October 24, 2023

BOARD MEETING:  Regular Meeting   DATE:  October 24, 2023    MEMBERS PRESENT:David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Mary Irvin, Michael W. Nation, Sr., Brenda Smith. MEMBERS ABSENT: Robert T. Green Jr. (arrived at 4:09 p.m.), Pat White.   TIME CALLED TO ORDER: 4:00 p.m.   OTHERS PRESENT: David Jones, CEO, Dr. John Woods, Chief of Staff, Drew Burnham, Attorney, Dakota Robinson, CFO,  Brent Leonard, NCMC Controller, Kourtney Tyson, Foundation Director, Stacy Alexander, Chief Nursing Officer/Foundation Vice-Chair, Mary Coil, Marketing Director, Britney Stringham, Administrative Assistant, Daniel Marze, Ambulance Service Director, Mike Gray, Security Guard Ross Hansen, IT Director, Melisa Stewart, Assistant Director of Nursing.    LOCATION: NCMC Café     BOARD CHAIR: David Norman   SECRETARY:  David Jones   I.  CALLED TO ORDER – David Norman, Board Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.     II. Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance – Michael Nation offered the Invocation and Mary Irvinled the group in the Pledge of Allegiance.   III. Approval / Amend Agenda – David Norman stated we need to amend the agenda. We need to move Item #XI. Administrative Report to Item #VI above the current #VI. Foundation Report. Brenda Smith made a motion to amend the agenda as noted. Ronnie Festavan seconded the motion. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Robert Green, Pat White. Abstained: None.     Ronnie Festavan made a motion to approve the agenda as amended. Kenneth Cochran seconded the motion. There was no discussion. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Robert Green, Pat White. Abstained: None. The vote was unanimous in favor to approve the amended agenda.  IV. Community Comments – David Norman, Board Chair stated there was no one present requesting to make community comments.   V. Minutes – Regular Meeting September 26, 2023 – David Norman stated we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes with discussion, if any, to follow. Ronnie Festavan made a motion to approve the minutes of September 26, 2023 as presented. Brenda Smith seconded the motion. There was no discussion or corrections noted. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Robert Green, Pat White. Abstained: None. The vote was unanimous in favor to approve the September 26, 2023 minutes as presented.  VI. Administrative Report – David Jones stated the reason I wanted to move this up is we have some guests that we have some things to go over. I would like to take a second to express to the Board that one of the largest points of joy that I have had as the CEO here is working with, and I’ve said it before, what I think is the best staff in North America. Just kind of watching them over the 18 years that I’ve been the CEO here, watching them change and improve themselves and improve the organization for the betterment of the people in this community. We’ve had a number of people go back to school and obtain degrees from there which has been kind of a huge point that I like to brag about. We’ve had, recently, one of our department heads has gone forward and obtained his Master’s Degree and this employee has been crucial in our success in what we’ve been able to do here. I would like to acknowledge him at this time, Mr. Ross Hansen, our Director of IT. He has recently graduated and obtained his Master’s Degree and he’s been working in Mrs. Hughes’ old office in Administration that has a name plate of Chief Operating Officer. David Jones stated this name plate will now reflect his new title as Chief Information Officer, presenting a new name plate to Ross Hansen. David Jones stated to Ross we appreciate everything you do here and we are glad to have you. David Jones asked Ross if he would like to say anything. Ross said it’s been a pleasure to work with everybody here. I was here when the old hospital was here and we’ve grown this facility and added more services and really expanded the rural health clinics. It’s been a fantastic experience and a real joy working here and thank you for the opportunity.   (Robert Green arrived at 4:09 p.m.) The Board thanked Mike Gray and Daniel Marze for their presentation on the new security program.  VII. Foundation Report – Kourtney Tyson, Foundation Director, stated you’ll see I gave you each an envelope. Inside that envelope is a ticket form for you to purchase tickets to our Christmas Bingo Night which will be November 30th, the Thursday following Thanksgiving. It’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s a casual event. We have tons of prizes, we’re going to have raffle prizes, there will be a cash bar and lots of food to eat. It’s going to be a really fun time. We’re are only selling a limited number of tickets. It will only accommodate about 200 people. I currently already have about 40 tickets out and we just released everything on Friday. If you are interested please fill these forms out. Each person attending has to have a ticket. You can give them back to me or Britney or you can mail it to the address on the bottom of the form. We would love to have you all. That is what the Foundation has coming up. We will also be doing our Christmas Trees then end of November, the beginning of December. Thank you. VIII. Chief of Staff Report – Dr. John Woods said everything seems to be running well. It’s been quite busy. If there’s any questions I will be more than glad to answer them for you. Ronnie Festavan, said just as an update, what are you seeing mostly. Is it just a mass variety? Dr. Woods replied just a mass variety. We are seeing a lot of patients not from this area. I guess it’s influx of people either moving towards this area and/or just the outskirts that prefer to come to this hospital than the places in Texas but I’m seeing a lot of that. Ronnie Festavan thanked Dr. Woods. David Norman asked if there were any more questions for Dr. Woods. There were none.  IX. Old Business – 1) Update Building Projects:  David Jones stated the update on the building projects, we actually have good movement on all fronts. We’ll start with Benton Medical, you can see where the old building was, so now we’ve got it framed up and roof on. They are pretty much in the dry now. We do have an abundance of green space to clear around the Blanchard and South Bossier, we’ve got six acres there, so we have room to expand there, but that was an existing clinic there so we went with what we could get. The next project is our Medical Arts Building out back. They are getting very close to starting the parking lot. The plumbing and electrical are not done just yet. The compaction studies for all the dirt work is done. We are waiting for electrical lines, the plumbing lines to be laid in the parking lot that needs to be laid. As you all know this is partially paid for by a grant at the USDA, the rest of it is coming from our coffers but we are moving to income producing areas into that building as well. South Bossier, there are updated photos from those. Some of the early dirt work and the parking lot is poured and drying and getting ready for the building that should come in the first week of November. South Bossier and Benton completion date should be fairly close. Ronnie Festavan, said since you are on South Bossier, just a comment about that. We had our City Auditors up for a week, week before last. One of our City Auditors lives out not too far. She asked me if it was ours and I told her it was. She made the statement – oh, my gosh, I hope you build a pharmacy out there. We absolutely have no pharmacy facilities in south Bossier. She said it’s a 20 to 30 minute wait standing line in Brookshire’s to get anything.  She said the drive thru is very seldom open. David Jones said we’ve got plenty of space. She asked me to pass that on to you. I thought that was interesting that that was her first comment was to please build a pharmacy. Brenda Smith said if I could add to that. I, too, have had someone say to me that they have family that live out that way. They said there are no clinics out that way.  Blanchard, their work is underway. I don’t think we are complete, compaction wise, and got everything approved. We are still clearing things. Right now, knock on wood, our four construction projects are like dead on schedule. Praise God for that.  X. Review September Statistics and Financials – 1) Statistics: Brent Leonard, NCMC Controller, noted that there was kind of a mix of between a slower month inpatient wise and swing but we continue to make up ground in our outpatient services with a good month. The clinics saw a slight dip from the previous month. We had some good highs in August, with slight dips but still overall a good month statistics wise.  Brent gave an overview of the September 2023 Statistics with discussion to follow.  2) Financials: Dakota Robinson, CFO, gave a financial review for September. He noted in the Financial Analysis we’ll see a few things throughout the financial statements. One of the things is our cash balance; what days cash on hand looks like. Obviously, it’s a mixed bag of things both inpatient and outpatient; a lot of similarities to previous months. In review he noted that the total expenses are low and the year to date contractual adjustments are low and our budget is where we would like it to be. Dakota asked if there were any questions on the financial statements. There were none.  David Norman said if there are no questions or discussion, I would entertain a motion and a second to approve the Statistical and Financial Reports as presented. Michael Nation made a motion to approve the Statistical and Financial reports as presented. Brenda Smith seconded the motion. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White.   Abstained: None. The vote was unanimous in favor to approve the Statistical and Financial Reports as presented.   XI. New Business:  1) South Bossier Electrical Bid: David Jones stated we have two items under new business. One is the South Bossier Electrical Bid. This is kind of a unique project as opposed to the ones we’ve been doing in bidding them all as one. We had to bid out the building which is being built somewhere else, we bid out the parking lot, and we have to bid out the electrical work because it goes well above of the amount that we need to get bids on. If I can get a motion and a second I will go into some detail of what that involves. Ronnie Festavan made a motion to approve the bid for the electrical work for South Bossier Clinic. Robert Green seconded the motion. David Jones said that pretty much covers the hook ups to the new building. We have to build a lift station for the sewage area. They are going to put electrical poles in the parking lot and get them hooked up, the electrical hookups what will be the new building whenever we build it as well. Whenever we move out of there a lot of that money will stay there on the site whether the temporary building is there or not. It’s just something that would be in the project had it been bid out all at once, but it’s not. That is the lowest if the three bids we got. David Norman asked if there was any discussion. There was none. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert  Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White. Abstained: None. The vote was unanimous in favor to approve the South Bossier Electrical Bid as presented.   2) Purchase of 106 Airport Drive:   David Jones said if I could have a motion and a second for the purchase of 106 Airport Drive, which is the first house coming up Airport Drive. Ronnie Festavan made a motion to approve the purchase of 106 Airport Drive. Mary Irvin seconded the motion.  David Jones stated there is a small caveat to this that I want the Board to be aware of. This is a co-owned by siblings that was inherited. We got Lee Hall to do us a comparative estimate to find what the price per square foot was and he gave a comp price in it. From that standpoint, the primary person I’ve been dealing with accepted but she said we had to make sure it is ok with the rest of my family as well. I have not heard back from her yet. Either way that is going to be the maximum that we are going to spend on it which is, in my opinion, is somewhat a premium for the property, and total finance fee as well. The property is more of a want than a need at this point. Dakota has pulled up an aerial of it and you can see what it brings to the table if we purchase the property and one day want to build something on that green space we have a very large area then that we can build something – a parking lot or whatever we want to. We have enough space right now to do something on. It actually makes the northwest of the green area, it makes it more functional if we could come all the way to Airport to build something there. You could be facing Airport or facing Pine Street. Just makes it more functional. Once again, we don’t have plans to use it right now. If the family does come back and want some odd amount for the property, well it’s not something that we have to have at this point. It’s just more of a want. It is for sale right now, so for the future to be able and go ahead and procure it, we have the funds available so it would be in our best interest, in my opinion, to go ahead because we are land locked here. That is something that we always have to be cognizant of is we don’t have a whole lot of room when you start expanding everywhere. It would be a good buy. Brenda Smith asked if there is still one more house between that house and the dialysis center. David Jones replied there are two houses but they are kind of behind our central plant so to buy them and do anything with them, it would not be really helpful. Unlike this property, which like I said it pretty much squares up a huge green space for us, those two would be hard to use. The dialysis center could use that one more than we could. This piece of property would be helpful to us. It’s one lot and a small piece of another lot. Ronnie Festavan said it adjoins what we already own. You clear it all out and you have a pretty good corner. David Jones said one of the big oak trees needs to go. It’s been giving us problems since day one. David Norman asked if there was any other discussion. We have a motion and a second to accept the appraisal price for the property at 106 Airport Drive. We need a vote. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White. Abstained: None. The vote was unanimous in favor to approve the acceptance of the appraisal price for 106 Airport Drive.  XIII. Medical Staff Recommendations:  September 2023 Medical Staff Recommendations were presented by Dakota Robinson for Board approval. MEDICAL STAFF APPOINTMENTS:  None.    MEDICAL STAFF REAPPOINTMENT: 1) Wayne Homza, M.D. – Requests Active Privileges in the field of Radiology for the period of October 24, 2023 through October 31, 2025.  2)  Andrew Sholl, M.D. – Requests Courtesy Privileges in the field of Pathology for the period of October 24, 2023 through October 31, 2025.  ADVANCE PRACTICE PROFESSIONALS APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENT: None. EXTENSION REQUEST: 1) Aaron Burgin, M.D. – Requests extension until completion of reappointment application.  VOLUNTARY RESIGNATIONS: 1) Travis Henley, M.D. – Voluntary resigns his Privileges in the field of Radiology effective 09/30/2023.  David Norman said I would entertain a motion and a second to approve the Medical Staff recommendations. Robert Green made a motion to approve the (2) Medical Staff Reappointments, (1) Extension Request and (1) Voluntary Resignation as presented. Michael Nation seconded the motion.  The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White. Abstained: None. The vote was unanimous in favor to approve the Medical Staff recommendations as presented.   XIV. Executive Session – David Norman stated we need to enter into a brief Executive Session for the purpose of Strategic Planning.  I would entertain a motion and a second. Robert Green made a motion to enter into Executive Session.  Ronnie Festavan seconded the motion. The vote: Yeas: David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White. Abstained: None.   The motion passed by unanimous vote to enter into Executive Session.  The Executive Session was entered into.  No action was taken during the Executive Session. Robert Green made a motion to enter back into regular session. Mary Irvin seconded the motion. The vote: Yeas:  David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White. Abstained: None.    The motion passed by unanimous vote to enter back into regular session. David Norman stated we are now back in our regular Board session.  XIV. Adjourn – There being no further business David Norman said I would entertain a motion to adjourn.  Robert Green made a motion to adjourn.  Michael Nation seconded the motion. The vote:  Yeas:   David Norman, Kenneth Cochran, Jennifer Fant, Ronnie Festavan, Robert Green, Mary Irvin, Michael Nation, Brenda Smith. Nays: None.  Absent: Pat White. Abstained: None.    The motion passed by unanimous vote to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.