Matt Ready

On December 1, 2023, the Jefferson County Public Hospital District #2 Board of Commissioners held a lengthy in-person retreat, open to the public. Our board policy, drafted by the commissioners including myself, permits optional meeting recordings, typically done by hospital staff. This practice began after I insisted on recording meetings myself in 2014- (which was met with intense conflict and opposition from other commissioner and administration). Initially, I agreed to this flexibility to accommodate meetings with elected officials who might be reluctant to meet if recorded. However, the current board chair and secretary interpret this as allowing them to unilaterally decide not to record meetings without full board consultation. Before the retreat, Board Chair Jill Buhler confirmed there would be no official recording, so I recorded the entire meeting for a comprehensive record of the discussions among your elected representatives.

I was informed this recording will NOT be made available on the hospital website along with other recordings because I recorded it and the hospital did not officially do it themselves.

Here is the full recording on youtube:

Here is the full audio of the retreat if you want to download it.

A cursory perusal of this website will show you that recording the commission meetings has been a cause of deep conflict between myself and the other board members and the hospital administrator over the last 10 years. It seems I will have to remain vigilant in order to ensure all our open public meetings are recorded and shared with the public as it is clear other members of the board will look for any opportunity to not record a meeting – and no doubt stop recording all meetings if permitted to do so.

Transparency and accountability from our elected leaders and our public institutions is critical if we are ever to hope to regain trust in our governments, much less genuinely use our collective power to build and sustain a better world for all of us. Jefferson Healthcare is just one small institution, yet it is vitally important to the health and well being of our community as well as our local economy. I don’t need to hide my values, beliefs, or reasoning from the public eye when I am in an open public meeting representing the interests of our community as your elected public hospital commissioner. I hope you will all see fit to help elect candidates for hospital commissioner and for all elected leadership positions who share that value.

During this retreat we discussed (among other things): hospital commissioner advocacy, how we create a legislative advocacy agenda, how the board annually evaluates its own performance, CEO annual performance evaluation processes, and the relationship between our hospital district and the Washington State Hospital Association. Here is the ChatGPT summary based upon the transcript:

The Jefferson Healthcare board of commissioners retreat covered a range of topics, with a focus on enhancing board culture, effectiveness, and governance. Discussions included strategies for increased collaboration and effective interactions, the distinction between governance and management, confidentiality issues, and legal guidance. The board evaluated its progress on previously identified tactics and explored areas for improvement. Key points of contention revolved around the effectiveness of board meetings, the need for more substantial discussion, and the concept of generative governance. The retreat involved detailed assessments and reflections on various organizational and governance aspects to improve overall functioning and effectiveness.