By Damakant Jayshi and Shereen Siewert

The Marathon County Board of Health is taking exception to a resolution passed in September opposing any future COVID-19 mandates for the community.

In a Dec. 12 letter to Board Chair Kurt Gibbs, Michelle Van Krey asserted that the Health Board carries the statutory responsibility and authority for developing Marathon County’s public health policy. Van Krey chairs the nine-member Board of Health and represents Dist. 1 on the Board of Supervisors.

“Involvement of the board of health along with our health officer is foundational in advancing sound public health policy,” Van Krey wrote. “Policy development without input and review from the board of health inadvertently undermines our statutory role and duties.”

The letter was approved by a majority of the Health Board.

“The purpose of the letter is to request that in the future, Chair Gibbs assign any policy impacting public health to the Board of Health for review and input,” Van Krey told Wausau Pilot & Review. Gibbs acknowledged receiving the letter.

The resolution against COVID-19 mandates was organized largely by Supervisor Stacey Morache, who also serves on the Board of Health.

Van Krey said she welcomes further conversations with Gibbs moving forward.

Gibbs told Wausau Pilot that the COVID-19 resolution did not set any guidelines “as the establishment of mask mandates is not within the powers granted to County Boards.” He added that the resolution, instead, was a means “to express its position on the importance of the protection of civil liberties.” A certified copy of the resolution was sent to the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services and members of the Wisconsin Legislature, Gibbs said.

The letter has not been agendized for review by the Board of Supervisors at this time, Gibbs said.

The Board of Health has a clear reporting relationship with the Health & Human Services Committee, Gibbs said, adding if the county board desired to take up a matter of public health policy, its rules require the Health & Human Services Committee and the Board of Health to be engaged.

The COVID-19 resolution’s purported aim is to prevent the county from imposing any mandates related to vaccination, masking or isolation. Prior to the vote, Corporation Counsel Michael Puerner stated unequivocally that the county does not have the statutory power to mandate such issues.

The Board of Health’s official duties include enforcing public health statutes and rules, adopting local public health regulations to protect and improve public health, ensure accountability of the local health department and advocate for reasonable and necessary public health services, according to county documents. In addition to Van Krey and Morache, Ann Lemmer, Yee Leng Xiong, Jennifer Aarrestad, Tara Draeger and Helen Luce are members of the board.