Snoqualmie Valley Hospital Superintendent Rodger McCollum is facing an early termination of his contract, as of a special hospital board meeting Feb. 10.

With little discussion, the board members of Public Hospital District 4, Snoqualmie Valley Hospital, voted Wednesday to terminate McCollum’s contract with 30 days notice, plus a three-month severance package.

“Fiscal issues were a big part of it,” Board President Dariel Norris said after the meeting.”We had a couple of fiscal issues come up that raised red flags and that may have been driving this.”

McCollum, speaking to the Record by phone on Thursday, said he didn’t know what those fiscal issues could be and the board had never discussed them with him.

“The commissioners have approved every single thing that we’ve done, including expenditures,” he said.

Looking at cash flow, McCollum continued, “We’re in the healthiest financial position that we’ve ever been in.”

For the past month, he said, the hospital has been full, averaging 99.1 percent occupancy, and averaging monthly revenues of almost $3 million for the past several months.

The cost to the district for the 90 days of severance was estimated at $44,000, almost $50,000 with additional severance costs, plus Medicare reimbursement for administrative staff.

McCollum’s contract was the only agenda item for Wednesday’s special meeting, which was announced Monday, Feb. 8. After calling the meeting to order, the board immediately moved to an executive (closed) session to discuss the contract.

When they returned to the meeting, Commissioner David Speikers summed up the three options under consideration for the contract. All options had a 30-day notice of termination; option 1 included a full buy-out of McCollum’s contract, which was set to expire in December; option 2 included a 90-day severance package; option 3 was for the 30-day notice only.

Commissioner Emma Herron urged the board to act quickly, saying, “The longer we wait, the more problems we’re going to have.”

Commissioner Joan Young spoke in favor of option 1, buying out the contract at an estimated cost of $145,000, or about $85,000 following Medicare reimbursement.

“That’s probably the only fair way to achieve the goal in as positive a manner as we can,” Young said.

Norris agreed, saying, “I think we’ve spent a lot more for a lot of other things.”

Young moved to recommend the contract buyout, with a second from Norris. The motion failed, though, with their two votes in favor and votes against from Herron, Speikers and Gene Pollard.

Speikers then moved to recommend the 90-day severance package, calling it “the middle option.”

Young asked if the action created a risk of lawsuit. Hospital attorney Jay Rodne said that it was likely to result in wrongful termination and breach of contract lawsuits.

According to the options document presented to the board at the start of the meeting, the hospital district’s insurance would not cover any financial judgment awarded to McCollum as a result of a breach of contract lawsuit, and “potential costs of a breach of contract judgment would likely exceed the contract payout figure of $145,000.”

Options 2 and 3 would also likely result in higher insurance premiums in the future.

Speikers, Herron and Norris voted in favor of the motion; Young voted against and Pollard abstained from voting, having said earlier in the meeting that he did not consider McCollum’s contract valid.

McCollum was hired as superintendent of the hospital district in 2004. He said the board had changed substantially over his 12 years, from a supportive and communicative group to the current divided structure. Although he was surprised that the board voted not to honor his contract, he admitted he had been expecting some termination action.

“It’s been brewing for six months or so,” he said.

Although he says he doesn’t hold any ill will for the hospital as a result of this action, he won’t be criticized for not providing the board with guidance, saying that his job was to run the hospital and the board’s was to advise him on direction.

“They never gave me any sort of direction or instructions,” he said. “Now they’re coming back around and saying I didn’t perform… actually I put the responsibility on them. That is the one responsibility they do have is to make sure the superintendent has clear expectations about the board direction.”

“I will hold them accountable to fulfill the contract,” he added. “They still have the option to make that happen.”

The decision won’t be finalized until next month.

Hospital staff has been directed to prepare the documentation for the proposed termination and severance package and present it to the board for an official vote at the board’s next regular meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 3, at Snoqualmie City Hall, 38624 S.E. River St., Snoqualmie.