Schade gets 5-year deal

SANDUSKY — Erie County's health board approved a new five-year contract for the health commissioner, Peter Schade, keeping him on the job through 2028. Schade, 59, has been the health commissioner since June 1, 2005, and lives in Huron with his family. His last contract had just expired, and the new one takes effect immediately. "I feel great," Schade said after the health board's Tuesday night meeting at the health department offices in Sandusky. "I think it gives me a lot of comfort as a person to know I have that contract, and I have their support." Since Schade took over, the health department has: • Created a federally funded community clinic that provides medical care, dental care and mental health care • Added a detox center to help people with substance abuse problems begin their recovery • Provided a home for Becky's House, a residential treatment center for women • Completed an expansion of the original health department building Further changes at the health department campus are ongoing, and it continues to add new programs. For example, it hopes to open a new daycare within the next few months for adults with memory issues. Board members voted unanimously to approve the new contract after conducting a closed-door session. During this time, Schade and other health department staff waited in a nearby room. Schade's salary totals about $184,000 a year, but board members took no action on a pay increase. That's a separate measure, said Dr. Richard Keller, a board member who made the motion for Schade's new contract. Schade's last pay increase, a 3% hike, occurred in 2022. It's the same pay bump received by other health department employees. Keller's motion included two changes from Schade's last contract. Although Schade is entitled to five weeks of vacation a year, he only takes one or two. The previous contract allowed him to cash out 80 hours a year of unused vacation. The new contract increases that to 120 hours. Even when Schade is off and away from the office, he keeps his cellphone with him and usually accepts telephone calls about health department business. A Register editor and reporter once called him when Schade had taken a few hours off to go deer hunting. Schade took the call but spoke softly, explaining that a deer was nearby, and he was sitting in a deer blind. The other change in Schade's contract deletes a clause stating that a physician chosen by the health board will conduct an annual physical of Schade. Keller, himself a physician, said he believes the provision is inappropriate because Schade should be allowed to choose his own doctor. When Schade took over as health commissioner in 2005, he immediately started going to local government meetings to introduce himself and tell county commissioners, township trustees and city council members what the health department was doing. "I still do it. I just went to the Vermilion city meeting," Schade said. Reviewing the renewal levy Also during Tuesday's board meeting, the board voted to put a 0.3-mill renewal levy on the ballot in November for support of health department operations. The levy generates about $675,000 a year. Because it's a renewal, the ballot issue will not raise taxes if voters approve it. Schade told the board he will hand-carry a letter about the renewal to the Erie County commissioners. Health department officials have not forgotten that a levy planned in fall of 2018 had to be delayed until May 2019 after a letter about the matter to the county commissioners somehow got lost and nobody noticed until it was too late.