ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A personnel shakeup led the discussion Monday among Belmont County Health Board members, who are looking to fill several key roles.

Dr. Russell Lee-Wood was officially introduced to the board. He is serving as interim health commissioner following the resignation of Dr. George Cholak, who had served as the county’s health commissioner for 25 years.

“I’ve been a resident of Belmont County for 27 years,” Lee-Wood said. “My kids grew up here.”

Lee-Wood was also the medical director for Barnesville-based Ohio Hills Health Centers for 24 years.

The board had received about six applications for the commissioner post by the deadline of last Wednesday and will begin conducting interviews.

The board also welcomed Dominic DeFelice, owner of DeFelice Brothers Pizza, as the newest board member. He is taking the seat of outgoing board member Dwight Jenewein. DeFelice is beginning a five-year term.

“I was asked to come on,” he said, adding he has been in business for 40 years. “I thought that I could bring something to the table. I felt that I could be of help.”

He added that he was impressed with the board’s work in strengthening communications with the public.

Deputy Health Commissioner Robert Sproul said the board is required to have a licensed businessperson as a member, since the board conducts inspections of businesses. He noted DeFelice is also a member of the Shadyside Local School District Board of Education, and the health department inspects schools.

The board also asked Belmont County Auditor Cindi Henry to handle the department’s financial needs following the resignation of the department’s fiscal officer, who resigned Friday. The board will look to fill that position as well.

Sproul said the board will work with Henry to update software before bringing in a new fiscal officer. Henry said she is speaking with the county commissioners about the possibility of upgrading fiscal software countywide.

Also, the board went into a closed-door session to consider charges or complaints against a public employee.

Afterward, the board nominated board President Irene Louda to serve as the human resources officer until the department can obtain one.

“We’re a county agency, but we’re not under the county HR,” Sproul said afterward, noting the county staff uses the County Risk Sharing Authority, but the health department uses the Public Entities Pool of Ohio, which does not grant access to an HR official. “We need to contract with an HR person or have an HR person in the building to provide that to the staff, but until we get that done, they will forward all complaints to the board president.”

The board will determine the cost difference in contracting an HR person or having one internally.

Talk turned to an anonymous questionnaire that health department staff filled out. One response reportedly stated there was confusion about how to go about filing complaints and dealing with issues in the department.

During the meeting, Louda said staff members who have issues with a coworker must submit an official, written complaint.

“They have to be willing to say exactly what the issue is so we can address it,” she said. “It has to be a real complaint, because we can’t address things on mere allegations.”

Louda also commented on the need for board members to be more visible and interact more with health department staff.

Dean Barath, owner of the Ideal Provisions food truck in Bridgeport, also appeared to discuss violations that have kept his food truck from reopening. He said he has complied with everything, but due to the size of the pans he uses he has been taking them home to wash them when he is required to use a licensed commissary. He has been making arrangements to use the washing facilities of a restaurant in Bellaire, but the Ohio Department of Agriculture must give approval. The board gave him three days to be in full compliance before his license is issued.

Louda said the inspections were not personal, but a matter of state regulations.

“They go by explicit guidelines for you to meet the criteria,” she said. “The rules are there to protect the people who come to eat wherever food is served.”

Barath said afterward that he was working on full compliance.

“I think we should be able to work things out,” he said. “It’s all about making sure the community’s safe. … It just seemed like we were being picked on a little bit.”