Board of Aldermen 06-22-2021 Page 7
Alderman Caron, Alderman Clemons, Alderman Lopez, Alderman Tencza,
Alderwoman Lu, Alderman Jette, Alderman Schmidt, Alderman Laws,
Alderwoman Harriott-Gathright, Alderman Wilshire 14
Nay: 0
MOTION CARRIED
Resolution R-21-150 declared duly adopted.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS — ORDINANCES - None
NEW BUSINESS — RESOLUTIONS
R-21-152
Endorsers: Alderman Thomas Lopez
Alderman Linda Harriott-Gathright
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY CHARTER RELATIVE TO ADDING TWO ADDITIONAL
MEMBERS TO THE BOARD OF HEALTH
Given its first reading;
MOTION BY ALDERMAN LOPEZ TO DETERMINE IF ITS NECESSARY TO MOVE FORWARD WITH
PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY CHARTER RELATIVE TO ADDING TWO ADDITIONAL
MEMBERS TO THE BOARD OF HEALTH, BY ROLL CALL
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman Lopez
So the Board of Health is a commission of three which is appointed by the Mayor and was codified in our City
Charter which is why we’d need it to be on a referendum but because it’s only three, it’s vulnerable to having a
member be out or even more than one member. Their minimum quorum is two so they can actually meet if
somebody is not able to attend or if somebody has another commitment but that also leaves a committee that
essentially can deadlock itself if there’s any slight disagreement.
In being a liaison over the last couple of months, | found that a number of meetings were not able to continue.
They needed to be concluded because people had to go to work or had to deal with patients and that’s
something that we shouldn’t necessarily create a conflict with because of a small board. As a doctor, you have
ethical standards if you set appointments with patients you really do need to be present for them if possible to
create any kind of ethical conflicts. VWWhen you're only one of three people and you’re being also asked to sit on
a committee that may be determining public health responses to an emergency that creates a conflict.
So what I'm hoping for is that by adding two additional members we create a larger number of commissioners
that would be able to attend and maintain meetings. There was also some opportunity in working with Legal.
The language identifying the membership of the boardis pretty antiquated. It does not reflect any opportunity
for someone with mental health experience particularly to participate in the board and that’s understandable
because atthe time the board was created mental health was in its infancy. There is an opportunity to do that
and | think that would be a helpful member considering some of the public health issues that present at our city
now are amass of surge in suicides or substance use disorder outbreaks. | think with the opportunity to
expand the board to make it a little bit more sustainable and a little bit less prone to crisis, we also have the
opportunity to include a more holistic approach to medicine. There is also the opportunity for someone with
advanced public health credentials to participate on the board andthe reasoning behind thatwas just that at
the moment the only input for Public Health as an experience and as a discipline on the Board is from our own
staff. So it would be good just to have a neutral party who has that experience to also be able to weigh in. So
that is my reasoning for putting this legislation forward. | hope the Board will support it. Thank you.
