In a one-sentence statement, Thomas Sharp has resigned his position as health officer for Monroe County, effective on April 30.
The board of health has appointed Clark Brittain as the new health officer, which is pending approval by the board of county commissioners.
Based on the health department’s record of a re-appointment made in 1998, Sharp’s service as health officer started 47 years ago, in 1976.
Sharp was most recently re-appointed in November 2021.
Under state law, it’s the county health officer who appoints the health administrator, public health nurses, environmental health specialists, computer programmers, clerks, other personnel in the health department.
On Thursday, Monroe County’s board of health met in executive session, closed to the public, under IC 5-14-1.5-6.1(b)(5) (Indiana’s Open Door Law) which allows a public body to close a meeting to the public, in order to “receive information about and interview prospective employees.”
Previously, on Feb. 9, the board of health had met in closed session under IC 5-14-1.5-6.1(b)(9) (Indiana’s Open Door Law), which allows a public body to close a meeting to the public, in order to “to discuss a job performance evaluation of individual employees.”
Right after Thursday’s closed session, the board met in an open meeting to accept Sharp’s resignation, which is effective April 30.
Also during the board’s open session, which lasted just over two minutes, a unanimous vote was taken to appoint Clark Brittain as the new health officer. Brittain is a local doctor of osteopathic medicine who operates a gynecological practice.
In this year’s adopted Monroe County budget, the health officer is paid $26,700
While it’s the board of health that appoints the county health officer, the appointment is subject to approval by the board of county commissioners. County commissioner Julie Thomas confirmed to The B Square that Brittain’s appointment will be considered at the regular meeting of commissioners next Wednesday (April 26).
Sharp and Brittain are both licensed physicians in the state of Indiana, which is a requirement for county health officers. But under pending legislation that’s under consideration by the Indiana General Assembly, being a licensed physician would no longer be a ridgid requirement for county health officers.
If SB 04 is enacted, a county health officer would either have to be a licensed physician or have a master’s degree in public health and five years of experience in public health. SB 04, which covers way more ground than just health officer requirements, is currently in conference committee.
Sharp’s resignation comes after some resignations and firings of health department staff in what was a rough transition from longtime health administrator Penny Caudill, who retired in mid-2022, to her replacement, Lori Kelley.
1 forced resignation, 2 firings, 7 full time employees, 2 board members, and now the health officer have resigned from this department. When will someone wake up and realize the staff are not the problem in this situation? Attitude reflects LEADERSHIP!!!! What was once a highly esteemed department is now considered a laughingstock. How many full time positions does this department have? Look at this turn overate. It has to be 50%. Monroe County citizens should be very concerned that new staff hired under Ms. Kelly have no institutional knowledge or experience.
1 forced resignation, 2 firings, 7 full time employees, 2 board members, and now the health officer have resigned from this department. When will someone wake up and realize the staff are not the problem in this situation? Attitude reflects LEADERSHIP!!!! What was once a highly esteemed department is now considered a laughingstock. How many full time positions does this department have? Look at this turn overate. It has to be 50%. Monroe County citizens should be very concerned that new staff hired under Ms. Kelly have no institutional knowledge or experience.
Meant to reply and like this original comment not copy and paste your comment Kathy H.
I couldn’t agree more with you. I have seen so many articles regarding the health department and nothing that’s positive. The county commissioners need to wake up and get control of this situation.
“A rough transition” is putting it mildly. Two more full time employees gone as of today, that’s over 50% turnover in full time employees since Lori took over. Someone needs to look closely at that.
This is why the Board of Health needs to be an elected position holder just like the County Surveyors has done. They need to be a qualified person that needs to be approved by the Medical providers in our county. This needs to be a legal requirement for the taxpayers to vote for this position. Remember that this was the unelected government officials that shut down our economy and the face diaper police. No more professional bureaucrats
We are so fortunate if we get Dr. Clark Brittian. He is a compassionate, highly intelligent doctor who keeps up to date on the latest research. What a boon, he will be to our community!
Dr. Brittain will be able to restore this department to the high functioning department it was.
Unless Dr Britton dismisses Lori Kelly, MCHD is not going to improve. She is the head of the snake. The only hopeful thing is that Dr Britton will actually listen to the concerns of the staff. However, at this point, any staff with tenure has (for the most part) fled the department. None of the new employees have a clue as to how the department should run.
Complaints about working conditions and leadership at the health department yet none about the clerks office? Clerks office is down 17 people! Employees leaving because of terrible leadership and working conditions. Supervisors selling crafts from their desk and pressuring employees to buy them. Not allowing lunch breaks! The health department is probably a dream job compared to the clerks office.
Mike, apparently you don’t know anyone who works at the Health Department. Probably because they have all either been fired or quit. I would like to hear more about the issues at the Clerk’s office though. I saw all those job openings. I just figured a bunch of folks had reached retirement age.