By Holly Crocco
The Putnam County Legislature’s Personnel Committee recently approved the reclassification of the commissioner of health position, to that of a public health director.
According to Personnel Director Paul Eldridge, the county has been recruiting for a new commissioner of health for quite some time now, and while a prior candidate was selected, that person bowed out during the final vetting process. Therefore, the move to a public health director began – opening up the candidate pool to those who are not physicians.
Eldridge said at the Feb. 13 Personnel Committee meeting that, prior to 2005, Putnam always had a public health director. He also explained that with a public health director, as opposed to a commissioner, the state requires the county to also have a medical consultant.
Rian Rodriguez has been selected to fill the role of public health director, and upon full legislative approval at the March 4 meeting, he will serve a six-year term. At that time, current Interim Commissioner of Health Dr. Michel Nesheiwat will be named the county’s medical consultant.
Legislator Greg Ellner, R-Carmel, called the restructuring “a bit of a shell game.”
“When this was originally presented, it was presented as a savings,” he said. “But based on what you’re saying here, because we’re going to have a legacy of two (employees), this is $60,000 more than what we’re currently paying, and I’m not comfortable with that.”
Rather than paying for a public health director and a medical consultant, Ellner asked why that additional pay wasn’t offered when looking for a commissioner of health.
“We never said that it would be cheaper,” said Eldridge. “And I actually made the point that it would be two people.”
Ellner, and Legislator Paul Jonke, R-Brewster, disagreed, saying it was “sold” as a savings during the budget development process.
Rodriguez is an epidemiologist by training with a master in public health in epidemiology from New York Medical College. He has 30 years of experience in health care under his belt, including time spent at Columbia and Memorial Sloan Kettering. He spent two decades as an oncological researcher, has served as national director for the American Cancer Society, and is currently serving as director of clinical quality for a managed care organization known has Healthfirst.
“Although I understand these are very big shoes to fill, I’m quite comfortable filling them,” Rodriguez said at the Personnel Committee meeting. “Quite frankly, when it comes to scale, what I currently do is much larger in regards to improving health outcomes of large cohorts of individuals.”
While he has been a Putnam resident for four years, currently living in Brewster, he comes from New York City.
The Personnel Committee unanimously approved the reclassification and the appointment of Rodriguez, moving the matter to the full Legislature.
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