County Commissioners voted 2-1 to remove board members Michael Teague and Stephen Pritchard on Thursday morning.

Commissioner Julie Thomas said during the meeting that their removal – “with great thanks and appreciation for their service” – was to appoint new members, Kay Fields, Stephen Coover and John Macy.

She did not publicly explain why their replacement was necessary, although it followed the resignation of embattled health officer Sarah Ryterband, who would have faced possible removal by the board.

Pritchard believed the two events are connected.

“She’s a personal friend of Julie Thomas, which is how I’m sure she got appointed to the board, because she was a board member first,” he said.

Thomas did not agree to an interview but in a texted statement said, “we don’t like to comment on board appointments. Our goal is to navigate a stable, reasonable path forward that ensures the needs of our community are met.”

A health department employee fired by Ryterband last month sued the county after alleging the former health officer sexually harassed her.

In a tort claim by former health administrator Lori Kelley, she alleged her former supervisor Ryterband said on multiple occasions that she wanted to be her “partner,” blew kisses and used phrases such as “love you dear.”

Kelley said she reported her treatment to Monroe County Human Resources, as well as the County Employee Assistance Program and board chair Lisa Hanner-Robinson. Nonetheless, she said her boss continued to act inappropriately.

Ryterband told the health board before her resignation last week there was no credibility to Kelley’s claims. She did not respond to requests for comment.

But Pritchard said there were multiple reasons why the board pursued her removal.

“I don’t want to get into personnel issues, but there were problems, and not just within the department,” he said. “The final straw was her dismissal of the health administrator, which was done without the knowledge of any member of the board. Not that she had to tell us, but it would have been nice if she had discussed it with us before she did that.”

Changes to the board did not appear on the commissioners’ agenda, although one item mentioned “updates” to the health department.

Voting against her colleagues, Commissioner Jody Madeira said she endorsed the new appointments but opposed removals.

“I just am always leery of removing people, lest it have a chilling effect on board service,” she said.

Two other board members, Robinson and Celinda Kay Leach, resigned later that day.

Robinson shared her resignation letter in a Facebook post accusing Thomas of removing her colleagues for political reasons and breaking the board’s quorum, rendering it unable to conduct business.

“I am tired of the non-cooperative, non-transparent nature of Monroe County government and the games that are played on a routine basis,” she wrote.

In a shorter resignation letter shared by the B-Square Bulletin, Leach said the terminations and Robinson’s resignation “fundamentally disrupted” the functions of the health board.

Only one original board member, Kevin Moore, is still standing.