CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County Commissioners passed a motion Wednesday to sperate from the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District.
Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni said the main takeaway from the separation is understanding who will be responsible for what. He said that since the county is choosing not to renew their agreement, the county will be solely responsible for providing certain health services to residents outside of the city limits.
"Preventative health services, immunizations, lab services, diagnosis outbreaks. Those are services they will have to precure from somebody else," he said.
Zanoni said the split will not impact the quality of service the district provides but will require a shift in ownership.
"They will have to fully stock up the Robstown clinic building and then somebody that would normally drive into the city limits will have to find a different location that Nueces County will provide," he said.
Nueces County Pct. 2 Commissioner Joe Gonzalez said that the clinic played a major role in the county's design to split from the health district. He said he feels those living in rural communities do not have a wide enough window to get resources.
"The one we have has only been open one day a week, seven hours a day," he said.
Gonzalez said he would have liked to see more done with the $1.7 million that the county pays into the health district.
"Whatever they provided for the health clinic in Corpus they could have provided for Robstown," he said.
For those worried about job security following the split, Zanoni said that the city has a plan.
"We do not anticipate any layoffs at all," he said.
Zanoni said that the $1.7 million contribution that the county pats has provided funding for 18 of the 118 health district jobs. He said that if the city has to dissolve positions, they will work to move employees to a different department.