SCHOHARIE — The December decision by the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors to end its financial relationship with Health Director Dr. Amy Gildemeister has sparked a controversy that has encompassed nearly every element of local politics.
Our newspaper has taken special care to not engage in speculation or rush out incomplete details about the Schoharie County government’s actions and response from the state.
As such, we’ve spent the last two months compiling a number of different accounts regarding the role of Dr. Gildemeister in both county government and public health to get the most complete view to date.
We compiled the testimony of more than current and former county employees and local officials to get as much information as possible.
The Mountain Eagle has sparsely used pseudonyms for sources, but due to fear of retribution, we included several testimonies of individuals in such a fashion. We have deliberately obfuscated the current and former status of employees to reduce the chance of retaliation. None of those cited in such a fashion are current or previous elected office holders. In addition, we’ve spoken to others beyond those cited for background information. For the sake of clarity, Dr. Gildemeister is referred to as “director” even though her position is currently occupied by an interim director. Dr. Gildemeister resigned from the position as director on February 8th and has since been hired by the state health department.
As a writer’s note, I entered into this process with a positive impression of several of the key players involved in this ongoing situation. This included Supervisors Federice and Skowfoe, who this paper endorsed each several times. It also included Dr. Gildemeister and Dr. Korn. I have done my best to reach out to every relevant person I could get a hold of. At least one person I attempted to reach out to has passed away and several had out-of-service numbers. The only potential sources I intentionally did not reach out to were the heads of the Democratic and Republican parties in the county to reduce the chances of this being a partisan fight.
There are areas of deep disagreement between those who support and oppose Dr. Gildemeister’s tenure as health director. Both sides agree that the doctor is especially intelligent and that the health department is chronically understaffed, but for different reasons. However, the county board’s non-reappointment of the director was either caused by severe mismanagement by Dr. Gildemeister or political payback by the board of supervisors, depending on the perspective.
It is important to compile the information and allow the reader to decide.
Background
The Schoharie County Board of Supervisors’ December 20th vote to not reappoint Health Director Amy Gildemeister gained notable attention, especially after her nine years in the job. The resulting firestorm has, so far, not resulted in a complete view of the circumstances leading to the decision.
Much of the disagreement over a new six-year tenure is due to the unique circumstances in which New York handles local health administration. Since Schoharie County has fewer than 250,000 people, state law states that the position of "public health director may be employed in lieu of a commissioner of health" and that the position "with appropriate medical consultation, administers and manages the public health programs within a county."
This results in a unique and clumsy bifurcation of duties if four health directors leaving the county under various circumstances over the last fifteen years is any indication. The public health director is chosen by and technically answers to the Schoharie County Board of Health, comprised of seven medical experts. The funding for the position ($84,287 in 2022 according to public records) is provided by the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors, comprised of 16 elected members.
Furthermore, while the Board of Supervisors can technically withhold funding for the posi