Commissioners in Ark City are taking control of the South Central Kansas Medical Center Board of Trustees and will, for the time being, have direct oversight of the financially-struggling hospital.
By unanimous vote Tuesday evening, the commission removed all current hospital trustees and appointed the five city commissioners to fill the vacancies.
Commissioners expect to continue as hospital trustees until the hospital is in better financial standing.
“The commission must step up and take charge with a direct oversight of the hospital’s operation,” commissioner Jay Warren said, just before the vote at the commission’s regular meeting. “It seems we continue restating the same problems and trying to find solutions over and over again, with no results.”
The city’s five commissioners and the hospital chief of staff will comprise the board of trustees for now. Commissioners, however, have also approved a charter ordinance to reduce the number of trustees from nine to five.
Trustees serve at the pleasure of the city commission and can be removed at any time with a vote of at least four commissioners.
Passage of a charter ordinance must be followed by a 30-day protest period. Once that time expires, the board of trustees will be a five-member panel. Because of that protest period, the board of trustees will have three unfilled openings for about a month.
Commissioners and their legal counsel, Tamara Niles, worked through details of the changes during their regular meeting. In the interest of transparency, Mayor Dan Jurkovich said, specifics were worked out in real time, in open session, so as not to violate open meetings laws.
Tuesday’s discussion of the takeover had not been announced prior to the meeting.
Multiple commissioners said they felt the city should have direct control of hospital operations since SCKMC was requiring tax subsidies to continue operating. They said it would also keep trustees from having to consult with city commissioners over significant decisions.
The newly-formed board of trustees will meet for the first time at 7:30 a.m. May 24 in the Union State Bank conference room at the hospital.
