News photo by Kayla Wikaryasz The District Health Department No. 4 (DHD4) board members meet in the Commissioner's room at the Presque Isle Co. building in Rogers City on Tuesday. The board discussed financial challenges DHD4 is facing.

ALPENA — The District Health Department No. 4 (DHD4) health board discussed the severity of their budget deficit at their monthly meeting on Tuesday.

Michelle Konwinski, DHD4 financial officer, told the health board that they are receiving a harm reduction grant and an emergency preparedness grant, though added that the health department is still operating on a budget deficit.

Konwinski said that they are not operating on a fund deficit budget, which occurs when an entity has enough money set aside to cover a budget deficit.

She explained that in prior years, the health department has operated with a budget deficit “as much as” $1.1 to $1.2 million dollars “per the prior audits.” However, she said that the department has cut that budget deficit “down by more than half.”

“But we still are in a budget deficit position,” Konwinski said.

“How did we get away with that?” Cliff Tollini, Presque Isle county commissioner and health board vice chair, asked.

Konwinski said that she doesn’t know how the department operated on a budget deficit for as long as it did because “I wasn’t here.”

The prior financial director resigned in the spring of 2025 and Konwinski was hired as the current finance director in July.

Konwinski explained that DHD4 was able to continue operating with a budget deficit because it had enough money saved to cover overspending.

“They did have the money to cover it, which had been acquired over many, many, many years,” Konwinski said, in regards to the DHD4 savings. “They were spending it down.”

The DHD4 health board was first made aware of money clawbacks in June when former Health Officer Denise Bryan told board members that $700,000 was missing due to “accounting errors” and “gross negligence.” By September, Konwinski revealed that the actual amount of missing money is $1.2 million.

Due to the department’s financial challenges, as of July, DHD4 had laid off three employees.

In September, the health department terminated their contact with District Health Department No. 2 (DHD2), thus releasing Bryan and the department’s community health director and epidemiologist from DHD4.

Lucille Bray, Alpena County commissioner and DHD4 health board member, told The News in July that the board had discovered that Bryan was not meeting her contractual obligations, per DHD4’s contract with DHD2.

On Tuesday, Konwinski said that the $1.2 million that has been clawed back by the state was not considered “actual spending.”

“That’s revenue reduction,” Konwinski said. “Our spending in years gone by has been more than our grants … our revenue.”

She added that the department’s spending increased during COVID-19 when there were “COVID grants” available. She said when the grants were taken away “a lot of the expenses were not cut.”

Konwinski explained to the board that the executive committee planned to enter a closed session following the full board meeting to discuss solutions to their budget deficit.

“Some of this we’re going to go over in a closed session because I’ve got some hard recommendations to make.” Konwinski said.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.