Commissioners, health board hash out what’s next after health officer resigns

Plus, a Republican running for House District 26 claims harassment, fights in court rather than face questions from county Election Board over his campaign RV

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COMMISSIONERS, HEALTH BOARD HASH OUT WHAT’S NEXT AFTER HEALTH OFFICER RESIGNS

With the departure of Dr. Greg Loomis as Tippecanoe County health officer – part of a dispute between Loomis and county officials about whether the role of the position should evolve –talks have started between county commissioners and the county health board about what comes next.

Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said he county council members and the county’s HR director met with Dr. Julianne Stout, president of the Tippecanoe County Health Board, in the days after Loomis’ resignation.

Murtaugh said the county isn’t ready to commit to a full-time health officer – something Loomis insisted as he tendered his resignation was a necessity as the health department takes on new roles. But he said there was some agreement that the health officer’s role needed a more defined job description as a part-time position.

“On the financial end, we’re pretty adamant that we wanted to see how this works as part-time,” Murtaugh said Monday. “And then to have those discussions in future years about whether having the health officer go full time is certainly something that everybody’s open to.”

Those comments came after county commissioners on Monday ratified an emergency move made a week earlier to bring back Quality Correctional Care, the contractor that handles prescriptions for the county jail, to Tippecanoe County Community Corrections.

In January 2024, Loomis had the health department take over medication distribution at the Community Corrections facility on North Ninth Street. With his departure, the commissioners agreed to a contract with QCC – which had been budgeted for the work in the 2024 county budget – that will pay the company $24,637 a month. (Murtaugh said during Monday’s meeting that the county had budgeted $300,000 to cover the expense in the 2024 county budget before the health department took over prescription distribution for the first seven months of the year.)

Stout said Monday she came to the recent meeting with county officials with a job description based on the one Loomis and the health board had proposed in 2023 for the 2024 budget as an incremental plan to build the position into a full-time one. That proposal and funding was stripped from the budget before final approval by the Tippecanoe County Council.

Stout said the health board was surprised that the proposal didn’t make it through the process.