District 3 Commissioner Ed Norden
(The following article was the County Line column by County Commission Chairman Ed Norden published in the Cañon City Daily Record, Saturday, January 7th)
The Board of County Commissioners read with interest the letter to the editor in Tuesday’s edition of the Daily Record that claims we are shutting down the postal station on Main Street in Canon City. While the State of Colorado extends various authorities to counties, the federal government has yet to grant counties any authority over postal operations. But the letter does afford us an opportunity to discuss another issue. We believe it is important that we share some facts that may have led to the belief that somehow the commissioners are responsible for the decision by a private business to close the Main Street postal station.
The Board of Commissioners did make a decision last September to no longer extend an outside contract for the Vital Statistics service. After a lengthy examination of how the county delivers public health services we determined it is best to now return Vital Statistics under the umbrella of the Fremont County Public Health Agency. We can assure you there was no rush to judgment. When a vacancy occurred in the position of Director of Public Health and with continuing budgetary problems at every level, the commissioners decided to study how public health services are delivered in Fremont County.
We had several meetings with officials from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Pueblo City-County Health Department during which we looked closely at either regionalization of public health services or the contracting of particular services with Pueblo County. We quickly realized that we needed more fiscal oversight in the administration of the numerous grants that are relied upon to fund the various programs. Two other priorities emerged in those discussions. We needed to phase out of home health care services and needed to return management of Vital Statistics to the Public Health Agency.
We were also faced with new statutory requirements. Under new public health legislation the Colorado Legislature requires counties to spend a minimum of $1.50 per capita on public health services for every man, woman, and child in the county. That rate of spending had to be in local dollars above and beyond all grants received. That meant in 2011 the Board of Commissioners had to add another $70,000 in public health expenditures just to get us to a minimum spending level. That requirement came at a time when we were already making deep budget cuts because of declining revenues.
Home health care services had provided a revenue base for Fremont County Public Health (known previously as the County Nursing Office) for many years. It was time to discontinue those services because local government was now competing with the private sector in home health care. Fremont County terminated its final home health care contract last September. During the discussions we were also urged by Pueblo and State Health Officials to discontinue the outside contract for Vital Statistics and take over those responsibilities. Vital Statistics is a governmental function and yet Fremont County is the only county in Colorado that currently does not handle those duties. Vital Statistics in other counties are found in Social Service Departments, County Clerk’s Offices, Municipal Offices, and in most cases, Public Health Offices. Thus the Board of Commissioners informed Ray Woodard last October that Fremont County Public Health Agency would end its contract March 1, 2012, and move those services from his Main Street location to the Public Health Office along Justice Center Road.
Last fall the Board of Commissioners hired Carla Dionne as the new director of the Fremont County Public Health Agency. She has been busy evaluating the various grant contracts and public health programs. Her office is preparing to take over Vital Statistics services on March 1st. She is making long range plans of how to improve the fiscal condition of our Public Health Agency. She is working to collaborate with other health care providers and our local schools to improve the delivery of public health services. She noted that Fremont County does a good job delivering public health services to children and the elderly but there is a huge gap in delivery of services to teens and middle aged adults.
Reorganization of the Fremont County Public Health Agency is only one of several county department reorganizations that have been undertaken by the Board of Commissioners. It is demanded by the lean budgets we have to operate with. We can no longer conduct business as usual if our citizens expect a continued level of service while operating with fewer dollars.
I’ve been told in recent days that other Main Street business people may be taking a look at picking up a postal station contract for downtown Canon City. While we regret that the postal station may have been impacted by a subsequent business decision, this Board and this county commissioner believe we have taken responsible actions in the best interest of our taxpayers and in delivery of services from the Fremont County Public Health Agency.