HERMANN — The Trump Administration’s government overhaul has hit close to home.

The Gasconade County Health Department learned last week that all grant funds issued through the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) in the post-COVID years have been canceled. In the instance of one of the grant programs, pulling the plug is leaving the county health agency scrambling to find another source of money to purchase newer, high-tech laboratory equipment for the department’s soon-to-be new home in the former Southwest Medical Arts building adjacent to the Hermann Area District Hospital.

Department Administrator Kenna Fricke Monday morning told the agency’s Board of Trustees of being informed last week of the federal government canceling the CDC grant programs as part of the overall review of federal expenditures. Whether those grant programs will be resumed later is unclear.

“There were several different grants” affected by the action, she told the board, meeting in its regular monthly session. The good news is that the agency was able to use most of the money made available through the various grants.

“We were able to use all of our health disparities grant,” she said.

But one program in particular that was scratched left a significant amount of money on the table. That’s the one for health department laboratory equipment and supplies. Unable to use the grant money thus far while waiting for the remodeling of the building to take place, the county health agency has lost about $188,000, Fricke said.

Some of that money was to have been used for a new generator to ensure operation of coolers for vaccines. Now, she said, it’s back to the drawing board to research generators and their prices.

Another highly acclaimed program is being lost to the canceled grant programs — the statewide “sewer shed” project, aimed at providing an early warning for virus outbreaks. Under this project, the Health Department worked with municipalities in the county to take samples from their wastewater treatment facilities to check on any indications of an increase in virus activity — such as COVID, influenza and many others, Fricke said. To this point, the county agency was working with Owensville in the testing; Hermann was not included in the project because there was no good way to collect samples from the city lagoon, Fricke earlier explained.

Losing the sewer shed project is particularly disappointing, the administrator said.

“That one hurt because it’s such a good program,” Fricke told Board President Stan Hall and Vice President Ruth Bock, who were joining her in the agency’s conference room. Trustee Mary Leeper attended the session via ZOOM. Trustees Susan Steinbeck and Molly Steinbeck were absent, which meant the 5-member board had the minimum number of trustees on hand to conduct business.

“I’m hopeful it can come back in some capacity,” she added.

Fricke explained that the CDC grants provided capital for the agency, allowing it to use tax dollars and other revenue to be banked for added financial security. She said having the CDC grants allowed the agency to grow its savings.

The loss of the CDC grants — and the fear that public health agencies might face additional funding cuts by the federal government — coupled with the upcoming relocation to its new home and the sale of the department offices on Schiller Street means it might be wise to keep a closer-than-usual watch on agency finances during the next few months, Hall said.

“We’re probably going to need to be looking at the our budget every month,” he said.

Fricke tried to allay any concerns about agency finances the board might have in the wake of the loss of the grants and the costs associated with preparing the new building, pointing to money-saving moves made by the staff — including moving from behind the administrator’s desk into a more active primary nurse’s role.

But to add insult to injury, she explained, when the federal government canceled the CDC grants, counties were given a short amount of time to submit the necessary documents associated with the use of the grant money.

“We had less than a week” to gather and submit all the documents, she said, noting that the feds gave states 30 days to close out their aspect of the CDC grant programs.

The CDC grant funding came first to the state and then was passed down to counties, Fricke explained. As an aside, she told the board that the person assigned to oversee the CDC grant programs was terminated at the same time the funding cancellation was announced.