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Utah County Commission approves grant-funded public-health position and staffing changes
Summary
The commission authorized reclassification and deletion of counselor-aide positions and approved converting a prevention position to full time to address prescription misuse; funding is largely grant-supported with contingency if grants expire.
The Utah County Commission approved several personnel actions affecting the county's drug and alcohol services, including deletion of three counselor-aide positions and converting a prevention role to a full-time position tied to grant funding.
Pat Burduth of the Department of Drug and Alcohol explained the changes stem from licensing and billing needs: counselor aides have been used historically but the department needs case-manager classifications for licensing and to support billable services. Commissioners approved a motion to delete three full-time career-service counselor-aide positions; the motion passed 3-0.
Cammy Taylor in human resources presented cost figures for the requested reclassifications. For the prevention position (regular agenda item 4), staff said the total annual cost would be $65,391.31; funding will be split roughly half from a prescription-drug-overdose grant and half from an SPF Rx grant, with block-grant funds used temporarily until the SPF Rx grant begins in July. Burduth said the position's primary objective is to reduce prescription misuse by working with community physicians on prescribing practices and by addressing doctor-shopping; the position will include evaluation and training components.
Commissioners asked about recruitment prospects and sustainability if grant funding ends. Burduth said recruitment was expected to be feasible for a bachelor's-level public-health candidate and that "the position would end if the funding went away unless we were able to make adjustments with our own current funding," adding that no guarantees exist for long-term grant funding. The motion to authorize the position passed 3-0.
The actions taken record funding sources and contingency language rather than creating permanent county-funded positions beyond the grants in question. Commissioners did not attach additional conditions at the time of approval.
