County eyes options for jail nurse post

Taylor County could be looking at changes to how the jail nurse position is handled.

The county currently contracts with an outside vendor for general non-emergency health services for jail inmates while having a part-time nurse on duty within the jail itself. The person currently in that position plans to leave it in mid-January.

The county is currently in the process of advertising to fill that position. Noting this has been a difficult position to fill in the past, sheriff Larry Woebbeking told law enforcement committee members at the Dec. 15 meeting that he had contacted the jail healthcare vendor about a price quote to provide those services too. In the past when the county has had a jail nurse vacancy and looked into a contracted service, the fees were cost prohibitive to make it work. While Woebbeking did not have a price back from the company, he anticipated it would be a similar high cost now.

As an alternative plan, Woebbeking said he spoke with the health department about the possibility of partnering with them to add a full time nurse that would be split between Public Health and the jail.

Woebbeking said he was throwing the idea out to the committee now and See COUNTY on page 5 County law enforcement looks at options to cover jail nurse position

Continued from page 1 that he had talked with the health department and said Michelle Cahoon, who heads the health department, supported the idea and would have enough work in the health department for them to do.

Woebbeking noted that if they were going to pay an outside entity $100,000 it would make sense to bring it in-house and get additional benefit from having the person on staff full time.

The position is currently posted as a part-time position and there is at least one applicant for it. Depending on the applicants received and the estimate from the outside vendor, the county could look at hiring a full-time nurse instead, Woebbeking said. “We need it soon, we don’t have much time left,” he said.

The committee invited Cahoon to come to the January meeting in order to talk about the possibility of sharing a position.

In other business, committee members ★ Approved a new contract with Aspirus to run the ambulance service in the county pending review by the county’s attorney. Details of the contract will be released following that review, but committee chair Lynn Rosemeyer said she was pleased with the agreement that was reached and praised ambulance director Bob Kirkley for his work in getting the contract finalized.

★ Received an update that the new emergency operation center at the courthouse is taking shape with the help of grant funding through the health department for furniture and tables. They are awaiting maintenance to remove old cabinets and the water line from when the room was used for drinking water testing.

* Received word that the county was recognized by the National Weather Service as being a “Storm Ready Community” for taking additional steps in storm preparation. This will bring a benefit to county residents through eligibility for discount on flood insurance.

* Received a jail report that there are currently 55 inmates in the jail which includes 24 from Marathon County and four from Price County.

* Approved beginning the process to fill an expected vacancy in the sheriffs department. Woebbeking said the department currently is down one position and will have another with a deputy giving their notice. In related action, committee members agreed that they did not need to be part of the interview process, but that the county’s human resources director should be there. “It is not on us to hire them anyway,” committee member Lorie Floyd said.

* Committee member Ray Soper agreed. “I don’t really feel that we should be at those interviews,” he said. This will require a change in the county’s code.