The fourth week of Alachua County’s Citizen Academy featured three very different departments that all share a common theme of keeping residents safe and healthy.
The eight-week educational course, run by Alachua County Strategic Performance Manager Donna Bradbrook, partners with local constitutional officers, judicial officers, library district, school board and health department to give residents a unique opportunity to learn about various aspects of local government and the daily activities performed by some of the county’s top officials.
Session 4 featured speakers from the county’s departments of health, environmental protection and community support services.
Department of Health in Alachua County
Although the Florida Department of Health in Alachua County is technically a state agency, it maintains a presence in all 67 counties across the Sunshine State and coordinates closely with local government.
The Department of Health has a budget of $22 million, employs roughly 300 employees and offers 30 different programs. Alachua County Administrator Paul Myers, however, shared that his office primarily focuses on four pillars: Emergency/hazard response, environmental health, communicable disease control and community health/primary care.
The department’s Alachua County branch is one of the last counties in the state to continue to provide primary medical care for children and adult residents.
The department has three clinical sites that focus on preventative, acute and chronic disease cases. The offices are open for extended offers, including being open seven days a week, to prevent unnecessary emergency room visits.
The department’s focus on communicable diseases and looks at cases of rabies, foreign travel clinics, sexually transmitted diseases, immunizations and epidemiology and disease control. Myers said his department is seeing a resurgence in measles, largely due to people not immunizing their kids, which could be almost entirely preventable.
Myers said studies show that immunizing 70% of elementary and middle school students would prevent an estimated 31 deaths, 27,000 illnesses and more than $9 million in direct and indirect healthcare costs for local residents. Data also shows that immunizing just 20% of kids, who are considered “super spreaders,” would protect the elderly better than if 90% of the elderly population were immunized, he said.
It’s a big reason why his department visits schools to offer influenza immunization services.
“There is a seasonality to these diseases,” Myers said.
To better track diseases, the health department also maintains six separate sites with chickens, which are bitten by mosquitos and then tested. Major weather events, like hurricanes, will typically bring out more insects and give the team a better understanding of what people need to watch out for.
The department’s work on major natural disasters and emergencies doesn’t stop there. Other issues that follow, such as flooding, mold, sewage spills and wind damage, also need to be monitored. The department will take well samples to ensure water is safe for use and will catch thousands of mosquitos to prevent diseases from spreading.
The agency has several water programs and performs bacteriological analysis and water system regulations. The ingestion of contaminated drinking water is the primary route of exposure that results in adverse health effects, he said.
Myers’ office also looks at environmental health aspects throughout the community, including at mobile homes and RV parks, food services, tattoo and piercing businesses, public and private schools and even sanitary nuisance investigations.
Community Support Services
Originally called the Department of Social Services and now the county’s Department of Community Support Services (CSS) was founded in 1965. It has expanded to offer a host of services to residents in need.
Its mission statement is: “To be a place of hope and support where individuals are seen, voices are heard, wounds are healed, and people are strengthened.”
The department has grown to 88 employees, with a budget of about $40 million, covering social services, homeless services, prevention, permanent supportive housing, veterans services and the crisis center/suicide hotline, victim services and rape crisis center, as well as many other services.
CSS Director Claudia Tuck said the department works with about 120 volunteers, many of whom come from the University of Florida, and assist with the crisis center hotline and coordinate with the mobile response team.
Assistant Director Candie Nixon, who also spoke, shared how housing, community stabilization/engagement and the Foster Grandparent Program are also pillars of the department.
Watch Alachua County Talk on Community Support Services.
Started in 1973, the Alachua County Foster Grandparent Program consists of senior volunteers who go into local schools and childcare centers to help with tutoring, reading and mentoring.
CSS has played an increased role in housing the homeless population in recent years. With the recent purchase of two motels in southwest Gainesville and plans to add shipping container homes, the department is adding over 100 housing units for people who otherwise would have nowhere to live.
“We’re always looking for innovative ways that we can create housing for those who need it,” Nixon said.
Much like the Department of Health, CSS also plays an important role during natural disasters. The team staffs the 311 emergency information hotline. Workers will even sometimes sleep at the Emergency Operations Center during emergencies to ensure residents are assisted as quickly as possible as calls come in.
Learn more about the Foster Grandparents Program.
Environmental Protection Department
The last presentation of the day was from Alachua County’s Environmental Protection Department, led by Director Stephen Hofstetter and his team, who focus on clean quality, protecting natural resources, land conservation and handling petroleum and hazardous materials.
The department has more than 50 employees and works with a budget of $5-6 million annually, much of which comes from the state and grants. Additional funding from the Wild Spaces and Public Places surtax helps with land acquisitions and projects.
Hofstetter shared that his natural resources team reviews every development in the unincorporated areas of the county, looking at zoning, design and construction inspections to ensure the protection of wetlands, natural wildlife habitats and historical areas of significance.
In 2023, the natural resources division made 621 site evaluations and reviewed 1,369 building permits.
Wetlands play an important role in protecting our environment and are more abundant in the eastern portion of the county. They are a vital resource in filtering pollutants before they travel the Florida Aquifer. Wetlands are also essential to the health of wildlife by providing drinkable water and also for capturing and controlling stormwater.
“Protecting our wetlands and our floodplains is one of our most important missions,” Hofstetter said.
Water Resources Program Manager Stacie Greco told the room that her office focuses on education and sharing how residents can better protect and conserve water. She said every time someone turns on their home irrigation system, it uses about 1,000 gallons of water, which is the equivalent of standing in a shower for eight hours.
Watch Alachua County Talks on water resources.
The office holds 110 events annually and responds to many complaints and illegal discharges that affect Alachua County’s water supply. This year, she said her office is emphasizing rebates for upgrading existing septic systems, tune-ups and rebates for irrigation systems and sampling Santa Fe River and Hogtown Creek.
Citizens Academy participants had the opportunity for a hands-on experience with an “enviro-scape” model where Greco explained how pollution, such as oil, dirt, pet waste and trash, sinks into the drainage systems, creeks and the aquifer.
See the model.
EPD’s hazardous waste team responds to complaints of illegal discharges in the air, water and soil and will initiate enforcement cases. The office has 1,190 regulated facilities to oversee and averages about 400 inspections a year. It’s an important role because just one gallon of gas improperly disposed of can contaminate about 1 million gallons of water.
EPD’s final speaker was Andi Christman, the county’s land conservation and management program manager.
Christman shared how the Wild Spaces Public Places surtax has been a major help for the county to acquire, improve and manage environmentally significant lands. Those efforts, like the other departments, build on EPD’s goal of protecting water resources and wildlife habitats.
Watch Alachua County Talks on land conservation.
Since the surtax’s initial approval in 2000, then known as Alachua County Forever, the county has protected more than 34,000 acres of land through land acquisitions, conservation easements and partnerships with local and state programs.
Of that land, Christman’s office manages more than 24,000 acres, the bulk of which is at Barr Hammock and Lochloosa Slough. Another 10,000 acres are managed by local partners and property owners on conservation easements.
Learn more about the county’s land conservation program.
For more information, contact Alachua County Public Information Officer Andrew Caplan at 352-264-6975 or acaplan@alachuacounty.us.
