Dr. Eden Wells was hired to a new, protected state government job that will pay her $179,000 annually just weeks after a civil service official pledged to “do what we can on our end” to find a new position for her.

Documents obtained by MLive-The Flint Journal through the Freedom of Information Act show Wells, the state’s chief medical executive, also forwarded information about her current appointment, which expires at the end of the year, to others at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services -- officials who proceeded to create a new “advisory physician” position and hired her for it.

Wells was the only candidate to apply for the “advisory physician” position, which was posted internally for less than one week in November, but DHHS officials have denied she was given preferential treatment or that the job was created for her.

A DHHS spokeswoman said in an email to The Journal that the department was “interested to see whether Dr. Wells might be eligible for the position” and collected information about her job as chief medical executive to compare it to the new advisory physician position “to see if the salaries of an advising physician were comparable to Dr. Wells salary.”

“I’m not aware of anyone encouraging Dr. Wells to apply,” spokeswoman Angela Minicuci said in an email to The Journal. “She may have been aware of the position being created to avoid duplication of the CME (chief medical executive) duties.”

Records obtained by The Journal through FOIA show Wells forwarded her current job description to Karen MacMaster, a top official at DHHS, in a Sept. 24 email, about six weeks before she was hired to the new position, which provides union and civil service job protections she has not had as an at-will state employee and member of Gov. Rick Snyder’s cabinet.

Emails and other documents show the Dec. 2 creation of the advisory physician position came after DHHS and the Michigan Civil Service Commission made its creation an urgent priority.

Cheryl Rockefeller, one of the DHHS employees involved in the job creation process, wrote in a Nov. 1 email that McMaster, acting senior deputy director of the Population Health Administration at DHHS, “would like to get this requisition posted next Monday morning, November 5, which means I need to get the approvals pushed through this week, which doesn’t leave a lot of time.”

Another DHHS employee involved in the process of creating the position responded in an email that same day that she could not post the position that quickly but would “get it posted as quickly as I possibly can.”

A day earlier in an email to others at DHHS, MacMaster called the job posting an “urgent request.”

The push to create the new job occurred just weeks before Genesee District Judge William Crawford bound Wells over to stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer. The charges are related to Wells' response to outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County during the Flint water crisis.

Wells has denied any criminal wrongdoing, and like her boss -- DHHS Director Nick Lyon -- has been left on the job by Snyder as each has fought through lengthy preliminary examinations.

The Journal reported earlier this month that Wells used Lyon, who has also been bound over on Flint water criminal charges including involuntary manslaughter, as her first reference in obtaining the new job.

On the day The Journal report was published, MacMaster wrote an email to Michael Derose, a civil service official involved in creating Wells' new position, asking, “It is not illegal to hire someone bound over for trial is it?”

“I realize the position was filled prior to that (bindover) decision but want to assure I did not do anything the jeopardizes the administration.”

Derose responded Dec. 11, “No, I’m not aware if any laws it would violate. If an employee is convicted, we would take action accordingly. To my knowledge, this appointment does not violate any laws, civil service rules or regulations, etc.”

In a Sept. 20 email to MacMaster, Derose said he would “do what we can on our end to get her into whatever position is most appropriate organizationally.”

Minicuci has said that DHHS determined there was a need for an advisory physician to the Population Health Administration, “as we have with other administrations within the department.”

In her new job, Wells will advise DHHS on public health issues such as HIV, Hepatitis C, and environmental health, the spokeswoman has said.

No appearance dates for Wells have been set in Genesee Circuit Court since her preliminary examination ended with Crawford concluding there was probable cause the crimes she is accused of occurred and probable cause to believe she committed them.

Attorneys for Wells have said they intend to ask Judge Joseph Farah to quash, or overrule, the bindover in order to stop a jury trial.