By PETER HUSSMANN
Calls and notes have continued to come in today concerning where Dan Skokan puts down his head at night.
The inquiries arise due to his appointment on Tuesday as the newest member of the Skiff Medical Center board to replace resigningboard member Nancy Noth.
The gist of the inquiries remains the same: Where does he live? But it took a step further today with one caller noting the Progress Industries executive also owns a home in Des Moines, as well as his place west of the Newton city limits.
The concern is that how can an appointee to a city-owned hospital not actually live within the city limits of the jurisdiction? In a previous post today, I noted how the Iowa Code says a trustee must live within the "service area" of the hospital, something that cannot be denied by Mr. Skokan's rural Newton address.
But the Des Moines home posed another problem. Another Jon Ewing situation in the offing?
So I called.
On the second ring, Mr. Skokan answered the phone at the listing in the local book. He didn't hesitate to answer.
Yes, he and his wife, who works for a Des Moines electric construction company, do own a home in Des Moines. Yes, they do sometimes stay there, but the mail is delivered to a private P.O. box in Newton. Eighty percent of the time, however, Mr. Skokan said, he stays at his place north of Newton.
The questions being posed by respondents to these posts now were not lost on the P.I. leader as he earlier-this-month discussed with Skiff trustee Gary Kahn the possibility of filling Ms. Noth's unexpired term. Being assured that his residency outside the Newton city limits was not an issue, he said he agreed to take the post to do what he could to help the city-owned hospital out of its latest $2.7 million fiscal year loss.
"My sole motivation is to do what I can to help," he said.
Noth tendered her resignation effective Sept. 1, but suggested Mr. Skokan be invited to attend the August meeting in anticipation of his appointment approximately one week later.
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