Howe: Aurora hospital eventually will be built

Waukesha Freeman, March 25, 2006

BY DAVE BACKMAN
Freeman Staff

Aurora Health Care eventually will build a hospital in Waukesha County, regardless of the legal setback the health system incurred this week, Ed Howe, Auroras outgoing president and CEO, vowed Friday.

Howe, who also announced his retirement Friday, said he believes both sides in the fight over building the hospital had expected what now appears inevitable Aurora will appeal a circuit court decision that temporarily has stopped construction on a 53-acre site in the town of Summit.

On Thursday, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Mark S. Gempeler dismissed a lawsuit Aurora filed in May against the Waukesha County Board, which had voted to block construction of a proposed $85 million, 88-bed hospital in the town. Gempeler said the board acted within its authority.

Aurora has a separate lawsuit pending against the city of Oconomowoc, which had blocked construction of a hospital on a 43-acre parcel in that municipality.

I think everyone knows we eventually will have the hospital, Howe said.

I think we all thought, regardless of which side you are on, that this would be resolved through appeal.

Howe said he did not want to comment on Gempelers ruling, but indicated Aurora would appeal the decision, echoing what an Aurora spokesman said Thursday.

During a December 2005 interview, he said that if the makeup of the county board changed from when the vote against the hospital was cast the previous April, Aurora may have a better opportunity of getting the board to approve building on the town of Summit site.

On Friday, Howe said Aurora is not involved in the pending move to reduce the number of supervisors on the county board. It would be inappropriate for us as a non-profit to ever get involved in that type of discussion, he said.

Howe, 65, is a resident of Elm Grove and a 1958 graduate of Waukesha High School.

He said he informed Auroras board of directors a year ago of his retirement plans. Friday was set as the date to announce he will be leaving the system after 32 years.

Howe said he expects to continue working in his job until a successor is found, a process that could take from six to nine months.

Mary Ellen Stanek, an Aurora board member and managing director of Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co., will head a search committee to find Howes replacement.

The board of directors selected the SpencerStuart executive search firm to assist the search committee and the board through an organizational needs assessment, review of potential internal candidates and nationwide search.

The search committee will not set a definitive deadline for naming a successor, Stanek said.