May a board of health member be removed from office before his or her term is up?

A board of health member may be removed from office if there is cause for removal under state law. The laws for county and district boards of health, consolidated human services boards, and public health authority boards state that a member may be removed for any of the following reasons:[1]

• Commission of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude
• Violation of a state law governing conflict of interest
• Violation of a written policy adopted by the county commissioners (or all of the applicable boards of commissioners, if it is a multi-county board)
• Habitual failure to attend meetings
• Conduct that tends to bring the office into disrepute
• Failure to maintain qualifications for appointment (e.g., maintaining licensure in a profession, being a county resident, etc.)

These provisions do not apply if the board of county commissioners is serving as the board of health.