Despite the objections of two of its members, the Estes Park Health board of directors entered an executive session Tuesday morning without formally agreeing to remove any items questioned as legitimate topics.
Tom Leigh and Bridgette Foust noted their objections to discussing items, including two resolutions proposed for passage at the last regular board meeting, the general content of an employment agreement without explicitly naming the individual, UCHealth updates, and a financial review during an executive session.
Because the meeting had been posted as an executive session, Board Chair Cory Workman noted that any items members were uncomfortable discussing in private could be removed from the agenda.
“My understanding of the open meeting laws is that executive session is something that’s generally used only to discuss particular subjects. It calls for discussion as much as possible about what subjects are going to be discussed, and it doesn’t appear any of them need to be in an executive session,” Leigh said.
Leigh asked Hall Render attorney David Snow whether the entire meeting could become public if a court later determined that the meeting did not meet the criteria of the state’s open meetings laws.
“I don’t know the answer to that specific question on top of my head,” Snow replied.
No specific items were removed from the agenda before the board voted 3 to 2 to enter executive session.
Following the 8 a.m. executive session, board members entered a public finance committee meeting where they learned that while total operating revenues were on target, expenses exceeded the budget by 2.5% during the first six months of the year.