Couch: Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department having hard time keeping employees
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PARKERSBURG -- The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department is struggling to keep employees amid the pressures of an ongoing pandemic, Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said Thursday.
"They're losing people. They're trying to find ways to keep them," Couch told fellow commissioners during their regular meeting Thursday.
Couch is a member of the Board of Health for the department, which serves Wood, Wirt, Calhoun, Pleasants, Ritchie and Roane counties. He said employees performing tasks like contact tracing for people who test positive for COVID-19 or going to public meetings to discuss recommended precautions are facing backlash.
It's a problem around the state, Couch said, noting that sometimes health department representatives are asked to speak at school board meetings.
"And that's difficult with the full-tilt anti-maskers, anti-vaccine (people) attending the board of education meetings," he said.
One challenge, Couch said, is "we don't pay them enough."
Some employees' salaries are determined by the state's Department of Personnel, and Couch said temporary workers hired as cases started increasing make more.
"We can actually pay them more through Mancan than we can if we hire them through the Division of Personnel," he said.
Couch directed questions about the specific positions and pay rates to Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department Executive Director Eric Walker, who was not available for comment Thursday.
During the meeting, commissioners were supposed to open bids for the replacement of the roof and siding on the Day Report Center building. But despite some companies providing estimates and expressing interest, county Administrator Marty Seufer said no bids were received, for the second time.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.