City, county consolidate environmental services

Now, it looks like the department’s prayers have been answered.

The department – a joint city and county effort – is consolidating many of its services into the former First Christian Science Church, 320 E. Central St.

The building had been sitting vacant for many years, and by the time the city acquired the building in the early 1990s, some problems – mostly leaks – had developed, according to Health Department Assistant Director Ron Boyer.

During the last nine months, the city spent $1.3 million to renovate the space for use as city and county office space, and Boyer said the health department had the most urgent need for extra room.

“In our health department, almost half of our employees are environmentally related rather than medical,” Boyer said. “All of the employees in that new facility were located in the basements of our two buildings – historic City Hall and the main health department building” at 227 E. Chestnut Expressway.

The former church now houses 30 employees – about 25 percent of the total health department staff – including workers in food inspection, milk inspection, lead poisoning control and county environmental services.

Those employees have moved into their new offices, Boyer said, but a formal dedication of the space will take place in June.

While it is difficult to assess how much money the consolidation efforts will save the city and the county, the new space allows the department to do some things it couldn’t before, according to Health Department Director Kevin Gipson.

“Our environmental services were all spread out, so by consolidating all of our environmental health services it helps with our efficiency,” he said. “We’re able to better utilize the support staff and provide better services for the citizens and coordinate programs between the county and the city. We should be more productive because we’re all in one location.”

The new space also creates added benefits for employees, said Greene County Commissioner Harold Bengsch.

“The working environment is a thousand percent improved,” he said, “Any time you have an improved work environment, the employees are stimulated to take more pride in the work that they’re doing because of the pride they have in where they work. I’ll also say that the city has done a magnificent job in renovating that old church building into a very appealing environment to work in.”

The consolidation is part of an ongoing effort to make county offices more easily accessible to the general public, Bengsch said. Those efforts also have been responsible for putting the information services offices in the same area as the county planning and zoning department, creating easier access.

“There’s always an effort, in my opinion, from county or city government to work toward a one-stop shop as much as possible,” Bengsch said. “Any time that you bring those services together in one place, you’ve created one place for the public that’s coming in and needs access to those services, and that’s always a much better situation.”

A snapshot of the health department’s environmental services:

• Inspecting and regulating commercial food retailers and processors

• Inspecting day care facilities

• Inspecting hotels and motels

• Investigating insect and rodent complaints

• Collecting water samples

• Investigating communicable disease in conjunction with epidemiology staff

• Inspecting dwelling units for compliance with minimal housing standards;

• Assessing facilities for lead risk

• Inspecting and regulating Grade-A milk production

• Inspecting trash trucks

• Inspecting nonemergency transport vehicles

• Investigating sewage complaints

• Reviewing blueprints to determine compliance with food codes[[In-content Ad]]