order to shut in early 2021, saying the Shipshewana enterprise had repeatedly violated the governor’s emergency pandemic orders limiting crowds at occasions to 25 individuals or fewer. These orders additionally required the MEC to require patrons to put on face coverings and follow social distancing, one thing the order stated the Shipshewana enterprise was not implementing.
Well being board members met for the primary time two weeks in the past to debate the commissioner’s denial of the well being officer and, at that assembly, opted to achieve out to the handful of individuals within the county certified to carry the well being officer’s job. They mailed and or emailed every individual recognized.
Solely two medical doctors responded, one by the use of an automated electronic mail read-receipt discover however with out remark, and a second, a brief response from one other doctor saying if the commissioners weren’t keen to help the choice of the members of the board of well being, he had no real interest in the place.
A number of totally different board members stated that they had current cellphone conversations with Commissioner Terry Martin, president of the LaGrange County Board of Commissioners.
Board member Matt Grossman stated he spoke to Martin. He known as that dialog “open” and stated Martin instructed him “sure actions throughout COVID have been solely a small a part of his concern” about Pechin. Grossman then stated Martin instructed him the commissioner’s greatest concern was how the well being division was being operated.
Pechin, who didn’t attend final night time’s assembly, was obtainable by cellphone if wanted. Pechin instructed board members two weeks in the past that at no time throughout his final time period as well being officer, which included the COVID pandemic, did any of the commissioners attain out to him to specific any considerations. Pechin did make an look earlier than the commissioners in December of 2020 and knowledgeable them his workplace could be extra aggressive in implementing pandemics restrictions, together with mask-wearing, at companies and organizations not abiding the state rules.
Well being board President Cindy Swihart and board member Joe Billman additionally stated they spoke with Martin. Billman stated his dialog with Martin mirrored that of Grossman. Billman added he got here away from that dialog believing Martin merely felt that it was “time to stir the pot somewhat bit and get some new blood in right here.”
Swihart described her dialog with Martin as “unhelpful.”
Swihart stated the board wanted to request a proper assembly with the commissioners “to de-escalate” the obvious pressure between the 2.
“I had hoped that they might sit down with us and attempt to work this out,” she stated. “And if there’s a change within the well being officer, that might be completed in a really organized method.”
Retired LaGrange Dentist Dr. Jeffery Bassett admitted to being blindsided by the commissioners’ transfer.
“I used to be upset this occurred, this case,” he stated. “We have been type of caught off guard. If we might have recognized any of this earlier than, we may have taken care of it, or had some dialogue with Dr. Pechin. However there once more, they (the commissioners) type of blindsided us.”
Swihart stated the deadlock threatens to jeopardize the day-to-day work accomplished by the well being division.
“It could be nicely for them to tell us if there’s a problem. We’d wish to learn about that,” Bassett added.
Commissioner Peter Cook dinner, who acts because the commissioners’ liaison to the board of well being, attended Thursday’s assembly. Cook dinner stated he believes points with complaints about sewers inspections and points with the best way a condemnation of a Wolcottville house advanced was dealt with raised the eyebrows of his fellow commissioners. Cook dinner added, nonetheless, that he thought each these points had been largely resolved.
“It’s a piece in progress,” he instructed the well being board members.
Cook dinner went on to recommend there had seemingly been some kind of a communication breakdown between the commissioners and the well being division.
“They most likely have instructed you greater than they’ve instructed me,” he stated of any current conversations with the 2 different commissioners. “The one factor I’ve been instructed is ‘I don’t need to say on file’ as a result of they don’t need to say something that appears unhealthy.”
The board’s legal professional, Tony Mann, instructed the board members that the board must make a request to arrange a gathering with the commissioners, however it could be as much as the commissioners to determine whether or not or not they need it to occur. Mann then prompt that Cook dinner speaks with the 2 different commissioners at Monday’s common Commissioner’s assembly.
Pechin’s time period expires on the finish of the yr, however Pechin instructed the board at their final assembly he was keen to remain on till the problems are resolved or a substitute is called. It’s unlikely this will probably be resolved by the tip of the yr. The following scheduled board of well being assembly shouldn’t be till the second week of January.
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