Despite calls, commissioners cannot dismiss health board, Peck says

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners cannot, unilaterally, disband the health board.

That was one takeaway from an informational meeting of the county health board held Dec. 16. Officials organized the meeting after board members and other health officials found themselves answering the same questions time and again about the panel’s structure and legal authority.

Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1), a former member of the board, described the limitation as a check on the authority of the county’s top elected officials during a brief presentation on the panel’s organization.

“A lot of people think, ‘Well, the county commissioners can do away with this board,’ but actually we can’t,” said Peck, who recently stepped down as the commissioners’ representative on the panel. “We have to have concurrence with the cities on this and the cities can’t blow it up either. That’s the checks and balances on the system.”

When the board was created, officials had several options to pick from. They settled on the city-county model, Peck said, meaning the board is a joint enterprise between commissioners, mayors and city councils.

Were the health board to undergo reorganization, all three of the county’s city councils would have to cooperate with the commissioners, he said.

Once created, a health board enjoys its own set of duties and responsibilities, Peck said. Chief among them is appointing a qualified health officer. Peck noted that Lincoln County was fortunate “to have physicians willing to do it.”

Under state code, an appointed health officer can issue public health orders. Peck pointed to Health Office Dr. Brad Black’s local orders during the pandemic as an example.

“We have this separation of authority that’s based in law, essentially, and that’s where the health officer has the authority to do the written orders,” he said. “County commissioners don’t have that. … We don’t have the authority to do the things the health board and health officer [can do].”

But the health officer is not autonomous, Peck said. He can issue orders without health board approval, but a health board could replace him. It’s a balance of power, Peck argued.

“It would have to be a very drastic move for any of that to happen,” cautioned Peck, who noted that Black has always been receptive to local leaders.

While Black has emerged as a lightning rod during the pandemic — like his colleagues across the country — Peck and other officials have stood by the health officer. They may not always see eye-to-eye on policy, but there is a constructive dialogue, he said.

“I’ve been very open on how we don’t agree on everything, but he’s always come to the table,” Peck said. “We’ve been able to come to accommodation. That’s the way our government is designed to work.”

Peck’s description of the system comes amid increasingly more caustic calls for Black’s removal or, barring that, the dismissal of the health board.

Peck also sought to explain where law enforcement fit into the process. Supporters of pandemic measures have wondered why the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office have not enforced the mandates while critics have held up law enforcement’s non-involvement as proof positive Black’s orders violate the law.

That, too, stems from state code, he said. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office enforces laws it has the authority, through the state, to enforce, Peck said. Those do not include the orders given by a local health officer, Peck said

“We still are a state and country of law,” he said. “The sheriff does not have authority under Title 50 [of Montana Code Annotated] to go arrest somebody. They can assist if there is some type of issue. That’s why you’re not seeing law enforcement agencies running around.”