In deference to the upcoming municipal election, the South Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board tabled until January a resolution asking the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly to form a task force to evaluate SPH governance options.

The SAB brought forward their own resolution last Thursday seeking to address community concerns about a perceived lack of transparency from the hospital’s board of directors, or operating board, after voting down a similar citizen-initiated one last month.

Under Resolution 2026-06, the task force would investigate:

• Whether SPH should be governed by an elected operating board instead of an appointed, self-perpetuating board;
• Whether operating board members should be term-limited;
• Whether hospital employees should be prohibited from serving on the operating board;
• Whether the operating board must adhere fully to the Alaska Open Meeting Act; and
• Other public interest scope items as determined by the borough assembly.
  
  

The resolution also directs the task force to evaluate “whether the operator should be an independent private nonprofit entity.”

“I’m using the term ‘poison pill,’” said Chris Story, author of the citizen-initiated resolution. “I was encouraging (the SAB to) move it on to the assembly, but in retrospect, I’m actually glad they didn’t, because of that item, which has never been brought up by the people.”

At least one SAB member and one operating board member would be on the task force, as well as a community member from within the SPH service area.

The hospital’s operating agreement must be renegotiated before Dec. 31, 2028, otherwise it will automatically renew as is for another five years, SPH CEO Ryan Smith said. If the borough wished to make any changes based on the task force’s recommendations, it could amend the operating agreement before its renewal or wait to fold those changes into the negotiations.

The borough has made minor amendments to operating agreements in the past, but on very few occasions, said Kelly Cooper, Homer’s borough assembly representative.

Service area board members debated whether to postpone or vote down the resolution, in part because of the absence of three board members — one seat recently vacated by former SAB member Helen Armstrong and two members with excused absences from Thursday’s meeting — and partly because the little time left before the Nov. 3 election means the borough assembly is unlikely to address the SAB resolution until the winter, if at all.

“I wouldn’t expect that it would even be introduced until after the election,” Cooper said.

Vice chair Brandy Zollars said tabling it would give the SAB more time to reconsider the language in the resolution and formally solicit public feedback in addition to what the board has heard in their last few meetings.

Chair Francie Roberts questioned whether the hospital’s governance was a big enough issue to warrant action before the operating agreement renegotiation.

“There’s people that are not in favor of this at all in our community, and I sort of suspect there’s more that are not in favor of this than in favor,” she said.

Board treasurer Tamara Fletcher agreed.

“I don’t want to risk our nonprofit status,” she said.

Seven community members, five of them current hospital employees, spoke positively of their experiences at SPH and asked the SAB to vote down the resolution.

“I’ve had my own frustrations with the hospital…. Having said that, I don’t recommend a task force to examine something that’s not broken. I recommend we keep using the existing mechanisms of our precious hospital to keep moving forward together,” said Rob Downey, a provider with Seaworthy Functional Medicine.

Paul Raymond, a provider with Kachemak Medical Group, said the SAB should let the borough decide. Story spoke similarly during the regular meeting’s public comment period, but later supported the SAB postponing the resolution.

The service area board voted 4-2 to postpone Resolution 2026-06 until their January meeting, with Roberts and Fletcher against.

The SAB will discuss next month whether and how to formally solicit public feedback on the resolution or amend it further.

SPH will host a second virtual community information session and Q&A on the hospital’s governance structure and operation at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

CEO Ryan Smith and operating board president Aaron Weisser will address community concerns and allow time for questions and comments from the online audience.

The Zoom event will be recorded and posted on the hospital’s website for those unable to attend and for future reference. For more information, visit SPH online.