Buyout program hits health department

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s employee buyout program is designed to save the municipality money in the long run, but it is costing the city health district many of its key employees.

Three employees have already taken the buyout, and eight others have submitted papers for retirement, four of whom are known to be leaving in January.

Fourteen of the health department’s 43 employees are eligible, including health commissioner Neil Altman.

Already gone are: Larry Himes, administrator/specialist in the Mahoning-Trumbull County Air Pollution Control Division, with 32 years of service; John Scrip, staff engineer, with 33 years; and Carol Baker, a secretary with 30 years as a city employee.

Leaving for sure in January, said Altman, are: Wayna Hightower, nursing director, 28 years; Robert Hewitt, director of environmental health, 31 years; and two sanitarians, Elizabeth Axe, 30 years; and John Slanina, 36 years.

And there may be more, said Altman, who is scrambling to replace the people and the experience and knowledge they represent, and find the money to pay their early retirement incentives, which is about $90,000 for the Public Employees Retirement System and some $82,220 in severance benefits.

Cutting back

Because the health department did not know the buyout was coming until after it had established its 2007 budget, “we’ve had to cut all kinds of corners. We’ll be better prepared next year because we know it’s coming and can budget for it,” said bookkeeper Judith Moran.

Altman said he has cut back on supplies and contracting for professional services and may have to transfer funds from the vaccine account.

“It is either that or lay people off, and I don’t want to do that because we are already short of personnel,” he said.

“We were told in a recent mayor’s Cabinet meeting that the city would prefer that we do not fill positions where possible, and if we do fill them to do so at lower salaries,” Altman said.

He said it may be possible to rework some of the job descriptions and cut some positions, but said it will be impossible to not replace some of the individuals leaving.

For instance, the Ohio Department of Health, a major funding source for the city health department, requires that all divisions have supervisors. That means that a replacement is needed for Himes, for whom Altman is filling in temporarily, and for three of the four leaving in January, the health commissioner said.

Budget

The majority of the health department’s $2,597,924 budget this year, $1,848,659, comes from the city’s general fund. The remaining $749,265 comes from the Ohio Department of Health and state and federal grants, Moran said.

It will also be difficult to replace the knowledge and experience, Altman said.

For example, Hightower is a nurse practitioner, which is on a par with a physician assistant. She can practice medicine under a physician’s orders, he said.

Altman said he has advertised widely for a replacement for Himes, whose position is under Civil Service. “We will choose a successor from the list of those who pass the civil service test and meet the qualifications.”

He said he would advertise extensively around the country for a successor to Hewitt’s position as head of environmental health. Without nursing and environmental health directors, the department would not be eligible to receive state subsidies, he said.

Any union-represented positions vacated because of the buyout will be posted for bids according to the collective bargaining agreements, he said.

alcorn@vindy.com