Budget crisis forces county to lay off environmental health director
Nicholson helped build on-site wastewater program into one of best in state By ROBERT HORNE
editor@cherokeescout.com Tuesday, January 15, 2008 8:02 PM CST Murphy – The man who helped build the Cherokee County Health Department’s on-site wastewater program into one of the best in the state was laid off Thursday morning.

Tim Nicholson, former head of the county’s environmental health department, and registered sanitarian intern Brian Hubbard were let go because of budgetary concerns, County Manager David Badger said Monday.

“This decision was based on a lack of revenue coming into the county,” Badger said. “We exhausted every possible avenue, including offering early retirements, reducing spending, placing a hiring freeze and eliminating outside travel and training.

“There have a been a number of departments affected by the downturn in the housing market. Some of those departments – like the register of deeds, mapping, building inspections and the health department – are directly tied to the housing market.”

Badger did not want to speculate if any more county employees would lose their jobs as part of the budget crisis. He referred all other questions about Nicholson’s termination to interim Health Director Bob Wood.

Wood said the health department was experiencing a shortfall of about $212,000. Projected out over the course of the fiscal year, it would equate to about $466,000. The shortfall includes the loss of three full-time employees this fiscal year and the loss of two part-time registered sanitarians.

“With positions that are frozen, early retirements, this is an effort to come in with a balanced budget by the end of the fiscal year,” Wood said. “We don’t know exactly how much we’ll save. It will depend on the effective date of early retirements. So far, three out of the six that are eligible are going to take advantage of the early retirement. One other hasn’t made up her mind. Filling these voids will be a problem for the health department.”

Although a new health director, Peter Whittaker, is expected to be in place Feb. 4, Wood still went ahead and terminated Nicholson, despite objections from the health board.

“Actually, a majority of board members were against that action,” Dr. Carlton Van Horn, chairman of the health board, said Monday. “This was a unilateral decision between the current health director and the county manager based on the current budget and constraints of the health department.

“In talking with board members, a majority preferred for this decision to wait. A couple wanted Wood to do it and not put it on the new director.”

Wood said the decision was made to make the reductions in force before Whittaker started.

Van Horn said he was unhappy about Nicholson’s termination.

“This became a situation the board could not weigh in on,” he said. “We can only select the health director. We have no control over day-to-day operations.”

During Nicholson’s two-plus years in the county’s health department, the backlog of septic permits dropped from more than 1,000 to under 500. That doesn’t include the 400-plus permits done by former health department registered sanitarian Mike Thompson that are being reviewed by the state, which Nicholson also had to deal with.

The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources recognized Nicholson’s work in an October study that said the county’s wastewater program “can be considered to be among the top 10 out of 100 counties in the state. It is a well-run program with staff members who, though relatively inexperienced, are knowledgeable and act in a professional manner. They are pleasant to work with and exhibit professional courtesy to the public, contractors and each other.”

According to the state study, in 2006 the overall average number of septic permits issued per full-time employees in the state was 163. Cherokee County’s average was 165. For January through June 2007, the overall average was 84, with Cherokee’s average being 93.

These numbers were compiled under Nicholson and former health director Elaine Russell before Wood came on board in August 2007. Nicholson declined to comment on his termination.

In a letter to Wood from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources dated Dec. 20, the state recommended that supervisory personnel be available to plan the program’s future, conduct in-house quality assurance, give technical assistance and guidance to employees on an as-needed basis, and plan and implement updates to the program. One of the biggest dangers facing an environmental health specialist is the lack of proper supervision in the early, formative stages of their careers.

The letter concluded by saying the county’s on-site wastewater program “is a well-run program demonstrating pride in workmanship. Your staff in knowledgeable in their profession and produce high-quality work. Levels of experience in on-site wastewater are low, but all work closely together to see that questions are correctly answered in a consistent way.”