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Redbanks board paid more than $200,000 over three years [The Gleaner, Henderson, Ky. :: ](Gleaner, The (Henderson, KY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 21--HENDERSON, Ky. -- Board members at Redbanks Skilled Nursing Center's parent company get something that members of many other nonprofit boards don't: They get paid. The seven directors of the board of the not-for-profit Henderson County Health Care Corp. -- an umbrella organization for the nursing home and three senior citizen apartment centers here -- and for the affiliated Redbanks Colonial Terrace nursing home in Sebree were paid at least $207,150 combined over the past three fiscal years. The seven were paid a combined $157,400 for attending Redbanks board meeting during fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to copies of IRS Form 990 that are publicly available. In addition, they received a combined $49,750 over two years (FY 2012 and 2013) for serving on the board of the affiliated, but legally separate, Redbanks Colonial Terrace. (An eighth director, who serves only on the Colonial Terrace board, was paid $4,750 over those two years.) That stands in contrast to what the directors of Community United Methodist Hospital Inc. were paid during the same three years: Nothing, despite the fact that the hospital is more than 10 times larger than Redbanks nursing home as measured by annual revenue. "The only thing we get is a flu shot once a year, and that's optional," one hospital director said privately. People with knowledge of the pay structure said most board members at Redbanks were paid $500 per meeting, except director Frank Chamberlain, who was paid $650 per meeting. Its meetings take place at least monthly, plus occasional special meetings. They were paid $250 for attending Colonial Terrace meetings. Typically, the Redbanks board meetings over this past year have typically lasted about two or three hours, according to copies of meeting minutes obtained by The Gleaner. (That wouldn't include any time that directors might have spent visiting the organization's facilities or preparing for meetings.) But there have been exceptions: A Dec. 22, 2013 meeting at which outside auditor Mac Neel made a lengthy presentation of "mismanagement by the previous administration" (according to its minutes) lasted more than five hours. An apparently contentious meeting on June 25 that included "significant disagreements" lasted 3 { hours while a July 31 meeting that might have sealed the subsequent end of then-executive director Mark Chumbler's 15-month-long tenure -- after he presented a stream of employees and "community partners" to tell the board about past problems -- ran for nearly three hours, until almost 11 p.m. In fiscal 2013 alone, the seven directors were paid $70,550 for attending Redbanks and Colonial Terrace board meetings. Individual directors' pay that year ranged from $9,250 to $11,800. By contrast, directors are paid nothing while serving on the boards of local nonprofit organizations likewise engaged in human well-being such as St. Anthony's Hospice, the United Way of Henderson County, the Salvation Army, the Hugh Edward Sandefur Training Center, the Henderson County Family YMCA and Matthew 25 AIDS Services -- some of which, like Redbanks, are multi-million-dollar operations. Meanwhile, while former nursing home executive director Mark Chumbler drew a $125,000 annual salary, that was substantially less than the previous executive director, Chris Page, who was paid $153,842 in fiscal 2011 and $170,168 in fiscal 2012, according to IRS Forms 990. Further, an outside consultant as well as Redbanks' accounting firm sometimes was paid nearly as much -- or more -- than the executive director. Nursing and regulatory consultant Wells Health Systems Inc., an Owensboro firm, was paid $123,800 in fiscal 2012 and -- during a year when company employee Greg Wells served several months as Redbanks' interim director -- $175,927 in fiscal 2013. Meanwhile, Russellville accountant Eugene Hargis' firm was paid $180,250 in fiscal 2012 and $136,000 in fiscal 2013. Both firms were dismissed from Redbanks during Chumbler's administration because of "poor performance of the previous administration, as guided by Wells Health Systems and Hargis & Associates," according to the June 30 board minutes. Wells Health System was back at Redbanks as of Aug. 13, the day Chumbler and then-director of operations Traci Robinson left the organization following a special called meeting that day of the Redbanks board. No parties have been willing to disclose the precise action taken by the board that day or whether Chumbler or Robinson were fired or voluntarily resigned. The departure came a week after two directors, Joan Hoffman and Doug Bell, resigned from the Redbanks board in frustration over the board's unwillingness to make certain reforms. In a prepared statement on Tuesday, Redbanks Chairman Tim Williams declared: "The board has full confidence in Wells Health System to work with the board of directors and the staff to continue the tradition of quality care at Redbanks." ___ (c)2014 The Gleaner (Henderson, Ky.) Visit The Gleaner (Henderson, Ky.) at www.courierpress.com/news/gleaner Distributed by MCT Information Services |