Alger County health department presents annual report; highlights Rx Kids expansion and steady finances

The public health department presented its annual report for the period Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025 and summarized program activity, staffing and recent awards.

The presenter said the department rolled out customer-satisfaction surveys and finalized a strategic plan with priorities including communication, prevention and education. "We rolled out our customer satisfaction surveys…Anybody that comes in, we try to get them to complete a survey so we can get feedback on the work we're doing and constantly try to improve," the public health director said. The report also listed staff awards and community events the department supported during the year.

The presentation included service counts across clinical and home-visiting programs, and a review of environmental health permits and lab throughput. On finances, the department reported total revenues of $8,911,000 versus expenses of $8,646,000, yielding $265,000 in revenues over expenses; the presenter noted about 84% of revenue came from federal and state sources and said the department navigated abrupt midyear grant cuts to finish the year positively.

Commissioners asked a range of follow-up questions about local appropriations, school participation in health-site programming and staffing vacancies; the presenter said school-based participation is voluntary and that several positions remained open.

The board acknowledged the report and raised a packet-correction issue—the staff confirmed the packet included the prior year’s report by email mistake and will circulate the corrected materials.