DAYTON-At a special meeting on Nov. 24, the board of commissioners for the Columbia County Hospital District offered Chief Operations Officer Shane McGuire the position of District Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer for Columbia County Health System.

"I'm thrilled to have the support of the board, staff, and community, and I look forward to our continued partnership as we do great things here, starting with the electronic health records system, and the renovation and enhancement project," said McGuire in a prepared statement.

"The board's decision is an exciting validation of the current direction the health system is taking in areas of quality and availability of local services; this is a win for the entire team of people doing the heavy lifting on a daily basis," he added.

Interim President of the Commission, Lisa Naylor, said that negotiations regarding McGuire's salary and an education goal set for him by the board will be discussed over the next two weeks. The results of negotiations will be presented at the next meeting of the board on Dec. 22, she said.

McGuire has been the COO of CCHS since April, 2010. He has been in charge of facilities management for the dietary, pharmacy, laboratory and IT departments, and is the facilities and environmental manager for the Dayton and Waitsburg clinics.

McGuire was the Chief Operating Officer for OneEighty Networks in Walla Walla from 2002-2010.

General contractor hired for hospital redesign update

Also during the November hospital board meeting, the commissioners approved the selection of general contractor Leone & Keeble, Inc., of Spokane, for the hospital redesign/remodel project.

McGuire said he has met three times with representatives from Leone and Keeble to discuss phasing for the project. He said that the contractor can be expected to work closely with the project architects, John Decker and Blue Room Architecture and Design, over the next few months to develop a final design for the remodel project.

McGuire told board members that they could expect to see the construction documents by the end of this year, and that design documents would be ready for them to see sometime between January and March of 2016.

New salary administration plan and benefit plan increase

Human Resource Manager Steve Stahl also spoke at that meeting about his proposal for a new salary administration plan for 2016.

One part of the new salary plan calls for moving employees out of the current sick time/vacation time model into a paid time off and extended illness model, allowing for more flexibility.

"Employees would have the same time off, however, they could use it however they want," he said.

Stahl also said moving four holidays, from the current number of ten each year, into an extended illness bank would make sense.

Stahl asked the commissioners for a 5% salary increase out of the $0.5 million monthly salary budget to go to raising employee pay.

He told the commissioners that he looked at market data for Eastern Washington hospitals and found that CCHS employees are being paid 25-30% below the market average.

Stahl pointed out the fact that keeping certified nursing assistants at the Booker Nursing Home has become a liability for the hospital district. He said they are being trained, on-site, only to leave for better pay elsewhere.

COO McGuire concurred saying, "We can't run it with the turnover we have."

McGuire spoke to the value of switching to a merit-based system for pay. The new model would incorporate salary range, years of service, and employee contribution to the workplace, he said, and it would include raises for high employee performance, while addressing some inequities in salaries.

Stahl agreed saying that part-time and per diem employees working the holidays should expect to receive the same time-and-a-half pay as do regular full time employees working holidays. On-call pay would also be raised $2.50 per hour for everyone, said Stahl.

The Salary Administration Plan for 2016 was approved by the commissioners.

The commissioners also gave their approval for a 6.5% increase for the employee medical benefit plan for 2016. That would offset rate changes in the dental and medical portions of the employee medical benefit plan, according to Stahl. The rate increase for employees would be 2.2%, Stahl said.