Champaign Co Bd of Health Hires Consultant to Explore Options

The Champaign County Board of Health is waiting for a consultant's report before it tries to resolve a dispute with its services provider.

The C-U Public Health District provides core services for the county through a contract. The county tried to renegotiate that contract early, in order to force re-negotiations of its terms. But the Champaign County Board refused to approve a one-year termination notice.

Stan James is the County Board's Liaison to the Board of Health. He said the consultant was charged with determining exactly what public health services the county is mandated to provide and to describe what options the Board of Health would have if they ended their service contract with the Public Health District.

Not all Board of Health members appear to agree on the value for money of the CU-PHD's services to the county. James indicated his first choice would be to continue working with the Public Health District.

Meanwhile, James wants more information before moving forward: "Moving forward right now we're paying the bills, we're gonna wait for this consultant's report and then find out for sure what's mandated by the state... Hopefully (we'll) sit down with public health and keep working at this. Right now, I think they're doing, in my mind, a great job. "

The consultant's final report is expected in April. The Board of Health is scheduled to meet March 30th.