Memorial Health's board was asked by city council to resign by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
/ FOX21: Mike Duran
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The fallout continued Wednesday over Memorial Health System CEO Dr. Larry McEvoy's $1 million severance payout.
On Monday, Memorial's board of trustees voted to uphold the deal.
Then, on Tuesday, city council voted unanimously to remove the board.
Board members had until 5 p.m. Wednesday to resign or be removed.
As of th at deadline, council had received only one letter, from trustee Dr. Donald Gazibara.
A short time later, Memorial Health's board sent this statement to the media.
"The board has never wavered in its commitment to the best interest of the health system. For years, this volunteer group of seasoned executives and professionals has dedicated thousands of hours of service and experience to Memorial. We are proud of our work."
"I think there was a concern by the board to keep it competitive because they might be hiring other executive positions, and the Springs would need to be competitive to bring in the best," Amy Gillentine with the Colorado Springs Business Journal said.
Gillentine has been covering Memorial Health System for years and has researched the topic of medical pay extensively.
"The compensation packages for hospitals comparable to Memorial are much higher than what Dr. Mcevoy gets," Gillentine said. "For example the CEO at Poudre Valley Hospital makes $1.2 million I believe."
Gillentine said the industry standard for severance packages is also very high because of the scarcity of jobs.
Industry standard or not, those against the payout are standing strong too.
"If you set the precedent that you are going to pay everybody who leaves three times what their contract allows, that gets to be a very expensive precedent after awhile," Former City Councilman Sean Paige said.
To compare, when Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers left in 2011, he was given $114,000 for six months.
As for local school districts, Falcon School District 49 paid out $250,000 in 2011 to end their superintendent's contract early, and Colorado Springs School District 11 shelled out nearly $430,000 in 2006 to fire their superintendent who was only one year into a three-year contract.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM