Board of Health member resigns

A member of the Sanders County Board of Health submitted his resignation after a heated meeting last week with the Sanders County Commissioner. According to Nick Lawyer, the commissioners asked him to submit his resignation from the board after last week’s meeting. Lawyer posted his letter of resignation on Twitter. In the letter, Lawyer expressed his disappointment in being asked to resign. However, according to Montana Code Annotated 50-2-117, the county commissioners have 30 days to appoint a new member to the board of health. If a new member is not appointed, the state Department of Public Health and Human Services would have the power to appoint a local representative to the board.

During the September 15 meeting, more than 100 community members gathered in and around the Sanders County Courthouse. The purpose of the meeting, according to the agenda, was a comment on the COVID-19 restrictions by Gerald “Frenchy” Cuvillier. The man’s comments were in fact to criticize the conduct of the Sanders County Board of Health, Lawyer and the commissioners. The lower courtroom of the courthouse was filled to capacity for the meeting, with additional community members lining the hallways and peering in through windows from outside the courthouse.

Cuvillier addressed the commissioners and gave a short speech. In it, he ridiculed the performance of the commissioners and especially that of the Sanders County Board of Health. During his speech, Cuvillier discussed the recent death of his wife and her treatment. “ Had she been given the right kind of medicine that has been proven to work like Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine, or the antibody serum, she would be alive and well today,” he said. “His (Lawyer’s) rules of protocol just cost my wife her life.” Cuvillier ended the speech by addressing each of the commissioners. “You are our public servants, and you work for us.”

Immediately after his speech, Cuvillier walked out of the building and former State Senator Greg Hinkle took the floor. “Our condolences to Frenchy,” started Hinkle. He then explained, “I’m done. I’m tired of being run over by every little law that has no constitutional power.” He also quoted recent House Bill 702, which expresses that it is unlawful for any individual or government entity to deny goods, services, employment, education, healthcare access or other based on the possession of a vaccination passport.

“We have no intention of enacting any mandates at this time,” Commissioner Glen Magera stated. Various community members then spoke up to voice their frustrations over the U.S. COVID-19 restrictions, and their detest for Lawyer, among other political issues. Magera began to try to diffuse the situation, saying, “We’ll bring him in and ask him some of these questions.” He also explained, “It’s not just COVID that we deal with. It’s sanitization, tobacco use and more.” The commissioners assured the community members that they would be bringing in someone to do board etiquette and proper protocol training for the board of health. That training session was scheduled for this past Wednesday. This did not appease the crowd, as voiced by Dawna Schneider, who said, “He isn’t interested in behaving at these meetings. He’s presumptuous and antagonistic,” referring to Lawyer.

Roxanne Coleman said the commissioners were “trying to handle it as an etiquette problem, but it’s a policy problem.”

“It’s beginning to feel like this is a good ole boys club where one hand washes the other,” Jim Engebretson said. Not long after, two members of the crowd began to argue amongst themselves after one tried to diffuse the situation, explaining that there was little to no cost to having the training done. Magera then adjourned the meeting.

According to Magera, the board of health will still receive training. He explained that this is something they do every other year for all county boards, and so there is no extra cost to bring in the trainer. As for the meeting, Magera explained, “It’s hard to represent everybody.”