Commissioners approve health board restructuring

The Lincoln County Commissioners on Wednesday passed the new bylaws for a restructuring of the Lincoln County City-County Board of Health. Now, the Libby, Troy and Eureka city councils will come to a vote in the coming weeks.

The bylaw includes restructuring the board of health members to include three qualified members appointed by the county commissioners, one member of the county commissioners and one appointed by each city council. Each member will serve a three-year staggered term. The board of health will then appoint a chair, vice chair and secretary. The board will meet at least on a quarterly basis with up to 10 public meetings per year.

According to the Asbestos Resource Program Manager for the Board of Health Nick Raines, currently six out of eight members on the board of health are county commissioners and paid county positions. The current membership includes three commissioners, a sanitarian, public health nurse, a health officer, a mayor and a city council member.

“I know that everyone that’s been involved in it has general excitement in restructuring the board,” Raines said.

The restructuring has two main purposes, Raines said. The first purpose is to create more of a voice for the towns beyond Libby and Troy. The second purpose is to board members that have more experience in the medical field. According to Raines, the bylaw has been reviewed by the County and Libby City attorneys.

The Board of Health has five main duties, including environmental health, animal care and control, solid waste and recycling, asbestos resource program and public health.

According to County Commissioner Mark Peck, the draft bylaw was presented at a county commissioner meeting around a month ago. Peck said he feels that the bylaw will bring in more city representation from Troy and Eureka. In the past, it’s been Libby that’s had most of a voice, Peck said. He also said that he’s glad the proposal will bring more members with medical experience to the board.

“I think that it was very county-heavy, and that it was mostly elected officials,” Peck said. “The board of health has some very unique authorities and there needs to be more people with that kind of experience. I think that a lot of elected officials don’t have a lot of that experience in the medical field.”

County Environmental Health Department Director Kathi Hooper said a more-experienced board will have a major positive impact on the county.

“We’re going to be diving into updating all of the public and environmental health orders and regulations,” Hooper said. “A lot of them are outdated, and having a board with experience and having a board to provide insight would be excellent.”

According to Hooper, around a year ago she and Jennifer McCully, public health manager at Lincoln County Health Department, looked at the structure of county health boards around the state to devise a board structure that coincides with many other county health boards. Peck, Hooper and senior Libby City Council member Peggy Williams formed the sub committee that looked over the proposal.

McCully brought the proposal to the Aug. 1 Libby City Council meeting, but the request for approval was tabled after former city council member Gary Neff took issue with the board of health’s composition during public comment. Since the city entered the first interlocal agreement in 2009, he said there’s been no record of consent from the council on which two people represent the City of Libby on the City-County Board of Health.

Neff said the last Libby representative appointments were made in 2015, but there’s no mention of city officials making those appointments.

“To me that says we have illegitimate representation,” Neff said. “I’m concerned about the liability the city may hold (because of this).”

The matter was then tabled until the city council has a chance to determine how Libby representatives should be appointed to the board.

Raines and Hooper presented the three-page interlocal agreement draft proposal to the Troy City Council on Aug. 11. Mayor Darren Coldwell noted that the council members may not have time to participate, but told the council members that they should present names of community members with adequate medical experience in a future meeting.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Coldwell said. “We need to have a voice.”

The bylaws are scheduled to go into effect on November 1.

Reporter Bethany Rolfson may be reached at 293-4124 or by email at Reporter@TheWesternNews.com.