MEEKER | Last week, the Eastern Rio Blanco County Health Service District’s Pioneers Medical Center (PMC) held a special meeting to approve its 2026 budget and adopt related resolutions.
Board Secretary/Treasurer Sherri Halandras, along with board members Wade Bradfield and Jean Gianinetti, attended the meeting. Board President Mark Schryver and Vice President Regas Halandras were absent. With three of five members present, Sherri Halandras presided over the meeting, confirming a quorum.
Before the meeting began, the board welcomed its newly retained attorneys from Gardner Law of Colorado Springs, Bob Gardner and Jak Pattamasaevi, who joined via Zoom to introduce themselves and outline their roles working with the district.
Gardner shared his background, saying, “I’ve been in practice of law for four decades now. Served in the Colorado General Assembly, both in the House and the Senate for some years. I was term-limited about a year ago, but I practiced law all during that time and became acquainted with special district work through my work in the General Assembly on the local government committee.”
Pattamasaevi added, “I’ve been an attorney for about 15 years, have done work to include criminal prosecution for El Paso County for about a decade back there. I was introduced to a special district by managing a couple of these districts for a little while, and switched gears over into doing legal work for a number of them. I currently represent almost 10 separate districts right now myself. I’m honored, and I look forward to working with everybody.”
Gardner told the board the attorneys plan to meet with members individually to better understand their needs.
“We are planning to have at least some Zoom meetings here in the next few weeks, two of you at a time, so we don’t form a meeting, just to talk a little more with the board about what your expectations are, what your thoughts are, your legal needs and so forth,” Gardner said. “We’re really excited to have you as clients.”
The board then reviewed PMC’s finalized budget for fiscal year 2026. The hospital projects total patient revenue of $104.5 million, up from $90 million in 2025. After deductions for charity care, contractual adjustments and bad debts, net patient revenue is projected at approximately $60.3 million, or 58% of total patient revenue.
Other operating revenue, including grants, donations and the 340B program, is budgeted at $7.1 million, bringing total net operating revenue to $67.4 million. Operating expenses are projected at $69.8 million, with the largest costs attributed to salaries and wages ($13.1 million), contract labor ($6.3 million), and employee benefits ($12.1 million). The budget anticipates a net operating loss of $2.5 million, partially offset by other income sources such as interest, donations and mill levy tax income.
Janae Stanworth, part of PMC’s financial team, emphasized a conservative approach to budgeting.
“Any budget is your best guess today. It’s a starting place for you to kind of move forward with,” Stanworth said. “However, there are things that are going to come into play if we can go and secure grants. That’s going to be in the good, but I don’t want to say we’re going to get grants and then not get them because where are you going to decrease the funding?”
The board also discussed surgical and orthopedic revenue projections. Bradfield raised concerns about facility limitations.
“The surgeons think the bottleneck is the facility. That’s what I’ve heard for two years now,” Bradfield said.
Stanworth responded, “If you don’t have the revenue, you aren’t going to have some of that expense, right? So we aren’t going to purchase those implants. We aren’t going to purchase some of those things, so some of it is going to offset.”
Following discussion, the board approved the 2026 budget and adopted Resolution 26-01 to adopt the budget, Resolution 26-02 to appropriate sums of money, and Resolution 26-03 to set mill levies. Bradfield also made a motion to cancel the regularly scheduled board meeting on Dec. 16, 2025.
Before adjourning, Jessie Neitzer praised the addition of the district’s new legal advisors.
“I think they’re really going to make a difference for the board and kind of bring things together for us,” Neitzer said. “So I appreciate them making the time today on very short notice to be here and look for an invite as we try and get you all acquainted with them two at a time, as Bob mentioned.”