The Union County Health Department (UCHD) needs a new plumbing inspector.
At a board of health meeting held Wednesday morning, UCHD Health Commissioner Jason Orcena reported that the department’s only plumbing inspector, Vic Olszewski, will retire April 26. He has served the UCHD since 2006.
Orcena presented the board with options of hiring inspectors or contracting with the Delaware and Franklin county health departments to borrow their inspectors.
“My biggest concern is with hiring,” Orcena said. “Even though we may have some folks interested, what would it cost me to bring on one and a half to two plumbing inspectors to the board?”
Orcena said the county is poised for growth, but at this point, he doesn’t know if the department could handle hiring two full time inspectors. He said the contracts he’s reviewing with Delaware and Franklin counties “sort of implies there may be a semi-permanent person assigned to this job.”
“The path of least resistance is with a contract, but I don’t know if in the long term that’s the best option,” Orcena said. “I think if we go down the road of hiring, then we’re making a commitment that we are going to build a big plumbing program because it’s the only way we have a plumbing program.”
He said the department would have to increase its fees by the end of the year to cover the cost of getting inspectors.
Newly elected Board President Keith Watson said he’d prefer keeping the potential plumbing inspector “in house.” He said having a local inspector means there can be more reliability and attentiveness to fixing problems.
“I would much rather see us hire our own plumbing inspector,” Watson said. “There’s a lot more investment in the community and investment in the local (side) with the way things go.”
Orcena said plumbers are hard to come by, and various entities are continuously in bidding wars to hire them. With this, he said the UCHD has to be careful not to “burn bridges” with other health departments by accidentally “stealing” their inspectors with its job offers.
The commissioner said the department will most likely have a job posting and notice available this week.
He said he’ll tell the two people interested in the contract role that the board is interested in hiring first. He said if there’s no interest or resumes submitted by the next meeting, the board will review criteria for the position like the salary.
Also at the meeting:
-The board adopted its pro forma budget of $5.65 million for 2020. Public Information Officer Jennifer Thrush said this is a temporary budget, and is subject to change when department heads send their closest speculations as to what they’ll pay or make in 2020. She said it would be revised again as a permanent budget later this year.
-Orcena said an architect from Johnson Laux Construction will visit the UCHD on Monday. From there, they will draw building plans. He said the initial drawings for the remodel will be done by May.
-Wayne Dellinger has been appointed to be a new member of the board of health. He is an agriculture and natural resources educator with The Ohio State University Extension Office.
The board will meet again at 7:30 a.m. April 17.