DHHS head of environmental health resigns

By Lynn Bonner - Under the Dome, News & Observer

Layton Long, Jr., head of environmental health at the state Department of Health and Human Services, resigned Monday. His resignation is effective in 30 days.

Long has worked at the state Department of Health and Human Services for a little more than a year. He’s leaving the $113,593-a-year job to become director of the Chatham County Health Department.

The environmental heath section is in the Division of Public Health, which has seen high profile departures this year. Former public health director, Dr. Laura Gerald, resigned in July. The state’s top dentist, chief of the division’s oral health section, was fired shortly after.

DHHS released a statement from Long that said he enjoyed working with the professionals in public health.