Hospital board begins administrator search
By Melinda L. Lucas
Shackelford County Hospital District board members started the process of hiring a new administrator at a meeting on Monday, June 28 after Jera Fairley opted not to sign a new contract and left the district’s employment about a month ago.
Fairley, who had been with the district in the capacity of administrator for six years, had been given until May 27 to sign a job description that the board first presented to her after a May 5 session in the form of a contract, with an initial signing deadline of May 13.
However, they amended the document during a meeting on May 17 and extended the deadline to May 27.
Fairley declined to sign, and according to board president Jo Ann Estridge, turned in her keys during the last week of May with no formal resignation.
The board has not met since then until this past Monday, with other SCHD staff members absorbing the administrator’s duties temporarily.
Estridge said that the directors had been working on the job description for a period of several months, also stating that it was intended not just for Fairley, but for all future administrators.
Except for voting to extend leave time on Fridays by three hours and then amending the vacation policy after Fairley’s objection that it did not agree with guidelines that had been passed in a previous meeting, there was no public discussion of the differences in the new job description and the unofficial policies that the administrator had been operating under.
Fairley’s departure was not specifically discussed at this week’s meeting, except in the context of working with other SCHD employees about moving forward with clinic and pharmacy management, and voting to advertise the vacant position in the newspaper and on various professional sites.
Four clinic staff members were present at the meeting to get clarification in a few areas like annual employee evaluations, PTO hours, and obtaining a new debit card for purchases, since the old card was in Fairley’s name.
Board member Chris Beard asked the staff how things were going and encouraged them to reach out to the directors if they have any problems during the interim period without an administrator.
Brandi Green has been handling many of the duties during the past month, including payroll and preparation for an upcoming audit.
Other Business
•The same officers were reelected to serve another year, including Estridge as board president, Mike Folsom as vice president, and Myra Hise as secretary.
•District secretary Regina Whitt reported that she had signed the paperwork to renew employee insurance with TML for another year, with a very slight increase.
