Shasta County struggles with leadership exodus, lowers standards for Public Health Officer
by MIKE MANGAS, ADAM ROBINSONTue, June 20th 2023, 5:23 PM PDT
3–4 minutes
REDDING, Calif. — The exodus continues of Shasta County employees in leadership positions.
The most recent is County Attorney James Ross. The losses were addressed on Tuesday by two Shasta County Supervisors, among others, during their meeting.
Due to at least three unsuccessful attempts to hire a Public Health Officer to replace Dr. Karen Ramstrom, who was fired more than a year ago, Supervisors voted 4-1 to lower the standards for the position.
"I do think that, given the nature of the position, that it does require a physician with good-standing, whether it's an internal medicine physician, as I am, or a general nutrition or family physician... with a Masters [degree] in public health," said the Director of Geriatrics and Internal Medicine at Mercy Medical in Redding, Nena L. Perry, MD.
Supervisor Mary Rickert later listed key leadership positions that have been impacted: Chief Executive Officer, Health and Human Resources Director, Public Health Officer, Supply Services Director and now two county counsels.
"If we're losing people right and left, the moral continues to deteriorate," Rickert said during the meeting on Tuesday. "I cannot walk through this building without a county employee approaching me--several times a day sometimes--just really concerned about the future of this county, and the stability in this county."
Supervisor Tim Garman followed, comparing the departures to a row of dominos.
"Our job is not to micro-manage every employee of the county. Our job is to bring creative ideas to the CEO and department heads and work respectfully with them. Remember, they have the experience; we don't. I don't know if we can stop the dominos from falling, at this point, but I'm asking you, the new supervisors, to apologize to our employees and stop trying to tell them how to do their jobs. Start treating them respectfully. Let's see if we can stop the dominos," Garman said during the meeting.
The board also voted to appoint Supervisors Patrick Jones and Kevin Crye to an ad-hoc committee that will advise the county, and the cities of Redding, Anderson and Shasta Lake, on creating local plans to address homelessness in a program called "At Home." Crye agreed to it, he says, as long as it's not all talk and no action.
"I want to make sure that Mike Mangas and Channel 7, and all the news agencies, are covering it because I think extreme, extreme pressure and accountability, and a spotlight, needs to be put on it so that way every stakeholder at those meetings can be accountable for what they're doing to push this forward," Crye said during the meeting on Tuesday.
The cities are expected to join a "At Home" as well, with two council members from each city.