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Search is on for new health official
YOUNGSTOWN
The search is on for a new health commissioner for the Youngstown City Health District and the health board appointed Erin Bishop as acting health commissioner.
Bishop, who has been health district administrator during the eight-month illness of former commissioner Neil Altman, is being paid an annual wage of $58,773. She said she would apply for the commissioner position.
Altman’s annual salary when he retired, effective May 1, was $71,660. Mayor Jay Williams, health board president, said Monday the salary for the new commissioner will most likely be less than that.
Williams said the search will be regional rather than national. He said he expects to have the position filled by then end of June.
The board also approved using some $25,000 from its emergency preparedness grant to update the district’s website and intra-agency communications, which Williams said would eventually be connected to the city’s communications system.
The new health commissioner should not be under civil service, said Youngstown Law Director Iris T. Guglucello. She said state law defines what constitutes a civil-service employee, and the job of health commissioner does not fit that definition.
Guglucello said state law also established minimum requirements for a health commissioner, such as a master’s degree in public health, and says the health board has the authority and duty to hire the new commissioner.
The Youngstown Health District Board of Health is an independent political entity that operates under state law. The law director, however, said the board receives funding from the city, and the mayor appoints all of its five board members.