The Flathead County Commissioners on Tuesday approved a two-year contract for a full-time health officer, hiring Jennifer Rankosky to lead the local health department and ending a prolonged search that began during the pandemic and continued for more than two years.
A 20-year veteran of the Flathead City-County Health Department, Rankosky has been overseeing the agency on an interim basis since mid-June, when she was selected to relieve outgoing health officer Joe Russell, whose departure was planned. Russell led the department for more than two decades before stepping down in 2017, then emerged from retirement two years ago to help stabilize the agency as its frontline workers struggled to keep up with surging COVID-19 case numbers.
Rankosky was the department’s population health manager when she agreed last summer to step into the health officer role for up to one year. At the time, Flathead County Human Resources Director Tammy Skramovsky said her understanding was Rankosky did not want to serve in the position for more than a year. Rankosky’s opinion about taking the job on full-time has since changed. Don Barnhart, the mayor of Columbia Falls and a member of the board of health’s personnel committee, told the county commissioners Tuesday that Rankosky had approached the board last month requesting full-time employment as the county health officer. Barnhart noted that she meets all the criteria that the board had looked for amid its two-year search.
At one point last summer, the board had discussed resuming its health officer search in the fall or winter, and Skramovsky had indicated the search could continue into 2023.
The personnel committee was able to get a recommendation from the board of health for the commissioners to hire Rankosky, according to Barnhart. Rankosky’s contract for the health officer job puts her annual pay at $125,000.
Commissioner Pam Holmquist, who sits on the board of health, was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, but commissioners Brad Abell and Randy Brodehl both offered words of support for Rankosky before they voted to approve her hire.
“In my tenure here we’ve been struggling to find someone to fill this position. The whole time I’ve been here we’ve had interims and people brought back from retirement and Jen’s stepped up and done a great job in the time she’s been our interim,” Abell said. “And I thank her for coming forward and taking the position.”
Brodehl said the county has been “struggling” to fill the position and that Rankosky is clearly ready for the job.
“I think she has demonstrated that with her work as an interim (health officer). I just thank her for taking the increased responsibility that goes along with this job,” he said.
The county first began looking for a new health officer in March of 2020 after the health officer at the time, Hillary Hanson, decided not to seek a contract renewal. Her replacement on an interim basis was Tamalee St. James Robinson, who eventually resigned toward the end of 2020 amid what she described as “a toxic environment being fostered between the Commissioners, the Board of Health and the Health Department.” Robinson’s letter of resignation described her belief that county commissioners and the board of health had failed to protect the public during the pandemic and that county leaders were motivated more by “ideological biases” than community service.
A September 2021 story by High Country News called, “When public health becomes the public enemy,” describes the threats St. James Robinson faced, including someone who allegedly wanted to duel her, as well as hateful emails and phone calls she received as the health officer amid rising COVID cases in the state. At the time the article was published, High Country News reported that at least 250 health officers and board members across the nation had left their positions up to that point in the pandemic.
Russell came out of retirement to replace St. James Robinson. He had previously been the county health officer for 20 years, and had worked for the county health department for 30 years.
Russell also faced vitriol and pushback from members of the public, often during board of health meetings, and was repeatedly criticized and questioned by Dr. Annie Bukacek, a former board of health member who resigned in March and was recently elected to the Montana Public Service Commission, which is responsible for regulating utilities in the state. During her time on the board of health, Bukacek was a leader in the local anti-vaccine community, and both organized and participated in protests against public health measures and guidance that were intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.
In April of this year the board of health resumed its health officer search, and opted to schedule additional interviews with Michael Chambers, an applicant who was employed as the administrator for a county health department in northern Missouri. The board of health eventually voted by a 4-2 margin against recommending the commissioners hire Chambers. Those who voted against hiring Chambers described concerns about his lack of experience in certain areas important to the county health department, like environmental health. Supporters envisioned Chambers being able to take on the job in a more administrative capacity, and expressed a lack of optimism about finding a health officer because of previous failed searches.