1. How much did the former health director make and what will the new one be paid?
A: According to Metro payroll records we requested, Gill Wright got almost $364,000 this year in pay and benefits! All for working only til August.
That’s more than any other Metro official made last year.
He got paid $246,000 — over $171,000 was regular pay but he got $62,000 for cashing out unused vacation, over $11,000 for unused holiday and sick days.
Metro paid another $117,000 for his various insurances and taxes.
Wright left as Metro Health Director in August and said he was close to retirement but he currently works as Regional Medical Director South Carolina Health Dept since October.
He became Metro interim director in 2020 after former director Michael Caldwell was asked to resign following concerns about his response to COVID-19.
We asked Metro for new director Dr. Areolas’s agreed upon pay and they didn’t send us anything.
Wright made $262,000 last year, without all the added payouts, so we can assume the new director will make at least that plus benefits.
A: He spent over 17 years with Metro Health dept. Beginning in the early 2000s, he was a toxicologist for the Metro Public Health Department for many years. He was then Deputy Director and the interim director twice in 2018/19 and 2019/20.
He then went to Johnson County, Kansas to be their Health Director for almost 3 years.
He’s currently Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Health, Human Services and Education for Prince George's County, Maryland.
He’ll replace Dr. Joanna Shaw-KaiKai who has been Interim Director since Dr. Gill Wright's left in August.