Editor’s note: This meeting was canceled around 7:30 a.m. because the Park Hospital District had failed to reserve the meeting room at Vert CoWorking. The next meeting of the Park Hospital District publicly noticed on the special district’s website is a virtual meeting on March 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Board conduct and discipline, membership and leadership, and an executive session will be addressed by the Park Hospital District Board of Directors on Tuesday, March 10, at 8 a.m. The meeting will take place in the conference room at the district’s administrative office located in the Vert CoWorking and Fitness building, 1280 Big Thompson Ave.
The meeting can be attended in person or remotely. Click here to join the meeting via a Microsoft Teams Meeting link. The meeting ID is 240 631 602 622 28, and the passcode is nP366tw3.
According to the public notice on the Park Hospital District’s website, the executive session notice reads, “pursuant to §24-6-402(4)(b), C.R.S.,for the purpose of receiving legal advice from the District’s attorney regarding review of a District position statement and related legal.” By state law, an executive session notice must include the specific topic to be discussed.
Board President Cory Workman said at the Feb. 25 PHD’s public meeting that issues of board conduct and leadership would be addressed at a future meeting. The Feb. 25 meeting was filled with dissension after a Feb. 17 opinion editorial by board members Tom Leigh and Brigitte Foust was published in the Estes Valley Voice, expressing concerns about board governance.
In the commentary, Foust and Leigh stated that the PHD board must “embrace its responsibility as a governing body. This includes adopting a formal mission, values, and purpose statement that clearly defines the district’s role, authority, and long-term direction.”
The two special district board members have expressed concern that the PHD cannot just exist as a pass-through property tax collector that has transferred its statutory responsibilities to a private corporation.
The proposed conduct and discipline resolution which details adherence to standard board conduct practices specifies that board members are to adhere to respecting the validity of adopted board actions, and not take “action that Board (as determined by a majority thereof) find to be inappropriate.”
The code outlines disciplinary measures that can be taken “at the sole discretion by a majority vote of a quorum” including reprimands, censure, and removal from internal or external committees or liaison roles.
The resolution to be considered Tuesday details that conduct also can be found to “constitute a conflict of interest and formally mandate the subject Board member’s recusal from participation in related Board functions.”
Foust has raised concerns about the PHD’s financial transparency. “We never got a closing binder. We never got a financial handoff on the affiliation agreement, never attached any schedules or any exhibits,” Foust said at the Feb.25 meeting.
The acquisition took place 98 days ago on Dec. 1. 2025.
Vice chair Steve Alper chastised Foust for her work as board treasurer, “You’re just totally out of touch with the financial piece Brigitte.”
Foust, who became the treasurer of the Park Hospital District in June 2025, claims that she has requested detailed financial information from the administration of Estes Park Health, including a Nov. 30, 2025 closing statement and a detailed list of all liabilities, but her requests have been ignored.
Foust also has raised questions about two checks totaling more than $200,000 that were written without her knowledge on a Park Hospital District bank account and signed by Alper. These payments were not specifically authorized by the PHD Board in a public meeting nor were the checks signed by both the Chair and the Treasurer as required by the organization’s bylaws.
According to Section 7.8 of the Amended and Restated Bylaws, which are part of the “Integration and Affiliation Agreement by and among Park Hospital District and University of Colorado Health and UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center” accessible on the Park Hospital District’s website, “Designated checks, drafts, or other orders for payment of money, and all notes or other evidences of indebtedness issued on behalf of the District, shall be signed by the Chair and Treasurer of the Board. In accordance with C.R.S. § 32-1-1103(2) and C.R.S. § 32-1-1103(3), as amended from time-to-time, such signing may, by resolution, be delegated to others per the resolution.”
The checks issued by Alper included one to Estes Park Health to cover a severance payment made to Igor Huzicka, a physician who was hired on Sept. 1 and terminated from Estes Park Health on Nov 30, 2025.
According to a separation agreement obtained through a Colorado Open Records request, Estes Park Health paid Huzicka $99,119.04 “separation pay” minus taxes and normal withholdings after three months of employment. He was also paid a $60,000 bonus and $151,041.84 in wages for 360 hours of work, $23,076.80 in “retro pay” and $59.14 for group term life coverage for a total of $333,296.82.
Without Foust’s knowledge, Alper also signed a $100,960.00 check to Estes Park Health to cover the severance payment to Pat Samples, who was Estes Park Health’s chief nursing officer, until her termination in May. In 2025, Samples received $321,229.96 in total compensation.
Alper sounds defensive, he like Batey and Carda are only looking out for their best interest. period. If you have a conversation with Alper you realize he is a placeholder. Nothing there: limited knowledge and nothing to add. He behaves like he doesn’t want to be involved, like it is an irritation.
Obviously the wrong individuals to be involved in this entity.
The fact they don’t feel they are responsible to allow the Treasurer or anyone to view financials is a blaring red flag. Who approved the severance for Patience Samples when she was a source of misconduct? Same with the physician Igor Huzicka, he was terminated due to his misconduct and actions. So the PHD president “chose” to pay them off? Where else would this be acceptable? What entity would reward misconduct? I would suggest they restructure the board and seek professional law assistance vs. whoever they are paying.
Alper and Carda need to be removed and without a “payout”.
The current board is dysfunctional. Decisions are consistently being made with 3-2 votes by the board…and consistently by the same personnel on each side. It is time for the board to rise above personality conflicts and clear the air by addressing and responding to REASONABLE questions that many citizens are truly concerned about, namely detailed financial information from the administration of Estes Park.
I specifically question the judgement of expecting the “executive” management and Legal team, who allowed the hospital to develop these problems to be able to resolve the same. As I recall, half the non-urban hospitals in Colorado were failing financially. Why was ours NOT in the successful group? Perhaps it is related to PHD’s lack financial transparency. Who else received checks not signed by the Treasurer? Concerned citizens want to know.