Health District Commissioners Schedule Public Hearing on Preliminary Budget

— by Susan McBain Orcas Issues reporter –Correction made June 13 at 11 a.m.

“Making sausage” and “fitting the puzzle pieces together” gave way to a new metaphor at the June 5 meeting of the Orcas Island Health District commissioners: “drinking from the fire hose.” That’s how Commission Chair Richard Fralick characterized the whirlwind four weeks since the commissioners were sworn in and began the work of forming the new District.

Getting down to business, Commissioner Patty Miller described next steps for requesting short-term financing for Commission activities. To obtain the proposed loan from San Juan County, the Commission must hold a public hearing to adopt a resolution establishing a preliminary budget for 2019. The Commission approved scheduling the hearing for Thursday, June 21, at 10 a.m., tentatively at the Library.

Miller put the total for the proposed preliminary budget tentatively at $356,926, noting that if new information comes to light, the number could still change slightly. The Commission is asking the County to approve a $400,000 loan amount, payable in two $200,000 disbursements.

The preliminary levy amount is set at $800,000 in order to meet San Juan County’s requirements to give the District a $400,000 loan.

Commissioner Diane Boteler described her talks with UW Medicine (UWM) and the Orcas Family Health Center (OFHC) about possible UWM use of OFHC’s x-ray machine. OFHC uses Mt. Baker Imaging to process images from its machine, and getting images from there to the UWM radiology department is technically complicated. UW has agreed to send an engineer to OFHC to evaluate the system together with Mt. Baker Imaging, tentatively on June 29. Once the technical aspects are addressed, the UWM/OFHC collaboration can serve as a trial of the feasibility of having one machine for both clinics. Commissioner Art Lange noted that the collaborative work done to solve this problem is a very positive step.

Miller reported that she had asked the Orcas Medical Foundation (OMF), owner of the UW clinic building, for a formal request to transfer building ownership to the Commission. Commissioner Pegi Groundwater noted that if the Commission should ever dissolve, Washington law requires that it sell its assets and give them to the school district. So perhaps OMF might choose to retain ownership of the clinic on paper, or transfer ownership to some other entity instead, such as the Community Foundation. Miller will continue her discussions with OMF.

The legal committee recommended that the Commission apply to Enduris for commission insurance, and the Commission agreed. The legal committee also recommended that the Commission not publicly consider matters that were discussed between commissioners and their legal counsel, in order to protect executive privilege.

The staffing committee made a significant recommendation: that the Commission not look for an interim superintendent but go straight to hiring a permanent one. The kind of work that was performed by Lopez’s interim superintendent has been largely completed by the Orcas commissioners themselves, saving Orcas taxpayers about $60,000, according to Lange. The commissioners voted to post the opening for a permanent superintendent.

By law, the superintendent must be appointed as the District’s chief administrative officer, but the Lopez and San Juan districts have also appointed their superintendents as their chief executive officers. The description for the Orcas position, which like the Lopez position is half time, will not include that appointment, although it may be added later. The position will be posted locally and possibly on some professional sites; closing date for applications will be June 30.

No one has formally applied to take minutes of Commission meetings, but two people have expressed verbal interest and have been encouraged to apply. The application process is described on the Commissions website at orcashealth.org. The Commission hopes to hire someone as soon as possible.

The technology committee reported on options for managing the commissioners’ computer work. Boteler conferred with a number of agencies in the County and concluded that the most effective approach was to work with NW Technology, a computer consultant in Ferndale. NW Technology can purchase and set up laptops or tablets, provide and manage Microsoft Office 365 software, ensure consistent backups to meet records retention requirements, find records to respond to public records requests, and provide other technical support. Boteler will ask the company for a proposal.

The Commission will hold a special meeting on Monday, June 11, from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. to consider the larger issues that will be involved in contract negotiations with recipients of District funds. An agenda will be published on the District website before that meeting. The Commission has also added one hour to its regular meeting on June 12, specifically to try to finalize its bylaws and other foundational documents. Both meetings are tentatively planned for the Fire Hall.

Audience members commented on requirements of the Public Records Act, requested that committees provide written reports of their deliberations for the public record whenever committee advice might lead to a board action, commended collaborative efforts of the commissioners and clinics, requested that the Commission stay in full control of its operations, suggested checking on the status of out-of-network x rays, and suggested that commissioners support universal health care.

Fralick ended the meeting with a note of thanks to the commissioners. “I want to express my appreciation to everybody. You’re all stepping up to the plate and doing above and beyond, in my opinion.”