Franklin County is not separating from the joint Benton-Franklin Health District, at least not right now.

Brian Dansel, Franklin County administrator, told the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business that concerns the county, population 103,000, is exiting the partnership to form its own health department are based on “a frustrated comment from one commissioner at one meeting,” adding “we don’t have a plan, we didn’t have a workshop. I think it was all taken way out of context.”

But those comments led Benton County commissioners and health district officials to scramble in recent weeks to assess the potential effects of Franklin County decoupling from the joint health authority. Beyond impacting the agency’s $17 million budget and 125 staff, a split would also affect public health services many businesses rely on.

“There would be two permits, two sets of rules, two sets of requirements” to do business in both counties, Janae Parent, the health district’s administrator, told the Journal, adding “this would only make things more expensive.”

Franklin County will eventually need to seriously consider going out on its own as it continues to grow, Dansel said.

“Some of these services are just going to have to be localized in some form or fashion,” he said.

District’s role

The health district has served the region for 80 years and operates more than 60 public health programs and initiatives. Those run the gamut from communicable disease prevention and response and supporting young mothers and children to health inspections and water quality monitoring.

While day-to-day management is overseen by appointed administrators, a Board of Health is the top authority for the health district. Two commissioners from each county sit on the board, along with four non-elected members representing health care providers, consumers and others.

In late April, Commissioner Clint Didier in a Franklin County Commission meeting brought up potential changes to oversight of animal slaughtering by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would mean smaller slaughtering operations would not need direct oversight. That change makes it all the more important that Franklin County have its own independent Board of Health because “otherwise we’re allowing another county to dictate how we process animals in Franklin County,” Didier said.

“I’m telling my fellow commissioners, be ready because I’m going to be pushing this issue, we have to have six months’ notice,” he added.

BFHD does not have a role in overseeing animal slaughtering activities in either county.

Dansel said there are other issues county leaders and taxpayers have with the health district, such as permitting for septic systems.

“The taxpayers don’t see it as a local entity,” Dansel told the Journal. “It’s a very long, lengthy list of concerned citizens who are being told they can’t build their home due to septic.”

BFHD does have a role in reviewing and permitting on-site sewage systems such as septic tanks and drainage fields.

Unanswered questions

Under state law, Franklin County has until the end of June to give notice if it plans to separate from BFHD to start the year 2027 independently. Giving notification after that would mean separation would wait until the next calendar year.

Health district officials told Benton County commissioners during a special meeting in mid-May that there are a lot of unanswered questions how BFHD would be affected if Franklin County severed ties.

While only 1% of its budget comes from Franklin County taxpayers directly, a split could still mean the loss of millions of dollars as contracts for some services revert back to state control and state health officials reassess funding based on the smaller size and population served by each succeeding agency.

For businesses such as the hundreds of mobile food truck operators, caterers, septic installers and pumpers, separate public health agencies across the Tri-Cities would mean additional red tape to continue doing business in both counties. There’s the possibility that all food permits in both counties would expire and all eating establishments in both counties would have to reapply to each respective county’s health authority.

Those impacts and others have also drawn Pasco city officials into the matter, as most of Franklin County’s population lives within city limits.

“We respect the statutory and constitutional authority you hold to make these decisions on behalf of all Franklin County residents. We are confident you are making them with the citizens of Pasco in mind,” Mayor Charles Grimm wrote to Franklin County commissioners early in June. “At the same time, as the governing body representing over 80% of the county’s population, we would be remiss not to speak up and share our concerns about the potential impacts these changes could have on our citizens.”

Parent said it’s likely Franklin County would end up having to contract back to what remains of BFHD for services, given the scope of responsibilities it will inherit and that would likely come at a higher cost.

“I’ve talked to several of my peers to understand those who have gone through a separation,” Parent told Benton County commissioners. “Every single one of them said don’t do it because every group that has gone through this, about halfway through this, about halfway through said they wanted to go back. They regretted their decision because of the amount of infrastructure to do that in addition to the cost to do a transition.”

‘We could stand’

Dansel said that while the county has no current plans to separate from BFHD, “the idea we never look at it is ludicrous.”

Most counties have their own health departments or districts, and Franklin County is growing rapidly enough that it should also have its own.

“I will say this, in my research, it’s the same folks saying we couldn’t stand up on our own Department of Corrections and we did,” Dansel said of those concerned about a separation. “I have a lot more belief in us than other folks do, and if we had to go that direction, I feel confident we could stand.”

BFHD officials said in early June that they hadn’t seen further moves by Franklin County to separate. They added that they have reached out to Dansel and commissioners to set up a time to meet and address concerns but had yet to receive a response.