Buncombe County Board of Health holds closed meeting

The Buncombe County Board of Health held a closed meeting at 7:30 a.m. on Friday in the county’s Hughes Building next to the Department of Social Services to discuss a personnel issue. There were no details immediately available regarding the meeting.

Buncombe County’s health department has been operating without a permanent health director since the departure of Vicki Ittel in March 2008. Ittel left after less than a year in the job, saying at the time that her decision was not prompted by issues within the department.

Ittel replaced George Bond, who in 10 years as health director was widely praised for his creative solutions to improving access to health care in Buncombe County.

The county health department operates on an overall budget of $20 million. Unlike many county health departments across North Carolina, Buncombe still offers primary-care services in addition to other public-health services.

— Jason Sandford, multimedia editor

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