The Clark County Combined Health District (CCCHD)
Researching how a 130,000 person county health department can make so much money and pay millions in salaries.
9/16/20253 min read
Still trying to figure this one out....
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I believe this is what most normal states call the Health Department". This one's nonprofit, but lots of people are profiting from it.
Who funds? But don't state funds go to the umbrella and then are doled out.
Chris Cook and the two under him make ~365K each. Wes Babian meeting guy is Board President and the first in the list right under the 350K+ers with ZERO in the salary column.
Wes Babian was Warren Copeland's pastor at the First Baptist Church for 20 years. He is now on the Board of Rocking Horse and the CCCHD, among others in the health field. He is listed as having no salary, and organizations never publish bonuses and benefits for the public. Until July 2025, he lived in a 4 BR 4BA, 4300 square foot house on a dead-end quiet street only neighboring about a dozen houses that he sold for $370K. According to the Interwebs, he has a net wroth of 1.375 million. These things explain why he's on the Board of everything and as he sees it, chooses to represent his god at every meeting. Thanking Rue for allowing him to speak for 3 minutes. Sanity to me!
They're a dot.com website. Shouldn't it be a .gov if all state funded or a .org if a nonprofit?
AI says: The Clark County Combined Health District (CCCHD) is funded by a combination of state, federal, and local sources, including federal grants and state general revenue, which are distributed by the Ohio Department of Health (.gov). They also receive specific funding, such as Ohio EPA Water Pollution Control Loan Funding for homeowners with failing septic systems and have received Clark County CARES Act funding.
Funding Sources:
The CCCHD receives federal funds, which the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) distributes to local health agencies through grants and block grants.
The state provides funds to local departments through various programs and general aid, which are then passed to local agencies.
Clark County CARES Act funding was provided to the district to support its COVID-19 response efforts.
The health district also administers specific funds, such as the Ohio EPA Water Pollution Control Loan Fund to assist homeowners with septic system issues.
In 2022, Charles Patterson earned $119,430 by working as a Health Commiss at the Clark County.
Patterson was Health Commissioner from 2000-2024 until Cook was appointed the role in January 2024 so Patterson could run for County Commissioner. Chris Cook's salary in 2022 was $96,454 as Assistant Health Commissioner (for 2 years prior to the 2024 change). I think....
Kevin O'Neill had been Commissioner since 1992, he ran in November 2023 to keep his seat, but Tackett won 7K to 4K votes. (60 something percent to 30 something percent, they like to say, though, the combined 11K is less than a third of the 30K registered voters in Springfield.
In November 2024, O'Neill ran for COUNTY Commissioner, but got 19,878 votes and lost to Charlie Patterson who got 40,365. 67% to 37% of the 60,253 total votes (87, 957 registered voters in the County, so not a bad turnout).
Charles Patterson is tightly connected with First Diversity for "job growth".
All here: https://www.boe.ohio.gov/clark/c/elecres/20241105results.pdf
Is it odd to anyone but me that the only people who make it on the ballots are long-term "servants"?? I've never seen a new name on ANY ballot.
Yes, it's so incestual here. Maybe the county thought Charlie had nobly served them for 20 years as Health Commissioner? He also included all things Haitian in his campaign.
Of course, O'Neill had also been a Commissioner since 1992, so...........