After searching for more than a year, the Charlotte County Commission has accepted the appointment of Henry Kurban as the new administrator for the county’s health department.

Kurban will replace acting interim director Mary Kay Burns, who currently serves as the head of the DeSoto County health department and who took over Charlotte’s health department after longtime administrator Steven Mitnick resigned in 2010. Mitnick left the post amid tensions with commissioners over his handling of the department’s budget and a proposal to end primary care at the satellite office in Englewood.