Robert Martens

There will be a domino effect from Tina Hill’s pending removal of Sandra Salgado from the Public Health and Human Services Committee, reportedly because she has a conflict of interest resulting from her employer, Pioneer Center.

This is not a new situation for Salgado. That has been where she has worked for years.

When Tina Hill appointed Salgado to the post, she knew where Salgado worked.

There is even a conflict of interest waiver that the County Board has passed.

But Salgado’s removal also means that she can no longer chair the Senior Citizens Grant Commission.

The reason is that the chairman must be a member of the Public Health Committee.

Tonight at the 7 PM County Board meeting, virtually everyone expects Hill’s resolution to replace Salgado with Bob Martens, the former long-time head of Family Services on the Pubic Health Committee.

As previously pointed out, the replacement will put Hill loyalists in a 4-3 position to control the committee that Donna Kurtz chairs.

That means the type of reform appointments to the 708 Mental Health Board that the Kurtz majority helped put in office will be in jeopardy when the next two 708 Board terms expire.

It also means that any Board member is at risk similar “discipline” should he or she be perceived by Hill to have been in a conflict of interest.