By Scott Jenkins
sjenkins@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — The Rowan Regional Medical Center Foundation board of directors has voted to remove longtime member and philanthropist Ronnie Smith, apparently because of charges he’s made concerning the location of a planned Hospice House.
A majority of the board voted to take the action Thursday evening, according to a statement provided by Robin Baltimore, a spokeswoman for Rowan Regional parent company Novant Health.
“The Foundation Board felt that there will be greater harmony within the board if we made this change,” said the statement, which was attributed to the board. In an email to the Post, Baltimore wrote that Chairman Dr. Thomas Carlton said the statement “represents the sentiment of the majority of the RRMC Foundation board members.”
In a letter to the foundation board of directors dated today, Smith called the decision “extremely hurtful” and “a complete shock and surprise to me and my family.”
Reached at his home, Smith read a prepared statement:
“After more than 20 years of service to Rowan Regional Medical Center and the citizens of Salisbury and Rowan County, I was understandably disappointed that members of the board did not wish for me to continue,” he said.
Smith is a former chairman of the foundation board of directors and served as chairman for the Partners in Progress capital campaign that ended in 2008 and paid for improvements to the hospital, including a new emergency department and a new patient tower.
The Smith Family Foundation, established by his father Wilson L. Smith, contributed nearly $7 million to the $26.6 million total raised during that campaign. The Smith Heart and Vascular Center, also funded through the capital campaign, is named for Wilson Smith.
Foundation officials have not said why they voted to remove Smith. A letter provided by Smith, bearing Carlton’s signature, about a meeting that was to have taken place Tuesday, said the purpose of that meeting was “to clarify certain issues which you have raised to various people and have impacted the efforts of the board in a detrimental fashion and have been counterproductive to our mission.”
Among the charges made by Smith, according to the letter, were allegations that Salisbury businessman Bill Wagoner profited from the sale of land on Statesville Boulevard for a Hospice House; that a civil engineering firm falsified its report on the property; that a conspiracy formed to cover up the wrongdoing; and that Novant harassed Smith.
Wagoner previously was part owner of the property but told the Post he sold his share in January 2009. A Hospice House steering committee recommended the site in late 2010 and it was later unanimously approved by the hospital’s board of directors. Wagoner sits on both those bodies but did not take part in discussions about the site, according to minutes of those meetings reviewed by the Post.
On June 20, hospital officials and community leaders held a ceremonial groundbreaking at the 1229 Statesville Blvd. site. It was interrupted briefly when Smith was led out by a security guard and police officers.
On his way out, Smith told the audience there had been a “conspiracy” surrounding the property and the project. When initially asked about that statement, Smith referred the Post to public documents showing the chain of ownership for the property. He has since declined to speak on the record, citing advice from his attorney.