CCMSD: conduct called into question again

Conversations about the conduct of the Crook County Medical Services District Board of Trustees were initiated at May’s regular meeting, but put on hold due to the absence of the Trustee Sandy Neiman, whose actions had been called into question.

Though Mark Erickson, board chairman, did not feel the need to continue that discussion last week, Trustee Connie Lindmier felt that Neiman had a right to hear what she had been accused of.

Acquiescing, Erickson began by commenting that, “We have a lot of discussions that go on that we are not in agreement with each other, and that is overall what is expected, in my opinion, of a well-functioning board.”

However, he said, there needs to be a limit as to where those discussions are left, and that limit should not allow for “second hand threats” about “what we hope would happen” to other board members.

Erickson suggested that Neiman had made a threat against him to a third party and commented that it’s not acceptable to say you want someone else to be “done away with.” He added that he thinks board members need to be, “very cautious of what we say on a personal level”.

Neiman responded that the comment in question took place during a phone call to a local business. When the person who answered the phone asked what they could do for her, Neiman said her response was that they could either kill Erickson or herself so their names wouldn’t appear on the front of the newspaper again.

“We laughed and we joked about it and we hung up. There was nothing to the public about it, it was a phone call,” Neiman said.

She added that comments of this nature are not unusual in this area. “That’s just the way we live here and I’m sorry if you took that wrong, it was all a joke,” she said, expressing that she wishes Erickson had come to her about it rather than made a statement at a public meeting.

“Well, I would have appreciated it if the comment hadn’t been made,” Erickson replied.

Lindmier asked for clarification that Erickson did not personally hear the comment being made. Erickson responded that he did not hear it, but that the statement involved someone’s life and, “That is not something you take lightly.”

“This is basically a rumor that you were told,” Lindmier said. Neiman added, “I’ll tell you right now, if somebody has a problem with me, call me – period.”

Public Records

The attitude of Erickson towards public information was also called into question during a different part of the meeting, when Bill Motley of the Crook County Medical Foundation said Erickson’s “interviews with the newspaper” were just as damaging to the relationship between the two boards as the letter he had read out condemning district board members for not supporting the Hulett Clinic.

Motley’s comment reflected a second issue of conduct that had been brought up at May’s meeting: the rejection letter sent from the Crook County Hospital Foundation in response to the board’s proposed lease for the Hulett Clinic. In accordance with state statutes governing public records, a copy of the document was provided to this newspaper on request and an article was then published to outline its content as part of ongoing coverage of negotiations between the two boards.

The letter had been sent to Lindmier, she said, and was supposed to be discussed by the district board. However, before that happened, it was given to the newspaper; she expressed her displeasure over the resulting article, which she said was “slamming.”

“You had read [the foundation’s response], but we had not been able to discuss it as a board,” she said at June’s meeting.

Erickson responded that his comments were not made during interviews but rather in public meetings, which by law must be open to the public, “which includes the press.” The press, in turn, has the right to report these comments to the community, and the board cannot ask the press not to report them.

“We can say though that what we do for the paper comes as a consensus of the board – and the paper should respect that,” said Neiman.

She continued by saying, “I wish the paper would respect us,” commenting that the newspaper should wait until the board gives its permission before sharing information.

“We need to make sure what goes in the paper is consensus of this whole board,” she said.

Erickson responded that he’s not sure how the board would go about asserting “control” of the newspaper.