SPOKANE, Wash. — Amelia Clark has held her last meeting as the administrative officer of Spokane Regional Health District's (SRHD) local board of health.
Clark's contract expired on Sept. 16, 2022.
According to SRHD Commissioner Mary Kuney, the district will provide updates each month regarding the recruitment process for the new administrative officer. Kuney also said that on July 28, the district requested applications from recruitment firms to assist the board of health in their search.
"Two applications were received by the RFQ deadline on Sept. 2, 2022," Kuney said. "The RFQ review committee made up of Spokane Regional Health District executive leadership team members have reviewed and scored the applications."
SRHD's RFQ review committee will provide the Board of Health administrative officer transition committee with their scores and input later Thursday night.
"And so, we will take that the next steps in the timeline that would be Oct. 20 of 2022 would be the board of health budget and finance committee to review the proposal," Kuney said. "Oct. 27, the Board of Health would consider the contract award. And then Oct. 28, the health district would award the contract. So that would be the proposal."
On Nov. 9, 2020, the Washington State Board of Health decided to investigate multiple complaints made by citizens against Clark, alleging violations of state law in the process of the removal of public health officer Dr. Bob Lutz. The preliminary investigation commissioned by the board was released on May 11, 2021. It found evidence that Clark broke state law in forcing out Lutz and said Lutz was, in fact, removed as health officer on Oct. 29, 2020, without a public hearing and vote. The retroactive administrative leave did not change that fact.
The State Board of Health held a special meeting to review the findings of the preliminary investigation on June 1, 2021. Board members voted unanimously to move forward with a hearing, in order to call witnesses under oath, hear directly from Clark, and potentially decide whether she broke the law and if so what to do about it.
Clark resigned from her position as SRHD Administrator in June 2022, citing a new position out of state.
On Aug. 15, 2021, the state board of health asked for the hearing to be dismissed, according to SRHD. The board requested this because Clark had already announced her resignation two months earlier. The next day, the hearing was dismissed.
Clark agreed to never serve as SRHD's administrative officer ever again on Aug. 29, 2022.
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