The Health Commissioner's Vaccination War
Tacoma’s City Council faces off with the Health Commissioner over unauthorized spending and a controversial vaccination campaign.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
As a result of the tilt between the finance committee of the council and Health Commissioner Sargentich it is not unlikely that a new ordinance may be passed by the council laying down specifically what the health officer shall do. Dr. Armstrong says the health commissioner should do some work besides drawing his salary. He does not think Sargentich earns his $100 a month. Sargentich has a different opinion. He said yesterday that he is doing much work he is not paid for, in fact he figures he has earned $3,000 more than he has received since he has been in office. There was a lively tilt in the council last night over paying a bill for $54 for vaccination. Sargentich had called in another doctor to vaccinate school children when the school board refused to admit them to school. The finance committee rejected the bill and the council did likewise. Wilkeson and Armstrong said it was time to call a halt to the health officer. They said he was running wild in expenditures. Dr. Armstrong declared it was expected that the health commissioner should do such work as there was to be done and not call in outsiders.
“Dr. Armstrong says the health commissioner should do some work besides 'drawing his salary.'”
Public health funding battles remain a staple of municipal politics, as does the tension between executive authority during a crisis and legislative oversight of the purse strings. The skepticism toward bureaucratic 'extra' hiring continues to echo in modern arguments over the efficiency and scope of city agencies.
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