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HHS highlights rising demand, public‑health pressure and asks for targeted staff and software funding
Summary
Health & Human Services outlined a broad set of county programs — vital records, senior meals, pathways reentry, vaccination clinics, vector lab, and the new youth center — reported service metrics (e.g., nearly 9,425 vital records distributed last calendar year), and requested a permanent grant coordinator and a limited-term vital-records FTE plus continued software and vector-lab support.
Health & Human Services leaders told the Board of Supervisors the department is delivering hundreds of services across Coconino County while facing federal and state funding volatility and rising communicable-disease workload.
Michelle Axland and team described the King Street center and youth center buildouts, a proposed MVD kiosk to reduce travel burdens for East Side residents, expanded vital-records outreach (including monthly state assistance clinics for delayed birth certificates), and a request to use vital-records fund balance to hire one limited-term FTE to address current demand. HHS said the vital-records team printed and issued 9,425 records last calendar year — a volume not seen since 2016.
HHS also reviewed community-action accomplishments: nearly 17,000 congregate meals and about 22,000 home-delivered meals, 253 evictions prevented and 746 households assisted to avoid utility shutoffs in the prior year, and partnerships that allowed the department to pass nearly $2,000,000 through to domestic-violence providers when other funding was reduced.
Public-health teams described increased vaccine activity (30,000 vaccines delivered), an in-house vector-testing lab (mosquitoes, fleas, rodents, bats) and major communicable disease work (measles investigations, a plague investigation, increasing rabies exposures). The recovery and pathways teams reported a roughly 70% success rate in reducing recidivism in reentry work measured at six months post-release.
The department requested converting a grant-coordinator slot to permanent status (the position has supported 51 grant applications over four years, yielding ~$14M in awards to date) and asked for ongoing support for environmental-health software and vector testing resources.
What’s next: HHS will return with grant and staffing details as the board finalizes FY27 allocations and county government affairs will be engaged to document the local impacts of federal/state funding changes for advocacy.
