Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Year In Review topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fargo Cass Public Health highlights mobile medical unit, expanded services and balanced budget in year-in-review
Summary
At its Jan. 9 meeting the board heard a 2025 year-in-review covering a mobile medical unit coming in 2026, return to a moderate-complexity CLIA lab, expanded school nursing and WIC services, higher shelter demand, and a projected general-fund expense of about $6.19 million for 2025 with a projected 2026 general fund of $6.48 million.
Fargo Cass Public Health presented its 2025 year-in-review at the Jan. 9 Board of Health meeting, outlining service expansions, staffing and financial results and previewing initiatives for 2026.
Director Jen Fall summarized strategic planning work (an external facilitator and dashboarding to monitor progress), the coming mobile medical unit designed to bring exams, pharmacy-grade cold storage and WIC services into outlying communities, and cross-sector partnerships with Sanford, Essentia and Family Health Care. "This mobile medical unit has a full exam table, has 2 pharmacy grade refrigerator freezers, and a WIC station," Fall said, noting the vehicle is slated for training and deployment in 2026.
Clinical services staff said returning a lab to moderate-complexity status under a new in-house lab director will allow more routine testing to be completed locally pending CLIA certification/site review. Suzanne, nursing and clinical services director, said the team ran 30-plus flu events in 2025, supported measles response coordination with Sanford and partners, and delivered roughly 107,000 school health contacts through Fargo Public Schools in the calendar year.
The board also heard operational metrics: winter warming shelter use averaged about 72 people per night, up from about 40 the prior year, and staff reported the downtown engagement/relocation lease was signed Jan. 1 with demolition and renovation planning under way. Public-health preparedness staff described logistics support for HHS- and partner-funded food distributions tied to a Great Plains Food Bank award; emergency preparedness also supports long-term-care exercises to meet CMS requirements.
On finance, CFO Melissa reported 2025 expenditures at roughly 95% (with about $500,000 in period-13 expenses pending) and revenues showing a surplus, driven in part by Ryan White and WIC funding increases. Fall summarized projected general-fund expenses at $6,191,000 for the 2025 closeout and a proposed 2026 general-fund budget of $6,479,304. She said bringing lab services in-house and billing-code changes have created modest new revenue streams (a projected $153,000 gain after coding changes and an expected $60,000 annual benefit from in-house lab work).
Staff described workforce and grant issues: the agency is awaiting a decision on a $200,000 family-planning grant and used workforce grant funds for staff training and conferences; recruitment for licensed addiction counselors (LACs) is ongoing to expedite assessments and treatment placements.
What’s next: staff will bring strategic-plan dashboards online and report on ACIP vaccine guidance after the advisory committee meets; board members asked staff to continue tracking budget impacts tied to grants and billing changes.
