NEWS
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Hospital
Continued from Page A1
session’s agenda had been posted on the
hospital district’s web page with at least
24 hours’ notice. As of last week, how-
ever, the board’s website did not show
agendas for either the May 9 or May 16
meeting.
Jack Orchard, a lawyer from Ball
Janik LLP in Portland who specializes
in public records and open meetings
law, disagreed with the notion that post-
ing notifi cations in the hospital cafeteria
was all that was required.
“Posting in the cafeteria does not
appear to be even close to satisfying the
meetings law’s requirements,” Orchard
said.
Orchard said the board should have
notifi ed the newspaper in advance of
both meetings.
“Why newspaper notice was not
provided seems to be a large oversight,”
Orchard said.
He said he was skeptical of the need
or legal reason to hold an emergency or
special meeting. If the board knew that
the CEO matter was pending and Daley
was to remain on the job until Aug. 3,
the board had no basis under the law
to hold a special emergency meeting,
Orchard said.
Public and private sessions
Orchard also questioned why so
much of the board’s discussion about
hiring a new CEO took place in exec-
utive session.
State law explicitly allows a public
body to meet privately in an executive
session — where the public is barred
and reporters are instructed not to report
on the proceedings — only in certain
narrowly defi ned circumstances. The
statute also makes it clear that no fi nal
action or decision can be made during
an executive session.
Public bodies can meet in an exec-
utive session to “consider the employ-
Housing
Continued from Page A1
lead to erosion that would
impact the houses below it.
Lots in Canyon Mountain
Heights range in size between
8,000 and 20,000 square feet.
The prices will fall between
$25,000 and $75,000 each,
depending on size and
location.
“I think my pricing is
very fair right now, consid-
ering I break it down by the
square foot. I think the price
of these lots is comparable to
what real estate was in 2018,”
Ward said.
“I’m not going to try
to make a fortune on this.
If I was going to be rich it
would’ve happened years
ago. I’m just happy to have
a project that I can make a
little bit of money and peo-
ple can aff ord it because it’s
tough right now, especially
for young families.”
Nine lots have already
been sold in addition to the 10
homes that were in the devel-
opment previously. Ward
has also started building the
future home of Louis Dix,
the new superintendent of the
Grant School District. Dix
purchased the fi rst lot from
Ward following his acquisi-
tion of the subdivision.
Getting from that initial
purchase of a pair of lots two
years ago to now owning the
entire development and sell-
ing developed lots wouldn’t
have happened if a partner-
ship with previous investors
for Ward to manage the prop-
erty hadn’t fallen apart.
“It got to be the 11th hour
(and) two of the investors
were saying, ‘We’re not so
sure that the end game is here.
How are we going to make
our money and how is Bruce
going to make money?’ So it
fell apart.”
ment of a public offi cer, employee,
staff member or individual agent,”
the law says. However, if the position
to be fi lled is a CEO or public offi cer,
the public body must fi rst advertise the
vacancy and then — in an open ses-
sion — approve hiring standards, crite-
ria, compensation and policy directives.
It must also allow opportunity for pub-
lic comment.
Compensation, Orchard stressed,
cannot be discussed behind closed
doors.
It appears the board did not comply
with all of those requirements.
According to the offi cial minutes,
the board went into executive session
for nearly an hour at the beginning of
the May 9 meeting, then went into open
session for three minutes — just long
enough to accept Daley’s resignation
by a unanimous vote — before adjourn-
ing. On May 16, the board spent 29 of
the fi rst 30 minutes in executive session.
The meeting adjourned at 6:37 p.m.
It remains unclear when Kreger
actually reached out to off er Mar-
lowe the CEO job, but Kreger said
she announced Marlowe’s hiring at the
May 26 regular board meeting. Still, the
meeting minutes do not reference the
hiring of a new CEO.
The board was already familiar with
Marlowe from his previous stint as the
hospital district’s chief fi nancial offi -
cer between 2018 and 2020. According
to the May 16 minutes, Marlowe was a
“prospective and vetted” candidate from
an earlier CEO search.
A little over a year ago, the hospital
district opted not to renew the contract
with its longtime management com-
pany, HealthTechS3 Management Ser-
vices. The management fi rm had come
under harsh criticism from patients for
long wait times to see providers, lost
referrals and generally poor customer
service.
Daley was the hospital district’s CEO
at the time, but he was an employee
of HealthTechS3, and it wasn’t clear
Not long after that part-
nership fell through, how-
ever, Ward got a call from a
friend in Salem he’s known
for 50 years who had heard
about the project and wanted
to help with funding for the
development.
“This thing just fell right
back into my lap,” Ward said.
“It could not have been a better
fi t for me. I couldn’t be luck-
ier that I found the players that
I’ve found.”
Making a neighborhood
Lots in Canyon Mountain
Heights will have a declara-
tion of covenants, conditions
and restrictions. The CC&R’s
don’t mean the development
will fall under a homeown-
ers’ association, however, and
Ward said there won’t be any
fees or dues required to reside
in the subdivision.
“Some people say, ‘We’re in
rural Eastern Oregon and why
do we want to live in a subdi-
vision like Salem or Portland?’
Well, there are a lot of peo-
ple that want to live in a sub-
division with nice, well-kept
homes. Not everybody wants a
5-acre tract,” Ward said.
Despite the CC&Rs, Ward
said potential homebuyers
aren’t locked into the steel-
framed homes he typically
builds and can hire their own
builders following the pur-
chase of a lot.
“We still have to have an
oversight on what they’re
building,” he added. “On the
east side of the street they have
to be one-story homes so you
aren’t blocking the view (of
Canyon Mountain) on the west
side.”
Ward said every lot in the
planned subdivision has a view
of the mountain.
Putting it all together
Ward thinks he’ll fi nd a
ready market among people
wanting to leave the city for
whether the district board would be able
to hire him away from the management
company. Kreger said the board consid-
ered Marlowe for the position in a few
closed-door sessions.
Ultimately, the board voted to hire
Daley as the hospital district’s CEO and
signed him to a two-year contract that
paid him $273,000 yearly.
Under terms of the board’s con-
tract with HealthTechS3, the district
paid a fl at fee of $90,000, roughly 33%
of Daley’s salary, to hire him away
from the management company. Daley
became an employee of the hospital dis-
trict on April 1, 2021.
First CEO search
Kreger pointed out that Mar-
lowe’s hiring was the fi rst time the
board had hired a CEO independent of
HealthTechS3.
In the past, she said, the hospital dis-
trict did not have anything to do with the
search and vetting process, because the
CEO — as was the case with Daley —
was an employee of HealthTechS3.
“Our human resources department
and our board had nothing to do with
(fi nding and hiring a CEO),” she said.
“The management company) would
bring a candidate for us to preview.”
Nonetheless, multiple sources have
told the Eagle that a signifi cant num-
ber of hospital staff were upset at being
left out of the hiring process this time
around.
Kreger disputed that claim, saying
that the CEO search was not a secret
around the hospital and the staff was
welcome to engage, ask questions and
share their thoughts about the process.
Kreger noted that the CEO transi-
tion was prominently displayed on the
agenda for the June 22 regular board
meeting. At that meeting, the board
voted to change Daley’s fi nal day with
the district from Aug. 3 to July 22 and
change Marlowe’s fi rst day on the job
from July 11 to June 27.
However, she said, those in atten-
the small town lifestyle to be
found in Grant County.
“People are just sick and
tired of the big city,” he said.
“Even ... in Pendleton, the
traffi c drives me nuts. I lived
in Salem for four years and
commuted to Portland and
Seattle, and I just can’t stand
it. People want to live like we
do.”
Ward said he recognizes
some local residents are leery
of outsiders, but he doesn’t
think they have anything to
worry about.
“I made a comment once
and I said, ‘You know, the
next person who comes to
our community and loves it
as much as I do or loves it
as much as the very fi rst per-
son who ever came to this
community has every right
to be here and as much of a
right as I did or the fi rst guy,
as long as you’re here and
you’re contributing in a pos-
itive way.”
Ward said he got pushback
for those comments, with
people saying not to encour-
age others to move into the
area.
“Why wouldn’t they love
it?” was Ward’s response.
“Why wouldn’t they want to
live here? I do, you do. As
long as they’re contributing.
Let’s welcome people here to
live our lifestyle, but don’t try
to change us.”
“We need diversity and we
need fresh thoughts, but in a
positive way to improve our
lifestyle,” he added.
There are some previ-
ous homeowners in the area
that have concerns about
the development of the land
because they haven’t had
neighbors for years, accord-
ing to Ward.
Ward said that was inevi-
table and if he hadn’t started
developing that land, some-
body else would have. “I’m
trying to be as understanding
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dance at the meeting were mostly —
if not all — supervisors and staff that
were required to attend. Additionally,
she added that the board makes eff orts
to engage with the hospital staff .
Kreger defended the board’s per-
formance in hiring the district’s new
chief executive. She said a quick hire
allowing Marlowe and Daley to over-
lap was “extremely important” for a
“smooth transition for the organization.”
Also, she added, the hiring of Marlowe
allowed the district to avoid recruit-
ing costs, which can include travel and
lodging expenses for job candidates and
their families.
Moreover, Kreger said, the hospital
district’s legal counsel, Amy Robinson
of Miller Nash LLP, advises the board in
all hospital business — including Ore-
gon Public Meetings Law — and she
maintains the board’s actions broke no
provisions of open meetings law.
The Attorney General’s Public
Meetings Manual concedes that strict
compliance with the requirements of
open meetings law may “sacrifi ce speed
and spontaneity for more process and
formality.”
Even in an emergency situation,
however, the law still requires public
bodies to meet certain requirements for
public notice and access.
“It appears someone got in a hurry
and just wanted to ‘get business done,’”
Orchard said. “That’s not our public
meetings system. That takes the public
largely out of the process.”
Why public access matters
In addition to the Blue Mountain
Hospital, the Blue Mountain Hospital
District operates Strawberry Wilder-
ness Community Clinic, Blue Moun-
tain Care Center and Blue Mountain
Home Health and Hospice Agency.
The hospital district has about 250
employees.
As a taxing district of Grant County,
the hospital district receives a share of
the county’s property tax revenues.
as I can but I have to make
this thing work,” he said.
A boost for Canyon City
Talk of adding over 40
homes to a community the
size of Canyon City is bound
to draw attention. Canyon
City has a population of 694
residents following the last
count in 2020.
That many new occupied
homes mean increased prop-
erty tax revenue for Canyon
City and increased spending
throughout the county.
Canyon City Mayor Steve
Fischer said the subdivision is
going to be a welcome addi-
A9
According to County Assessor David
Thunell, the hospital district was sched-
uled to receive just over $1.4 million for
the 2021-22 tax year.
The U.S. system of government
requires all states to conduct govern-
ment business in the open, unless there
is an extraordinary reason not to do so,
Orchard noted.
With that, he said, the public gets an
opportunity to be notifi ed of a public
meeting, observe what happens there,
and access — after the fact — a record
of what happened.
Because the hospital is a publicly
funded entity with publicly elected
directors, the three aspects of hiring a
CEO — setting compensation, adopt-
ing the hiring procedure and voting on
the hiring of the individual — are public
business matters that must be conducted
in an open setting and allow for public
comment.
“It’s simple,” Orchard said, “the con-
tract is a public contract and the public
needs to be able to observe how that
public contract was adopted.”
Because compensation of the hos-
pital district’s CEO involves pub-
lic resources, he said, the people have
a right to understand what public
resources are being committed.
“That doesn’t mean the public can
stop it, necessarily,” he said.
However, there needs to be an open
forum where the public body carries
out a process that tells people the public
body is hiring a new CEO and is going
to pay this person a certain amount of
money. Then, he said, the public has a
right to share its opinion — favorable or
not — about the decision. Either way,
Orchard said, the people have a right to
comment.
For instance, Orchard said, the pub-
lic can express its displeasure if the
board decides to pay the new CEO more
than the one before and can demand to
know the reason for the increase.
“The public has the right to ask those
questions,” Orchard said.
tion to his town.
“Oh, it’s wonderful for
Canyon City,” he said. “What
we try to do is make it eas-
ier to build here. We don’t
have additional fees and per-
mitting and things like that,
other than your state-required
building permits, where John
Day has diff erent fees and dif-
ferent requirements. For Can-
yon City, it’s going to be a
boon.”
Fischer said the goal of the
city is to make homebuilding
an aff ordable endeavor.
“All the system develop-
ment charges are included
with those lots,” he added.
“If you build anywhere else
in Canyon City, those sys-
tem development charges are
about $3,600. In John Day,
they’re $7,400. We’ve tried to
keep the costs down in Can-
yon City to promote growth
here.”
Fischer also commended
the time and eff ort Ward has
put into both advertising and
cleaning up the lots prior to
sale.
“He’s advertising it and
he’s promoting it very well,”
he said. “There is more inter-
est in it than there has been in
years. For Canyon City, this
is terrifi c.”