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WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday stating they won't treat employees who don't get the vaccine adversely.
The resolution states "no county employee or potential employee (will) be adversely affected or treated differently for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine or for responding to a county survey about their personal medical information."
The resolution comes after the Trumbull County Combined Health District emailed county employees asking them to complete a survey.
"We want to see how many county employees have been vaccinated for COVID-19 and how many still want to be vaccinated," the email states.
The survey asks three questions: If the person has been vaccinated, if the person wants to be vaccinated and if there is a place the person would prefer to receive the vaccine.
Jack Simon, health board member, said the survey is optional, confidential and anonymous.
Simon said the survey was sent out to gauge if it would be beneficial to hold a vaccination clinic at a county building, so that those who still want to get inoculated but haven't taken time off work to go to another clinic could get the vaccine.
"Our agency developed a voluntary and anonymous survey using an independent survey collection tool, which was distributed to all county employees. It was not a mandatory survey, and completion was entirely voluntary. The responses that we received back contained no personal identifiers and no medical information was sought. Unless they responded that they wished to receive a vaccination, we would have no means of identifying anyone who responded to this survey," said Frank Migliozzi, Trumbull County health commissioner.
Commissioner Niki Frenchko said some people were alarmed that the county intended to track who had the vaccine and who didn't.
"Our health district sent a survey without context, invaded the medical privacy of our staff and worried some of our employees. (The employees) thought that they could be somehow penalized for not responding or saying they did not want the shot," she said.
Commissioner Frank Fuda said the health department put the survey out because "people aren't showing up for the vaccine."
"So, they are trying to make it convenient for them. They went to the Kent State (Trumbull) campus with 200 doses and 26 people took it. They had something at the fairboard, with 700 doses -- 195 people showed up. What they are trying to do is make it easy to get the vaccine and see how many people still want it," Fuda said.
Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said medical privacy should be taken seriously, but the survey was just to gather information to provide people interested in receiving the vaccine a convenient way to do so.
"The resolution was fine to clarify the intent and alleviate any concerns about the process, but the goal remains facilitating the administration of the vaccines to those who are interested, nothing more, nothing less," Cantalamessa said. "The health department has to gauge if there is interest or it would simply be a waste of time. If they hold a clinic and only a few people show up it's a waste of time. That's time they could be spending at another site administering more vaccines, that simple."
Frenchko said she understands the intent was to conduct a vaccine clinic, but found the survey "inappropriate." So, Frenchko added the resolution to the agenda for the meeting Wednesday to put employees at ease, she said.
Migliozzi said the Ohio Department of Health requested all health districts in the state reach out to see how people feel about pop-up clinics "in an effort to make the COVID-19 vaccine more accessible to the community."
"Again, the survey was completely anonymous, voluntary and no HIPAA information was asked. This is an instance of irresponsible comments once again being made by Commissioner Frenchko without knowing the parameters of the survey, and those comments were incorrect," Migliozzi said.
Frenchko and the health district have clashed in the months since her election. Some of the issues have included emails Frenchko sent to the office that made demands, even though commissioners do not control the health district, which is governed by a board.
Frenchko said the district "leaked" her personal information online and a confidential complaint she made.
The trouble led to the district instructing Frenchko to limit her correspondence to a board attorney. Frenchko said the attorney the district told her to communicate with refuses to speak to her when she has issues that concern the public she wants to address. Frenchko was also against constructing a building for vaccinations at the fairgrounds. The health district supported the move, and there were several tense interactions about the issue, which was ultimately abandoned.
In an email to a constituent who had an issue selling property, Frenchko told the man, "All I can say is that if the health district delays cause you to lose an opportunity for sale, or force you to sell for less, you may want to talk to your attorney about damages."
Simon said the emailed comment was irresponsible and unprofessional.
The man's issue has been resolved, according to comments from officials at the Wednesday meeting.
Frenchko said mentioning legal action is sometimes "what it takes to light a spark under the behinds of slow-moving agencies."
A letter to commissioners from a different health district attorney states the delays were not caused by the health district. A septic inspection that was needed and asked for on March 8 was completed March 22. The letter also states commissioners should have spoken directly with health officials before sending the man a response. Frenchko said the district officials refuse to speak with her.
rfox@tribtoday.com