By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
Bill Bedsole, chief executive officer at Beaufort County Medical Center, tendered his resignation late Wednesday morning.
After giving his 100-day notice, Bedsole was put on administrative leave until Tuesday, according to Edwin “Sandy” Hardy, chairman of the Beaufort Regional Health System’s Board of Trustees.
The board is scheduled to meet at noon Tuesday to discuss Bedsole’s resignation.
“The board needs to see about keeping him here,” Hardy said.
Bedsole was to receive a 20-percent salary bonus at the end of a one-year tenure in March 2011, according to Hood Richardson, a BRHS trust. Richardson said the board voted to give Bedsole the bonus as incentive to stay with BRHS during the ongoing process to find a health-care provider that could partner with BRHS, which could take up to 18 months.
With his resignation, Bedsole will not receive the bonus, according to Hardy, which was reported to be in the $50,000 range.
“The idea (behind the bonus) was to prevent what is happening from happening,” Hardy said.
Richardson and Hardy said such incentive-laden bonuses are common business practices during transitional periods as a way of keeping upper-level management in place until a takeover or merger is complete. They said Bedsole would probably be the first to go if and when BRHS merges with another health-care provider.
“You have to give financial incentives to stay,” Hardy said. “But some people make the situation so burdensome, they leave anyway.”
Asked if Bedsole gave a reason for his resignation, Hardy said, “not really.”
“I think it’s that situation,” he said in regard to the ongoing dispute between the BRHS Board of Trustees and the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners over whether the hospital should affiliate with another entity or stay independent.
“Because certain board members demand delaying (the merger), this is happening,” Hardy said.
He cited, specifically, the dual-tracks concept, which has been openly supported by Richardson and fellow Commissioner Stan Deatherage. Deatherage was quoted as supporting dual tracks in an article published in Wednesday’s edition of the Washington Daily News.
“Some people want to drag it (the merger) along under an ill-advised policy — dual tracks,” Hardy said. “We need to move forward quickly.”
Referring to the article published Wednesday, which quotes Deatherage and fellow Commissioners Ed Booth and Al Klemm, Hardy said, “It’s time that, with all the politicians saying a merger is inevitable, why wait?”
“It would be highly remiss to delay it if it’s inevitable,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hardy said, he put an interim CEO in charge of the hospital, based on chain of command.
“He’s available for consulting,” Hardy said, adding that he’s not comfortable with disclosing the name of the interim CEO until Tuesday’s board meeting.