The head of Hamilton County’s health department was fired Friday morning, according to a spokesperson for County Mayor Weston Wamp’s office.
Administrator Sabrina Novak’s firing came two days after the county commission voted to move forward with selling the health department building to Erlanger Health and amid discussion of both building a smaller health department and outsourcing some services to private operators.
Novak was a longtime employee of the health department. She served as the department’s administrator for three years, formally beginning in the role in early November 2021 after an interim appointment as administrator and more than 15 years in other jobs with the department. County commissioners in 2021 confirmed her appointment to the role on a 7-2 vote.
She replaced Becky Barnes, who retired from the department. The health department’s programming includes community health provision, vaccinations services and overdose prevention initiatives, among others.