It was another round of tension and testy exchanges at the April 19 Valley Medical Center Board of Commissioners’ meeting.
However, at the end there was an iceberg breaking reversal concerning the issue of tape recording meetings.
Over the past months the board members have battled over the issue of recording meetings through a series of motions and votes. Commissioners Aaron Heide and Anthony Hemstad have supported recording the meetings and Chair Sue Bowman, commissioners Carolyn Parnell and Don Jacobson have voted against it.
Currently the meetings are documented with summary minutes, which are not transcriptions. State law does not outline how much detail should be in the minutes for a public meeting, but there has been criticism concerning the lack of detail from Heide and Hemstad.
Assistant Attorney General Tim Ford noted public meeting minutes are “really very important. Minutes can become evidence in a trail.”
At the April 5 meeting, the members debated the issue, and when a motion was made by Heide to tape record meetings, Jacobson made a motion to table the issue, which passed 3-2 with Heide and Hemstad voting no.
The sea change on the issue came near the end of the April 19 meeting when Jacobson made a motion to end the tabling of the issue and bring it back into discussion.
After a series of procedural motions, Jacobson made a motion directing the staff to bring back a report on how to either video or audio tape meetings, including cost, equipment and storage.
“We need a plan to do it,” Jacobson said. “I am concerned with people saying they can’t be heard.”
The members passed a motion directing the staff to present a progress report on the taping of meeting in 30 days.
Prior to the discussion on taping the meetings, the atmosphere was considerably less congenial.
One of the most contentious periods during the three hour meeting came early when Dr. Wayne Lau spoke, referring to a letter he sent to the board regarding Hemstad and Heide.
The meeting agenda noted Lau would address the board and the letter was provided to the board members prior to the meeting.
Lau stated the Medical Executive Committee, which represents the medical staff, was concerned about the actions at the meetings. Lau is chair of the independent medical staff.
The doctor stated the committee and medical staff supported the construction of the emergency department in Covington that Valley is proposing. Valley plans to build a free standing emergency department in the Town Center area of Covington.
MultiCare is also planning to construct an emergency department and 58-bed hospital next to its Urgent Care facility in Covington.
Lau followed his remarks about the Covington emergency department by stating the issue centered on the “conduct of Commissioner Hemstad.”
The doctor accused Hemstad of obstructing and “impeding the actions of the board.”
Lau said, “Many of us are stunned and baffled by his attempt to locate (the emergency department) in Kent.”
He stated the group has “lost confidence” in Hemstad. Lau then directed his comments at Heide.
“We all know Dr. Heide has a financial relationship with Auburn hospital,” Lau said
Lau said the committee was asking Heide and Hemstad to meet with the group individually.
“The growing disharmony on the board reflects poorly on Valley,” Lau said. “This distracts from the positive accomplishments at Valley, like being one of the top 10 places to work and the building of the emergency tower.”
Hemstad had prepared a letter in response to Lau’s statement. He stated at the meeting he was “very concerned how extremely politicized” the Valley administration had become, and he described the statements from Lau as “unfounded accusations” and a “concerted and coordinated effort” against himself and Heide.
Hemstad said this is what happens in a “captive organization” stating “almost anything is approved by the commission that is presented by the staff.”
Hemstad noted it is not good for the commission or public.
“What seems like a great idea in this room may not be in the real world,” Hemstad said. “You can almost certainly always get a majority to condemn Dr. Heide and myself.”
Hemstad went on to state, “You may think I’m not doing my job as a commissioner because I don’t follow the line, but it is my job to think for myself.”
Heide followed Hemstad by referring first to a letter read by Bowman at the April 5 board meeting from former Commissioner Mike Miller.
Heide said he was “deeply disappointed” concerning the “personal attacks” in the letter.
Miller’s letter was in response to questions from Heide about Miller’s relationship with Valley concerning the emergency department negotiations.
Heide noted Miller’s letter was not on the agenda nor was it provided to the members prior to the April 5 meeting.
Heide said he did not accuse Miller of a conflict of interest, but, was questioning whether there was any.
He noted, “I was elected to oversee the public money.”
Heide than countered Lau’s statement about working at Auburn Regional Medical Center.
“Other physicians at Valley work at several hospitals including Auburn. This arrangement is common,” he said.
Heide noted his second daughter was born at the Valley six day earlier “and we received excellent care.”
He added he volunteers his “time for transparency in government.”
The controversy over the process of choosing Covington as a site for the emergency department has continued to be a flash point for board members and staff, despite a resolution passed March 15 authorizing construction. The measure passed on a split vote of 3-1 with Hemstad voting no and Heide abstaining, saying he wanted more information regarding Miller’s involvement.
At the April 19 meeting the issue continued to rock the boat when Jacobson said to Hemstad the emergency room had been “on the table more than a year. You asked for more time. We delayed from one meeting to the next.”
Hemstad said it had been “talked about in concept, but I challenge you to bring up a single time we got any documents. We received no documents on a $25 million project.”
Hemstad stated the board only received documents for the first time “two day before we were to vote on it.”
Jacobson said documents were offered to Heide and Hemstad, “10 days before the meeting, you never picked them up.”
Hemstad countered stating the documents should have been provided in a public meeting. “We are a public body, We should be looking at these documents in public.”
