SuperTrack offered three-year contract

Following months of turmoil and concern that there was a movement to replace SuperTrack, the service provider that is operating the local health clinic on Benson Road, the Point Roberts hospital district commission voted 2-1 at its regular July 10 meeting to offer it a three-year term instead of the current one-year contract extension that has been the case.

Commissioners Noel Newbolt and Sara Oggel voted in favor of the motion while Stephen Falk voted against. Newbolt had proposed a five-year term at the district’s meeting last month but the motion was tabled after Oggel said she wanted to learn more about a two-year-old complaint against the district made by an unnamed Canadian.

Previously, the contract between the district and SuperTrack was based on automatic one-year renewals. SuperTrack principal Dr. Sean Bozorgzad had on a number of occasions raised the issue of lengthening the terms of the contract, saying it would make it easier to plan investments and to hire staff. Falk and Oggel had refused to consider the issue.

Newbolt once again proposed a five-year term which failed for lack of a second. Oggel then proposed extending the contract to a three-year term. Newbolt accepted the compromise and the motion passed. Bozorgzad agreed to the terms as well.

The new term will take effect January 1, 2025 and last until December 31, 2027 unless extended by June 30, 2027.

The meeting was well-attended with a full house present and 32 people attending via Zoom. In the public comment session, local residents Vic and Shannon Riley repeated their earlier calls for commissioner Stephen Falk to resign. “I don’t think [Falk] should be the chair and in particular, I don’t think he should be the primary point of contact” with SuperTrack, he said. Shannon Riley followed later, saying “the amount of damage you could do in the next 17 months is immeasurable, please do the honorable thing and resign.”