One of our consolidated human services board members no longer actively maintains the professional qualifications required for his or her board seat. May he continue to serve on our county’s CHS board?
- The CHS board must include one psychologist, one pharmacist, one engineer, one dentist, one optometrist, one veterinarian, one social worker, one registered nurse, and two physicians licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina, one of whom must be a psychiatrist. With the exception of the registered nurse, the physician, and the psychiatrist, G.S. 153A-77(c) does not clarify whether the remainder of the “professional” members of the board must maintain their licensure or ability to practice in their field. One could argue that these requirements only apply at the time when the member is initially appointed by the board. However, given that the statute requires these members to be “professionals” who have “qualifications” in a particular category—and the fact that the BOCC can remove a member for failure to “maintain” qualifications for appointment—the stronger argument is likely that these members must maintain some sort of active credentials or qualifications to practice in their given profession throughout their service on the board. Maintaining active credentials or licensure also ensures that the “professional” members of the board are able to provide current, relevant, evidence-based advice from their respective fields of practice to the CHS director and the CHS board.
- Depending on the composition of the CHS board in question, if a “professional” member of the board had lapsed credentials or an expired license, the board could possibly transition that individual into another category listed in G.S. § 153A-77(c)—for example, the member might meet one of the requirements to be a “consumer of human services” on the CHS board. This will depend on how many people are on the CHS board at the time and which board seats described in G.S. § 153A-77(c) are already filled by other board members.
Faculty Coordinator
Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Distinguished Term Assistant Professor of Public Law and Government