LIBERTY, NY — The state Department of Health (DOH) announced earlier this year that its district office would move from Monticello to Middletown.

The decision attracted outcry from public health officials and from county and state legislators alike. “We cannot have a county that’s second to last in health care rankings—61 out of 62, literally—losing a Department of Health field office. What kind of message does that send to everyone working to make this community healthier and a safer community?” Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther said.

The DOH still intends to move its offices. Sometime after Labor Day, past the summer season when the county and the DOH are at their busiest, the department will no longer have a presence in Monticello.

The outcry surrounding the district office has influenced the DOH to split the intended move into two. Most of the district office will move to Middletown as originally planned. A few DOH employees will remain in Sullivan County, operating out of the Sullivan County Public Health Department (PH) offices in Liberty.

The DOH reconsidered its decision not to have a physical presence in Sullivan County following public outcry, said county manager Josh Potosek.

Co-locating with PH won’t conflict with either department’s operations. The DOH district offices focus on environmental hazards, conducting health inspections for pools, restaurants, camps and the like. PH focuses on outreach and on providing public health services.

A close partnership between PH and DOH has helped the county respond to emergencies such as measles outbreaks, said Potosek. “We thought, from our side, there could be some synergies there in certain times of the year.”

Having a physical presence in the county benefits the DOH’s day-to-day operations as well, albeit to a limited extent.

The department’s work in Sullivan County is primarily field work; its employees in-county can do a lot remotely. They can electronically receive a list of the places they need to inspect and complete that work. Having a physical office in Sullivan County saves employees from having to travel to Middletown whenever they need supplies or printed documents, said Potosek. It also gives the office a physical presence. “The bulk of what they do is electronically, from businesses sending stuff in, and then their work is really a lot of fieldwork for those state DOH employees. But [DOH does] get some limited amount of walk-ins [when] people for whatever reason don’t want to use the computer or phone. They walk in, ask questions, fill out forms [and] submit forms that way.”

The county attorney’s office and the DOH legal department are working to hammer out the legalese underpinning the move. The county isn’t looking to make money off the DOH, but it will charge a per-square-foot fee to cover the building’s maintenance costs. “They’ve been more than open, and they’ve been a good partner to kind of talk through these issues and work with,” said Potosek. The county work with them frequently, he added, and the two are going to keep that relationship strong.