After nearly two months of advertising, only four qualified candidates applied to be the District 4 Director of Community Health and one of those withdrew before the process began. As interviews were being set, a second withdrew.
The Georgia Department of Community Health will not release the name of one of the two candidates still under consideration, citing one candidate’s belief that to give that information would be a violation of personal privacy.
With the field narrowed, Dr. Roger Rossomondo of Carrollton and a candidate who officials will identify only as “candidate #3” will be interviewed Friday in LaGrange. The interview panel will consist of district officials, representatives for the Georgia Department of Community Health and various leaders from the counties that make up District 4.
Carroll County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Chappell will represent Carroll County in the interview process.
Both candidates have extensive medical backgrounds.
Rossomondo is a retired opthamologist who was at the Carrollton Eye Clinic from 1993 until last year. Before that, he had his own practice in Carrollton for 18 years.
“When I retired I was looking for a different way to serve the community,” Rossomondo said. “It was fortuitous that this came along when it did. Being here, in an area close to where I live, doing something that I feel like I have experience at and could do well.
“I have known a lot of the parties involved for 30 years and could be an asset as the district moves forward.”
As for the other candidate, Georgia Department of Community Health General Counsel Richard Greene said in an email response to a third open records request that “candidate #3 has stated that the current employer is not aware of the application and disclosure to the public would cause immediate harm to the candidate’s livelihood. As such, the candidate has asserted that disclosure would be an invasion of personal privacy. After reviewing the facts and relevant law, we agree. Therefore, it is our understanding that the Open Records Act prohibits the disclosure of the application/resume of candidate #3.”
Greene cited O.C.G.A. 50-18-72(a)(2): “Medical or veterinary records and similar files, the disclosure of which would be an invasion of personal privacy.”
The Times-Georgian maintains that the requested resumes include no information that is medical, financial or of a nature that the law deems exempt from the law.
Whoever gets the position will come in at a tense time.
The district is using Dr. Alpha Bryan as an interim director, following Wade Sellers, who served as the district’s interim director for less than a month. Sellers replaced Michael Brackett, who resigned as the district’s director on Nov. 15 of last year following allegations from the Carroll County Board of Health that Brackett abused his budgetary power.
The Carroll County Board of Health and the Carroll County Board of Commissioners cited a combination of budget issues and a lack of central leadership and began exploring the possibility of becoming an independent agency, free from district control.
After meeting with new Georgia Division of Public Health Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald of Carrollton, the commissioners tabled a move to ask the Legislature for permission to become independent, giving Fitzgerald time to address funding concerns, hire a new district director and re-establish order.
Funding questions remain. Officials from Dr. Fitzgerald’s office have been unable to fully explain how funds have been distributed to the counties in the past, but are working on a new formula to replace the one that has been used for almost 40 years.
Carroll County Board of Health Chairman Dr. Jack Birge has become so frustrated with the vague finances at the district level that he has said that family planning is an area that may have to be cut to keep the agency solvent.
Requests for information on how federal family planning money has been used and distributed have been met with two separate sets of numbers that came without any documentation or detail that would explain how the money arrived with each county department.
It appears as though the position will be filled soon. After starting with more than 20 applicants, only four of which met the requirements, Rossomondo and the mystery candidate are set for interviews.
“There are two remaining candidates,” Georgia Department of Community Health Communications Director Ryan Deal said in an email. “Each of the counties in District 4 has been invited to play an active role in the interview and selection process. ... There are no plans to reopen the application process or solicit additional resumes at this time.”
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