BY STEPHANIE BRIEN
stephanie.brien@journaltimes.com | Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:00 am
RACINE - Health Administrator Janelle Grammer will no longer head the city's Health Department, aldermen unanimously voted early Wednesday morning.
After six nights of testimony and 11 witnesses, aldermen found that Grammer ran the department inefficiently and inadequately.
Their findings came at about 1:15 a.m. Wednesday, after an hour of closed-session discussion.
During the hearing held at City Hall, 730 Washington Ave., city employees testified Grammer repeatedly canceled interviews about a raise with a nurse who previously worked for the city, leading her to leave. After that, from January 2008 to last month, the health department outsourced its sexually transmitted diseases program. Officials say that led to some people not receiving proper testing and treatment.
Employees also alleged that because of Grammer, the city lost $80,000 in Racine Area United Way grants last year, and that she did not properly train the person in charge of the infant mortality program, which delayed implementation of the program.
Also, they said Grammer didn't provide guidance for a community health plan, which is required by state law. The plan should have been complete last year, and the city could now get cited.
In Grammer's closing remarks, she took blame for not finishing the community health plan and said she had to make "a choice" between that and other work that needed to be completed.
She also testified during the hearing that there were many factors involved in Health Department problems, including budget constraints and the negative City Hall atmosphere that former Mayor Gary Becker created.
Grammer represented herself for most of the hearing because she could not afford her attorney's services, she said. The hearing was held in open session at her request.
Grammer left City Hall at about midnight when the aldermen went into closed session to discuss their findings.
At the time, she said she did not know if she would appeal the aldermen's decision if they ruled against her. "I know I have the right," she said. She did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday.
The city attorney said he will be finalizing documents on the aldermen's decision this week.
Mayor John Dickert, who presided over the hearing, said he would not discuss his plans for the Health Department until the aldermen's decision was finalized.