Wrangell Medical Center Board of Director Chair Mark Robinson and Vice Chair Jim Nelson sit at the Stikine Inn coffee shop the morning of April 13 and talk to members of the public. WMC Board members plan to be available to chat with the public over coffee every Friday from 8:30 to 10 a.m.
Members of the Wrangell Medical Center Board of Directors were at the Stikine Inn last Friday morning meeting with members of the public over coffee.
The hour-and-and-a-half session marked the first of what is to be a weekly occurrence, giving members of the public the opportunity to talk one-on-one with hospital board members, the majority of whom have had recall petitions filed against them.
WMC President Mark Robinson and Vice President Jim Nelson were the two hospital board members present at the Stikine Inn April 11 from 8:30 to 10 a.m.
Robinson said he feels the community does not know the hospital board, and there is a need for dialogue between the board and the public.
“There probably has always been, but we’re a little more sensitized to it now because people have asked us to,” he said.
The Friday session with WMC Board members was advertised in the April 12 edition of the Sentinel, and featured a narrative from Nelson describing his life in Wrangell. “Meet your Wrangell Medical Center Board Members” the ad is titled.
Nelson said he hopes the ads will continue to run weekly, as it gives the public a chance to get to know the hospital board members.
“I think it helps people focus on the board and their ability to do things,” Nelson said.
Robinson added, “We’re not just board members, we’re community members.”
The ad cost approximately $330, including city tax, and was paid for by Robinson. He said Lynne Campbell, a former WMC Board president, will be paying for the next three ads.
Nelson said the ad was not a direct response to the recall petitions recently filed with the City and Borough of Wrangell, asking to recall eight of the nine hospital board members. The ad is more a response to “all the negativity against the hospital board and the hospital,” Nelson said.
The three charges included in the recall petitions state the WMC Board violated three city ordinances when it prohibited the Assembly liaison into an executive session last August and allowed the hospital administrator to enter into a contract with a financer and developer for a Borough-owned building. Another charge stated the hospital board violated the city’s conflict of interest law.
Robinson said the three allegations made against the WMC Board are wrong and “defensible.”
“Whoever put those together, did not do their homework,” he said.
The main sponsor of the petitions is Wrangell resident Garry Allen, Sr., and the alternate sponsor is Michael Ottesen, Sr.
The petitions, certified by the Borough Clerk April 9, ask to recall Robinson and Nelson as well as WMC Board members Linda Bjorge, Sylvia Ettefagh, Jake Harris, Lurine McGee, Dee Norman, and LeAnn Rinehart. Dorothy Hunt-Sweat is the sole WMC Board member not included in the recall petitions.
The recall petitions gathered at least 120 signatures each in several days. The Borough Assembly will now consider an ordinance to create recall ballots. If the ordinance passes, after two readings and a public hearing is held, a special election will occur June 12 regarding the recall petitions.
Last Friday, Robinson said, “I think people need to do their homework, get to know us and know why we’re on the [WMC] Board.”
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