Fargo Cass Public Health Health Officer Feels ‘Fired Without Cause’ Amid Hours Cut – InForum

FARGO — Fargo Cass Public Health’s health officer said she was left out of a recent decision by the agency’s new director to cut the number of hours required for the position in half.

Dr. Tracie Newman, a pediatrician who has served as FCPH’s health officer since 2021, said Director Jennifer Faul informed her last week that the position would change from 20 hours a week to 10 hours a week starting Feb. 1. Newman would have to work apply “again” for the position.

“It feels a little surreal, you know? I mean, I feel like I was fired for no reason,” Newman told The Forum.

The change was the focus of a special Board of Health meeting on Friday, Oct. 11, at City Hall, attended by board members, FCPH staff, Mayor Tim Mahoney and other city staff. Newman was not present.

The decision came as part of a retrenchment that occurred as the city commission tried to agree on a 2025 budget that was ultimately approved in late September by a 3-2 vote at $132 million.

The commission had already agreed to eliminate 4.2 full-time positions from Fargo Cass Public Health.

“I know there’s a lot of concern and consternation about this, but the reality is … we as a city have to figure out how many services we want to provide and how much we want to pay for them, and that’s part of what drives us.” “We’re leaving through,” Mahoney told the board.

During Friday’s sometimes contentious meeting, health board members expressed frustration that they were not kept informed about the additional decision regarding the health officer position.

Faul said the decision was made in consultation with her FCPH management team.

“Please understand that we are not victims of this budget. We have made commitments and decisions that we are all happy with,” she said.

Post / City of Fargo

Board President Lyn Telford said Faul told her and fellow board member Kayla Nelson in September that the health officer’s contract was under review, but they were asked to keep that information confidential.

“I think the board is just striving for transparency,” Telford said.

Telford also asked Faul if she had contacted other physicians to gauge their interest in becoming a health officer before the hour reduction was publicly announced.

Faul admitted she did.

“I question the ethics of someone recruiting doctors to do this work before you spoke to me,” Newman said of Faul’s admission.

After another board member, Dr. Grant Syverson, after specifically asking what Newman should have done better or differently, Faul demanded that the meeting refocus on the position of health commissioner and not on Newman himself.

David Samson / The Forum

The role of the Health Officer is to provide guidance to the Board of Health and Fargo Cass Public Health on the provision of essential public health services and functions, including monitoring the health status of the population and factors affecting health and community needs and assets , says the city’s website.

The hours of the FCPH Health Officer position have fluctuated over the years.

Jon Baird received a 30-hour-per-week contract in that role while also serving as Cass County coroner before retiring.

In 2018, Heidi Lako, who has held multiple emergency medical services roles in the community, was hired for the FCPH Health Officer position to work 10 hours per week.

After Lako’s death in March 2021, Newman was moved into the health officer role under the same 10-hour-a-week contract and spent the majority of her time in her pediatric practice at Sanford Health.

But about a year ago, Newman said she met with Mahoney and expressed interest in downsizing her practice in Sanford to teach public health at North Dakota State University while continuing her role as FCPH health officer.

She said Mahoney encouraged her to take the step and increase her hours with the city as a health officer to 20 hours a week.

The city and NDSU could each take on a 0.5 position to create full-time employment for Newman, which they have agreed to do, she said.

NDSU covered her salary, benefits and liability insurance, while the city paid NDSU for Newman’s 20 hours per week as an FCPH health officer.

Her evaluations in the health officer role have been “overwhelming,” Newman said, particularly her leadership during the phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But shortly after Faul was hired in June, Newman said she was invited to fewer meetings.

“The scope of my role has been limited and that was not my decision. And then I was fired,” Newman said.

On October 1, Faul informed Newman that her contract with NDSU would be terminated in four months.

Starting Feb. 1, the health officer position would be re-advertised at 10 hours per week, and Faul encouraged her to “apply again,” Newman said.

No one ever expressed that she wasn’t doing a good job or questioned whether she had enough to do during her 20 hours a week, Newman said.

“Instead, this all happened without me in the room and it was passed on through hearsay from middle managers,” she said.

When asked for further comment on the decision, an FCPH spokesperson said the health officer’s current contract was reviewed during the annual review period in August.

“At that time, FCPH leadership determined that contracted hours could be reduced without negatively impacting programming or service delivery,” it said in a statement.

Newman remains under contract with the city through the end of January and continues to work part-time as an associate professor of practice, teaching public health at NDSU.

When asked whether she would reapply for the position of health officer after the new advertisement, there was a long pause.

“I don’t know the answer to that yet,” Newman said.