Lewis and Clark County names successor to retiring health officer
Drenda Niemann will take over Lewis and Clark Public Health as Melanie Reynolds retires, putting inspections, immunizations and outbreak response in new hands.
Lewis and Clark County has named Drenda Niemann as its next county health officer and director of Lewis and Clark Public Health, setting up a handoff from retiring Melanie Reynolds. The change matters well beyond county payroll: the health officer helps steer testing, surveillance and day-to-day public health response for Helena, East Helena, Wolf Creek and Lincoln.
The Lewis and Clark County Board of Health is responsible for hiring the health officer and setting policy for the Lewis and Clark City-County Health Department. County public health says its mission is to improve and protect the health of all Lewis and Clark residents, which makes the top job central to how the department runs.
Lewis and Clark Public Health says it conducts testing and surveillance and gathers data and information to identify county health needs and priorities. That work sits behind routine decisions about how the department tracks illness, communicates with clinics and schools, and keeps public health information moving through the county. The department has also been working through operational changes, including a June 2025 notice about a phone-system transition.
The succession also lands after a year of pressure on local health services. In January 2024, the county health department faced budget cuts and service reductions, with health inspections and immunization services at risk of being reduced. For households and businesses that depend on those services, the move to install a successor now helps avoid a gap while the department manages the transition.
Lewis and Clark County has gone through leadership handoffs before, and the county’s choice of Niemann suggests officials want continuity at a time when public health work still touches everyday life across the Helena area. With the Board of Health in charge of hiring and policy, the county is keeping the department’s leadership tied closely to the services residents notice first when something goes wrong.
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