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Two out of three members of the county commissioners are convinced the current makeup of the Spokane Regional Health District board of directors is just fine the way it is.
For that reason, the commissioners – with Bonnie Mager dissenting – voted to oppose a Washington state Senate bill that would revamp the board to include fewer elected officials.
The issue came up during Tuesday’s CEO briefing, when Spokane County lobbyist Mike Burgess reported that Senate Bill 5812, introduced last week, would establish a nine-member health board. Two of the members would be county commissioners – all three are on the board now – and the rest of the membership would include two physicians, a health-care professional, two business representatives (from the restaurant and building arenas) and two public citizens.
Currently, the board is made up mostly of elected officials. In addition to the commissioners, Spokane Mayor Mary Verner is a member along with Spokane City Council Members Michael Allen and Steve Corker, plus Spokane Valley Council Members Dick Denenny and Bill Gothmann. Liberty Lake Council Member David Crump represents all the county’s small cities, while there are three other voting members appointed by the commissioners. All are from the health-care industry.
Having a health board that is accountable to the citizenry through the voting process is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly, said Board Chairman Todd Mielke. Changing that would be “bad public policy,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Mielke said.
The legislation has been introduced by state Sens. Chris Marr and Lisa Brown, who both represent the city of Spokane. The idea is to establish a board that is more in tune with both the health-care industry and those most affected by health standards and less ties to politics.
The health board has been a lightning rod for controversy over the past several years. The SRHD is still operating without a health officer after the board fired Dr. Kim Thorburn in November 2006. And in 2003 the board voted to strip nonelected members of their voting privileges – that position was reversed two years later.
Despite those instances, Commissioner Mark Richard said that he’s disappointed the senators have never met with board to discuss “what’s working and what’s not working.”
“This is a trend and an attempt to move away from collaboration and regionalization,” Richard said.
For her part, Mager said that she was not prepared to outright oppose the bill as she does have some concerns that there aren’t provisions to have more members that are knowledgeable in the health-care industry.
“We do need more medical expertise on the board,” she said, but added, “We are fortunate in what we have right now.”
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By
Mike Huffman
