County environmental official warns of lost local control as state plans public-health regionalization

Elizabeth Townsend said recent state conversations mean Jackson County's public-health role will change and some funding decisions will move to larger lead entities. “We're gonna lose control over any funding that we receive from the state,” Townsend said, describing a three-year restructuring that she said will shift decisions about who gets funds and how they are used.

Townsend told supervisors she is concerned about how regionalized grants are being applied for and administered: she described examples where county staff learned after-the-fact that contracted agencies had pursued grants that affected local workloads and budgets. She asked that new grant applications and significant changes come before the board so the county can assess financial and staffing impacts before committing.