Kane County health director resigns
The embattled executive director of Kane County's Public Health Department announced his resignation Tuesday. Paul Kuehnert's departure for another job in New Jersey forces a temporary realignment of several county departments and temporary pay boosts for several department managers.
Kuehnert has faced frequent fire from county board members since the heated debate about the downsizing of the department in 2010. Board members, on Kuehnert's advice, voted to lay off 62 employees and privatize programs that provide county residents a gateway to Medicaid, and help with pregnancies and health care for foster children. Four months later, Kuehnert went back on the hot seat when Mary Lawrie, the county's former Animal Control administrator, was placed on administrative leave just before she quit. That department continues to have difficulties, including the most recent discovery that inaccurate tickets for expired rabies tags were being mailed out to county residents because the records for the county's 60,000 rabies certificates are out of date.
Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said it's true Kuehnert has had a rough go as of late, but that's not why he's leaving. Kuehnert recently accepted a job with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He will be the organization's senior program officer and director of its public health team. “Robert Wood Johnson is the premiere health foundation in the country,” McConnaughay said. “It's a pretty big job. When you are sought out by them, that means you are of a particular caliber. We're excited for him.”
Kuehnert has a previous history with the foundation. He participated in the foundation's Executive Nurse Fellowship Program from 2004 to 2006. Kuehnert also oversaw the receipt of grants from the foundation for Kane County's Fit for Kids program. McConnaughay concentrated on Kuehnert's accomplishments in Kane County in putting out notice of his resignation. She laid out 12 highlights including: Oversight of the county's disaster response during the blizzard in 2011, his handling of the H1N1 flu and TB outbreak in the county, creation of the county's Fit for Kids program and overall improvement in the county's national health ranking.
McConnaughay also won a county board committee's approval for a temporary reorganization of county departments in the wake of Kuehnert's departure.
Barb Jeffers will become the executive director of the health department on an interim basis. Jeffers is currently the assistant director for administration in the department. Animal Control will report to her. She'll receive an $8,300 pay bump for her interim role between June 4 and Nov. 30.
The county's Office of Emergency Management and the Office of Community Reinvestment will become independent of the health department. Management of those departments will also receive interim raises and report directly to McConnaughay for the remainder of her term.
The departure will end up being a cost savings for the county. The total cost of the raises will be $23,666 and the savings on Kuehnert's salary from June 4 to Nov. 30 will be $60,600.
McConnaughay said the changes are necessary because there is no other county employee who could immediately fill Kuehnert's position. And with a new board chairman and many new board members coming in December, it's pointless to search for a permanent replacement, McConnaughay said.
“There's not going to be a lot of institutional carry-over with the new board,” McConnaughay said. “So you really can't be making plans for the future. But there will be no change from the public's vantage point in terms of how these departments provide services.”
Kuehnert's last day is June 1.