Governance
State and local public health governance: supporting the public in Utah
State and local public health agencies in Utah use a process called “Governance” to make decisions about funding, policy, and rules. Governance is a respectful, shared way to meet public health goals statewide that helps people in Utah to live safe and healthy lives.
Governance committee meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month.
Legal background
The purpose of this legislation was to establish a formal understanding and mechanism to:
- Facilitate regular communication between local and state public health directors
- Better understand issues and rules impacting Utah’s public health system, and build awareness about these issues for all public health staff - not just leadership
- Improve access and understanding of grant guidance for local public health staff
- Develop a better understanding of grant requirements and local participation
- Engage state and local public health partners to result in high-quality state grant applications
- Change organizational culture to focus on the best way to serve residents of Utah
Legislation empowered Utah’s public health system to implement Governance to evaluate:
- Allocation of public health resources between the state health department (now Utah Department of Health and Human Services - DHHS) and local health departments
- Policies that affect local health departments
- Consider policy changes proposed by the department or Local Health Departments
And allowed the established Governance Committee to:
- Establish criteria by which an application for a federal grant may be judged to determine whether it should be exempt from Governance review, and
- Review the goals and budget for each reviewable grant application.
Governance executive committees
In order to effectively manage the work associated with Governance, topic-specific executive committees were implemented to provide recommendations on funding, policy, and rule to Governance. These committees are also charged with defining roles and responsibilities of state and local public health in Utah.
Executive committee details follow, including meeting information and group charters. Please note: while Governance meetings are public meetings, executive committee meetings are not. Information is provided here about meeting schedules to support public health staff who may have a funding, policy, or rule-related item to request including in an executive committee meeting. Please contact co-chairs with questions about the executive committees.
Statewide public health governance process infographic
Budget presentation form
Governance executive committee authority and processes
For general Governance questions, please contact Jerry Edwards at: [email protected]