City responds to Stevens Hospital’s discussions

Politicians in Edmonds do not want the city’s largest employer, Stevens Hospital, to move.

Nor, Edmonds’ City Council voted unanimously May 6, do they want the hospital to partner with an outside institution.

A resolution stating the city’s objections was approved at the meeting, two days before Stevens’ officials met to discuss the hospital’s financial insecurity.

Nevertheless, the hospital needs to find money — either from taxpayers or through a merger — for improvements, hospital officials said May 8.

“There is something radically wrong with that administration,” said Councilmember Ron Wambolt, who criticized a 2007 master plan which suggested a new $400 million facility might be best built away from the hospital’s current Edmonds location.

If Stevens relocated, it would open a gaping hole in the medical community built up on the city’s eastern edge. It would also take longer for Edmonds aid cars to get to emergency rooms, Wambolt said.

“(Moving) is a nutty idea, but it is something that we need to stay on top of,” Wambolt said.

The resolution was proposed by Councilmember DJ Wilson, who two weeks earlier had attended a Stevens Hospital commission meeting and loudly criticized the hospital for what he called a lack of transparency.

Although the council approved the resolution unanimously, some expressed reservations.

Councilmember Steve Bernheim said the relocation issue was “a tempest in a teapot.” He called relocation “a wild rumor circulated for somebody’s benefit, although I don’t know whose.”

The text of the resolution said Edmonds “supports the further development and success of Stevens Hospital in its current location” but will “oppose any measure to relocate the hospital from its current location, any sale of this public asset to a private entity, and any initiative that will diminish or hinder the ongoing delivery of quality healthcare at Stevens Hospital.”

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com