Mills County Seeking New MCPH Administrator

For the second time this year, Mills County is looking for a new administrator for the Mills County Public Health Office.

Mills County Supervisor Richard Crouch said the position is open following a decision by the Mills County Board of Health to terminate Lorie Ann Gentry. The board of health, made up of representatives from the Mills County community, hired Gentry last spring to replace Julie Lynes, who retired from the position after a long career with the public health agency.

“I’m just the liaison but I was at the meeting,” Crouch said. “Their board felt that she wasn’t a fit for what they were looking for. After she started, she started doing some things they just weren’t satisfied with it.”

After discussions with Gentry, Crouch said the board gave her the option of resigning or being terminated.

“They asked her if she wanted to leave or they would just terminate her,” he said. “She decided to let them terminate her.”

Gentry came to the position with a strong business and financial background. She had government experience - working in finance and administrative support at both the University of Oklahoma and University of Colorado Colleges of Medicine, but did not have public health agency experience.

Gentry was among multiple applicants for the positiion, Crouch said.

“She had really good qualifications for the job. The board thought she was the best qualified person in the end,” he said.

MCPH Nursing Director Lorri Greiner, a registered nurse, will serve as the agency’s interim administrator until the position is filled.

“We’re going to kind of sit back for awhile and let Lorri Greiner run things and get their feet on the ground and try to get things back to normal, I guess you could say,” Crouch said. “They (board of health) feel she’s very qualified, which she is, but she doesn’t want to be director because she’s going to retire in probably a year or a year and a half.”

Crouch said the board of health hopes to have a new MCPH administrator hired by the end of the year.

“We’re hoping within 3 months we can get somebody back in place,” he said.