Date: Fri 24-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

health-environment-Cooper

Full Text:

HEALTH: Health District Looks For Director Of Environmental Health

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

In what officials describe as an effort to better meet the community's

long-term health needs, the Newtown District Department of Health is

attempting to hire a director of environmental health.

Mark A.R. Cooper, the health district's director, said the position would

involve a restructuring of the positions in the department, not an increase in

staff.

The position of director of environmental health had been held by Mr Cooper

before he was promoted to full-time health director in 1993 and later named

the head of the health district, which was created by the town and the Borough

of Newtown 18 months ago.

The salary range for the director of environmental health is $32,654 to

$48,982, commensurate with experience. The closing date for applications for

the job opening is December 8.

Besides Mr Cooper, the health district currently has four employee positions:

two assistant sanitarians, a sanitarian-trainee, and a secretary.

"One of our assistant sanitarians left for a better job," Mr Cooper said. "She

was earning $34,000-$35,000 here. Under the terms of our union contract, I can

hire someone earning 15 percent more, which would bring the salary up to the

middle range of the position of director of environmental health - which is

where I expect the salary would wind up."

Qualifications for the position include a master's degree in the health field

with a concentration in environmental health or equivalent experience and at

least five years of supervisory experience. The candidate also must be a

registered sanitarian certified in food inspection and in levels I and II

subsurface sewage disposal, or be eligible within 30 months from appointment.

Mr Cooper said many factors are responsible for creating the need for another

administrative position including the residential building boom, an increasing

number of food establishments, construction of the town sewer system,

expansion of public health services and enviromental problems which have

caused the contamination of some residential wells.

Health district employees are responsible for environmental services involving

septic systems, wells, soil testing and plan reveiws. They also inspect and

monitor private and public facilities such as restaurants, schools, day care

centers, licensed group homes, and town pools for compliance with public

health codes.

The health district officials are working with the state's Department of

Environmental Protection in the investigation of the pollution of several

dozen residential wells in the Apple Blossom Road area by traces of a chemical

cleaning solvent. And they are expected to respond immediately to any public

health crisis, Mr Cooper said.

"Just this morning we were called because oil may have leaked from a home

heating oil tank into the water table at a residence in Newtown," he said.

"The problem of leaking oil tanks has been increasing as many buried

residential oil tanks are exceeding their life expectancy. If a tank has been

leaking for a number of years it could be a big problem. I just read in a

newspaper this weekend that a leaking oil tank contaminated the water for an

entire neighborhood in a nearby town."

Mr Cooper said that since the health district was created, he has been

spending considerably more time working with state officials on public health

issues. At the same time, the growth of the department's responsibilities has

been "leaving some holes" in its ability to accomplish everything in a timely

fashion.

Mr Cooper said the restructuring of the positions in the health district would

result in another benefit: the current trainee ostensibly could become an

assistant sanitarian once he earns his certification.

"If you have spent years training a staff member and that person is completely

familiar with the community, it would be a shame to have to lose that person

to another town once he becomes certified," Mr Cooper explained. "If that

happens, you have to start all over again training someone new."