Commissioner's last regular meeting
Today is the last day of the regularly scheduled meeting for the County Commissioners. John Reisert will be attending the last meeting of his political career.
This is where the concern lies.
The commissioners have voted to approve the addition of two additional Board Members to the hospital. They asked for interested parties to submit letters for consideration and to have them in before the 15th of December. They are planning to appoint these two individuals without actually interviewing those who submitted letters. It seems irrational that they could make the best informed decision without actually interviewing the candidates unless they already know who is to be selected. I know of at least 4 individuals who submitted letters and none of them have been contacted.
The question remains; will the commissioners make these appointments tonight or will they allow the new Commissioner (Mark Seabrook) to choose the board members after he takes office in January.
Appointing them without the diligence of interviews etc. has all the earmarks of a political maneuver.
With all of the issues at Floyd and the potential staff reductions (layoffs), the Commissioners need to take their time, evaluate the potential candidates, and make the best informed decision.
Rushing the process and making a political appointment could cause further declines in oversight of the Hospital’s administration and decisions. We could wind up losing the Hospital as a County asset.
I would hate to see Dr. Reisert end his political career making appointments purely on political grounds when so much is riding on this decision. He has had a distinguished career in Education and as a Commissioner and this could alter the image many have of him.
This is where the concern lies.
The commissioners have voted to approve the addition of two additional Board Members to the hospital. They asked for interested parties to submit letters for consideration and to have them in before the 15th of December. They are planning to appoint these two individuals without actually interviewing those who submitted letters. It seems irrational that they could make the best informed decision without actually interviewing the candidates unless they already know who is to be selected. I know of at least 4 individuals who submitted letters and none of them have been contacted.
The question remains; will the commissioners make these appointments tonight or will they allow the new Commissioner (Mark Seabrook) to choose the board members after he takes office in January.
Appointing them without the diligence of interviews etc. has all the earmarks of a political maneuver.
With all of the issues at Floyd and the potential staff reductions (layoffs), the Commissioners need to take their time, evaluate the potential candidates, and make the best informed decision.
Rushing the process and making a political appointment could cause further declines in oversight of the Hospital’s administration and decisions. We could wind up losing the Hospital as a County asset.
I would hate to see Dr. Reisert end his political career making appointments purely on political grounds when so much is riding on this decision. He has had a distinguished career in Education and as a Commissioner and this could alter the image many have of him.
posted by Anonymous at 6:40 PM
15 Comments:
Your comments are well taken. Interesting that no one has responded to them.
My concern is that the challenge you have made to Dr. Reisert will backfire. Just to show you that he has the power, he may do just the opposite. It has been my experience that sadly far too many people in a position of power do not handle a challenge such as the one you have thrown.
Will he be the exception? Will he be above the weakness? Will he be strong? Will he be able to rise to the occasion? If he is able to bypass the ego trip, then I would say he is truly a man of character and one that I would think would do well to serve this community in the future.
We shall see.
I wish to thank the Tribune for reporting on this issue. We, the public, need someone to represent us in an unbiased manner. I asked the media to get involved because after reading the bantering on this blog for months, I had difficulty knowing whom to believe. How much of what I read was jaded by personal dislikes? I reference both sides of the debate, Dr.Dan and his critics. Thank you, Tribune, for responding to my request. It was good to have our local paper to count upon to "do us right", instead of the CJ.
What will the Tribune have to say about the Commissioner's meeting today?
Or...might he think that HB has no particular expertise in this area and is not interested in his input.
To anonymous 10:31
That is the most ridiculously lame and illogical statement I have ever heard! How could someone as intelligent and educated as Dr. Reisert possibily think that a physician who works at the hospital and who has himself been on the board have no expertise?
This seems like the statement of someone who is desperate. And I might add, petty. If you want to argue the issue, at least do it with control of your emotions.
As a former board member myself, I am insulted. I respect the Commissioners to have integrity and be above this type of pettiness. The commisioners have more intelligence than you suggest. How can they possibly think the board members they appoint "do not have expertise" after serving on the board for a minimum of 4 years.
Do not insult yourself or Dr. Reisert with such illogical rationale.
anon 11:17,
As a former board member, your opinion of the Commissioners in general, is a lot higher than HB's opinion.
To IAMHOOSIER
Please do not misintrepret. I am not saying I always agree with everything the commissioners say or do. I am saying do not insult their intelligence. I am also saying keep emotions out of an argument so that it may remain logical. Let us stick to the facts.
As far as Dr. Dan's comments on the commissioners, I suggest that I would not attempt to judge him. He is entitled to his own interpretation of his experiences. And he is entitled to express his views.
I have my own views based on my experiences associated with the hospital. And I am concerned that it be a success. I try to keep up with what is happening for obvious reasons. I read the writings of Dan and others and then seek out the truth of points made. Let the truth guide us. The truth should stand to direct us, instead of the force within each one's personality.
Since I am not on the board anymore, it is obvious I do not have the influence I once had. I want the hospital to succeed, so I support those who are trying to make that happen.
I can say, however, to the commissioners as they appoint new members to the board, that it is imperative that those individuals be well qualified to fulfill the responsibilities and obligations a board member must meet. Unfortunately in the past, sometimes the positions were merely one of political reward. And not all apponted members were qualified to make the decisions required of them.
With respect to all past members as well as current ones, their desire has always been to do a good job, but that is just not enough. Too much depends upon their decisions. My experience is that many board members are not aware of their true power. And often they do not ask enough pertinent questions. Is that so because of the intimidation of the organization? It is unfair to those individuals to expect them to lead so important an organization within this community without the education and experience the job requires. We simply do not have the luxury of appointing a board member who is not qualified.
My recommendation is that the commissioners seek the help of professionals who can interview prospective candidates and make recommendations of whom would be the best choice to serve our community. When I say a professional, I mean consultants who specialize in hospital governance and management. With respect to the commissioners, they themselves are not knowledgeable enough about the important issues to be able to make the best choices.
We have much too much depending upon the right decision in selecting the leadership of the hospital governance. We have the community's health as well as the financial solvency of our hospital. Let us pray to God that he will guide our commissioners in making the right decision.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
1:39,
Thanks for your response. Don't worry, I wasn't misinterpreting what you wrote earlier. I probably should not have even posted. It has been clear that HB does not think much of the intelligence of the Commissioners in general. Hey, HB even posted a copy of a letter that he received from one of them. He then proceeded to point out the grammatical errors AND that the Commissioner had neglected to refer to him as DOCTOR.
I thought it was a cheap shot at the time. Still do.
"Potential staff reductions (layoffs)"? Potential? It's going to happen.
How did we get to this point?
Just want to thank HB for shedding light on the behind the door shenanigans.
You want to talk about the bottom line? Employees are concerned for their jobs, that's the bottom line.
We may "make the cut" now, but what about a few months from now?
People are scared and worried. Many did not know about the "reductions" until it hit the paper Friday!
The recent staff survey was a joke. Employees were told to put in their employee ID before they took the survey. In all other surveys past, they were anonymous.
Seems like if you had something not so positive to say, and you were concerned for your job with rumors of LAYOFFS, yes LAYOFFS, you would not want to say anything negative for fear of punishment.
To be able to express one's concerns anonymously and honestly here is a good outlet.
Thank you HB.
iamhoosier,
The letter you refer to is still posted in an earlier blog and I would encourage interested readers to look at it as well as other postings around the same time frame.
Keep in mind it came from a school teacher and County Commissioner and sent out on official letterhead.
I inadvertantly misspell things here while blogging in a hurry, but I rarely allow a letter to leave my office on my letterhead with that many gross errors.
It was an accurate depiction of the letter and when taken in context of the events that occured before by this commissioner, it was reasonable to point out this public figures actions.
I really only have a major problem with one of the three Commissioners although I believe they all allow politics to interfere with good decisions more often than they should.
We can continue to disagree on this as well.
It's not only spelling errors that make this blog a questionable source of information. Time and time again, you have posted half-truths while claiming they were the whole truth. You have personally attacked people and dismissed opinions simply because of your personal opinion of the person and not their valid point of view.
I choose to keep my identity a secret because of the certainty of retaliatory actions that would be taken against me. Ideas are more important than identity. Sometimes I agree with you, sometimes I don't. But I definitely do not agree with your half-truth and personal attack tactics.
Your spelling and grammar could also use some serious work.
give me a break. All this silliness about spelling and grammatical errors is just smoke. Let's not cloud the issues by attacking the person. So Dr. Dan was irritated and commented about the commissioner's grammer and spelling. That really isn't important. So just drop it. It's history.
To belabor this point is just to belittle your argument. Grow up
HB,
Since you seem to believe that my "grey" thinking leads me to not have firm convictions, I suppose it is a backhanded compliment that you say that we can disagree on this also.
I struggled at the time of your posting that letter. I believe that correspondence between individuals is private. My struggle comes from the knowledge that it was an official letter, from a government official, acting in his official capacity. That does blur the line.
So, I did see your "right" to publish the letter. Still do. Still think it was a cheap shot.
Seriously, have we spent this much time on mispelled words? The bigger issue - the employee survey. Employees were not asked a single question on how they felt administration was performing. Hmmm, wonder why?
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