Board of Health Votes Against Hiring Health Officer Candidate

The Flathead City-County Board of Health voted by a four-to-two margin against recommending that the county commissioners hire Michael Chambers for county health officer.

Chambers is the administrator for the health department in Macon County, Mo. The board of health’s personnel committee earlier this year conducted closed interviews with five candidates, and among those Chambers was the only one to advance to a round of public interviews after several dropped out, with some citing pay concerns.

Prior to the vote several board members said they were on the fence. Of the board members to vote only Dr. Pete Heyboer and Board Chair Roger Noble voted in favor of hiring Chambers, with both indicating an openness to Chambers serving as more of an administrator in the health department. Those voting against hiring Chambers generally expressed a desire that a health officer have more public health expertise and related leadership qualities.

Flathead County Commissioner Pam Holmquist abstained from the vote, saying that she wanted to avoid interfering because the county commissioners would later have to make their own decision on whether to hire Chambers. Ronalee Skees was absent from the meeting and did not vote.

The vote took place early Tuesday evening at a public meeting to discuss a recommendation. The vote had been scheduled to take place at an April meeting, but it was moved off the agenda with the plan being to hold discussion in a closed session. Ultimately the board backtracked from that move and held a public meeting.

Due to procedural changes put into place by House Bill 121, which requires a governing body to approve of health board actions, the county commissioners will now have a chance to meet and decide whether Chambers should be hired.

Chambers would be coming from a county with about 15,000 residents, and a department with a budget that board member Don Barnhart said was about $1 million, compared to the Flathead City-County Health Department’s $8.7 million budget. He’d also take on a significantly larger department in terms of full-time employees.

State law requires a health officer to have a master’s in public health, be a physician, or have equivalent experience and education. Chambers holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration and health care management. During interviews he had indicated that he would be on a learning curve if he were to lead the department, noting that his department lacks some of the programs the Flathead City-County Health Department operates. Chambers said he was inexperienced with environmental health since those responsibilities don’t fall to his department in Missouri. When asked how he would address areas where he lacked expertise, Chambers had indicated he would rely on departmental staff members with experience in those areas.

Jess Malberg-Fiftal, who represents Whitefish on the board, said that she was concerned about his lack of experience in environmental health, especially in light of the large population influx the Flathead Valley has seen recently. Malberg-Fiftal is a veterinarian with a public health background, and said that when she has environmental health questions she has looked to the health officer frequently “for experience and an educated opinion.” She also questioned a lack of emphasis on mental health issues in Chambers remarks during interviews.

Rod Kuntz, a Kalispell representative on the board, said that while he was confident if Chambers was hired the board would support him in his work, he didn’t see in Chambers the leadership qualities he thinks the health department needs. Kuntz described wanting someone who could help unify the community. He also said that having to rely on staff despite receiving higher pay would create discord.

Don Barnhart, the Columbia Falls representative on the board, also picked up on the idea of potential unrest if departmental staff were leaned on too heavily, and suggested that salaries might have to be raised as a result.

Similarly, board member Ardis Larsen said she was concerned about the idea of staff being too heavily depended upon, saying she thought a leader was needed.

Both Heyboer and Noble acknowledged some of Chambers shortcomings, but indicated they were open to the idea of him taking on a more administrative role as health officer. Both also noted that to some extent the board of health has gone through this process multiple times now. Heyboer said he has confidence in people in charge of some of the department’s programs being able to operate with more autonomy should Chambers be more of an administrator.

“How many boxes do we need to tick to say yes?” Heyboer asked.

Noble said there had now been several health officer searches, and that they’d had promising candidates in the past pull out because of various issues, including housing.

Responding to concerns of other board members that the move would be too big of a step up for Chambers, Noble mentioned that in his own career he had changed jobs repeatedly in order to move up and take on new challenges and responsibilities. He also pushed back on the idea that an administrator would need to “be in the trenches” with staff, and mentioned that there are processes in place to deal with things like environmental zoning variances.

“They’re supposed to be overseeing a budget, working with staff, coordinating,” Noble said, later adding that he felt like Chambers seemed “willing to accept the challenge.’

“I guess my thought was we do have a viable candidate, he met the qualifications we advertised for,” Noble said.

This is the fourth health officer search the county has conducted since 2020. The current health officer, Joe Russell, previously served in the role for 20 years and came out of retirement after interim health officer Tamalee St. James Robinson resigned in 2020 amid what she called a “a toxic environment being fostered between the Commissioners, the Board of Health, and the Health Department.”

 St. James Robinson had replaced former health officer Hillary Hanson, who announced in March 2020 she would not seek a contract renewal. Russell has said he does not plan to stay on as health officer past June 2022.

Prothman, the recruiting firm the county has hired to find a health officer, is obligated to conduct another search if this one fails, according to Tammy Skramovsky, the human resources director for the county. Still, the county will be on the hook for expense fees, including travel expenses for candidates.

Tuesday night’s meeting was initially supposed to take place during the board of health’s regular April meeting, but Noble led a successful effort to remove a public discussion of a hiring recommendation from the agenda, out of what he described as a desire to respect Chambers’ privacy. Noble had said he believed the discussion should instead take place in a closed executive session. At the time Noble also said he wanted to give Heyboer, who was absent from the board of health interview, a chance to interview Chambers so that a physician on the board would have a chance to speak with the candidate.

Holmquist said she had raised concerns about holding the meeting in a closed session. The Flathead County Attorney’s office was consulted and came to the conclusion that there wasn’t sufficient cause for the meeting to be held in a closed session.

David Randall, a civil deputy county attorney for the Flathead County Attorney’s Office, explained at the start of Tuesday night’s meeting his rationale for keeping the meeting open.

“We’re seeing it as a practical matter become more transparent, and I think with the commissioners being next in line to make the decision I’m sure having an open meeting definitely benefits them and their deliberations and only aids a more robust discussion,” Randall said. He added that in order to close a meeting held by a public body a threshold had to met where personal privacy interests could outweigh the public’s right to know. He further cited the public nature of Chambers recent interviews and how the substance of those interviews would likely be the subject of the meeting in explaining why he didn’t think the threshold was met in this case.