Outgoing Health Board leaders cry foul over new appointments

At an emotional meeting of the Flathead City-County Health Department Board of Health on Thursday, David Myerowitz and Wayne Miller did not hide their grievances over the Flathead County commissioners’ decision to replace them as chairman and vice chairman of the board.

In a prepared statement, Myerowitz, who was in his 10th year on the board, called the commissioners’ actions a “political move to satisfy a community businessman” and said the commissioners’ “focus is on politics rather than supporting this health department.

“Using the power of appointment to change leadership of a board, a leadership that has had many successes, to satisfy the demands of a business group, in my opinion, is unconscionable,” Myerowitz said.

Miller, who had been on the board for 12 years, said Thursday was “a sad day for this department, for this board, for this county.”

Myerowitz and Miller are both veterans of the health-care industry. Myerowitz was formerly the chief of cardiac surgery at Ohio State University, while Miller is a retired surgeon.

At their Dec. 11 meeting, the commissioners chose to appoint Dr. Annie Bukacek and Ardis Larsen to the board instead of reappointing Myerowitz and Miller. Bukacek and Larsen each receive a three-year term through Dec. 2022.

Bukacek is the founder of Hosanna Health Care in Kalispell, the director of the Montana Pro-Life Coalition and an outspoken critic of vaccinating children. On the front page of her clinic’s website, Bukacek has embedded a presentation in which she warns that “vaccines don’t work” and many children have been harmed by mandatory vaccinations.

Myerowitz called Bukacek’s appointment “deeply disturbing.”

“I urge all members of the board to continue to support the department’s goal of greater than 90-95% vaccination rates for children,” he said. He told the board it must “fight any attempt to interfere” with this goal and “prevent this county from returning to 19th-century medicine.”

Myerowitz outlined why he believes the commissioners decided to appoint Larsen and Bukacek.

He alleged that local engineer Jeff Larsen – the husband of Ardis Larsen and a member of the Flathead County Planning Board – put on an “outrageous show of temper” in front of the board at the board’s February meeting. Larsen reportedly was “frustrated” he had to send septic permit applications to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, rather than locally.

At the time, the county was forced to send some applications to the state because of a large increase in septic permit applications. The health department has since hired someone to work on septic programs so another staff member could prioritize subdivision reviews, though this was already in discussion before the February meeting.

Myerowtiz also alleged Larsen “refused to cooperate” after the board tried to set up a meeting with Larsen and the Department of Environmental Quality. He said Larsen instead went to the commissioners, which resulted in Commissioner Pam Holmquist – a member of the health board – suggesting after a meeting the environmental health department could “‘back off on restaurant inspections’ to free up people to do subdivision reviews.”

Myerowitz said he and Miller told Holmquist it was “not smart from a public health standpoint and not going to happen.”

In addition to appointing Ardis Larsen to the board, “and to further punish the health department,” Myerowitz alleged, the commissioners appointed “a vocal anti-vaccination physician (Bukacek) to the board, at a time where one of the department’s recently stated five-year plan goals is to improve our low rate of childhood vaccination in Flathead County.”

Commissioner Pam Holmquist told the Inter Lake there was nothing unusual about the commissioners making changes on a board and that Myerowitz’s actions at Thursday’s meeting were “totally disrespectful.”

“To trash the incoming board members in a public forum,” Holmquist said, “I think that’s just not professional.”

She said she does not know why some people are “making this such a huge issue.”

Addressing Bukacek’s views on vaccinations, Holmquist said, “We all have our personal opinions on things” and “I think we have to give her a fighting chance.”

She said there are no qualifications needed for a position on the Board of Health, and added she hopes “everyone can get beyond the accusations and innuendos” and that “the two board members are respected.”

Commissioner Phil Mitchell echoed Holmquist, telling the Inter Lake “they’re blowing this way up.” He said “we just did not reappoint them [Myerowitz and Miller]” and “we have a right to put anybody on the board we want.”

He said he felt “we needed a change” on the board and that the two new appointments will “help round out the board better.”

Mitchell does not see Bukacek’s controversial views as an issue, adding “we love diversity on the board.”

Ardis Larsen, who works “side by side” with her husband at their engineering firm, told the Inter Lake she applied to join the board because she “thought she could bring the engineering perspective.” She also said Myerowtiz and Miller had been “very disrespectful” themselves during the February meeting.

“Their body language and all that, it didn’t look like they cared,” Larsen said. She said she and her firm’s clients went to the commissioners because they were “really upset” about their septic permit applications being sent to the state due to a lack of staffing at the environmental health department.

However, Miller said in his statement at Thursday’s meeting he has “never been faced with a decision recently made by our board of commissioners” in over 50 years of experience volunteering on boards.

The motion to appoint Bukacek and Larsen was passed by the commissioners without any discussion, which Miller said “suggests that there was discussion but behind closed doors, which incidentally is a violation of the Open Meeting Act.”

He said the commissioners never contacted him or Myerowitz about their anticipated action or their decision.

Myerowitz added that the board must now “force the new member [Larsen] to recuse herself from any discussion or decision that in any way affects her husband’s business, including subdivision reviews, since that would be an obvious, illegal conflict of interest.”

During his statement, Myerowitz also emphasized some of what the board had accomplished while he and Miller were chairman and vice chairman, such as requiring posted letter grades for all food establishments, expanding the annual flu clinic and establishing a syringe and needle exchange program.

Health Office Hillary Hanson told the Inter Lake it “has been a pleasure” working with Myerowitz and Miller on the board.

“Having their expertise … was vital for me” when she transitioned into her role two-and-a-half years ago, she said.

“They were both very engaged and I think pushed us to be a better department,” Hanson added.

Reporter Colin Gaiser may be reached at cgaiser@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4439