Kane County health department to lay off 25

A total of 25 full- and part-time employees of the Kane County Health Department were given notice Friday that they'd soon be without jobs.

The layoffs come for the first time in at least 16 years as the result of decreased funding from the state and a poor local economy stripping the department of Kane County tax income it used to survive.

The loss of 25 employees translates into a 17-percent reduction of staff at the department. The pink slips won't take affect until just after Thanksgiving, but that's not stopping Kane County officials from expressing concerns about the immediate effects on public health.

Kane County Board member Gerald Jones, of Aurora, is the chairman of the county board's public health committee. Just one month ago he was present when the health department gave the county a B- grade for overall health and pledged to make it better in coming years.

Jones said it will be an uphill battle to keep the county's health on the honor roll with fewer staffers.

"It's going to be extremely challenging given the funding situation," Jones said. "I'm certainly concerned. We're going to have to be very creative and very productive, but I think our staff and management is up to the challenge."

Both union staff and management will be included in the layoffs, which will affect every section of the health department.

Executive Director Paul Kuehnert met with the employee union for the first time Friday to discuss the layoffs and develop a plan to minimize impact on services. Still, the magnitude of the layoffs mean there's no doubt programs will be take a hit, Kuehnert said.

"It's something we're concerned about, but it's impossible to predict what all the impacts will be at this point. Right now we're in the process of asking ourselves, 'Are we doing some things that are nice to do, but that we don't have to do?'"

To demonstrate how bad the funding problem from the state is, Kuehnert pointed to the issue of controlling tuberculosis in the county.

Tuberculosis is a potentially lethal infectious disease that most often attacks the lungs. State law requires health departments to have programs focusing on the issue. There are three full-time staff members at the health department who work on the issue. The total program and employee costs are about $250,000. The state only kicks in about $100,000.

More information on the impact of the layoffs is expected after each employee is notified.