Health Dept. proposes closing Marshall office

Calhoun County Health Officer Dottie Kay Bowersox has proposed the closing of the Marshall Women, Infants and Children Office, open one day per week. Bowersox said the closure would save the county health dept. budget $13,000 and would not create a hardship for the office users because they travel to Battle Creek now for Department of Human Services (DHS) services currently. Sixth District Calhoun County Commissioner Jase Bolger (R-Marshall), however, opposes the proposition.
"Nearly 70 percent of the proposed costs eliminated by closing Marshall won’t be savings to the county, since they involve payments from one department to another," he said. "Another 24 percent of the total savings then comes from no longer having to pay our employees to drive from Battle Creek or Albion to Marshall. At the same time it is viewed as no big deal for our citizens to drive from Marshall to BC, we’re paying county employees for that inconvenience?" The Albion office will remain open as well.
"As a county I think we should be looking to save overhead, or become more efficient in back room operations to preserve the services our citizens feel," said Bolger. "Whether it’s customer parking at the county building or the Health Department site in Marshall, I’ve been pushing to improve accessibility for our citizens. This proposal certainly doesn’t improve access."
The county health board has yet to consider the proposal as part of its overall 2007-2008 fiscal year budget which would then be considered by the full county board.
The Marshall office gets about 200 visits per year and the county health board must pay the county rent for the space.
"I find it most alarming that the county is considering taking on a new smoking ban and saying we have the money to enforce that new regulation while saying we don’t have the money to keep doing what we’re already doing," Bolger concluded.