The Board of County Commissioners denied a contract between the County and Castle Rock Hospital District today.
A motion to approve the Human Service Agreement with Castle Rock Hospital was denied with a vote of 2-3. Commissioners Randy Wendling and Wally Johnson voted to approve the agreement, and Commissioners Reid West, Don Van Matre, and John Kolb voted against the agreement.
If approved, the agreement would have included the County providing $81,000 to Castle Rock Hospital District for services. The contract would run from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.
The Commissioners noted that the contract was only recently signed by the Castle Rock Hospital District Board of Trustees despite the contract’s date to begin in July of 2017. This would obligate the County to provide the full $81,000 to Castle Rock through June 30, 2018.
The Commissioners said Castle Rock has operated since July without County funding because the District’s Board made the decision to not sign the contract. At that time, Castle Rock did not agree with the contract because it would require them to provide their positions and salaries as other outside entities receiving county funds are required.
Castle Rock did provide their positions and salaries to the Commissioners for approval today along with the other outside entities. Because the Commissioners voted to not approve the agreement with Castle Rock Hospital District, they also voted to exclude those positions and salaries, which were provided to comply the contract, from the Filing of Positions and Salaries .
Commissioners West, Van Matre, and Kolb all voted against the motion to approve the contract. They said they would prefer to look at funding for Castle Rock Hospital District when they budget for the next fiscal year.
West said he felt that the Commission has helped the Hospital District for many years, and to get into a disagreement over a transparency issue like publishing salaries was “absolutely ridiculous.â€
Van Matre said he was “disappointed†that a previously good rapport was damaged. He said he supports Castle Rock Hospital District, but he believes the Commission needs to evaluate the funds they provide. He said he thinks the disagreement could have been handled better.
Kolb said the Commissioners have provided the Hospital District with large sums of money in the past in order to help them in difficult times. He said the position they are enjoying today is due to the help from the Commission in the past.
Both Wendling and Johnson said they felt they should sign the contract so those utilizing the services are not punished because of the delay in Castle Rock signing the contract.
