Franklin County calls for removal of local health department chief

Franklin county commissioners are calling for the removal of health department chief Wesley Tice.

The board voted 4 to 1 to ask that mister Tice be removed from the Franklin county health department because of concerns over the planned closure of the carrabelle location.

Mister Tice announced earlier this month that the carrabelle location will have to be closed because of state budget cuts.

The local health department saw its budget slashed by nearly 200 thousand dollars.

County officials, however, feel that the services provided by the carrabelle location are too important to give up something Carrabelle Mayor Curley Messer agreed with.

He called the County owned Weems medical clinic which is right next door to the health department a “piece of junk” and complained that people had a hard time seeing a doctor at that location.

Mayor Messer said the Carrabelle health Department s important for the entire county as hundreds of people from Eastpoint and Apalachicola also go to the office because they like the doctor there.

For county commissioners Cheryl Sanders and Bevin Putnal the issue is about trust and they say they don’t trust Mister Tice.

Cheryl Sanders said she has been speaking with people at the State Department of health and they assured her that the Carrabelle clinic can stay open using the over 150 thousand dollars a year the county provides.

Bevin Putnal added that he doesn’t like to be threatened but every year the health department threatens the county to get more money.

Commission chairman Noah Lockley was the only commissioner to vote against removing Mister Tice.

He said that Mister Tice has to do what the state tells him and Mister Tice has to follow state protocols.

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