DARLINGTON — Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Lafayette County has fired its public health department director, and the supervisors overseeing the Lafayette County Health Department wouldn’t say why.
The county terminated Elizabeth Townsend’s employment Sept. 3.
Following a meeting Sept. 10, with an hour spent in closed session, the Board of Health wouldn’t publicly give a reason for Townsend’s firing. Wisconsin is an “at will” employment state, meaning in general that the employer and employee may end the employment relationship without giving either notice or reason.
Townsend said County Board Chair Jack Sauer, Human Resources Director Samantha Morrissey and Board of Health Chair Bob Boyle came to her office at 10 a.m. Sept. 3 to tell her she was terminated.
“I don’t know why, and they wouldn’t give me a reason,” she said. “I don’t feel they had any grounds to terminate me. I was in shock.”
She said she was escorted back over the weekend to collect her belongings from her office.
Townsend was hired in November 2018 and previously worked in a similar position in Jo Daviess County, Illinois. She left that job on good terms, according to Jo Daviess County meeting records. The Jo Daviess Board of Health Director “expressed how much he enjoyed working” with Townsend and “that her leaving was Lafayette County’s gain.”
Julie Leibfried, a public health nurse hired by Townsend about a year ago, is acting as interim director of the Lafayette County Health Department.
Leibfried said it was her understanding that whether the county hires a new director or promotes her permanently, her nurse position would be filled.
In contrast to the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases over the second week of September in Green County — and in both counties in late July and early August — Lafayette County has reported only a handful of new cases since the start of the month. As of Sept. 13, Lafayette County reported 196 confirmed cases, with 187 recovered.
Leibfried attributed the slower rise in cases to people following public health recommendations.
“I have been noticing a lot more masks lately when I’m out and about in Lafayette County. I’m just hoping people are taking social distancing seriously and helping in that way,” she said.
— Kayla Barnes contributed reporting