PHOTO: Ashley Wilson interviews for the ‘Transitional Health Department Advisory Committee’, February 7, 2023.
I attended some public interviews last week at the Archuleta County administration offices, where the Board of County Commissioners listened to responses from nine finalists for the ‘Transitional Health Department Advisory Committee’… a volunteer group that will help the BOCC design a new public health department that must be ‘up and running’ by January 1, 2024. Based on the questions posed and answered, it would appear that the BOCC will be considering at least some of these candidates for a future ‘Board of Health’ — the board that will be responsible for governing, and setting policy for, the future public health district.
The nine finalists asked to participate in the interview process came with various professional backgrounds, experiences and concerns. Presumably, they had all applied for this position based upon an avid interest in public health. According to coverage in the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN, the BOCC chose five women and one man to serve on the advisory committee: Dr. Rhonda Webb, Kathy Campbell, Ashley Wilson, Sally Kennedy, John Ranson, Susanne Bryant and Pagosa Springs Town Manager Andrea Phillips to the advisory committee.
On Tuesday, February 7, I attended the first four interviews: Rhonda Webb, Pagosa Medical Center CEO; Kathy Campbell, retired from a position running a software development company; Ashley Wilson, Development and Evaluation Coordinator at Rise Above Violence; and Mozhdeh Bruss, children’s health researcher and former chair, during 2021, of Archuleta County’s Health District Investigative Committee.
During each interview, the same questions were posed by County Manager Derek Woodman, while the three commissioners — Ronnie Maez, Veronica Medina and Warren Brown — took notes. The object of the interviews was to select six members for the committee, to constitute a seven-person commission with the addition of a Town of Pagosa Springs staff member. (Presumably, Town Manager Andrea Phillips.)
The timeline is perhaps a bit daunting, for a part-time, volunteer group.
I will say, listening to these four interviews, the County seemed to have attracted some of the brightest, most qualified candidates available in the community, and had selected them as interview finalists.
But they were not candidates with a strong interest in politics, apparently, where public health is concerned. One of the questions posed by County Manager Woodman was, “What role should political ideology play in the formation of a health department?” During the interviews I attended, the candidates responded, “None,” or “Zero,” or “Ooooooh, not any.”
I’ve argued in previous editorials that people, who think public health can be separated from political decision making, must have been asleep during the past three years. In fact, the very reason Archuleta County is dealing with the creation of a new health department is directly related to political differences of opinion between our BOCC and the La Plata County BOCC.
Meanwhile, I understand why people — even very intelligent people — might wish that government health policies could somehow be divorced from politics. I would argue, however, that that political ideology — how money should and should not be spent, what services should and should not be offered, what mandates should and should not be enforced, where the ultimate decision-making power should reside — is integral to the formulation of public health policy, and to the formulation of a new public health department.
That said, I was impressed by the quality of the candidates, and in particular, by the interview with Dr. Mozhdeh Bruss, who was, for whatever reason, not chosen by the commissioners.
At the conclusion of each interview, County Manager Woodman asked if the candidate had additional comments or questions for the commissioners.
Dr. Bruss did have some.
“My question is… I would love to hear… I know you talked about the deliverables and the timeline… and what you hope to achieve. I think that’s probably going to set the scope of work for this group, because it’s going to say, ‘We need this by this time, and this by this time.’ And then as the group works together to figure out what their schedule is, they will figure out how to deliver that.
“My question would be, are there resources beyond [this group]…?”
Assuming that the volunteers need additional resources — such as paid consultants, for example — how ready-and-willing will the BOCC be, to provide them? Good question.
But perhaps there’s a larger question as well?
The previous afternoon, on February 6, the BOCC had convened a special meeting, and had voted to create two health department committees: the “Volunteer Transitional Advisory Committee For County Public Health Department” composed of seven community volunteers, and an “Internal Transitional Health Department Oversight Committee” composed of paid County staff: the County Manager, the County Attorney, the Human Resources Director, the Finance Director and the County Paralegal.
The BOCC also assigned County Paralegal Mary Helminski to serve as a ‘liaison’ between the two new committees.
Which committee will actually have the ultimate power to make final recommendations, concerning the formulation of the new public health department?
The citizen volunteers? Or the paid County staff?
Always an interesting political question.