For the second time in the span of a few months, the WhidbeyHealth board of commissioners will begin the search for a new commissioner.
Commissioner Grethe Cammermeyer announced her upcoming resignation during a board meeting in December. She plans to serve on the board until Feb. 1.
Cammermeyer has been part of the hospital district’s board of commissioners for the past 13 years. Originally appointed from a group of candidates who applied for a vacancy on the board, she went on to run for election twice.
Her current term is set to expire Dec. 31, 2023. Hospital district commissioners serve six-year terms.
“I think two terms of six years each is probably plenty,” Cammermeyer said in an interview with the Whidbey News-Times. “People age out and it’s probably time for someone else to take up the mantle and see what the experience is like and offer their expertise.”
She added, “Sometimes enough is enough. Turning 80 seemed like maybe it’s time to do something else.”
Cammermeyer has spent 60 years in the health care field, from her service in the Army to her work with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. She has extensive experience as a clinical specialist, a nurse practitioner and a hospital nurse administrator. In fact, she still has an active nursing license and, until three years ago, ran the Saratoga View Adult Home out of her own home in Langley.
During her time on the public hospital board, Cammermeyer has seen several WhidbeyHealth CEOs come and go. Most recently, the board voted to fire former CEO Ronald Telles in February 2022. The board then hired HealthTechS3, a health care consulting firm, to provide management experience. Under the contract, HealthTechS3 provided Michael Layfield as interim CEO and is conducting a search for a new top official.
“Having HealthTech as the managing team has been extremely enlightening and shown some of the deficits that we were unaware of early on,” Cammermeyer said.
Thanks to a resolution that the hospital board passed earlier in 2022, applicants for Cammermeyer’s position are not limited to South Whidbey residents. Commissioner districts have been abolished, opening up the pool of potential candidates.
Cammermeyer said the position comes with a time commitment that people are often unaware of. In addition to the two hours each month that are spent in board meetings, there are committee meetings that can happen several times per month, as well as meetings with the CEO.
“It’s been really a challenging experience and I would encourage anyone who is remotely interested and has a background in either health care or finance or anything they think would be additive for a board of commissioners to consider applying,” Cammermeyer said.
Cammermeyer is not the only commissioner from the hospital board to announce her resignation recently. Former Commissioner Nancy Fey resigned Sept. 30, which resulted in an initial secretive selection process for her replacement that violated the Open Public Meetings Act. The commissioners ended up retaking the vote in public, in alignment with OPMA. Commissioner Gregory Richardson was sworn in and replaced Fey.
Richardson was one of three candidates that were interviewed, indicating renewed interest in a position that has, in the past, garnered less attention.
