Matt Ready

10/22/2025 PT Leader Publishes Op Ed from Commissioner Kees Kolff on the Peninsula Health Alliance

I have known Stu’s opponent Matt Ready for many years. I voted for him when he first won a seat on the Board 12 years ago and he supported my campaign 2 years later. To his credit, he got the Board to start recording public meetings. In addition, he and I were the first to raise questions about one executive session last February 5th. Several attorneys later confirmed that the Board had “inadvertently” exceeded what was allowed under the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) real-estate exemption. We should have used the legal exemption with an attorney present. We publicly apologized for the error.

[Comment inserted by Matt Ready: “We should have used the legal exemption with an attorney present.” Careful readers might ask, “what does that mean? “we should have used the legal excemption for executive sessions, secret meetings, with an attorney present on Feb 5, so we could have LEGALLY held that executive session AND DISCUSS THE PENINSULA HEALTH ALLIANCE PROPOSAL IN DETAIL WITHOUT TELLING THE PUBLIC.” I want to be clear, this interpretation of Kollff’s public testimony above is exactly what I know the entire board and CEO believe- they believe if they had a lawyer present on Feb 5, then they could have never violated the OPMA and then keep the entire proposal hidden as they did. It was nice of them to say this on the record outside an executive session. ]

Matt went on to publicize inaccurate information from that meeting that he was not allowed to share. He has now completely destroyed his ability to work effectively on the Board because of his wide-ranging conspiracy theory.

I find it very hard to believe that anyone would accuse all the Board Members of Jefferson Healthcare (JHC), CEO Mike Glenn, and Mike’s entire top leadership team, of conspiring to give away local control of the healthcare system we work so hard to build and maintain. He reported us, and all of our counterparts at Olympic Medical Center (OMC), to the Sheriffs’ offices in both Jefferson and Clallam Counties for criminal activity. He claims that 3 attorneys from different firms, and our long-term professional board consultant Karma Bass, all violated the OPMA. There are too many unsubstantiated claims to list.

Some community members have raised questions about Matt’s conspiracy claims in regards to the Peninsula Health Alliance (PHA) proposal sent to OMC earlier this year. OMC had sent out a request for proposals. The PHA was our creative, non-binding proposal to have JHC and OMC collaborate more effectively in the future. It was crafted by Mike and his leadership team with major input from Commissioners Bruce McComas and Jill Buhler Rienstra, as allowed by the OPMA.

When Commissioners Marie Dressler, Matt Ready and I first learned of the PHA in February, I was concerned that the draft organizational chart in the proposal did not clearly show what was intended. To clarify my understanding, I sent my own org chart to the Board and our CEO the very next day. It showed and described the two Boards governing locally and independently, voluntarily and publicly sharing resources, services and collective purchasing through the PHA, a completely separate organization. Matt Ready and the other commissioners did not disagree with this interpretation, and Mike Glenn confirmed that it accurately depicted how the proposal would work, and not Matt Ready’s claim.

 I was there in Sequim on March 28 when we presented the PHA proposal to OMC, and we emphasized the following:

 • No merger or takeover was ever proposed.

 • No financial bailout was involved.

 • No loss of local control was contemplated.

 • No negotiations would proceed without public involvement.

 • The PHA Board would include all 7 OMC and 5 JHC Board members, with a voting mechanism to share power equally.

I described to OMC the problem we were having with Matt’s misinformation and conspiracy claims, and they were shocked. Mike had signed a non-disclosure agreement, which is standard practice and was required by OMC. We were one of 4 finalists in their selection process, but were dropped from consideration in part due to Matt’s behavior. He continues to insist it was a binding proposal, similar to a merger, that would have destroyed our local control and financial stability.

OMC has now signed a non-binding “Letter of Intent” to explore a partnership with the University of Washington. Their success is crucial to ours, since we share many patients. Given cuts in healthcare funding and proposed reductions in Medicaid, we may want to consider partnering in a larger peninsulawide alliance in the near future. As is customary when even public entities seek partnerships, public input comes after the initial, non-binding proposals have been submitted. All final decisions are made in public, after public input.

 In this election we have a clear choice. Stu Kerber works for a small financial services firm he helped start, helping farmers in Eastern Washington work through generational transitions and financial problems. He built his career on relationships and knows how to manage conflicts professionally. As the father of 2 small children, he will bring a young parent’s perspective to the Board. We need challenging and different opinions on the board, but we also need collaboration. Stu Kerber will add both. The value of local control has and will always guide our Board, our CEO Mike Glen, and his leadership team in the future as we continue to expand the secular healthcare services this community needs.

NOTE: This opinion is mine alone and does not necessarily reflect the views of my fellow Board members.

“We should have used the legal exemption with an attorney present.“

“We should have used the legal exemption with an attorney present.“

“We should have used the legal exemption with an attorney present.“