The Board of Directors for the Bear Valley Community Healthcare District convened last night, first in closed session to address the paid administrative leave for hospital CEO Vi Colunga, and then in open session to take public comment on the December 15 Colunga decision; review the November finance report provided by CFO Rudy Shutta; and to do the annual board reorganization.
Nominees for president of the healthcare district were Dr. Chris Fagan and current President Ron Peavy; Fagan was named the new president in a 4-1 vote, with Director Bill Speyers, who’d nominated Peavy, the one opposing vote. Kathy Bauch received unanimous support in the vote that places her as 1st Vice President; Peavy and Speyers accounted for the dissenting votes that led to Brad Summers’s 3-2 election as the healthcare district’s 2nd VP. Peavy is now secretary to the board, and Speyers treasurer.
The hospital cafeteria was filled to standing room only, as hospital employees past and present and community members addressed the board with regard to last week’s decision to place hospital CEO Vi Colunga, with the district since 2004, on an indefinite paid administrative leave, during which time CFO Shutta has overseen day-to-day operations. Marge McDonald was first to address the board, saying, “This is ludicrous that you are doing this to a lady who was doing the job she was hired to do.” Of the 15 or so individuals offering public comment, several former employees cited low morale and a “toxic work environment” under Colunga’s helm while community members, including Tim Wood, Simeon Prophet and Julie Grandi, spoke of their satisfaction in hospital service and care, with community member Dick Kun noting that Colunga has been an “excellent” CEO in terms of the district’s financial viability.
As directors had not finished their conversation with regard to Colunga in closed session before the public session began, they re-entered closed session with legal counsel in the 9pm hour—however, per Fagan, Peavy and Shutta, there was ultimately no decision reached or action taken, other than to direct Shutta, CFO since April 2007, to continue as acting CEO until the Board meets again in January, on a date yet to be scheduled. In a follow-up conversation with now-President Fagan, he tells KBHR, “We are continuing the process, we’re talking to people and researching the comments made. Rudy [Shutta] is still running the hospital and its endeavors. We’re trying to address the concerns of the community because that’s what we’re elected to do.” For his part, past President Peavy tells us, “I sincerely do hope that we seriously consider all community concerns as we move forward in this process. After all, we’re expending taxpayers’ dollars.”
In other, more celebratory news from the December 22 healthcare district meeting, RN Carol Becker-Bien was applauded for her 30 years of service to the hospital, and the volunteers of the hospital auxiliary were also singled out for service, in addition to contributions of thousands of dollars for nursing station upgrades, completed this month. Thanks were given to the auxiliary ladies, particularly 12 of whom have volunteered for 20+ years each, totaling over 85,000 hours of service—or 40 years worth of volunteer time—between them.
