Finding ways to be more transparent in communicating with constituents is on the docket for the Estes Park Health board of directors in the future, according to new board chair Cory Workman.
“We’ve been asked about being able to come out and to connect more openly,” so the public can ask questions of the board, Workman said. “We are working on a system to be able to do that,” he said during Wednesday’s Estes Park Health board of directors meeting.
Creating a public email forum similar to that used by the town and finding better methods of answering questions from the public have been discussed, Workman said. One of the options being considered is a question-and-answer format on the website.
“At the moment, we want to make sure that if there are questions, this certainly would not subvert any of our current communication policies, especially around CORA (Colorado Open Records Act) requests or anything of that nature,” he said. “We do have a process in place for that, and we would continue to use that.”
However, Workman was clear that the board was looking for methods to effectively respond to questions ”to give the public just a bit more access.”
“It is something we’re still discussing to figure out exactly the right way to do it, but wanted to let you know that we’ve heard you. We’ve heard the criticism, and we’re working on a plan to make that a bit better,” Workman announced at the end of the meeting.
It was a sparse group of onlookers who heard that announcement. In all, only a dozen individuals not affiliated with the hospital attended the meeting in person or online. During the meeting, the EPH board swiftly voted on three action items before adjourning the meeting in under 45 minutes.
In addition to approving past minutes, the board approved a resolution confirming the decision to amend the service plan and bylaws of the Park Hospital District and ratifying the certificate of officers of the district upon completion of actions to affiliate with UCHealth.
Details of those elements were referred to in the integration and affiliation agreement with UCHealth, as Attachments A and B. However, when the document was released to the public, the attachments were not disclosed.
When asked when the attachments would be provided, the question-answer section about the document posted in the “About Us” section on the EPH website only states, “Some of these documents will not be shared publicly.”
Also approved during the meeting was a resolution approving new signatories on financial documents, following the recent departure this month of CFO Aysha Douglas, who had held the position since May 2023.