Sunshine Clinic board votes to remove CEO, appoints interim

On Tuesday, the Sunshine Community Health Center board of directors terminated the contract of CEO Melody West.

West’s termination is effective immediately, and comes a little less than a month after former Sunshine employees raised sharp criticism of both West and Medical Director Dr. George Hightower.

The board voted without objection to terminate West as CEO and appoint board member and former Mat-Su Borough Assembly Member Randall Kowalke as CEO on an interim basis. Kowalke resigned his board seat in order to accept the position.

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s meeting, board members thanked Dr. Lynne Curry, who consulted with them between the April and May meetings.

Kowalke says he wants to re-establish trust for Sunshine.

“I want to see us regain the trust of the employees and the community to whatever degree it’s been harmed, and to move on with fixing a number of things.”

Board chair Kathy Watkins indicated at the end of the meeting that a plan of action was begun shortly after April’s meeting.

“When we started, we made the decision on Tuesday, and by Wednesday we had a plan in place.”

With Kowalke in place on an interim basis, the board plans to bring in professional help in finding a permanent CEO.