Frustrated with Skiff secrecy
Recently, a local blogger wrote how I contacted the Iowa Attorney General’s Office over my concerns about the future of the Baxter Clinic and Skiff Medical Center’s refusal to let me, as the mayor of Baxter, know whether or not the facility might be closed.
I did. And here’s why.
As mayor of Baxter, I take a strong interest in anything that might have an impact on the community. That’s my job as an elected official.
When Skiff Medical Center announced it was planning to use outside consultants to study its operations at a time when everyone knew the hospital was losing money, it became apparent that a real possibility existed that the report could recommend that the Baxter Clinic be closed. This would hurt the Baxter community because the clinic is something we point to in trying to attract new residents and businesses to the community. The clinic is a real asset for Baxter and for it to be closed would hurt our town.
I talked to the mayors of Monroe and Colfax about the situation because they also have Skiff clinics in their towns. We all agreed that we needed to find out as soon as possible what the report said about closing them down.
As an elected official, I have a pretty good understanding of the rules pertaining to open records and open meetings. I know that personnel decisions are confidential but felt that the decision of closing the clinics did not fall under that section of the code. All I wanted to know is whether the report suggested the Baxter Clinic be closed. I didn’t care about anything else in the report.
I felt frustrated when Skiff Medical Center said I couldn’t see what the report said. And I couldn’t understand, from my experience in dealing with open records, why I was denied. So that’s why I first went to the ombudsman with my concerns and later the attorney general. I wanted a set of outside eyes to look at the situation from a legal standpoint to tell me whether or not I had a leg to stand on.
I also asked the Attorney General’s Office to look at how the Skiff board went about hiring the consultants that were hired to help put in place the plans contained in the operations report. My concerns here also lie from my experience as an elected official.
As I understand it, the full Skiff board did not vote to approve the consultants. It was apparently discussed at closed sessions or in the finance committee. My experience as Baxter mayor tells me no action can be taken in a closed session. And when we have committees of the Baxter City Council, they are not allowed to make decisions for the full board.
I’m doing this because I feel sorry that the people of this community have to deal with this. As a city-owned hospital, the actions of the Skiff trustees need to be transparent because these people have been elected to do the public’s business. They represent the residents of this community. And they need to follow the letter of the law in doing that business.
