Lake County board approves temporary public health officer contract

The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve a six-month professional services contract to hire a temporary public health officer and authorized the Health Services Director to sign the agreement.

The contract appoints Anju Goel (name also transcribed in the meeting as “Goyal”) as a temporary public health officer for up to six months with a contract cap of $49,860, a pay rate of $165 per hour for work performed and $10.50 per hour for on-call time. Director Artin, Health Services Director, said staff expects the contract ceiling will be reached in about three to four months and that the interval will be used to recruit a permanent health officer.

"We will use that time to recruit a full time health officer as an employee or reach terms with a longer term health officer," Director Artin said. The director also told the board that the county's incumbent health officer submitted a resignation effective March 31, creating the need for a temporary appointment.

Lisa Farrocco, Deputy Director of Finance and Administration, was introduced by Artin as part of the staffing work on the contract; staff said Farrocco and others will pursue an RFQ/RFP and concurrent recruitment for a permanent hire. Supervisor Sabatier praised the speed of the short-term arrangement and the parallel search for a long-term candidate, saying the board was "appreciative of the fast action and having a short term and also a long term plan already set."

A board member moved the motion to approve the appointment and contract as read; another board member seconded. The chair called for the vote, and the motion carried unanimously, 5-0-0. The motion authorized the Health Services Director to execute the professional services agreement on the county's behalf.

Meeting remarks indicated staff expects to reach the $49,860 ceiling in roughly 12 to 15 weeks (about three to four months), at which point the county will either have hired a permanent health officer or negotiated a longer-term arrangement. The board opened the item for public comment; no public comments on the item are recorded in the transcript.

Details recorded in the meeting transcript: the candidate's name appears in several spellings in the record ("Goel," "Goyal," and a partial spoken correction); the transcript identifies the resigning health officer only as "Dr. Duen" (also transcribed as "Duhan"). The board did not record additional funding-source specifics or a start date for the temporary appointment during the discussion.