KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo County will have a new person in charge of its Health and Human Services Department, but he is no stranger to the area.
James Rutherford, the current director of the health department in Calhoun County, was the assistant director of the Kalamazoo Health Department before he took the job in Calhoun County.
He has already worked with many officials in Kalamazoo County during the Enbridge Oil Spill. His appointment is still subject to a final vote by the Kalamazoo County Commission in two weeks, but he has already been introduced as the new director.
Kalamazoo’s Department of Health and Human Services has 240 employees and a $14 million annual budget. It’s a big job and he has big shoes to fill, replacing Dr. Gillian Stoltman, who is retiring.
One of his big tasks may be to manage the move of the department to a new location, should the county commission ever settle on a new facility for the Department.
They are currently leasing space at the former Nazareth College campus on Gull Road.
