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VAN DYKE -- The Board of Directors of the
Comanche County Consolidated Hospital District, the governing body of
the Comanche County Medical Center, met in its regular monthly session
on Tuesday, January 9, in the hospital cafeteria, with all members
present.
The meeting was anything but regular,
however, as the meeting agenda posted 72 hours earlier had provision
to “take action... on the continued employment, reassignment, duties
or termination of the District’s CEO and/or COO, including termination
benefits, if any.”
The meeting was chaired by Board
president Charles Mazurek and attended by all board members, including
vice president Joe Locke, secretary Gale Easley, John Mack Weaver,
Karen Carr and Mary Jane Atkins. A relatively large crowd of
physicians, hospital employees and interested citizens were in
attendance.
Following the opening invocation and
approval of the minutes of previous meetings, the next order of
business was for public comments. No one accepted Charles Mazurek’s
invitation to speak to the Board.
Offer to Purchase Old DeLeon Hospital
The next order of business was a
presentation by Toney Prather on behalf of the DeLeon Industrial
Development Corporation (DIDC) and the Developing DeLeon Today (DDT)
organization.
Prather noted that several
representatives from both organizations were present at the meeting in
support of his presentation, adding that both organizations were
acting in cooperation to improve DeLeon’s business environment. He
then stated that DDT would like to make a formal offer of $30,000,
either in cash or some other like kind compensation, to the Hospital
District for the old DeLeon Clinic and DeLeon Hospital buildings.
John Mack Weaver stated, “I realize this
group has put a lot of study and effort into it, and I certainly
support DDT, Developing DeLeon Today, and the Industrial Development
group, too. But, I’ve been recently approached by another group that’s
offering more money, and so I feel like in all fairness to everybody
concerned, we need to study this further.
So I suggest that we table this and enter
into some study on it before we make a decision.”
Charles Mazurek indicated that Weaver’s
thoughts sounded like a good plan.
CEO Evan Moore asked for clarification as
to exactly what parts of the old DeLeon Hospital property was included
in the offer. Prather responded that it included everything other than
the Kimmell Wellness Center.
Mazurek indicated that the Board would
look at the offer and would stay in communication with the groups.
Prather commented, “If you have someone
willing to give more, then you have to take care of that.”
Mazurek said, “We certainly won’t take any final action without begin
back in communication with you.”
Medical Staff Report and First
Executive Session
Dr. Howard Dickey said he didn’t have a
whole lot to discuss other than what would be considered in executive
session regarding the reappointment applications of active and
courtesy medical staffs.
Dr. Dickey added, “As far as I know,
everything seems to be working well on our end. ER staffing is good
and we are staying busy. It’s that time of year.”
Mazurek then called the Board into a
closed, executive session to consider medical and courtesy medical
staff reappointments.
Following a brief, 12 minute, executive
session, the Board reconvened in open session. Karen Carr offered a
motion to reappoint Drs. Michael Chiang, Howard Dickey, Forrest
Eisenrich, Jeffrey Hutchins, Beau McCrory, Dwayne Miller, Roy Mimms
and A.E. Pino to the medical staff and Drs. Dan Brudnak, Gary Easley
and Cone Johnson to the courtesy medical staff.
Her motion was seconded by Joe Locke and
the vote of approval was unanimous.
Offer to Purchase Old Comanche Family
Medical Clinic Building
Peggy Windebank, representing the Caring
for Comanche County non-profit organization, presented an offer of
$35,000 for the building that formerly housed the Comanche Family
Medical Clinic.
Charles Mazurek asked several clarifying
questions regarding the land involved, title insurance and survey
costs.
Windebank responded that her organization
could not afford to pay for the title insurance nor property survey.
She noted that title insurance was needed since the organization had
experienced an earlier property title problem and wished to avoid it
in the future.
Mazurek responded that he was comfortable
with the District bearing the insurance and survey costs, but noted
that a representative or representatives from the purchasing
organization needed to walk the property with Hospital District
representatives to agree on the property boundaries. Other Board
members voiced agreement.
CEO Evan Moore noted that an earlier
offer of $13,000 for the same property had been declined. In response
to a question from Gale Easley, he noted that another party that had
expressed interest in the property had declined to make an offer.
John Mack Weaver suggested that Windebank
contact either him or Betty Terrill, who was in the audience,
regarding a possible grant from the RC&D organization to help with
their efforts.
Gale Easley offered a motion to accept
the offer. Karen Carr seconded and the vote of approval was unanimous.
Executive Reports
CEO Evan Moore noted that Kathy Johnson
was working on getting everything in order for the May 2007 Board of
Directors election. He added that it was getting time for some Board
decisions to be made and getting the details worked out and that it
would be on future Board agendas.
Cataract Surgeries Planned
Moore reported that he had been contacted
by Opthomologist Dr. Neil Bealka regarding doing cataract surgery at
Comanche County Medical Center. He noted that Dr. Bealka had earlier
performed cataract surgeries in Comanche.
Moore explained the economics of the
cataract surgeries to the Board, indicating that they would be
profitable for the hospital. He indicated that no specialized
equipment would need to be purchased other than the routine supplies
for each surgery.
Early Flu Shots May Need a Booster
Moore indicated that the hospital has a
number of flu shots left. He added, “This year has been a bit unusual.
There is no widespread outbreak of flu at this particular point in
time. There are some reports over the news media...that the flu season
may be late and may hit in February. Now if you had a flu shot in
October or early November, your protection will run out, as my
understanding, sometime in January. We plan to offer the flu shots to
our employees again. There are 280 shots still available for it. And
encourage anybody that you see, please encourage them that a booster
may be necessary, or may be needed this year. It’s still a good time
to get one.”
Highway Widening Project Delayed Until
March
Moore stated that Larry Smith, area
engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, had contacted him
recently and reported that although the road widening construction in
front of the hospital had originally been planned to start in late
December or early January, it was now postponed until the first of
March.
If work was started at present, it would
require the use of a special cold weather asphalt that cost more,
whereas a delayed start would allow the use of regular asphalt.
Moore added that Smith said the project
would take 45 days to complete, that the area in front of the hospital
would be lighted with street lights, that there would not be a caution
light, and that there would be a left turn lane for southbound traffic
as well as a right turn lane for northbound traffic. TxDOT does not
anticipate having to move the water lines or to need any additional
property on either side, however, the sides of the roadway would be
made more steep. This will require some changes in the landscaping in
front of the hospital and some curbing at the main entrance.
Old DeLeon Nursing Home Building Sold
COO Mike Hare noted that the old DeLeon
Nursing Home property has been sold and the closing had taken place
that very morning. The purchasers, who were said to be DeLeon
residents, are named Holm and the net proceeds to the Hospital
District was $36,450. The transaction included roughly half of the
parking lot adjacent to the building.
In response to a reporter inquiry as to
the intended use of the facility, Hare said that he had not been told.
Hare reviewed the hospital’s operating
statistics for November, pointing out that 76 surgeries and special
procedures were performed, well above the 60 budgeted, the 57 in
October and the 53 in the same month one year earlier.
Acute hospital admissions and discharges
(124 and 122) were both slightly below the October numbers (129 and
130). The average patient census of 20.2 was below the budgeted 21.5.
Emergency room visits of 471 were below the 490 budget and the 526
total for October.
Visits to the clinic were 2,136, well
above the 1,860 budget and the 2,028 total for October.
Financial Report
Chief Financial Officer Pam Rice
presented a series of computer slides showing 13-month trend lines for
various significant financial elements. She pointed out that neither
November nor December had been particularly good months for hospital
patient revenue. She commented that the net income trend was not
favorable. Another slide showed that accounts payable reached a high
point in October, the highest since operations began at the new
hospital facility, although there was a slight decline in November
because additional funds were borrowed and used to pay down certain
payables. The net cash position in November and December was a net
negative. She noted she had sufficient cash reserves for one payroll.
Other than a few comments from the CEO
and COO, there were no questions regarding the financial report.
Evan Moore reported to the Board
regarding his prior day meeting with the Comanche County Commissioners
Court and attempts to secure advance payment for non-emergency health
care for non-indigent prisoners. Moore and Charles Mazurek explained
the difficulties involved and reported that research into the matter
was ongoing.
Second Executive Session
Following the report, Board president
Charles Mazurek called the meeting into a closed, executive session to
evaluate the District's chief executive and chief operating officers
and their continued employment. Everyone except for the six Board
members left the meeting room at that time.
The Board held a two-hour closed meeting,
in full view of the people waiting in the hallway outside. At times
certain persons were invited into the closed meeting. Dr. Forrest
Eisenrich, Chief Nursing Officer Shannon Steigleder, Chief Executive
Officer Evan Moore and Chief Operating Officer Mike Hare, and perhaps
others, were invited in for relatively brief private discussions.
Administrators Terminated
After two hours of intense private
discussions, the Board ended its closed session with a brief break and
then the public was invited to rejoin the meeting.
At the resumption of public session,
Board member John Mack Weaver said, "I would like to say that I have
studied this situation, and I've prayed about it. It's a difficult
situation for me, because I am friends with both of these men. I've
known Mike (Hare) for most of my life. But, I feel the hospital needs
new direction and new focus, and I would like to offer a motion that
we terminate Mr. Moore and Mr. Hare, effective immediately, with any
severance obligations to be pursuant to the termination agreement that
we've previously entered into with these individuals..."
Gale Easley seconded Weaver's motion and,
without any public discussion, the vote in favor was unanimous.
Charles Mazurek then announced the
appointment of an executive committee consisting of John Weaver, Joe
Locke and himself.
John Mack Weaver offered a motion that
Shannon Steigleder be designated as acting hospital administrator
until such time as an interim management is in place, and that the
appointed executive committee be authorized to work with her to
provide direction as needed.
Karen Carr seconded Weaver's motion and
the vote of approval was again unanimous.
John Mack Weaver then offered a third
motion to authorize the executive committee to work with TORCH (Texas
Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals) Management Services to
obtain interim management and to enter into a contract for services
with them.
Joe Locke seconded Weaver's motion and,
without discussion, the vote of approval was unanimous.
Charles Mazurek then stated, "I would
like to say at this time, I would echo Judge Weaver's sentiments, that
this has been a very difficult decision for me, as I think it has for
the entire Board. We appreciate the many good things which you two
guys have done for this organization."
Evan Moore requested to make a statement.
He said in a quiet voice, "One thing that I would like to say, is that
I care very deeply about the people of this community, and my best
wishes and prayers are with everyone, and the Board, and the new
management."
Mazurek asked if there was anything else,
and when no one responded, he stated, "We're adjourned."
Outside the meeting, there were several who offered hugs, handshakes
and best wishes to the terminated managers.
The following morning, it was reported
that acting administrator and Chief Nursing Officer Shannon Steigleder
terminated Evan Moore's son, Bill Moore, who had been the Hospital
District's Chief Information Officer.
As of Friday, no additional termination
or staffing changes had been announced. |
