At a tense meeting on Monday night, the Dahl Memorial Clinic board voted to move forward with the hiring of a new executive director. The position had been filled by an interim director. 

 

 

The Dahl Memorial Clinic board thanked interim director Thomas Steiner for his service at its last meeting. A committee has selected Albert Wall for the position of permanent executive director. Wall has served as deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Health and Human Services. Steiner has been serving in the interim position since August 2022. A Skagway News article at the time disclosed the municipality hired Steiner for a three month contract at a cost of $150.000. His contract has been renewed since,and a meeting last month, the clinic board voted to extend the contract again until the end of February.

Despite the high cost of his contract to the municipality, Steiner has strong supporters on the clinic board. Monday night’s agenda showed the board had planned to go into executive session to discuss the application of Steiner for the permanent director position in parallel with Wall’s. Executive sessions are conducted in private, and the public doesn’t have access to the content of the discussions.

Mayor Sam Bass sent a letter to the board, saying the Borough Attorney had determined that going into executive session would be improper, and possibly unlawful.

Former Mayor Andrew Cremata spoke during the public comment period. He objected to what he saw as inappropriate actions by the board.

Cremata: “By attempting to entertain an applicant that has already stated he would not accept the posted salary, you are breaking the law. This board has no authority to offer a job to anyone outside of the selection committee process, nor the authority to offer an increase in salary.”

Cremata reminded the board that according to municipal law, a selection committee composed of the borough manager, deputy manager and one clinic board member would select an applicant. He said the board has a narrow role after that, it is to approve the candidate. 

He objected strongly to the board going into the planned executive session to discuss both applicants away from the public eye.

Cremata: “This is against the law,and I believe it conveys a pattern of collusion to manufacture an end result in conflict with municipal law.”

Cremata said he suspects some board members were colluding with one applicant, presumably Steiner, to offer him a position at a higher salary. Cremata said he was determined to find out.

Cremata: “I submitted a public records request that states the following: I’m requesting the following records, all public and private correspondence related to the hiring of the Dahl Memorial Clinic executive director, through November 6th 2023, that’s today, including public email, private email, personal text messages and any correspondence between the following individuals. All clinic board members, Mr Thomas Steiner, and assembly person Jay Burnham.”

Cremata said his request could lead to a thorough enquiry.

Cremata: “If approved by the municipal attorney, this will open up all of your public and private devices to public scrutiny, to determine if collusion has been taking place, and if the Open Meetings Act has been violated.”

Board President Jeremy Simmons pushed back against the accusations. 

Simmons: “The requests for these executive sessions were made on Tuesday evening, did not receive any comment back from the attorney until Friday evening, after which is was clear that my request for these to be placed on the agenda, there were conclusions that were jumped to as to what the intent of that was. Which I see based on Mr Cremata’s statements that he’s jumping to the same conclusions. There was no intention that this be a means of negotiating a contract” 

Simmons said conversations with the attorney had led him to believe that discussing candidates would require going into an executive session. Simmons decided to forego the said executive session, and the board went on to vote to approve the selection of Albert Wall as the next executive director for the clinic, and to request that the manager negotiates a contract with him.

Board members thanked Steiner for his service.  

Mayor Sam Bass says the relationship between the assembly and the clinic board is a work in progress.

Bass: “I think sometimes the process can get a little unclear, and that’s unfortunate. The clinic board, the assembly, are developing their relationship. And I thin, once we make a few clarifications on process, it’s going to run even smoother.”

Bass commended Steiner for  his work.

Bass: “I think Thomas Steiner has done a great job, I think he has really helped keep the ship on the right course, and so when he hands it off to Mr Wall, it’s already going to be in a good spot to allow Mr Wall to take off with it.”

Bass also praised the clinic board for their work. As the new mayor, he recommends who will be on the board.  His recommendations hint at a change in leadership, he did not include the current president and vice president of the board.

Bass: “And I absolutely appreciate dedication to the clinic board, but I also want to give other people the opportunity to get in there and serve their community. I think it’s very important. It’s government of the people by the people.”

Once the manager and Mr Wall agree on a contract, the assembly will vote to approve it.