SIG takes over from H&H, New consultant will serve as hospital’s temporary human resources help

The Weston County Health Services board decided during its meeting on July 31 that it could save money by hiring Tony Blake, with Strategic Impact Group, to replace the interim chief human resources officer provided by the hospital’s former consultants, H&H Leadership Solutions.

Blake has already been involved in personnel matters, but the board’s attorney, Alison Gee of Lubnau Law, recommended that the board, to ensure transparency with the public, clarify what services Strategic Impact will provide, even if the contract itself doesn’t need to be amended

Echoing Gee, CEO Cathy Harshbarger said that the contract did not need to be amended with Strategic Impact, but the hospital should be transparent about the services Blake is providing. As such, it was formally announced that Strategic Impact will help with the hospital’s interim human resources needs while the hospital doesn’t have a chief human resources officer.

The hospital board had, at its March 11 meeting, approved paying about $32,000 per month, up to $108,000, plus or minus 10%, for a CHRO to re-evaluate and implement a human resources structure. In June, the board then approved extending the contract of interim Chief Human Resources Officer Karen Paul for up to 50 working days, starting June 26. It was reported, however, that there is no penalty for discontinuing the contract with H&H and having Blake replace Paul.

“I appreciate what Karen’s done for the organization. She’s been very helpful,” Harshbarger said. “It’s just, we’ve got a lot of costs out there.” The CHRO contract that H&H had with the hospital only ran up until the time that the services were no longer needed, Gee said at the July 31 meeting.

“As we talked about, we felt like we needed to move forward with a change in the HR interim piece,” Harshbarger said at the July 31 meeting. “And then, secondly, Tony’s been, all along, planning to help with governance and training, as well as strategic planning (that kind of goes along with that governance piece) so that we can all get on the same page with all these changes that have happened in the facility over the last bit.”

Strategic Impact’s work for the hospital this year has included helping the board identify candidates for interim chief financial officer, permanent chief human resources officer and senior accountant/controller, as the News Letter Journal previously reported.

Blake vetted John Gantner for the position of interim chief financial officer, and Harshbarger said via text on Aug. 5, that Gantner is already volunteering for the hospital by helping staff with finance questions “on his own time,” and of his own volition. Gantner will begin working at the hospital in person the week of Aug. 11 and will work part-time in August before becoming available to work full-time in September.

Board Treasurer Kari Drost said in a text on Aug. 5 that the contract for Strategic Impact will be brought before the board when it is final and Harshbarger will decide when to stop working with Paul.

“The board voted to add Strategic Impact as an option for her,” Drost said. “She will decide when to transfer the roles.”

At the July 31 meeting, Harshbarger said that Blake has gathered about 35 applicants for the CHRO position, so she anticipates the hospital will be able to make a decision on a candidate fairly soon, but Blake would be “a pretty good segue.”

Blake will be charging the same rate that he currently is asking from the hospital, according to Harshbarger. He will only be working part of the week.

Harshbarger said via text on Aug. 5 that Blake, “to help keep costs down,” opted to receive $125 per hour instead of charging the hospital “a much more expensive flat rate.”

Harshbarger said at the July 31 meeting that even though she wasn’t able to recall the exact cost difference between Blake and Paul, she knows that Blake charges less.

Drost said via text on Aug. 5 that she doesn’t know how much the hospital is paying Strategic Impact.

“The board still does not have any financial reports,” she said.

The board also unanimously decided to continue holding its regular meetings at 5:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month and to have First Northern Bank as the Weston County Hospital District’s official depository.