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Hospital consultant's fee questioned

Stevens Hospital board members will review the propriety of a $127,000 contract paid to the wife of a hospital vice president.

By Sharon Salyer
Herald Writer

EDMONDS -- Two members of the Stevens Hospital board say they will review a $127,000 consulting contract awarded to the wife of a hospital vice president.

The personal services contract called for consultant Judith Carr to be paid $1,000 for each day she worked at the hospital. Her tasks during the past year included developing the hospital's Web site, a 24-month marketing program for the hospital and its foundation, and a volunteer plan for the hospital's auxiliary and its volunteers.

Mindy Chambers, a spokeswoman for the state Auditor's Office, said there is nothing that required the hospital to put this type of contract out for bid.

The rules that require public bidding of contracts for public hospitals are different than those for cities and counties, she said.

Brad Berg, the public hospital's attorney, said the contract complies with the state's conflict of interest statutes.

Questions over the contract were first raised by Edmonds City Councilman D.J. Wilson. "It was a no-bid contract for public funds to a spouse of an executive," he said.

Although allowed by state law, Wilson said the question of whether the contract is appropriate still remains. "I assume they have some policy in place for the hiring of family members with public funds," he said.

"I'm an experienced professional doing a good job for Stevens Hospital -- that's what matters," said Carr, whose husband is Jack Kirkman, a hospital vice president and chief development officer.

"For professional women to be somehow reduced to the relationship with their spouse is just silly," Carr said. "It's just from another generation."

The contract is between Stevens Hospital and Acumen, a consulting firm owned by Carr and Kirkman. Wilson initially raised the issue during a meeting of the hospital's five-­member board on April 23.

Fred Langer, an attorney and 11-year member of the hospital board, said he and other board members are reviewing the matter based on Wilson's ­complaint. He did not know about the contract before Wilson brought it up, he said.

"The board is going to be taking a close look at this," he said.

Board member Kimberly Cole said she also plans on following up on the issue with chief executive Mike Carter. And she hopes to have the board discuss whether future contracts should have a public bidding process. "That's to ensure we're hiring the most qualified, best person for the job," she said.

However, board president Deana Knutsen noted that this type of contract does not require public bidding. In public bids, jobs or projects are outlined and multiple businesses try to land the work by offering the best deal.

Board members have discussed the issue with Berg "and made sure there were no issues," she said. "We are very sensitive to conflicts."

"She has a good resume," Knutsen said of Carr. "It's not like we were hiring someone without credentials."

Kirkman said the contract was reviewed last year by attorneys for both Stevens Hospital and Acumen to determine if there was a conflict of interest and whether the hospital's chief executive had the authority to sign the contract.

"I think it was fair to say the homework was done," Kirkman said.

The hospital's contracts with the firm date back to January 2006. The first contract with Acumen was signed by John Todd, the former chief executive of the hospital.

Kirkman was hired by the hospital in March 2007 as its chief development officer, making a base salary of $215,000 a year. He remains a managing director of Acumen, although he is not active in any projects for Stevens Hospital, Carr said.

Kirkman and Carr married two years ago.

The most recent contract between the hospital and the consulting firm was signed in July 2007. It paid Carr $127,000, plus $2,059 in fees and expenses, said Sarah Zabel, the hospital's chief planning officer.

The 2007 contract expired in March, Carter said. Discussions are under way on another contract.

Carr became a managing director at Acumen in June 2005. Prior to that, she worked as director of marketing and community relations at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup. She previously served as a dean of special academic programs at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, and was a research assistant professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and an assistant professor at Ohio State University's School of Medicine.

Carr reports directly to Carter. She is not supervised by her husband.

"Obviously I didn't believe there was a conflict or I wouldn't have hired her," Carter said. He said he understands why people might think one exists.

"This is a consultant and an employee," he said. "We have any number of husbands and wives working (for the hospital). That's not a conflict of interest unless they have direct supervisory authority."

Stevens Hospital has a $148.9 million budget this year. Its taxing district includes 80,354 voters in the cities of Brier, Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway and surrounding unincorporated areas.

Property owners pay two taxes to support the hospital, a maintenance and operations levy, which will bring in $1.9 million this year, and a bond levy, which will raise $1.8 million.



Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.