(Juneau) Dodge County Human Services and Health is facing staffing challenges. The department recently lost two public health nurses, that is on top of the resignation of Public Health Officer Abby Sauer who left the post last month.
Human Services Director Becky Bell told the county board’s Executive Committee Monday they are having difficulties filling those open positions. She says they are now down to three nurse’s out of a staff of six. Bell adds that they have not had a lot of applications for either positions.
Bell proposed offering a $6,000 sign-on bonus to help get more qualified candidates to apply and a $1,000 retention bonus for nurses who remain on staff. She says the ongoing pandemic has been a cause for the resignations. Bell says each circumstance is different but COVID has been a considerable stressor.
County Administrator Jim Mielke adds that public health employees have been under a tremendous amount of scrutiny over the last two years. He says it is no secret that public health officials throughout the state have endured a great amount of criticism and questioning, noting that it takes a toll.
Bell says they have an interview with one candidate for the public health officer position, but no one has applied for the nurses’ jobs that meet the minimum qualifications. The bonuses will be discussed further at the Human Resources Committee meeting on Monday.
