Hospital updates board governance document

During the December Weston County Health Services board of trustees meeting, the board passed an updated board governance training document, after the one originally proposed had come under scrutiny during the board’s November meeting.
 
Board Chair Dorothy Briggs reviewed the roles and responsibilities of various board officers and the changes proposed in response to those who opposed the training document during the previous meeting.
 
Most of the changes were minor and were an effort to eliminate potential future loopholes for future boards to exploit or abuse, but one specific change was made to verbiage related to the role of board chairman. 
 
Various board members expressed concern that the wording used implied that only the board chairman could speak to hospital staff, such as the CEO, about hospital concerns or business. After some discussion, the board conceded that the document was worded in such a manner that would cause a new board member to believe they could not have contact with hospital staff as a board member.
 
Briggs acknowledged that some of the language used in the training document could have been misused or misconstrued and was willing to make changes suggested by Slagle and others.
 
“Some of the language — which, basically that’s what Ann (Slagle) had a problem with, some of the language actually connotes or could connote — so we went back and made very few changes,” Briggs said. 
 
Briggs further explained that the changes she and Slagle worked through were done with thoughtfulness and cohesiveness with board bylaws and policies.
 
Another change Briggs and Slagle worked to change was the role of the treasurer from “oversees the CFO” to “ensure proper oversight of the hospital finances and fiduciary responsibilities along with the finance committee.”
 
Although there were similar and minor changes in the rest of the training document, trustees discussed each change for each board officer position.
 
“Ann (Slagle) and I sat down for three hours and went over this document — word for word,” Briggs told trustees. “And still — I’m bothered by this. This is really an on-boarding tool for new board members but also a refresher for current board members.”
 
“It’s a training tool — I just want to make sure that’s clear,” Briggs added.
 
One thing Briggs said she also wanted to make clear is that the hospital board governance committee met to discuss these changes and started this document from scratch with input from Board.com and the state educator regarding board procedures and policies.
 
“It has been said this is my document — but it’s not, I’m just the typer,” Briggs said.
 
Ultimately, the board voted to amend the board governance procedure to add the training document in a 5-1 vote. Slagle was absent from the meeting and did not vote. The next hospital board of trustees meeting is Thursday, Jan. 18.