Park Hospital District directors spent their Feb. 3 study session interviewing attorneys from two legal firms and discussing a provider for a managed website hosting agreement, continuing their quest to lay the groundwork for future work by their self-imposed deadline of March 31.
The directors interviewed representatives from two legal firms known to specialize in Title 32 matters to determine how their services could augment Hall Render’s general counsel duties. Hall Render is the firm that created the affiliation agreement between Estes Park Health and UCHealth.
Title 32 is the state law that outlines the rules and regulations special districts must follow to maintain transparency and accountability to the public. The law outlines financial requirements, adherence to Colorado’s Open Records Act (Sunshine Laws), and the requirement for searchable websites, among other details.
There has been some concern raised that, while the PHD must abide by the covenants spelled out in the affiliation agreement, there may be additional issues in Title 32 that should be included in the PHD bylaws.
The board spoke with John Chmil, legal representative with Lyons Gaddis, P.C., and Ashley Schlagel, attorney with Collins Cole Winn & Ulmer, PLLC. Chmil currently represents Visit Estes Park and the Estes Valley Recreation and Park District. Schlagel was recently named legal counsel for the Estes Valley Fire Protection District.
“We certainly have experience of serving to what we would term a special counsel role,” Chmil told the board, saying his firm would be happy to limit its engagement to focus on Title 32 compliance. He stressed the need to coordinate his firm’s work with that of Hall Render.
Chmil also told the board that the primary critical document would ultimately be the affiliation agreement, so the board could set near-term and long-term goals, including reviewing bylaws and assisting the board with CORA requests.
Schlagel noted that her firm only works with special districts and that approximately 20 percent of them are health care related, whether health, hospital, or ambulance districts.
“I do think that having a hospital-focused firm can be helpful as well in certain circumstances,” Schlage said, emphasizing that while her firm was not specifically dedicated to health care counsel, “if health care-related needs are outside of our expertise, we bring in, or we consult with an expert,” she said.
“I think having the foundation of an attorney who is well-versed in special district needs and requirements is fundamental, and then you kind of reach out for other areas of expertise as needed. It’s a collaborative type of situation where you would know the district can receive the best representation possible,” Schlagel said.
No decision was made, but the board is expected to decide whether to engage a special district counselor when it meets in regular session on Feb. 26.
In other business, the board discussed the value of maintaining its relationship with Greystone Technology, the firm that has handled all Estes Park Health website technological needs in the past. If hired, the company would transfer all necessary files from the old EPH site to the PHD site, train Board Coordinator Heather Drees on how to access the system so she could make immediate updates, and host the site. The cost for migrating the site was quoted at $7,095.
The next board study session will be held on Feb. 17.