Earlier this week, the Summit County Board of Health voted to pick Dr. Phil Bondurant as the next County Health Director.
County Manager Tom Fisher told us there are a number of reasons he’s going to ratify that choice.
Fisher told KPCW the Board chose Dr. Bondurant for his experience, which included acting as the county’s Environmental Health Director and Deputy Health Director.
“You have everything from experience with an emergency pandemic, to starting up sewer systems and dealing with wastewater. And those are very unique skills.”
He said there are a couple of reasons they didn’t look to other candidates.
“We looked at our internal policies, that actually encourage us to promote from within if we have that opportunity. At the same time, we were also facing some other health-director positions that were open around the state as we’ve seen reported over the last few months. We knew that Dr. Bondurant was being recruited for those. Knowing enough about the public health community and who was eligible to apply for those jobs in the state, I think the Board of Health took the opportunity to hire who we feel is probably the best candidate in the state.”
Fisher said the salary for Bondurant is generally consistent with what they’ve given to his predecessor, Dr. Rich Bullough.
“The range for this position is the same as it was before. Dr. Bullough was higher in that range because of the years that he spent as Health Director. But Dr. Bondurant is also not coming in at the bottom of the range. His experience and education are being acknowledged in the salary that he’s receiving.”
Summit County Manager Tom Fisher.
