Madison County commissioners are proposing a takeover of the county health board, citing liability concerns.

Health board members express confusion about the reasoning behind the proposed takeover, emphasizing existing communication and lack of complaints.

MARSHALL – The Madison County commissioners’ proposed takeover of the county health board has been met with opposition, as more than 20 residents signed up for public comment during the board’s latest meeting.

In that meeting, the commissioners also appointed three new members to the Board of Health, which the health board’s Chair Dr. Bob Adams said he feels is a form of “political maneuvering” to “stack the board” with their hand-picked members.

The two longest-tenured Madison County commissioners, Commissioner Michael Garrison and Board Chair Matt Wechtel updated the public on the latest situation with the health board.

In the Facebook Live, Garrison and Wechtel pointed to North Carolina General Statute 153A-77, which allows county commissioner boards to gain control over boards, agencies and commissions, such as a county Board of Health.

The statute reads, “The board of county commissioners may assume direct control of any activities theretofore conducted by or through any commission, board or agency by the adoption of a resolution assuming and conferring upon the board of county commissioners all powers, responsibilities and duties of any such commission, board or agency.”

Wechtel said he and Garrison met with County Health Director Tammy Cody and Adams.

“Dr. Adams and I have had the conversation about having a regularly scheduled monthly meeting to where we can kind of go back and forth and talk about topics,” Wechtel said. “We had a very good meeting with them. We’re very grateful for the opportunity to open up those channels of dialogue. We’re committed to having ongoing conversations with them.”

The Madison County Board of Health is comprised of 11 members, including various health care professionals — a physician, a dentist, registered nurses, a veterinarian and a pharmacist — as well as Madison County Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Jeremy Hensley.

In the May meeting in which the proposal was introduced, Hensley cited liability as his main reason for wanting to explore a takeover.

“As a citizen, if I had trouble with the department, I would want to call an elected official instead of a board member that’s not elected,” Hensley said. “We get those phone calls anyway. But we’re just passing the buck.

“As a commissioner board, I think we need to have the legal liability to what affects our county.”

Earlier this month, he reiterated in an email to The News-Record that the proposed takeover would provide some accountability for Madison County residents by holding the county’s elected officials liable.

“Personally, I do not want an individual that is volunteering their time with no pay and not elected to be able to be sued personally or also to be making legal decisions that affects the citizens of this county,” Hensley said.

In the Facebook Live June 24, Wechtel and Garrison spoke about some of their motivations for the proposal.

“For us, it’s about long-term solutions, addressing some of the systemic issues and historical challenges that have been with the Health Department and that relationship,” Garrison said, adding that the commissioners “love the Health Department” and want it to thrive.

Wechtel said the reason the takeover conversation started years ago was because “most people in the county come to the commissioners when there’s an issue.”

“They think that the county commissioners run everything and do everything,” Wechtel said. “I don’t know how many people knew (the commissioners didn’t run the Health Department) before this got started.”

Health board members: Still unclear on impetus

Wechtel said he felt Adams and Cody left the conversation with a better understanding of where the commissioners’ concerns lie.

But for Adams, while he said the June 20 meeting Garrison and Wechtel was cordial, he and Cody left with just as many questions unanswered.

“I don’t know that I know a whole lot more than I knew going into that meeting,” Adams said. “I think the takeaway from what they wanted that’s different from what they’re getting now from the Health Department and the Board of Health is better communication.”

But Adams said he felt the county health director was “a great communicator.”

“Any time there’s anything going on, she lets them know about it,” Adams said. “None of the commissioners have ever called me to say, ‘Hey, Bob. We’re getting all this guff’ about any matter. I’ve never gotten a call from any commissioner ever.”

Adams added that he hasn’t received any complaints from community members. The Madison County Board of Health has been in place for more than 50 years. Adams, a retired dentist, has served on the boards off and on since 1980.

Chair: ‘Stacking the board’

In its June 16 meeting, the Madison County Board of Commissioners appointed three new members to the health board: Melissa Sluder, Dyatt Smathers and Robin Smith.

The 11-member Madison County Board of Health allows members to serve three consecutive three-year terms.

Adams said the board appointments were “a mystery” to him, as two of the members who were replaced, Caleb Massey, a registered nurse, and Crystal Webb, one of the public citizens on the board, were not reappointed despite seeking reappointment.

“Caleb’s been an excellent board member,” Adams said. “I understand he was intending to serve again. He was as surprised as everybody else that he wasn’t reappointed, because I think he had applied for that.”

“Usually in the past, it’s just been traditional for whoever, if a member’s three-year term expired and they had another three-year term to assume, if they were willing to, it’s just kind of automatic. Crystal could have served another three-year term, too, and really wanted to. She’s passionate about public health, and a great board member, too. So, headscratcher there.”

Smith was the third new member appointed to the health board, taking the position of Joey Chandler, who resigned from the health board due to time constraints.

Three other positions are set to expire: engineer, currently occupied by Larry Peek, the board’s veterinarian, currently occupied by Dr. Suzanne Sheldon, and the board’s physician, currently occupied by Dr. Rick Young.

“That’s total six members, and that would basically be a quorem,” Adams said.

“We’re kind of looking at it like, ‘OK, well even if you didn’t change your form of Health Department governance, you could achieve, if you want some kind of increased control over the Health Department or health director, you could do that just by stacking the board with hand-picked members.”

Adams said the first Madison County Health Board he served on in 1980 often got political, and he didn’t wish for the health board to be divided on political issues in the future.

“Sometimes, sitting in those meetings, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife,” Adams said. “There was so much kind of personal agenda that wasn’t openly being laid out there. I remember how uncomfortable it was, but I stuck it out, and Dr. Reese Steen have flip-flopped serving on it ever since.”

In his most recent appointment to the board, Adams said he noticed the current board’s meetings are “100% public health and 0% politics.

“I don’t even know their political affiliations, any of them,” Adams said.

The health board chair admitted that he was cautious moving forward, and said he would preside as chair in the health board’s next meeting July 24, but beyond that, he’s not sure whether he will still serve on the board.

“I’m just trying to get ready for what I think is coming,” Adams said. “They may get what they want, which is a total board replacement.”

Adams said he was wary about the future for public health in the county.

“This will not improve public health delivery or related services in Madison County,” Adams said. “This will not. I know that Tammy and I feel like, even if I could bear to stick it out through some of these meetings, I am not going to preside over the diminishing of our Health Department. We don’t want to just see things slide.”

The Madison County Board of Commissioners will hold its public hearing for the proposed health board takeover July 8 at 7 p.m. at the N.C. Cooperative Extension at 243 Carolina Lane in Marshall.

Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.