Section 326. Local health officer; temporary or acting; appointment; compensation; powers

1. (a) A health officer with the consent  of  the
  board  of health in a town or village, and with the consent of the board
  or official having power to appoint a health  officer  in  a  city,  may
  appoint  a person who meets the qualifications contained in the sanitary
  code to act as health officer during his temporary absence or incapacity
  on account of illness or other cause for a period  not  exceeding  three
  months.
    (b)  In  the  event that the health officer fails to, or is physically
  incapable of appointing a qualified person  to  act  as  health  officer
  during  his temporary absence or incapacity, then the board of health in
  a town or village or the board or official having  power  to  appoint  a
  health  officer  in  a  city, shall appoint a qualified person to act as
  health officer during the temporary absence or incapacity of the regular
  health officer, for a period not exceeding three months.
    (c) If any local board of health fails to  appoint  an  acting  health
  officer  pursuant  to  this  section then the commissioner may appoint a
  qualified person to serve as such health officer during the  absence  or
  incapacity  of  the  health  officer,  for  a period not exceeding three
  months.
    2. The health officer, or the board of health or other  official,  who
  appoints  a  qualified  person to act as health officer pursuant to this
  section, shall report immediately in writing to the department the  name
  and address of the person so appointed.
    3.  An  acting  health  officer,  during  the  period  for which he is
  appointed, shall have all the rights, powers and duties imposed upon the
  health officer by this chapter and the sanitary code.
    4. The board of health in a town or village and the board  or  officer
  having  authority  to  fix  the salary of a health officer in a city may
  allow such compensation as it deems reasonable covering  such  temporary
  service. The appointment of an acting health officer in a case where the
  regular  health officer shall have been appointed jointly by two or more
  local boards of health for two or more towns or villages shall  be  with
  the consent of the appointing local boards, and the compensation of such
  acting  health  officer  shall be allowed and paid in the same manner as
  the fixed compensation of the regular health officer.