The days of acrimony are over for at last one of the boards that will oversee Valley Medical Center.

And, in a refreshing change, at each meeting the trustees of the new strategic alliance between UW Medicine and Public Hospital District No. 1 will hear a story from those who should matter the most – the patient.

As Lisa Jensen, the board’s new chairwoman, said at the trustees’ first meeting July 18, “sometimes the patient got lost.” In my view, that is what happened during too many of the meetings of the elected five-member commission that will now oversee just the public or asset side of the hospital district.

Frankly, overseeing a $1 billion business like Valley Medical Center was too much a task for just five commissioners. It worked because of the strong leadership and vision of CEO Rich Roodman, his team of medical professionals and a trusting board. That’s also how other large corporate boards work in the private sector.

As we know, that trust was tested. But that’s in the past, or at least should be. Also off the table is the elected board’s ability to fire Roodman. He reports now to the 13 trustees (including the five elected commissioners), who, if Jensen has her way, will keep their eyes on the prize – providing world-class health care in southeast King County.

I don’t think Jensen is going to brook too much deviation from that mission.

At the July 18 meeting of the trustees, Aaron Heide, as he has done at hospital district commission meetings, voted against paying the medical center’s bills. He again raised the point that district money was used to produce an in-house video about the hospital that he says was really designed to discredit him and fellow commissioner Anthony Hemstad.

He suggested the trustees consider a policy that prohibits intimidation of board members. But Jensen responded the video and the expenditure “may not merit board review.”

That’s a pretty clear indication to me that Jensen and the trustees aren’t going to get drawn into the ongoing acrimony that has kept the elected board from fully focusing its attention on patient care. That doesn’t mean, of course, that commissioners, including Heide and Hemstad, shouldn’t keep a keen eye on hospital expenditures. That’s part of their job, too, a big part. Please, just don’t play politics with it.

When the time comes to volunteer for a committee, perhaps Heide or Hemstad should sign up for a finance committee that, I hope, should take a close look at expenditures. To properly oversee the hospital will take time. Hemstad notified the board at the last minute that he couldn’t attend July 18; Heide, a surgeon at Auburn Regional Medical Center who specializes in strokes, left early, saying he couldn’t rearrange all of his patient appointments.

Time will weigh heavily on anyone who serves the community on a Valley board.

Let’s be frank about something else. The responsibility of the elected commission is now fairly minimal but still important. Its work puts the “public” in public hospital district – collecting tax dollars that are nearly all spent to pay off the bonds used to build and renovate the medical center. The board has little wiggle room in changing how that money is spent; change it too much and the hospital district could default on bonds.

The real work of providing health care in southeast King County is now done by the trustees. And they will have rules. UW Medicine has a Code of Professional Conduct that all trustees are expected to follow. It’s part of the bylaws. “It’s not a choice,” Jensen said. The trustees also will consider a conflict of interest policy.

Heide and Hemstad, unlike the other elected district commissioners, didn’t sign Code of Ethics for the district board, as recommended by state auditors.

There are also key differences between the meetings of the trustees and the district board. Those will raise some eyebrows, because of the tradition of public input at district board meetings and complete public access to board meetings through online videos.

Trustee meetings won’t allow for public comment. The trustees from time to time will hold public hearings. It’s also possible that the trustees will only keep minutes, but not audiotape or videtape the meetings. State law only requires that public boards keep minutes, Jensen explained, and there’s no requirement in state law to take public comment.

Final decision on the policies is up to the trustees. Of course, the public is welcome to attend trustee meetings, which Jensen described as business meetings. Because of their business nature, trustee meetings also will start at 2:30 p.m., during the work day for hospital staff who will brief the trustees.

The district commissioners can still take public comment at their meetings, which now will be less frequent than twice a month. Jensen indicated she would attend those meetings to hear the public.

That the public can’t comment is not particularly satisfying, but it speaks to the more business-like nature of trustee meetings. It’s akin to Renton City Council Committee of the Whole meetings – the public can listen but not comment.

But that just means the public will have to attend district commissioner meetings. Keep that in mind. A chance to comment is another way we put the public in a public institution, along with voting for our representatives.