Health commissioner says reps largely support levy

CELINA - Mercer County Health District Commissioner Jason Menchhofer said political subdivision representatives attending Monday's annual District Advisory Council (DAC) meeting were largely supportive of the health district's proposed tax levy.

The DAC is made up of one county commissioner, chief executives of each municipal corporation and the president of the board of township trustees of each township.

DAC members also approved the reappointment of board members Diane Lefeld, Lisa Niekamp-Urwin and Alyssa Tobe.

Lefeld's term will expire in 2027, Niekamp-Urwin's term will expire in 2026 and Tobe's term will expire in 2024, according to Menchhofer.

The five-year, 0.55-mill county health district operating levy will appear on the upcoming primary election ballot.

The election was supposed to be held on May 3, but last week's decision by the Ohio Supreme Court to reject legislative maps drawn by the Ohio Redistricting Commission has led to a pause in election preparations.

The health district levy would bring in $652,849 the first year of collection, according to the auditor's office. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay $19.25 annually in taxes, the auditor's office had said.

Menchhofer had said the proposed health district tax levy would fund expenses such as maintaining public health services; office rent, utilities and renovations; lost revenue replacement; cost-of-living pay increases; a new health educator position and workforce support and development. Should the levy pass, funds would start to collect after six months.

One of the main drivers of the levy is new expenses associated with moving out of the health district's current location in the Mercer County Central Services Building in Celina, Menchhofer said.

The health district soon will need to find another office space after occupying the current one rent-free for more than 20 years.

Menchhofer had said county commissioners plan to use the space the health district currently occupies to house another county agency as part of a reorganization that is expected to happen once the agriculture center is finished at the old Cheryl Ann building on Mud Pike.

Menchhofer noted immunizations, one of the health district's main sources of revenue, were down in 2021. The health district administered 9,859 vaccines last year, down from 10,784 in 2020 and 15,122 in 2019, according to the district's annual report.

"We don't anticipate those immunization numbers to rebound because more private doctors are doing it, which comes back to the need for the levy," Menchhofer said.

Menchhofer said the levy also would fund professional development and competitive pay for staff in an effort to retain quality workers and provide quality care.

"The expectations of a modern health district doesn't make much revenue," he said. "Like communicable disease investigations, which is more frequent than it was 10 years ago, community health assessments, community health plans, promoting healthy behaviors … they don't generate income. That's why we're turning to taxpayers."

Menchhofer said DAC members were largely supportive of the levy, which he said would relieve the political subdivisions of their yearly contributions to the health district.

Moving on to the annual report, Menchhofer said 2021 was a year of transition for the health district.

"We began the year with a focus on COVID vaccines, but throughout the year we were able to get back to our normal services," he said.

More than 11,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in 2021, including booster and third doses, according to the report. Cases of COVID-19 have declined significantly in recent months, allowing staff to get back to more "normal" operations, Menchhofer said.

The county had 2,838 cases of the virus and 43 deaths in 2021, according to the annual report.

The 51-60 age group had the most cases (447), narrowly passing the 444 cases reported in the 21-30 age group, according to data in the report.

The environmental health district in 2021 saw the completion of a major case staff had worked on since 2019, environmental health director Michelle Kimmel wrote in the report.

The case involved multiple complaints regarding polluted water discharge entering a surface water stream south of Fort Recovery, Kimmel wrote. Complaints came from citizens and state entities such as the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Ohio Department of Agriculture, Kimmel said.

Through sampling and dye testing, orders were issued to two property owners for replacement of household sewage treatment systems over a two-year period, Kimmel wrote.

Kimmel said the length of the case was the result of challenges to health district findings regarding the sources of the discharge.

The board of health heard the rebuttals of one of the affected parties during a special hearing. As a result of the hearing, additional testing was performed which confirmed health district findings, Kimmel wrote, and the required work was completed by the board-ordered deadline in Sept. 2021.

The next regular board of health meeting is 8 a.m. April 13 in the first floor conference room of the Central Services Building in Celina.