Panel did not recommend Dr. Taylor
Group presented an alternative plan
A panel examining candidates for director of the Shelby County Health Services Division did not recommend appointing Dr. Michelle Taylor to the position.
In fact, they didn’t recommend appointing either of the final two candidates at all.
Instead, according to a memo written by La Sonya Harris Hall, interim director of the Shelby County Health Department, and dated May 19 the panel recommended identifying additional funding to supplement the position’s salary to improve recruitment of more qualified candidates, directing the search firm to identify a stronger candidate pool and maintaining the current interim leadership until a permanent director is approved.
Taylor, who holds a doctorate in public health from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University, was nominated for the position by Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris last Thursday.
Harris declined to comment on the memo.
Taylor is expected to be approved in a final vote before the Shelby County Commission Monday.
In a written statement, Hall, the interim health director who authored the memo, said, “The panel may not have been in a position to make a recommendation at this stage, but that is not unusual.
“Additionally, those sentences were part of a larger report and a multi-stage process. The finalists had strengths and weaknesses and we knew that there would be significant additional vetting by the mayor and the state health department. In the end, Dr. Taylor is a pediatrician, military veteran, and the strongest of the candidates for the position.”
The panel considered two finalists, Taylor and Derrick Neal, according to the memo. Both candidates had limited experience in managing a division as large as the health department, in overseeing a large grant portfolio and in implementing large-scale change, the memo noted.
The panel was comprised of stakeholders from local hospitals, nonprofit partners, public health professionals, the private sector, legislative bodies, the public health advisory board and Shelby County Health Department employees.
Focus group observations were that Taylor was “very articulate, highly credentialed” and a “native Memphian (who) therefore has familiarity with local politics, partners, community issues and needs.”
“While it appears that focus group participants favored Dr. Taylor as the finalist, the interview panel expressed strong concern regarding Dr. Taylor’s lack of administrative acumen, experience leading an organization the size of SCHD and change management skills,” the memo read. “Furthermore, the interview panel stated that Dr. Taylor required ‘more gradual, progression of leadership prior to being named as Director of the Shelby County Health Department.’”
Taylor’s credentials “are ideal to fill the vacant Physician position in SCHD,” the memo noted.
The $102 million budget of the Shelby County Health Department, the diverse grant portfolio and an “overall culture change required” meant that “careful consideration must be taken when selecting a leader for an organization of this size and community reach,” the panel noted.
Commissioner Mark Billingsley, who shared the memo with the other county commissioners and with The Commercial Appeal, said he felt the report differed from the mayor’s characterization of the panel’s decision as described Wednesday in the county commission’s general government committee.
“Based on what he shared with our commission and his testimony, it seems to contradict what the interviewing committee stated in their report,” Billingsley said. “I felt he misled the commission.”