The Monroe County Board of Health experienced another massive shake up in governance Oct. 29 after two health board members were removed, and two others resigned.
The change came a week after county health officer Sarah Ryterband resigned at a board meeting Oct. 22 prior to a hearing about her removal, after former Health Administrator Lori Kelley filed a complaint Sept. 14 detailing sexual harassment and discrimination allegations against Ryterband.
In the complaint, Kelley said Ryterband repeatedly told Kelley that she loved her and wanted to be her “partner,” among other allegations of inappropriate conduct. Kelley also alleged the county fired her Sept. 10 in retaliation for reporting the harassment.
After Ryterband’s resignation, the board unanimously voted to appoint Morgan County Health Officer Paul Broderick as the Monroe County interim health officer. Broderick began his role Oct. 26.
Three days later, the Monroe County commissioners voted 2-1 to remove two existing members of the board, Stephen Pritchard and Vice-Chairperson Michael Teague, effective immediately. Both terms were not set to expire until 2028.
In an Oct. 30 email to the Indiana Daily Student, Teague wrote he was not sure why he was dismissed but believed it could be because of his disagreement with Ryterband, who he said is a close friend of commissioner President Julie Thomas.
Teague also criticized the decision to remove Pritchard, who he said had long been integral to the department.
“[Thomas] chose to dismiss one of the longest standing and respected board members in Dr. Stephen Pritchard, who had been a linchpin for the department for years, setting in motion incredible instability in the department,” Teague wrote.
Teague said he would be willing to return once a new commissioner takes office.
“I would be very happy to rejoin the Board in the new year with new county commissioner Trent Deckard in place if the county would have me,” Teague wrote.
In a text to the Indiana Daily Student, Thomas said commissioners don’t comment on board or commission appointments. The other commissioners, Lee Jones and Jody Madeira, did not respond to multiple requests for comments.
That same day, health board member Celinda Kay Leach submitted a letter of resignation, effective immediately. In the letter, Leach said the recent actions have “disrupted the governance and function of the Health Board.”
Board Chairperson Lisa Hanner-Robinson also resigned that night, posting a letter of resignation on her Facebook page. She began by writing that the letter was “For transparency” and “For the people of Monroe County.”
In her letter, she said the removals were a political move by the commissioners that led to her decision to resign, and she criticized how county officials handled the board.
“I am tired of the non-cooperative, non-transparent nature of Monroe county government and the games that are played on a routine basis,” Hanner-Robinson wrote.
Hanner-Robinson wrote that the public would bear the consequences and that any days the health department is closed leaves residents without services.
“In this power play, those who lose are ultimately Monroe County citizens,” Hanner-Robinson wrote.
In the same motion for removal, the commissioners also announced three new appointees, Kay Fields, Stephen Coover and Jon Macy, according to B Square Bulletin. Fields and Macy will have a two-year term, while Coover will stay for four.
There was no other information provided on the new appointees by the commissioners. According to B Square Bulletin, Fields is a Bloomington nurse practitioner with IU Health, Macy is an Indiana University professor of applied health science and Coover is deputy chief of community risk reduction with the Monroe Fire Protection District.
The Board of Health now encompasses the three new appointees and board member Kevin Moore, whose term is set to expire in 2028.
This board shakeup comes as confirmed measles cases in Indiana climb. As of Nov. 4, there are 117 known measles cases in Indiana, with 43 added since Oct. 28, according to the Monroe County Health Department. There are zero reported measles in Monroe County, as of Nov. 4.
The Monroe County Board of Health voted unanimously to appoint current Morgan County Health Officer Paul Broderick as Monroe County’s interim health officer in a roughly three-minute meeting Monday after the former health officer, Dr. Sarah Ryterband, resigned Oct. 22.
Source: www.idsnews.com
