How much did RMCH pay?
Settlements with workers may be public

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital officials say they're having their attorneys look into whether they're required to disclose the details of their settlements with four former employees.

Since settling with former CEO David Baltzer in late 2005 for an undisclosed sum, the hospital has insisted that the terms of the deal were not public because the hospital was not — as defined by New Mexico's public records laws — a public entity.

But according to the Office of the Attorney General, that is not so. In a 1998 letter addressed to Baltzer, Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Glenn concludes that RMCH, being owned by McKinley County, is in fact a public hospital.

"On balance," Glenn writes, "we believe that, based on McKinley County's ownership of the hospital and its role in the hospital's management, oversight and funding, the hospital is a county hospital subject to the Open Meetings Act and the Inspection of Public Records Act."

The Independent handed RMCH's new CEO, Chuck Wright, a written request for the settlement amounts, along with a copy of the assistant attorney general's decision, Friday. Wright said he would have the hospital's attorneys look into it.

When the hospital settled with former employees Dwayne Jordan and Herb Mosher in December, all its official statement revealed was that their discussions concerned "finances and expenditures that were incurred during their tenure with the organization."

The hospital made the same statement when it settled with Todd Wenger, its former director of plant operations, in April. All three men paid the hospital an undisclosed amount.

As for Baltzer, the hospital's board of directors fired the former CEO for allegedly withholding information about the organization's poor financial health. While reporting year-end profits, the hospital was actually operating at a multi-million dollar deficit. In his case, the hospital ended up paying.

Each time, the hospital claimed it was bound by a confidentiality agreement with the former employee from discussing details. If the hospital is a public entity, however, records of those details should be open to the public.