The Park Hospital District board might be one public meeting away from resolving the financial mess they found themselves in after accumulating more than $250,000 in legal fees since Jan. 1.
Instead of meeting privately with their attorney Thursday morning, the board voted to table consideration of a memo of understanding with UCHealth until after the proposed document had been made available to the public.
It’s no secret that the board has been asking UCHealth to grant PHD the right to retain more than $200,000 of property tax receipts to solve the revenue shortfall. The revenue ceiling was set in 2025 during negotiations to give UCHealth management of the local hospital and clinic operations. Without an increase in revenue, the district effectively cannot pay its bills.
Thursday’s board agenda indicated that a decision on a proposed MOU could be expected.
Action was stopped after Board Treasurer Brigitte Foust pointed out that while the subject item appeared on the published agenda, it had not been properly noticed because the actual MOU was not included in the meeting packet.
Colorado law, Foust said, requires that “any contract or document to be deliberated must be available to the public in advance. So, if it’s not in the board packet, we can’t have it on the agenda, and that’s why we tabled it.”
“It’s not retroactively possible,” Foust told fellow board members. “You have to have it accessible to the community and then discuss it, so the community can talk about it.”
In addition, Foust contended that the topic should not be discussed further in an executive session, as it has been at least six times in the past four months.
“Why can’t we post it?” Foust asked. “I saw the latest version. There is nothing confidential, nothing controversial. It should be deliberated.”
Board vice chair and former treasurer Steve Alper agreed that considering action during Thursday’s meeting was an issue.
“I don’t think it’s worth the risk of transparency,” Alper said. “Let’s be as transparent as we can.”
The rest of the board members agreed, saying they would meet again Tuesday, Aug. 4, to consider the MOU. Board meeting packets are posted on the PHD website.
In other business on Thursday, the board authorized Chair Cory Workman and Foust to execute documentation required to officially terminate the district’s retirement plan obligations, the district’s 457(b)plan, and the Estes Park Medical Center Money Purchase Pension Plan, all currently managed by the Ascensus financial services company.
The board also voted to continue being represented by Hall Render in the termination process, because the cost of the legal work would primarily be paid with retirement plan funds.
Paying costs in that manner will ease forthcoming budget issues. Original estimates called for spending $40,000 in termination costs. Current estimates call for spending about $10,000 on filing fees and other essential actions that cannot be assumed by the plans.
In determining future workflow, the board decided that an initial revised 2026 budget would be presented Aug. 3 along with the UCHealth MOU, and that the board would conduct a regular meeting Aug. 29 at 5:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
A budget for 2027 is required to be posted by Oct. 15 and adopted by Dec. 15.