The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Reactions to the unexpected departure of Columbia County Health Systems' CEO Dale Polla late last week were mixed.

Less than a year on the job, Polla resigned on Thurs­day following a special exec­utive session of the hospital district's board. Board Chair Lisa Naylor said the parting of ways was mutual.

"There was agreement on both sides," she said. "He was a great person to keep things nice and steady, but in this changing world we wanted someone on the cusp of things."

In the interim, the board retained former Sunnyside Community Hospital CEO Jon Smiley to serve as part- time CEO until Polla's re­placement can be found.

Weighing the costs and benefits of keeping Polla or negotiating his resignation, the board decided to help the short-term executive on his way sooner rather than later with six months of sal- ary, severance and vaca- tion, Naylor said. He had a two-year contract through October 2014.

Naylor also indicated that with last week's de- parture of Chief Financial Office John Hennessy, who has been widely credited for getting the district back in the black, the board was nervous about some recent financial management de- cisions Polla made.

She said she could not be more specific. But one former member of the dis- trict's executive team said Hennessy's financial con- trols were a healthy counter to the spending inclinations of other members of the management staff, including Polla and Chief Operating Officer Shane McGuire.

Hennessy, 28, whom Naylor described as a "star performer" who "got us back on a positive track," notified the district a while ago of his intention to take a job as CFO at Cascade Medical, a hospital in Leav- enworth.

"He was amazing at finding money, particularly from Medicaid and Medicare," Naylor said. "He will be missed."

Naylor said the board, which is in the midst of hir- ing a new CFO to replace him, has narrowed the pool of 40 applicants to the five it wants to interview for the position.

Observers of the district who preferred to remain anonymous said Polla was an extremely likeable in- dividual but fell short of engaging more deeply with the community and was criticized for having dated views and information about the environment in which the country's 1,300 critical access hospitals like the Touchet Valley's operate.

"I don't think he (Polla) got the 'small hospital' pic- ture," one former manager said. "You wear 50 hats and you work. He wasn't involved in parades, in service clubs and so on. He wasn't fulfilling his PR function."

Naylor described Polla as a "real people person," who was genuinely inter- ested "in what you did," but seemed strained by the community engagement demands of his job. And, he didn't seem the right person to keep up with all the changes at the state and federal level, particularly those expected from the implementation of the Af- fordable Care Act, she said.

Hennessy

"We need a more up- and-coming CEO - someone beyond Dale's genera- tion," said Naylor, who not- ed that despite reservations board members may have had when Polla was hired nine months ago, "he was the best choice at the time."

Smiley, Polla's tem- porary replacement, is a familiar face in Dayton. He served as the district's interim CEO for about half a year after Charlie Button left the position in the spring of 2012.

He was the longest-serv- ing hospital CEO in the state. In addition to his leadership in hospitals, Smiley has been a leader within the Washington State Hospital Association, providing counsel and ser- vice to improve health care for all residents of Wash- ington State, according to the district's website.

In 2005, Smiley was awarded WSHA's Joe Hop- kins Award, given each year to an individual mak- ing great contributions to rural health care.