§ 601 - Local health officials
§ 601. Local health officials
(a) The commissioner shall appoint, upon recommendation of the selectmen, a local health officer for each town or city and the commissioner shall give such officer a certificate of appointment. The commissioner may appoint one or more deputy local health officers for a town or city upon written request of the local board of health. In case the selectmen neglect or refuse to recommend to the commissioner a local health officer, the commissioner after thirty days' notice in writing to the selectmen shall appoint a local health officer.
(b) With the approval of the commissioner, towns and cities may combine to form health districts. The towns and cities in such districts, through their selectmen, may recommend to the commissioner the appointment of a district health officer. They may establish an advisory district board of health and provide for appointment and terms of service of members who shall be representative citizens of the towns in the health district. The district health officer may perform the duties of local health officer in any town or city in the district at any time after written notice to the selectmen. The district health officer, when authorized by the selectmen of each town or city in the health district and with the advice of the district board of health, may employ such persons as may be necessary to assist such officer in carrying on a preventive, protective and promotional health program in his district. Towns in a district may use local tax revenues for the support of the district health officer, advisory board, employees and programs and the district board of health may accept grants for those purposes.
(c) The commissioner may remove a local health officer at any time for cause. Vacancies shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 27, eff. March 1, 1961; 1961, No. 39; 1985, No. 267 (Adj. Sess.), § 17.)