The Estes Park Hospital board of directors will meet in a regularly scheduled public meeting Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 5:30 in the board room of the Estes Park Town Hall.
EPH announced on Oct.16 that it had signed a letter of intent on Oct. 3 to join UCHealth, 17 months after electors in the Park Hospital District gave the board approval to begin this process in May 2023.
The Estes Valley Voice requested via the Colorado Open Records Act to see a copy of the letter of intent. The request was denied. Dan Weaver, UCHealth media contact, stated that attorneys for both UC Health and EPH are preparing instead a “summary” of the agreement for public distribution at the meeting on Oct. 23.
Since there has been no public meeting since the last board meeting on Sept. 24, the Estes Valley Voice has also requested to review the executive session minutes and recording of the meeting where the board decided to sign a letter of intent.
According to Colorado’s Sunshine Act, all meetings of two or more members of any local public body where any public business is discussed, or any formal action may be taken must be open to the public.
Estes Park Health is a special taxing district and is subject to the state’s open meeting and records laws. Since January 2023, the EPH board has met in closed door executive session meetings more than 100 times. The agenda for these executive sessions uses the language that the board will meet “for the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations; developing strategy for negotiations; and instructing negotiators, with regard to Affiliation with a 3rd Party, EPH Strategic Initiatives, the relationship with the EPH Foundation, and pursuant to Section 24-6-402(4)(b) C.R.S. to conference with an attorney for Estes Park Health for the purposes of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions.”
EPH published a public notice on Oct. 16 in the Estes Park Trail Gazette that a copy of the proposed 2025 budget was on file at the hospital and was “open for public inspection in the Administration offices.”
Suzy Blackhurst, Estes Valley Voice senior editor, went to the hospital last week to review the proposed 2025 budget and was denied access. Blackhurst was told she would need an appointment to see the budget when the CEO or CFO could be available to sit with her to review it and answer any questions.
The public notice was again published in the Trail Gazette on Oct. 18. The announcement did not say an appointment was necessary for an elector to review the 2025 proposed.
Sybil Barnes, a member of the community and an Estes Valley Voice editorial board member, went to the hospital this morning to review the budget. A hospital social worker was called to talk with her about her request. Barnes was told she would need to schedule an appointment to return when a member of the administration could be available to meet with her to review the proposed 2025 budget.
In contrast, the Town of Estes Park’s proposed 2025 budget is available on its website for the public to review without any encumbrances.
The Estes Valley Voice has sent a CORA request to EPH for a copy of the 2025 proposed budget.
To clarify my part in this. Estes Park property owners contribute a portion of their taxes to every special district. I have looked at the Town’s budget and other budgets including the Library District and the Recreation District. I was unsure where to go in the hospital, so I asked at the check-in desk. The person there had not seen the printed announcement. She directed me to the administrative offices, which are upstairs. The first person I saw up there is a social worker, whose office is just past the “family waiting area.” Because Estes is a small town, I know this person. I asked her for directions to the administrative offices and told her that I wanted to speak to someone about the possibility of reviewing the budget as published in the Trail Gazette. She also had not seen this notice but she went back into her office and called the administrative assistant, who told her I would need to make an appointment. I went home and called that person. Her outgoing voicemail message was “I will get back to you.” So far, she has not. I am currently out of town but hope that I will be granted an appointment. I realize that I have no real way to influence the financial decisions made by this elected board or by the staff that they have hired. But they need to realize that the money they are spending has been contributed by individuals who have a right to know how it is spent.
When I worked there we used to have the budget and board meetings available at the library for any to review. It’s our hospital funded by our tax dollars! What’s with all the secrecy?!