West Virginia Code 16-2-13 – Local health officer; powers and duties
(a) A local health officer serves as the executive officer of the local board and under its supervision, a local health officer shall administer and enforce state rules, local rules, and local health department rules within the local board of health’s service area.
Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-2-13
- board: means a board of health serving one or more counties or one or more municipalities or a combination thereof. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Commissioner: means the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health, who is the state health officer. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Enforcement activity: means the implementation or enforcement of applicable state rules, local rules, and local health department rules. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Guidance: means providing advice to a person, the public, a business, school board, or governmental entity regarding a public health issue or matter. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Health order: means an order issued by the local health officer or local health board to protect the public health of the citizens by directing an individual or a discreet group of individuals to take a specific action to protect the health of the public or stop the spread of a communicable disease. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Local health officer: means the individual physician with a current West Virginia license to practice medicine or a licensed advanced practice registered nurse that has the ability to independently practice who supervises and directs the activities of the local health department services, staff and facilities and is appointed by the local board of health. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Secretary: means the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- Service area: means the territorial jurisdiction of the local board of health. See West Virginia Code 16-2-2
- State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
(b) A local health officer has the following additional powers which may be delegated with the approval of the board:
(1) To attend local board meetings as a nonvoting member. A local health officer serves as secretary at all board meetings and is responsible for maintaining the board’s offices, meeting minutes, and records;
(2) To supervise and direct the activities of the local board’s health services, employees and facilities;
(3) To ensure that procedures are established for the receipt of communicable or reportable disease reports and for the transmittal of the reports to the commissioner;
(4) To perform mandatory HIV tests on persons convicted of sex-related offenses and resident within the service area; and
(5) To determine when sufficient corrections have been made to warrant removal of any restrictions or limitations placed on an individual or entity for public health purposes by an employee of the local board of health.
(c) A local health officer shall perform enforcement activity.
(d) A local health officer may issue guidance.
(e) A local health officer may issue a health order.