When will it end? Not until someone takes control of a sticky state situation that seems to get uglier and uglier by the day.

That someone is the Workforce Safety and Insurance Board of Directors. And if they won't do something, then the members should resign in toto for doing nothing.

It must be declared loudly once again that the majority of employees at WSI are valuable and professional people. But the agency continues to fester because of the actions of a few, some who have agendas and loyalties that aren't based upon injured workers or employees. They should be banished.

It is foolish and a waste of time and money for the board to wait for study after study, analysis and review ad hominem and ad nauseam. Could anyone who has followed the months-long soap opera not believe that serious action - including administrative restructuring - needs to take place now?

There is enough blame to go around, but this is not a blame game. Sometimes it is best to start over, and the management culture and structure at WSI must be changed. The agency directors are the only ones who can do it.

The North Dakota Century Code is clear: "The board shall appoint the director of the organization. The director is subject to the supervision and direction of the board and serves at the pleasure of the board."

This is where Gov. John Hoeven also is involved. More from the Century Code: "The governor shall make the necessary appointments to ensure the term of office of members (of the board) … ."

While there doesn't seem to be a mechanism for the governor to fire members of the board, he needs to strongly encourage them (or continue to do so) to take action that will stop the juvenile nonsense at WSI. If they don't listen, he should ask them to resign (even demand it). After all, who would want to continue in such an appointment without the governor's support? If the governor doesn't use all the leverage he has to resolve the issues, then his selection of appointments could be viewed as mistakes in judgment, something he doesn't need in this mean (political) season.

More Century Code: "(The board should) assist the organization in formulating policies and discussing problems related to the administration of the organization, while ensuring impartiality and freedom from political influence … (It should) incorporate principles of continuous improvement goal-setting, a procedure for implementing a team-oriented continuous improvement program throughout all operations of the organization. The program must include a number of challenging, measurable goals to ensure the organization maintains focus on improving those areas most important to its primary mission."

The remaining administrative parts at WSI might not be broken, but they are showing signs of stress. But the real problem is that they don't fit together anymore. Much has been done over the past several months to try to put the puzzle back together, but there's one large missing piece.

A new director - now - is needed. Only then can the healing process begin. Appropriate procedures to appoint a director should be followed. A new interim director needs to be appointed for the duration of time necessary to hire a permanent head woman or man. Someone without WSI ties, someone with impressive administrative abilities, someone who might be available for a few months (possibly a well-respected retiree).

The next director needs to be a high-profile, respected and no-nonsense administrator. We have the talent; we just need to recruit it. Several names come to mind, or folks like these:

How about Dave Sprynczynatyk, adjutant general and former head of the North Dakota Department of Transportation?

Or Eric Hardmeyer, president of the Bank of North Dakota?

Maybe Heidi Heitkamp, former candidate for governor, former attorney general and former state tax commissioner?

Or Sandi Tabor, general counsel for the Lignite Energy Council, Bismarck city commissioner and former chief of staff for AG Wayne Stenehjem?

Here's the bottom line. The WSI Board of Directors needs to stop fiddling around while WSI continues to burn to the ground.