PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Healthcare will pay up to $80,000 to find the right person to replace Chief Executive Officer Vic Dirksen.
A list of candidates is expected to be given to the hospital commissioners July 14, said Jill Buhler, chairwoman of the hospital district commission.
Commissioners will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the hospital auditorium at 834 Sheridan Ave., Port Townsend, and consider candidates in executive session.
“We are looking for someone who has a finger on the pulse of the community who fits in with the culture of the hospital,” Buhler said.
Dirksen announced in January that he would retire at the end of the year after 33 years at the helm.
The hospital hired search firm Korn/Ferry International of Los Angeles. Mark Collins, senior client partner — who is directing the search – said the cost of the search could be as much as $80,000.
Buhler said the hospital board vetted the company and said that it provided “a good value for its services.”
Collins said his firm’s fees are in line with that charged by other firms in the same category.
Dirksen — who earned $30,000 annually when he took over in 1977 as administrator of St. John’s, the Catholic hospital that would evolve into the public hospital known as Jefferson Healthcare — now earns $140,000 a year.
Collins said that Dirksen’s long term of service is “an anomaly,” and that most hospital CEOs last around five years.
He has no firm estimate of the salary that would be offered to a new CEO, saying “that it depends on who we get as finalists.”
Hospital Commissioner Marc Mauney said the new CEO would most likely earn more than Dirksen, but there was no upper salary limit established by the board.
“The salary will be based on market value and Vic’s salary is below that,” he said.
Collins said about 12 people are currently in the candidate pool, and he hopes to narrow that by half by the time names are presented to the board.
He said the number of candidates, like the final salary, cannot be predicted.
After the board considers the list, the identities of the candidates will be revealed and a series of public meetings will occur.
While a general expertise in the inner workings of a small community health care system is a requirement for the job, specific familiarity with Port Townsend is necessarily needed.
“Knowledge of Port Townsend is a plus but it is not a priority,” Collins said.
“We were instructed to conduct a national search.”
Collins said he was acquainted with Dirksen in graduate school, as “he was a year ahead of me at Berkeley.”
As a public hospital district, Jefferson Healthcare is owned by the taxpayers of East Jefferson County and is operated as a municipal corporation by five elected commissioners who oversee the district’s operations.
It has an annual budget of $65 million and employs about 500 people.
In addition to the mid-July meeting, the hospital district commission will meet July 7 and July 21.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.