The Oceana County Board of Commissioners saw two potential candidates for the role of appointee to the Department of Health and Human Services and Oceana County Medical Care Facility (OCMCF) Board. The notice of the vacant position came prior to the commissioners’ last meeting on Oct. 9, and the board opted to table the discussion and decision until the next meeting. This would allow all voting members to be present, as well as grant extra time for any further interested candidates to apply.
The first candidate to present was Linda East, who said she believes herself to be well-suited for the role, as she has a “different perspective and approach to management problem solving,” as well as 33 years of experience managing medical facilities and personnel at MSU. “I think it is important that, in addition to addressing the needs of OCMCF, we also need to look at the other side of the DHHS board,” Linda said in regard to the social work side of the department, citing a deep-set passion for the service, as her parents acted as foster families for multiple children throughout her childhood.
The maintenance of the OCMCF was another topic of concern for East. Her mother was a facility resident throughout the heating system malfunctions the year prior, which East tackled in her role as a caregiver by taking temperature readings to present to the OCMCF board.
“I have a deep and abiding respect and desire to serve the residents, staff, and indeed, the residents of Oceana County in this capacity,” East concluded, saying she planned “to hear what the residents and staff have to say,” and in doing so “[seek] greater accountability of the administration of this facility.”
For the following candidate, Randy Neuman, the morning’s presentation was a refresher for the board, as he had already presented his credentials at the Oct. 9 meeting. The crux of his presentation was that “after spending 30+ years in the emergency medical services, seeing the condition of the elderly and concern for their care has become of the utmost importance to me.”
The board had questions for the candidates, which were asked following their individual presentations. Commissioner Tim Beggs asked each candidate to list the top issues they wished to see addressed, and both agreed that the ongoing maintenance problems were top priority, with East adding concern over the net operating loss of previous years.
Commissioner Joel McCormick asked how hands-on each candidate would be in the role. East had said she’d done 33 years of hands-on management at MSU and would approach issues by holding administration accountable in seeing issues through. Neuman said that day-to-day operations were the concern of administration, as “That’s not a board member’s job.”
Chairman Robert Walker, citing incidents while working with DHHSs statewide where meetings had been cancelled due to board members not being present, asked if the candidates would be out-of-state for the winter and if that would impede their ability to serve on the board. None of the candidates said they foresaw this as a possible issue.
During the Regular Board Meeting, East was unanimously chosen as the new appointee to the DHHS/OCMCF Boards for a three-year term. Of the decision, Commissioner Craig Hardy said, “I did look at the last annual report, and I think there’s some issues that need to be addressed… I’m very grateful that we have two citizens from this county that want to help and care.”
Also during the meeting, Life EMS and the MSU Extension presented their second and third quarter reports to the board, the latter of which saw approval for their agreement memorandum. The board also entered an agreement with American Classic for operation of the Transfer Station for five years, which will begin on Dec. 1. Also appointed to the Canvassers Board, which is responsible for certifying election results, were Cynthia Fout and Kathleen Schneider as Republican and Democratic Party representatives, respectively.
