Town to join new regional health district

New Milford, Pomperaug merger designed to share resources, save money

NEW MILFORD — Following a public hearing and Town Council vote this week, New Milford’s health department will join a regional health district.

At the beginning of February, the New Milford Health Department will join forces with the Pomperaug District Department of Health — serving Southbury, Oxford and Woodbury — to become the Housatonic Valley Health District. The merger includes savings for New Milford, increased staffing and sanitarians,

and expanded health services and offerings, officials said. A sanitarian investigates health and safety within an environment.

The town of Washington will vote to join the new consolidated district this month, and anticipates starting services by Feb. 1, according to a news release from the newly formed district. The district would then serve all five towns.

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass said he was “very excited” about the finalized merger.

“It’s a win-win for New Milford,” he said.

Once the Town Council’s meeting minutes are finalized, they will be submitted to the state, along with other requisite paperwork, New Milford Health Director Lisa Morrissey said.

Morrissey will stay on as director for the district. She has already been serving as Pomperaug’s interim health director since the former director, Neal Lustig, was ousted last summer.

“The district had some prior issues and they asked for help,” Bass said. “Obviously, being a good neighbor, we said Lisa can definitely help if she so chose.”

Bass and Morrissey have stated they are confident in Pomperaug and the department is back on track after an investigation this summer cited wide-ranging, systemic and cultural problems within the organization.

With the state encouraging regionalization of smaller local health departments, Bass said this would be an opportunity to consolidate on the town’s terms.

Officials have said the merger will save New Milford around $94,000 each year because of state incentives to regionalize. It will also allow for expanded health services and offerings between towns.

“Honestly, I’m just so excited for the future,” Morrissey said. “I really do believe that this initial year really was a taste of what’s to come as far as being able to demonstrate to the community the value of a full-service department of health.”

Anne Neumann, chairman of Pomperaug’s board of directors, said, “We look forward to serving all of our five communities with expanded public health and environmental services,” she said.

Questions raised

While some council members initially voiced concern over the possibility of diminished quality of service when the idea was first presented, they all voted in favor of the merger during Monday night’s council meeting.

Councilwoman Hilary Ram called the savings “incredible” during the vote, but asked if the council could discuss how the savings will be used. The question wasn’t answered at the meeting.

Councilman Mike Nahom asked if it was a permanent merger, to which Bass responded that the town has the ability to opt out.

Towns that join health districts can vote to leave the district after 24 months, according to state statute.

In Southbury, First Selectman Jeffrey Manville said he has been told the merger will bring better health services to his residents and savings to the town, but he was not part of the decision — that was up to Pomperaug Health’s board of directors.

Deal details

The full merger will not change Morrissey’s day-to-day duties. She plans to split her time between New Milford and Southbury each week. Eventually, the goal is to set up two brick-andmortar offices in each town, with office hours held in each of the five towns.

While Southbury is already home to Pomperaug Health’s condo offices, Manville said the new regional district may want more space.

Since August, Morrissey has split her duties and the health departments have been sharing resources. Other staff in both districts will remain in their positions, too, with the addition of a new sanitarian.

The salary for her expanded role has not yet been finalized.

Morrissey told residents during the public hearing the savings were just one part of the equation.

While sharing resources these past few months, the town has been able to double its environmental health services thanks to an additional sanitarian. New Milford, which does not have budgeted nursing staff, would be able to take advantage of the health district’s nursing team.

“That has really been instrumental to help us here in New Milford, not just with COVID-19 but also with expanded services for diabetes, for pain management, for disease management,” she said during the meeting.

The new regional health district will be overseen by a board of directors made up of representatives from each of the five towns. New Milford is expected to get three seats based on its population size, which allows for one representative per 10,000 residents.

“I’m just really looking forward to — with this merger —

being able to continue to expand and provide more services to the residents,” Morrissey said. “I feel like we’ve just gotten started on the work that we’re doing.”

Moving quickly to regionalize

Less than a month after the vote, the town will officially be under the auspices of the Housatonic Valley Health District.

Morrissey said the next few weeks will be dedicated to filing paperwork and ensuring a smooth transition.

In recent years, the state has made it much easier for districts to regionalize, Bass said.

He called it a pretty comprehensive but easy process.

“It’s not as complex as you would think,” he said. “The state has really cleared a lot of barriers because obviously they want the districting.”

In the next few weeks, Bass plans to bring together the first selectmen from the five towns to get to know each other better.

Bass said that as health directors in smaller towns begin to retire, and the state continues to push toward consolidating health districts, he wouldn’t be surprised if more towns began to regionalize their services.

“Obviously, each town has its own thoughts about how it wants to move forward,” he added, with a caveat.