Health department getting leadership changes

SANDUSKY — Change is coming to the Erie County Health Department, which has a new leader coming on board for its community health center. Erie County's health board made several leadership decisions during a recent public meeting at its offices in Sandusky. Among them: • The board hired Troy Chaffin to serve as the chief executive officer of the Erie County Community Health Center, the community clinic located at the health department. Chaffin is a former health department executive who recently has helped run a community clinic in Lorain County. • Joe Palmucci, the current CEO of the health center, will step down from that post when Chaffin takes over at the end of March. But Palmucci will stay on as the top finance official until 2027. • The board awarded a 2% bonus pay increase to Pete Schade, the health commissioner. Schade intends to retire in the next year or two but has not set a date. • The board re-elected Linda Miller-Moore as its president. Miller-Moore presides over the board meetings. The board also re-elected its president pro tem, Dr. Dina Bauer. Bauer, a local podiatrist, runs the meetings when Miller-Moore can't be present. Chaffin's new job Sandusky has two Federally Qualified Health Centers, community health clinics that provide medical care, mental health treatment and dental care with discount prices for people who can't afford high medical bills. Family Health Services has offices in Sandusky and Norwalk. The Erie County Community Health Center, where Chaffin will take over, is also a Federally Qualified Health Center. Chaffin is currently the chief operating officer for Lorain County Health and Dentistry, another Federally Qualified Health Center, where he has worked for more than eight years. But before that, he worked for eight years at the Erie County Health Department where he was the assistant health commissioner when he left in 2017. Chaffin said he loves Lorain County Health and Dentistry but has missed working in public health. "I'm very excited to go back to Erie County and work at the health department and the health center," he said. "I'm a very public health-minded person." Chaffin, a native of Collins in northern Huron County, has a bachelor's degree in public health from the University of Mount Union and a master's degree in public health administration from the University of Toledo. More on Palmucci Palmucci is stepping down at the end of March as the CEO of the Erie County Community Health Center so that Chaffin can take over. But Palmucci will stay on as the senior chief financial officer until May 1, 2027, when he plans to retire. Palmucci will have worked at the health department for 32 years, but his long career there was almost an accident. He explained that when he graduated from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor's degree in finance and international business, he expected to pursue a career out of state in the fall, perhaps in Atlanta. But he decided to stick around in Erie County during the summer to be with friends and took a job in May 1995 as a senior account clerk at the Erie County Health Department so he would have money to play golf during the summer. "I didn't know anything about public health. I ended up loving it. It was a time when computers were coming along. I was here when we put the first internet connection in," Palmucci said. Palmucci is a Castalia native and lives about a quarter of a mile from where he grew up. Linda Miller-Moore, the health board president, was Palmucci's high school English teacher. Miler-Moore said Palmucci was a good student, even though he was better at math than English. Schade's pay hike Also at Tuesday's meeting, the board voted to raise Pete Schade's pay by 2%, as a bonus, in addition to the 2% pay raise he received along with other health department employees. The pay hike will raise his annual pay from about $203,000 to about $207,000. Board member Dr. Richard Keller made the motion to approve the bonus to thank Schade for his good work. Board members were each surveyed about Schade's performance, resulting in a two-page document that gave him a glowing annual evaluation. Schade has run the health department since 2005. He said Tuesday he plans to retire in about a year or so but has not set a date. Miller-Moore's continuity Also Tuesday, the health board re-elected retired schoolteacher Linda Miller-Moore as the board president and Dr. Dina Bauer as the president pro tem. Miller-Moore, a retired English teacher for Margaretta Schools, has been the president of the health board for more than 25 years. Bauer has been the president pro tempore for several years.