Mark Lawley will lead Weld County Public Health and Environment for now. Here’s what we know about him.
By Kelly Ragan
Amid Weld County’s largest health crisis since the Spanish Flu, a man with no medical background takes the reins at the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment.
But that decision follows recent trends of health departments selecting leaders with personnel management experience more than explicit medical knowledge.
After nearly a month serving as interim director of the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment during a global pandemic, Weld County Commissioners announced June 23 they chose Mark Lawley to temporarily replace Dr. Mark Wallace, with his official title being deputy director.
Mark Lawley
Lawley, who did not respond to repeated requests for an interview, spent 36 years with Mountain View Fire Rescue in Longmont in many roles, including firefighter, lieutenant, captain, battalion chief, fire marshal, assistant chief and deputy chief, according to the Boulder Daily Camera.
“We had been advertising for a deputy director for a while,” said Weld County Commissioner Mike Freeman said. “We went back and looked through all the resumes, and as we were sorting them, his name just went right to the top. He’s extremely qualified.”
According to a report by The Greeley Tribune, Weld County received 299 applications for the deputy director position over several months. Lawley was the only applicant commissioners interviewed. And his was the only application even reviewed by commissioners, despite — by the Tribune’s analysis — at least 11 highly qualified applicants.
The role of director in a health department is more of an administrative position than anything else, Freeman said, and Lawley has a lot of administrative experience. Wallace was a medical doctor, Freeman said, but that isn’t a requirement for the job.
Freeman said the county is still working to hire a new director, but they don’t want to rush the process.
“It won’t be quick,” he said. “We will do a national search.”
While it might seem strange for a health department to have a vacant spot during a pandemic, Katie O’Donnell, spokesperson for the Larimer County Public Health Department, said it checks out.
“You probably won’t find a bunch of public health directors looking for new work,” O’Donnell said. “They’re all probably retiring or drowning in work. It’s a weird time to find a perfectly matched, qualified director.”
Following the trend
Historically, O’Donnell said, directors did have medical experience, but there’s been a shift in the last 10 years or so. Larimer County’s previous director was a medical doctor, O’Donnell said, but when she retired, they split out the roles, bringing in contracted doctors when needed. Larimer County and Jefferson County have both gone that direction, O’Donnell said.
Larimer’s current public health director, Tom Gonzales, does not have a medical degree. What he does have is a master’s degree in public health, O’Donnell said.
“The medical side brings expertise, their time is primarily used on case consults – their skillset is valuable there,” O’Donnell said. “It’s not necessarily the most helpful in personnel management.”
Where are we in the search for a new director?
Larimer County hopes Lawley will communicate more as he feels more comfortable with the role. There hasn’t been much communication with Weld since Wallace stepped down May 29. O’Donnell said Larimer County collaborated well with Wallace.
“Our counties cross over. People work in Weld and live in Larimer and vise versa,” O’Donnell said. “We share a hospital system with Weld. I’d love to get that (collaboration) back up and running.”
Freeman told the NoCo Optimist that Wallace was more in contact with health directors in other counties in his role with North Colorado Health Alliance than as the director of the health department.
What do we know about Lawley’s experience?
According to his LinkedIn page, Lawley got his associates degree in fire science and protection technology at Aims Community College. He then obtained a Bachelor of science in public service and allied health at the University of Northern Colorado.
Lawley then got a Master of Science in leadership and public administration from Grand Canyon University, a for-profit Christian school based in Arizona.
O’Donnell said a master’s degree in public administration would have counted for the Larimer County Public Health’s job description.
In 2017, Lawley left Mountain View Fire Rescue a year before his contract was up, according to the Camera. The board of directors voted unanimously to end the contract early after an hour-long executive session.
Then board President Scott Barcewski said the split was amicable and shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
David Beebe took over as fire chief in 2017 and remains in the role.
Lawley described some of his experience in an email to health department staff, which the NoCo Optimist obtained via a Colorado Open Records Request.
“For the past few years, I have owned and operated my own consulting business working closely with the private sector and government to improve organizational outcomes and business practices. I have served on several Weld County Boards to include the Planning Commission, Northern Colorado Medical Trustee Board, Northern Colorado Medical Center Inc. Board, Weld County Charter Review Committee and I currently serve as a Board Member for the Weld Trust,” Lawley wrote.
“It is my goal and desire to meet and work with everyone to build on the accomplishments that Dr. Wallace and all of you have created over the years. I have heard nothing but positive things about everyone, your dedication and hard work in serving the public.”
Lawley has donated to three sitting commissioners’ campaigns since 2016
According to TRACER, Lawley has also contributed to several Republican political campaigns.
In total, he’s contributed about $1,335. In March 2020, just months before commissioners offered him the job, Lawley gave $200 to a Barbara Kirkmeyer’s state senate campaign and $100 to Mike Freeman’s commissioner campaign. He also gave a total of $140 to the Weld County Republican Central Committee.
But his contributions date back to 2016.
In 2016, Lawley gave:
$100 to Lori Saine’s campaign
$200 to Barbara Kirkmeyer’s campaign
$100 to Citizens for Conway
In 2017, Lawley gave:
$400 to the Weld County Republican Central Committee
In 2018, Lawley gave:
$95 to Steve Moreno’s campaign
That means before he was hired on as the Deputy Director of the Weld County Department of Public Health, which is run by the Weld County Board of Commissioners, he had contributed to three sitting board members’ election campaigns.
The NoCo Optimist reached out to Kirkmeyer and Freeman for comment about the contributions and asked about possible conflicts of interest.
Freeman said it is Lawley’s First Amendment right to donate to whatever candidate he sees fit, noting other department heads have donated to his campaign and to other campaigns over the years.
“I just don’t see it as a conflict of interest,” Freeman said.
We’re still in a pandemic
Even though restaurants, gyms and more are starting to open back up, COVID-19 is still around.
As of Wednesday, Weld County reported 2,812 cases and 91 deaths.
On June 30, Gov. Jared Polis announced bars and nightclubs would once again close for in-person service.
At a news conference, he said the establishments were linked to an increase in COVID cases in other states.
As of Wednesday, Colorado reported 32,715 cases with 1,690 deaths among people who had the virus and 1,520 deaths reported as directly caused by COVID-19.
Weld commissioners reiterated in a statement on the county website Wednesday that they advocated for personal responsibility over regulation in regard to handling COVID, and that the county would not be enforcing state orders.
“Just as Weld County is not applying for a variance, it is not developing specific guidance or giving approval to individual plans,” according to the website. “Rather, the county is trying to support businesses with reminders about common sense approaches to reduce the spread of COVID-19.”
What we know about Mark Wallace’s new gig
Mark Wallace
Wallace announced he’d retire and exit the role of executive director of the Weld health department May 29. He did so after commissioners ignored his warning not to reopen the county.
Freeman said Wallace will still be on the payroll through July 15 to help with the transition.
But as of June 29, Wallace took over as Chief Clinical Officer at Sunrise Community Health.
In an interview with the NoCo Optimist, Sunrise CEO Mitzi Moran said she’s excited to have him on the team.
Wallace previously served on the Sunrise board of directors, but Moran said in light of the hiring, he’s resigned.
“COVID is still happening and we anticipate a surge in the fall,” Moran said. “His direct experience shepherding our county and contributing to the state dialogue is welcome.