A fiery attack directed at two of their fellow board members consumed half of the Park Hospital District Board of Directors meeting on Wednesday evening.

At the center of the dissention was a commentary on PHD operations by Brigitte Foust and Tom Leigh, published in the Estes Valley Voice on Feb. 17, which asserted that questions of governance, accountability, and public oversight of the special district formed in 1968 to establish and run a hospital, remain unanswered since Estes Park Health was acquired by UCHealth on Dec. 1, 2025.

While the Park Hospital District no longer operates a hospital, Foust and Leigh outlined that the District still has a statutory and fiduciary duty to the Estes Valley community and cannot act merely as a pass-through tax collection agency. The Park Hospital District collects approximately $4.5 million in property tax revenues annually and is now obligated to pass all but $200,000 to UCHealth, which now operates and has policy control over the local hospital for the next 50 years.

“The content of the article is, in my opinion, damaging to our relationship with UCHealth. It goes against the definitive agreements,” Board Chair Cory Workman said. To “publish without the knowledge of the rest of the board seems to go against that we are committed to this relationship with UCHealth,” Workman said.

Before Wednesday’s meeting was over, a message that had been delivered by Workman and Board Vice Chair Steve Alper hung in the air.

“It would be wise for our colleagues to consider their positions on the board,” said Workman.

“I think these two board members really need to consider resigning for the harm they’ve done,” Alper said.

At issue were three primary concerns: inaccurate information published, the potential that dissension could undermine the affiliation of the Estes Park healthcare operation with UCHealth, and trust among individual board members.

Workman also said he felt the commentary was a “violation of trust, and I’m not sure how we move forward with that.”

There are “flagrant misrepresentations in that article,” Alper said.

“You went behind our backs. You did things that could jeopardize the relationship with UCHealth. You totally have no understanding of why we undertook this in the first place,” Alper said.

Legal counsel David Snow was asked to enumerate facts related to the commentary by Leigh and Foust.

“Every step of the way the district followed the necessary procedures and obtained required approvals from regulatory authorities to enter into and effectuate the definitive agreements,” said Snow, attorney for Hall Render, the district’s attorney.

“It’s unfortunate that that commentary calls for the district to take steps contrary to those properly authorized, approved contractual commitments,” Snow emphasized, saying there were no improprieties in adopting the definitive agreements.

Snow pointed to several points in the commentary that he said were incorrect:

  • The affiliation with UCHealth did not constitute hiring the nonprofit to “manage” the local medical center. Licenses to operate the healthcare center were legally transferred to a new nonprofit organization.
  • Alper and Board Secretary Janet Zeschin were appointed as liaisons to the directors of UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center.
  • PHD has access to all records and that law allows for hiring custodians of records.
  • The 2026 budget was established and adopted by the PHD in December, not by another entity.

In addition, Snow said a community needs assessment requested in the Foust-Leigh letter will be conducted by UCHealth as required by law.

A hint as to how the board plans to move forward from the fracas came when Chair Cory Workman ended the meeting, saying that in the future the board would have an extended discussion about board leadership and a potential restructuring.

The next regular board meeting will be on March 25.