Department of Health leaving Monticello

MONTICELLO –– The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) is moving their district office, currently located at 50 North Street Suite 2 in Monticello, to Middletown. According to NYSDOH Director of Communications Jill Montag, the move is tentatively scheduled for Spring of 2022.

Montag told the Democrat that the decision to move the district office, which serves Sullivan County and has 21 employees, was due to “difficulty in finding adequate office space in the Monticello area.”

According to the NYSDOH website, the district offices enforce regulations that protect the public's health, safety and environment related to food, water and indoor air quality in restaurants, camps, pools, beaches, hotels, motels and fairgrounds for the 21 counties/cities in New York State that do not deliver that service. They also investigate concerns about hazardous or unhealthy conditions in and around homes and workplaces. The State’s decision to move is not sitting well with local and elected officials.

NYS Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther told the Democrat that it’s “despicable” that the NYSDOH is leaving Sullivan County.

“We have people that don't have transportation,” said Gunther, “... we're dealing with one very large kind of trailer home situation with inadequate water, sewage, garbage all over the place, and the NYSDOH has been helping us. The fact that they're doing this is ridiculous.

“The people in our community cannot get down [to Middletown],” she continued. “A lot of them don't have cars … and in my opinion, they couldn't find a building in Sullivan County? That's kind of a crazy excuse honestly … Here we go again, who are the losers? Sullivan County.”

She said the move will also impact local businesses as the employees of that office grab lunch and shop nearby.

“So take that away from us too … enough is enough,” said Gunther.

NYS Senator Mike Martucci, in a statement to the Democrat, said he has been in contact with the NYSDOH, and does not accept their logic. “I am personally aware of available and affordable rental property in Sullivan County,” said Martucci. “Even if they were having a hard time in Monticello, there is no good reason to move their office outside the County.”

Martucci added that as a rural county with only a small department of public health, Sullivan County needs a presence from the state.

“Orange County, which I also represent, does not because it has a larger, full-time department headed by a physician,” said Martucci. “While I do not control the location of DOH offices, I am calling on them to reconsider this decision, and I will keep pushing them to continue to provide all necessary services to residents.”

District 2 Legislator Nadia Rajsz, who chairs the legislature’s Health and Family Services Committee, called the the State’s decision to move the Monticello District Office “unacceptable.”

Rajsz told the Democrat that she and other elected officials she’s spoken with are going to inundate the NYSDOH with letters, emails and phone calls, and is requesting the public to do the same (see sidebar).

“This would be detrimental to our County and its residents,” said Rajsz. “We cannot keep stripping away our agencies. I understand that this is not a County issue. This is a State issue. However, being a resident and an elected official of the County, we need to keep and retain all services that the State provides us. We need to keep our [DOH] agency here.”

Commissioner of the Division of Health and Family Services, John Liddle, said the State’s move to relocate the Monticello District Office was “regrettable and premature.”

“We would hope that they would enter into a dialogue with the local health department to find suitable space in Sullivan County,” said Liddle. “For a County that is struggling to improve its health ranking and working very hard with private sector providers to enhance our capacity, now is the worst possible time for the State to decide it doesn't need to be here.”