Health department picks commissioner

STAFF REPORT

LISBON — The Columbiana County Health Department has named Wesley J. Vins as the county’s new health commissioner.

Vins, of West Farmington in Trumbull County, is the environmental director of the Mahoning County Health Department.

Shawn Apple, a member of the county health board, said Monday that Vins will begin working March 9 under a two-year contract.

Vins will be paid $79,000 a year to start. His salary will increase in May to $84,000 a year when he obtains his master’s degree in public health.

Vins replaces former health commissioner Robert Morehead, who is to be sentenced 10:30 a.m. Feb. 13 on a charge of theft in office.

Morehead faces a year in prison and still owes thousands of dollars in restitution to the department for using county funds for personal use, according to the Ohio Auditor’s Office.