Health department sick
Board chairman outlines problems as commission seeks her ouster
By Dwight Otwell Editor

After receiving a letter from the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners that she would be dismissed from her position as chairman of the Board of Health, Mary L. Miller has fired back, documenting a myriad of problems within the health department.

Miller received the letter, signed by Commissioner Dana Jones, dated November 6.

"I received a letter that the board would remove me for conduct that tends to bring the department into disrepute," Miller said.

She said there is no mention of the commissioners discussing this in any commission meeting.

Miller sent a certified letter to the board asking disclosure of the factual basis of the allegations.

"As of today, I have not had a response to my letter," she said Monday at a meeting of health board members.

Present were health board members Miller, Dr. Carlton Van Horn, Porter Owen, Dr. Henry Meinecke and Dr. Barry Watson and assistant health director Tim Nicholson and newly elected county commissioners David Sumpter and Jonathan Dickey.

Miller noted that the board of commissioners appoints health board members but they cannot remove board members because they do not agree with them. Board of health appointments are statutorily directed for appointment and completion of term.

From a three-inch bundle of documents, Miller reported that the county commissioners ignored repeated warnings that more personnel were needed in the sanitation department, especially Registered Sanitarians.

She revealed an e-mail that told that Nicholson received a phone call from an associate of

a local land developer who said he had been appointed to the board of health. The land developer asked that his (septic) permits be moved to the front of the waiting list, the email stated.

Nicholson wrote that board member Porter Owen was in his office listening and heard him tell the person that he knew the land developer was on the board of health but he would have to wait his turn like everyone else.

Also, the land developer has a felony conviction of child molestation (statutory rape) and served a 14-month sentence, Miller wrote. The land developer resigned from the board rather than risk the possibility of his felony becoming public, Miller said.

Miller wrote that Nicholson has had continued problems with the Cherokee County Building Department. The building department was issuing building permits before septic permits were approved, she wrote.

A meeting was held in December 2005 with Nicholson, County Manager David Badger and Building Inspection Director Silas Allen. Nicholson was requested to allow certain contractors to begin their building before a septic permit was issued, Miller wrote. Nicholson advised both Allen and Badger to put their request in writing and have the request approved by the county attorney, DENR and the North Carolina Attorney General's Office. The meeting abruptly ended, but the problems between the departments escalated, Miller wrote.

"They allow builders they trust to begin construction and receive inspections without (permits) from us," Nicholson wrote. "This is why I was asked to go along with this illegal act. It was already occurring. It would be a simple matter of pulling building permits (public record) and checking the dates of inspection and issuance to show what has been going on."

Miller stated that on March 24, 2005, the health department received notice from the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources that all outstanding permits (uninstalled systems) less than five years old issued by Mike Thompson be identified and field reviewed. There are 422 such known systems, Miller said. Thompson was suspended from inspecting septic systems after the state said it found violations in some of the systems he approved.

Miller pointed out that the health department has already had a few administrative hearings concerning systems Thompson approved.

Owen said that if the county loses, "We are talking about buying houses or lots".

Miller said requests for minutes of board of commissioner meetings going back to 2005 revealed missing minutes from 20 meetings. The county attorney supplied a CD of the missing minutes. It was noted upon opening the files of the CD that numerous documents going back to November 2004 had been "modified" on Aug. 8, 2006 and Aug. 29, 2006.

Miller said that although there is no reference to it in the commission meeting minutes, it was decided by the board to conduct an independent audit of the health department. Miller said she had been told that Russell was "bouncing checks all over the state". The audit was conducted in August at a cost of $10,000. The audit revealed no hidden checking accounts or anything else out of skew, Miller wrote. All monies were accounted for, she wrote.

Miller wrote of a workload and personnel comparison survey completed in August 2000 by Andy Adams, with the state Quality Assurance Team, that stated that under the current workload with the current manpower, the county was inviting disaster.

A report by Gene Young, R.S., with the state, in October 2001 stated that Cherokee County has insufficient numbers of trained personnel to conduct a proactive monitoring maintenance program in the on site waste water program.

Miller wrote, "When Adams and Young were questioned about what type of response Commissioner Dana Jones had to the reports, Young responded: (and I quote) 'I will never forget what Dana Jones said as long as I live. Jones responded, 'Cherokee County does not have a manpower problem. We have a time management problem',' and closed the reports."

Miller noted that county records indicate that numerous times, a request to increase the salary of Registered Sanitarians was made. The idea was to be comparable to surrounding

counties in western North Carolina. The response was that the salary could not be increased due to the ripple effect it would cause in other departments of the county.

"It appears that Cherokee County employees, in all departments, went five years without a salary increase," Miller wrote.

Miller further wrote that on the medical/clinical side of the health department, there is a serious manpower shortage. Russell has been her own secretary and clerk since her hiring 10 years ago, Miller wrote.

"With the growth in Cherokee County and the growing demands of the health department, this is no longer feasible," Miller wrote.

Miller wrote that since Nicholson became assistant health director and director of the environmental health side, the number of outstanding septic applications has dwindled from 1,615 to 738.

Miller said that the board of commissioners blamed Russell for the health department's problems.

"The public ridicule that the health director has received has been phenomenal," Miller said.

Miller said she perceives that the letter from the board of commissioners stating that she would be removed from the board a "personal affront as well as an attempt to prevent the Cherokee County Board of Health and the Cherokee County Health Department from continuing the forward progress of the past 19 months".

Owen asked the two commissioners to consider what they have heard when they vote on Miller's continued presence on the board.