RHCD sets Jan.8 special meeting with clinic administrator candidate

by Janet Montgomery

While the Rural Health Care District Board of Trustees started with a full agenda last Wednesday night at the Marbleton Town Hall, the weather prevented a few of the designated presenters from attending.

Board members, opted to sign the contract for Dr. Dave Kapperman will is scheduled to begin working at the Pinedale Medical Clinic on Jan. 8.

The board also opted to set an extra board meeting on that Monday, Jan. 8 in order to meet for further discussions with clinic administrator candidate Robert “Kip” Boone. The meeting would be a open to the public, but setting an open house for Boone to be introduced to the community was delayed until after a contract is signed.

In an update of information on who is paying the bills for the clinic construction, it was determined that the Sublette County Commissioners are paying.

At the last board meeting, board member Garry Eiden asked for clarification on who is paying the bills when a request came before the board regarding change orders.

Clerk of the Works Brian Gray asked that a limit be placed on the change order so that the contractor could be paid without the procedure to follow to the board before a check is finally issued another two weeks later.

Gray had suggested a limit of $25,000 to speed up the process.

Asking who was paying the bill, the district or the Sublette County Commissioners, Eiden said that it was his impression that the county was paying for the construction.

“If the commissioners are going to pay the bills, they need to see the change orders,” he said.

While the motion to set a limit of $25,000 for the clerk of the works and the RHCD Director Randy Johnson to approve without appearing before the board passed at that meeting, Eiden voted against it.

The architect’s meeting set for last week was cancelled as the severe weather in Denver kept the architects from flying out. Discussion came to having Bill Schertz preset to the architects and the board members at the same time, with a tentative arrangement for the architects to attend the up coming regular Jan. 10 meeting of the RHCD.

The district employees will also have received a letter this past week regarding payroll, as the RHCD is going to a biweekly payroll with just a limited number on salary and the rest of its employees on hourly rates.

In an update on nursing, all the nurses are hired and the policies and procedures manual is expected to take form by the first part of February.