Wanted: Non-Democrat to serve on Monroe County’s board of health
For a while now, one of the positions on Monroe County’s seven-member board of health has been vacant.
It’s the position that is newly defined in state code by Indiana’s state legislature in 2023, as appointed by the “county executive” from a list of three recommendations by the “executive of the most populous municipality in the county.”
Otherwise put, the vacant position is one that the Monroe County commissioners are supposed to appoint, based on three recommendations from Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. The new wrinkle introduced in 2023 is the role of the mayor in the appointment process.
Last Thursday (July 18), at the Monroe County board of health’s most recent meeting, board president Stephen Pritchard reported to his colleagues about the still vacant position.
Pritchard described how he had “vented” his frustration to the mayor’s office about the lack of an appointment. But he reported that the most recent person he talked to, which The B Square later confirmed was deputy mayor Gretchen Knapp, had been ”very responsive.”
Pritchard’s remarks, confirmed by a B Square email exchange with Knapp, identified one big barrier to making the appointment: There’s a partisan balancing requirement for board members.
There’s already four Democrats serving on the board, and that means the appointee for the vacant seat can’t be a Democrat.
In her email message, Knapp put it like this: “We’ve been asking for recommendations from all kinds of folks, to do some outreach, and have come up empty handed.” She added, “So, if you know of any [non-Democrat] physicians who would like to serve on this board, we would love to connect to them.”
The statutory requirement on partisan balancing for boards of health doesn’t mention Democrats and Republicans. Rather, it just says that the board has to have “seven (7) members, not more than four (4) of whom may be from the same political party.”
So any non-Democrat should fit the bill—even if they don’t qualify as a Republican.
The part of state code that defines affiliation with a political party points to participation in recent party primaries as one way to qualify.
If the most recent two primary elections in which someone participated were Republican primaries, then they would qualify as a Republican.
A local court case that was decided by the Indiana court of appeals a couple of years ago, in connection with a Bloomington plan commission appointment, provides a precedent for interpreting the partisan balancing requirements. Based on that case, someone who is not affiliated with any political party can serve on a board that has a partisan balancing requirement.
At last week’s board meeting, Pritchard reported that he had forwarded to the mayor’s office the name of a potential appointee, but the person had failed the partisan test based on participation in recent primary elections.
Included among the possible recommendations the mayor could make to the county commissioners are other professionals besides licensed physicians. Here’s the complete list from state code:
(A) A physician licensed under IC 25-22.5.
(B) A registered nurse licensed under IC 25-23.
(C) A registered pharmacist licensed under IC 25-26.
(D) A dentist licensed under IC 25-14.
(E) A hospital administrator.
(F) A social worker.
(G) An attorney with expertise in health matters.
(H) A school superintendent.
(I) A veterinarian licensed under IC 25-38.1.
(J) A professional engineer registered under IC 25-31.
(K) An environmental scientist.
(L) A physician assistant licensed under IC 25-27.5.
(M) A public health professional, including an Epidemiologist.
The new appointee will be joining the following board members: Stephen Pritchard; Kay Leach; George Hegeman; Dawne (Aurora) DiOrio, Sarah Ryterband; and Lisa Hanner-Robinson.
The board hires, and can fire, the county health officer, review operational data and exercises financial oversight of the local health department.
Contact information for the Bloomington mayor’s office:
mayor@bloomington.in.gov
or
Mayor Kerry Thomson
City of Bloomington–Office of the Mayor
401 North Morton Street, Suite 210
Bloomington, Indiana 47404
812-349-3406
