County "Health" Department in Ohio...

[NeoConMan]

Yeah, they're here to help you....

 

 

Fairfield County Closes Health Department To Treat For Fleas

Wednesday, April 28

By Mary Beth Lane

 

The Columbus Dispatch

 

The Fairfield Department of Health has closed its building in Lancaster for three days

to treat it for a flea infestation. The building is scheduled to reopen Monday,

Board of Health member Robert Blair said today.

 

The health building at 1587 Granville Pike is a pre-Civil War structure that, as The Dispatch

reported last month, was already being treated to eliminate the flea problem.

The building closure marks a stepped-up effort to get rid of the pests.

 

Chipmunks and bats also have been spotted in the building.

 

The building houses vital statistics, environmental services and the Women Infants and

Children program, among other offices. The WIC clients have been notified and rescheduled

for appointments.

 

Blair did not know how much the flea treatment would cost. The department has had budget

problems, and the cost of maintaining the old building puts added stress on the budget,

Health Commissioner Frank Hirsch has said.

 

The department has been a combined health district, including Pickerington and Lancaster,

and villages and townships. After the district combined with the cities earlier in the decade,

county commissioners gave the building outright to the health district.

 

Now, facing budget problems, health officials want the county commissioners to take the

building back or, at least, help subsidize it. County commissioners have refused, saying the

county general fund budget is tight as it is and cannot accommodate maintaining the building.

 

County Prosecutor David Landefeld, asked by county officials to render an opinion on whether

the county commissioners are obligated to take back the building, researched the issue but

found no clear answer. He has now asked the Ohio attorney general for an opinion.

 

Pickerington left the combined health district this year to buy health services from Franklin

County instead. Lancaster plans to sever its membership in the Fairfield district next year to

instead purchase services from Fairfield at a lower rate. Lancaster officials said they have been

unfairly paying too much to the combined district.

 

The health department inspects restaurants and pools, responds to septic-system complaints

and vaccinates children, among other duties required by law.