Voters in south Snohomish County will be asked to approve the biggest change in Edmonds’ Stevens Hospital board since the taxpayer-supported facility opened in 1964.
Now, three elected board members oversee the public hospital, its clinics and businesses.
Together, they have an overall $137 million budget, including nearly $4 million a year in tax money.
The ballot question is whether to expand the board to five members.
Voters in Edmonds, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Brier, Woodway and adjacent unincorporated areas of the county will decide the issue Nov. 2 in the general election.
Total cost for five board members is estimated at $16,000 to $20,000 a year, hospital spokeswoman Beth Engel said.
Board members are paid $70 per meeting or $70 for each day they conduct hospital business. The most they can be paid in any year is $6,720.
Former Edmonds mayor Laura Hall said adding more board members is worth the cost.
“When you have five, there will be more interaction with the public,” Hall said.
As it is now, whenever two board members are gathered it’s considered a quorum under state Open Public Meetings Act rules, so it can be difficult to interact outside of a meeting.
Hall, former Brier mayor Wayne Kaske and Pat McMahan, a former Mountlake Terrace city councilman, have all supported the change.
Bud Kopp, former owner of Shannon Ambulance and a former hospital foundation board member, backs the change, too, in part because of the size of the hospital’s budget.
There is no announced opposition.
If voters approve a five-member board, current board members would select two additional board members to serve until the November 2005 general election.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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