Memorial Hospital and Manor Authority called a special meeting for Tuesday, April 23, beginning at 6 p.m., and immediately moved to go into executive session to discuss personnel.
Chairman Charles Tyson stated it was for the purpose of performing the annual evaluation of CEO Billy Walker.
Following a lengthy closed session, the board went back into open meeting. A motion was made by board member Glennie Bench to renew Walker’s contract for three years, and to change the renewal date to May 1.
Concerning Walker’s compensation, the motion stated he receive a 3-percent raise, the same as that given to other hospital employees, and that he be awarded half of the bonus outlined in his 2012 contract. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
The 2012 contract specified that he could receive a bonus of up to 20 percent of his base salary, which was $170,000. With the 3-percent increase and the 10-percent bonus, Walker’s salary is now $192,100.
Following the meeting, Bench clarified that the bonus amount, which had been stated in the 2012 contract, allowed for a 20 percent bonus if he met all his goals. Bench said that since Walker had only met half of the goals, he was entitled to a 10-percent bonus.
After the meeting, Tyson said that Billy Walker is doing a great job, but still has a ways to go.
“He is by far the lowest paid administrator for a hospital of our size — 100 beds or fewer in the state of Georgia,” he said.
Board member Alecia Brinson agreed that Walker was doing a good job, while adding, “He doesn’t have a lot of the experience most of the other CEOs have. We want our employees and CEO to be fairly compensated for what they do, but we have to be careful we do the same things across the board.”