County Council resumes talks of adding health professionals to Board of Health

Jan. 10—Representatives from several health fields would serve as liaisons to the Frederick CountyBoard of Health if the County Council passes a proposed bill in the coming weeks.

During the first years of the pandemic, the Board of Health was responsible for instituting and revoking public health measures like mask mandates.

Beyond the pandemic, the Board of Health, which is scheduled to meet again in May, will be responsible for the county's health and sanitary interests, including investigating and studying future diseases and epidemics.

The Board of Health includes just one health professional — county Health Officer Dr. Barbara Brookmyer, who leads the body. The other members are County Executive Jessica Fitzwater, D, and the seven members of the County Council.

County Councilman Jerry Donald, D, has tried twice to restructure the Board of Health, so that it is mostly made up of health professionals. But neither proposal, which he introduced as a member of the council that served from 2018 until early December, gained traction to move forward.

During a council meeting on Tuesday, Donald introduced a bill that would bring less drastic changes to the Board of Health than his previous proposals and which appeared to have support from several council members.

Under Donald's bill, the county's health officer, the county executive and the County Council would still be the nine voting members, but, unlike the current board, volunteer representatives from various health fields would serve as advisers.

"The more scientific input we have, I think the better off we are," Donald said during Tuesday's meeting.

An epidemiologist, a nurse, a mental health professional, a veterinarian and two people with science-related backgrounds would be liaisons under Donald's bill.

The Board of Health would appoint and confirm the liaisons, who wouldn't be voting members.

County Councilman Mason Carter, R, said the Board of Health should invite health and science professionals to give public comment during meetings rather than appoint them as liaisons.

Donald, though, said he would prefer to have the professionals on hand to advise the board members.

He said that public comment during Board of Health meetings can be "overwhelming." When the Board of Health voted to institute a mask mandate in December 2021, a meeting that began at 7 p.m. lasted until past 1 a.m. after more than two hours of public comment.

Moreover, public comment is generally a one-way conversation, said Councilman Steve McKay, R.

"It's gonna be so important to have an interactive, dynamic conversation with these individuals," McKay said.

Contrary to Carter, Council Vice President Kavonté Duckett, D, advocated for the liaisons to have more authority than what Donald proposed.

Duckett said the liaisons should be voting members of the Board of Health, given that citizen members of other boards and commissions in the county government have that authority.

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