By HOLLY GASKILL
The Wells County Commissioners have instructed County Attorney Ted Storer to review their options for removing a member from the Health Department Board.
Following the agenda items for their meeting Monday, Commissioner Mike Vanover expressed his intent to replace an appointed board member with a commissioner.
Storer advised there are some statutory restrictions to removing a member of specific boards and would return with further information. However, Storer added that the commissioners would always be permitted to not re-appoint a board member at the end of the member’s term.
The Health Department had two individuals resign in June — administrator Tricia Ross and environmental health specialist Ryan Bennett. The Health Department Board, which typically meets every other month, held a special meeting on June 28 to appoint an interim administrator, Marlene Hoag, who retired from the position in 2022.
At that time, the Health Department Board believed Bennett would return after Hoag’s appointment, but he has not.
Commissioner Jeff Stringer stated some boards have not taken active responsibility for their respective authority. He also noted that the board has had a vacant position for a doctor for several years.
“It’s viewed as an advisory board only, but could you also check at that and see if they actually have some teeth?” Stringer asked Storer. “I think they have more teeth than they think, and I’d like to clarify that for them. It’s not just to check the punctuation — it’s a great group of people, but I think they think they’re limited in what they can do.”
As a board solely appointed by the commissioners, Vanover said, the commissioners should be able to counsel the board if the board or department is “going in a direction that they feel is not beneficial to the citizens of Wells County.”
Commissioner Blake Fiechter mentioned that this responsibility, both the board and the commissioners, should be expressed to board appointments in the future.
The next Health Department Board meeting is scheduled at 6:30 a.m. Aug. 17 at the Wells County Annex. Current board members are Ann McNabb, Tom Longenberger, Molly Hoag, Dr. Mary Donley, Steve Bales and Christopher Esterling.
holly@news-banner.com
