EDMONDS — Taxpayers in the Stevens Hospital district Wednesday asked the elected board members to take serious steps to widely publicize their meetings and to expand the board in order to be more responsible to the public.
It was the first public meeting since Jan. 29, when former chief executive Steve McCary was fired and handed a package worth $2.1 million to leave.
"I feel the citizens have had the cold shoulder," said Laura Hall, a former Edmonds mayor. "We need five commissioners to broaden our contact."
The board has three members now.
Former hospital foundation board member Kim Pierce noted that the taxpayer-supported Port of Edmonds has a five-member board, despite having a much smaller budget — $4 million.
Former Brier Mayor Wayne Kaske said the number of people on the hospital board needs to be increased "to get the true representation of the people." The measure could be put to voters in the November general election, he said.
Board president Fred Langer said he would consider it.
"I’m not prepared to do it or not to do it," he said. "I’m pledging to study it."
Voters could be asked to increase the board’s size either by a resolution of the board or by a petition from 10 percent of the registered voters in the hospital district, hospital attorney Brad Berg said.
Pierce also asked for the dates and times of board meetings to be more widely publicized.
The public hospital district sent out no public notices prior to the Jan. 29 special meeting at which McCary was fired. In 2003, taxpayers paid nearly $4 million into the nonprofit hospital district’s $137 million budget.
McCary had been with the hospital for 14 years. The board gave no specific reason for firing him.
Board member Deana Knutsen said she was happy with Thursday’s turnout. In the nearly four years she’s been on the board, it’s rare for more than one or two people to attend meetings.
"This is the first time I’ve seen a true turnout at one of these meetings," she said. "I’m hoping this is the start of something really new."
Al Holte, a former Snohomish County Superior Court judge, questioned how a hospital that in the 1990s had $13 million in reserves could see much of that gone today.
Holte said when he asked McCary about it, "I sort of got rebuffed."
"I felt very strongly four to five years ago that McCary should be relieved of responsibilities," Holte said. "I don’t know why he wasn’t.
"You finally got to it," he said. "It just took a little longer than I thought it should have."
In other action, acting chief executive Dr. John Todd said the search for a new chief executive could take six to eight months.
An executive search team of about five members will be appointed to assist with the search, he said, with taxpayers, physicians and employees expected to be asked to serve on the group.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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