Centennial Citizen 23
December 23, 2021
TRI-COUNTY FROM PAGE 1
“It’s (a) strictly legal process is what we followed,” said Jackson, the chair of the board. “I get it that masks are very controversial, and that actually had nothing to do with it.” An Arapahoe County spokesperson in early September said a separation by Arapahoe wouldn’t be driven by any policy disagreement with the health agency. Douglas County’s exit of Tri-County Health would potentially create financial or budgetary problems for the other two counties, the spokesperson added. What’s more, officials say Arapahoe essentially had no choice but to exit Tri-County given the separations by its partner counties. That’s because Tri-County’s status as what’s known as a “district health department” — one made up of multiple counties — was at odds with Douglas’ exit and Adams’ upcoming departure. “There’s certain rules and so on that guide a district, and since two of the three counties have pulled out, we are no longer a district, so we had no choice,” Jackson said. It might have been plausible to maintain the structure if Adams County had wanted to continue — with some appropriate adjustments, said Luc Hatlestad, spokesperson for Arapahoe County. “But once that was no longer an option, we began focusing on a single-county model. Tuesday’s resolution was a step in that process,” Hatlestad said. ‘Saddened’ at the fracture In Adams, the county commissioners brought forward a resolution at an Oct. 26 meeting to provide notice of Adams’ decision to leave Tri-County. The vote was unanimous, according to Adams County Commissioner Emma Pinter. Adams plans to withdraw from Tri-County Health at the end of 2022. Arapahoe has appeared less keen to cut ties with the health agency, saying in an October statement: “The Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners is saddened that our neighboring counties have chosen to end the productive 55-year partnership with the Tri-County Health Department.” Arapahoe’s resolution notes that
The Tri-County Health Department’s headquarters in Greenwood Village. PHOTO BY ELLIOTT WENZLER
under Colorado state law, a county has the power to withdraw from a district public health agency by adopting a resolution and providing at least one year’s notice. Arapahoe came close to the deadline, given the situation with the other counties. The series of withdrawals began with the Douglas County commissioners, who decided to immediately leave the health agency in September after months of disagreements over COVID-19 protection measures. Douglas County formed its own health department and that new board decided to continue contracting most public health services from Tri-County until at least the end of next year. Tri-County Health has served its residents by providing no-cost cancer screenings, overdose prevention, free nurse visits, restaurant and child care facility inspections, and other services, according to an Arapahoe news release. The path forward for the counties in a post-partnership world involves confronting the question of how to reorganize their health services structure, potentially contending with increased costs. “In the short term, separate,
‘There’s certain rules and so on that guide a district, and since two of the three counties have pulled out, we are no longer a district, so we had no choice.’ Nancy Jackson, Arapahoe County commissioner single county public health agencies would have access to less public health revenue, and perhaps services, and would incur transition costs for start-up and (the) dissolution of TCHD,” an Oct. 12 report by the Otowi Group says. That’s a consulting firm that has studied the benefits and drawbacks of the counties’ potential decisions to handle public health services alone. The report was considering a scenario where Tri-County Health dissolves, but it’s possible the agency could continue in some form. Although the three counties appear on track to end up with three separate boards of health — the
policymaking bodies that oversee local health departments — one or more of them may continue receiving health services from TriCounty, even after 2022. The text of Arapahoe County’s resolution says: “One of the options being considered includes continuing the Tri-County Health Department as a legal entity in some form other than a multicounty district public health agency …. so that it may continue to exist and continue to provide public health services to one or more counties after December 31, 2022.” SEE TRI-COUNTY, P25
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