March 9, 2009

Dear District Advisory Council:

Another year has passed. It has actually been a good year for the Crawford County General Health District as much has been accomplished.

The core services (i.e.: Vital Statistics, Environmental Health, Nursing and Administrative Services) have met and/or exceeded the expectations set for them. WIC and Help Me Grow have continued to provide more services to a greater number of Crawford County residents in need. We have seen an increase in demand for Health Department services throughout the year.

We have revised/updated all policies and procedures for CCGHD, updated job descriptions and completed personnel evaluations on all employees and maintained fiscal responsibility by staying within our 2008 budget. We have been rewarded with renewal of several of our grants which required meeting and/or exceeding numerous deliverables (grant term for outcomes) in the process.

The Public Health Infrastructure Grant (PHI) is seeing significant changes this year. The Federal government has even changed the name of the grant to Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant (PHEP). I am proud to report that the CCGHD is ahead of the curve in this area as we had two field type exercises in 2008 that were emergency preparedness focused. We also implemented a vigorous multi year training and exercise plan coupled with a focused staff development plan that is in tandem with the exercise and training plan. All aspects are on schedule as planned. This will assure a renewal of the new bi-annual PHEP grant.

Now I want to address the budget process. This is an extremely difficult year for all of us to know where our 2009 budget is going; so I know you all can appreciate how difficult it is to attempt to predict where we will be in 2010. We have been experiencing cuts at the state and federal levels and we know there are probably more to come. This is contingent on the size of the federal stimulus package to the states. We have also seen many expenses go up this year and they will again next year. Even though much is in turmoil, for the first time in a decade, we are presenting a 2010 budget which is less than the previous year. All subsidies for 2010 have been reduced as well.

We expect 2010 to be a very difficult financial year. We have several fiscal reduction plans to potentially implement if we have to. We have already started with the initial process which can be accelerated at any time in the future if 2010 turns out to be worse than expected. But it is a difficult dance to have to spend out grants while we conserve local taxpayer money. We have the ability to do both effectively.

We, at the Crawford County General Health District, fully intend to provide the best public health services possible to the residents of Bucyrus and Crawford County in 2009 and 2010. Beyond that, let’s hope the entire economy turns around for everyone’s sake.

As always, the Crawford County General Health District greatly appreciates your support and commitment to the health and readiness for emergencies of any nature; to protect, promote and prevent illnesses negatively impacting the citizens of Crawford County.

Respectfully,

W. Scott Kibler, Health Commissioner