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Public health asks board for staff increases as mosquito, TB and other disease work rises
Summary
Public health director Ellie Clawson asked the HHS board to reclassify and fund fractional FTE increases (a program associate from 0.4 to 0.8 and a 0.15 public‑health nurse) to meet environmental‑health inspection loads and communicable‑disease management as West Nile, pertussis and other responses increase.
St. Croix County Public Health presented a department orientation on June 10 and asked the Health & Human Services Board to support modest staff increases to handle growing regulatory and communicable‑disease demands.
Public Health Administrator Ellie Clawson described the board’s role as the local board of health and outlined department responsibilities, accreditation status and proposed staffing adjustments. Clawson told the board the environmental‑health agent team inspects roughly 718 public‑serving facilities under DATCP/DSPS agent contracts and that the current inspector‑to‑facility ratio—about 334 facilities per FTE—exceeds the recommended 280–320 range.
"This agent portion is fee funded and the workload includes not just inspections but reinspections, well testing, complaint follow‑up and beach testing," Clawson said, explaining why the department requested increasing a vacant program‑associate position from 0.4 to 0.8 FTE (the increase would be supported by fee revenue tied to agent inspections).
Clawson also asked that a 0.15 FTE public‑health nurse position (previously grant‑funded) be absorbed into the tax levy now that grant support has ended. She said communicable‑disease duties have expanded and that case management can be time‑intensive: an active tuberculosis case can require roughly 80 hours of nurse case management plus directly observed therapy and clinical coordination.
Clawson outlined recent and ongoing public‑health responses that are increasing workload: a local rise in pertussis (whooping cough) cases, a measles case that required travel‑route follow‑up, three confirmed West Nile virus cases in the county (prompting a new mosquito surveillance effort and public messaging), and state notifications about travelers on Ebola monitoring (44 travelers statewide at the time of the briefing). She said these responsibilities require time‑sensitive follow‑up to meet state statute obligations under the communicable‑disease rules.
"We are required by statute to call the individual to ask them where they think they got it and help them understand how to stop the spread of disease," Clawson said, describing statutory case‑follow‑up duties.
Board members asked for implementation details; Clawson said she will email the board statutory links, the department annual report, the community health assessment and the CHIP (community health improvement plan), and will solicit board input for a 2027 strategic plan.
Next steps: the staffing requests will be considered through the county’s budget and personnel process; Clawson will supply written materials and follow‑up cost and funding details to the board.
