Hospital CEO resigns

Randy Lindauer, Weston County Hospital District’s CEO, announced at a special board meeting on May 23 that he is resigning.

“I have given my resignation, and there will be a transitional period that is agreed upon [with] the board,” Lindauer said after the first part of the executive session portion of the meeting, which had lasted about three hours.

According to the agenda for the meeting, the reasons for the executive session were 16-4-405(a)(ii), which is “to consider the employment or dismissal of an employee or to hear complaints or charges against an employee,” and “(ix) to consider or receive any information classified as confidential by law (including legal advice).” (Ed. note: Phrase in parentheses is not part of the law as written.)

Board Chair Ann Slagle said immediately after Lindauer’s statement that the board accepted his resignation.

“We’re grateful for the help that he’s given us during this time,” Slagle said.

Trustee Kari Drost followed Slagle’s statement by moving that the board accept Lindauer’s resignation, according to the terms that he and the board’s attorney, Alison Gee, will work out and that those terms will be announced. Trustee Karine Wright West seconded the motion, and the board unanimously approved it before going back into executive session.

Lindauer has served as CEO since December 2023, and his tenure included a number of controversial personnel changes. The most significant of these involved placing the hospital’s Chief Operating Officer, Piper Allard, on administrative leave. That move resulted in a public uproar at a special board meeting held on May 2, and several members of the public returned two weeks later to support Allard and raise additional questions about Lindauer and his performance.

Prior to the executive sessions on May 23, during the open portion of the special meeting, Newcastle Mayor Pam Gualtieri said during public comment that she had conducted background research on Lindauer and had found information that was “very concerning” to her and “possibly” to the community.

The board unanimously decided to allow Gualtieri and another resident, Stephanie Liska, who had comments that “directly concerned an employee,” to have hearings during the executive session, but neither ended up participating in the closed sessions and did not offer their information publicly.

Tracy Jones, a community member, had also asked the board whether any board trustees had heard Allard’s “side of the story” after she was placed on administrative leave around April 30 by Lindauer, as the News Letter Journal previously reported.

Trustee Nathan Ballard said he had, and Slagle said that the board hoped to hear it that evening, during an executive session.

Allard attended the open meeting and the portion of the second executive session which followed Lindauer’s resignation. Allard said in a Facebook message on May 24 that she is still on administrative leave. Lindauer did not reply by press time to the News Letter Journal’s request for clarification on his reasons for his resignation, what his plans are moving forward and what transition plans will look like at the hospital.

Consultant H&H Leadership Solutions is also pulling out of working for Weston County Health Services, according to a letter that WCHS board member Kari Drost read at the board’s meeting on May 16.