Valencia County Commission Chairman Pedro Rael last night declared the days of attacking commissioners on the hospital project are over, shortly after the commission voted 4 to 1 to terminate the contract the county entered into with a local nonprofit for management of the project.

The commission also decided to work to dismiss the hospital lawsuit now pending in the New Mexico Court of Appeals, consider locations other than the proposed Rio Communities site for a hospital or healthcare facility, and move forward in accordance with the New Mexico Hospital Funding Act, all subject to discussions with Valencia Health Commons, the contracting nonprofit.

The four commissioners reached their agreement during discussions in a small conference room behind the commission chambers. During that closed session, the commissioners debated how to move the hospital project forward after nearly two years of being tied up in legal wrangling and sometimes disparaging rhetoric from all sides.

Prior to going into closed session, Commissioner Ron Gentry said he didn’t know what was being discussed and wasn’t aware of the terms of the any settlement offer from the plaintiffs.

“We don’t have a copy of the offer – unless you guys do. Was a copy of the offer that was made in our packets?” he asked. Before every meeting each commissioner gets a packet of information about the meeting. “They’re not in our packets, whatever the offer is.”

Rael said he got a copy of the settlement offer by email. He instructed the county staff to produce copies of the offer to provide to any commissioner who didn’t have it before they began to discuss anything in the closed session.

The commission unanimously agreed to enter into closed session, a behind-closed-doors debate that lasted approximately two hours and 15 minutes.

Upon exiting, the commission said they only considered the settlement offer from the plaintiffs. Rael then opened up the meeting for public discussion, with citizens mostly unaware of the content of any settlement because the commissioners never waived attorney-client privilege and never addressed the closed session discussion of the settlement offer.

Valencia Heath Commons weighs in

While members of Valencia Health Commons, the group managing the hospital project, were permitted to enter the closed session at the request of any commissioner, they were never called into the closed session.

Because of that and during the public debate on the matter, two members of the group offered a final defense of their nonprofit before the vote.

“I would respectfully submit that many of the maneuvers that are being done are a way of stopping the project from moving forward,” said David Schneider, a Belen doctor and member of the health commons.

He had critical comments about the content of the offer from the plaintiffs’ attorney James L. Sanchez, saying, “On the one hand you’ve sort of implied in this letter from Mr. Sanchez that we’re not moving forward with fulfilling our obligation to the county commission to proceed with developing a hospital or medical complex to serve the citizens of Valencia County. On the other hand, that’s not true. We are moving forward and we are doing things within the constraints and the limits that have developed because of the lawsuits and legal issues.”

Bob Davey, the chairman of the health commons, defended the management contract the health commons has with the county.

“The contract that commits us to this was drafted by your attorneys,” he told commissioners. “It was approved by you. It was argued for in the court by your counsel, and district court ruled that you were within your authority to execute that contract.”

Davey wanted to know how the commission would come up with money to essentially restart the process by terminating the contract. He said the original plan for the hospital written by Covenant Health Systems cost the county half a million dollars and all planning anticipated a Rio Communities hospital.

“The county commission has done nothing to help us,” Davey said. “Some of you and the plaintiffs have done everything to stop us, and they have held back this project for more than two years.”

Four members of the public supported some type of settlement that would move the hospital project in a new direction and 10 others argued for continuing the same path the project was on.

“The vote of this commission on September 2 to not extend the contract start time for Valencia Health Commons to start work on the health complex has apparently been taken by the plaintiffs in the hospital appeal as an opportunity to offer surrender terms to their demands to terminate the hospital project,” said Joseph Rizzo, a hospital supporter from Rio Communities. “This is unacceptable to the public, which is willing, if necessary, to wait out the appellate process but is also eager to see work start as soon as possible.”

Others, including one plaintiff, spoke favorably of reaching a settlement.

“For more than a year now, I, along with my family and friends, has felt disenfranchised by possibly having a hospital located in the southeast corner of our county and not centrally located,” said Lydia Piro of Los Lunas, who is Rael’s wife.

Plaintiff Rita Padilla-Gutierrez, a former member of the county’s hospital advisory board, said the “abuse” three commissioners – Donald Holliday, Georgia Otero-Kirkham and Rael – have had to deal with on the hospital issue from members of the public for nearly two years is “beyond description.” She said people have said a lot of inaccurate things during the debate.

“I think we need to be civil again and bring this to some sort of closure, to possibly start over again and let’s do it right for everyone’s advantage in the county, not just 20 or 30 percent of the population,” she said. “Everyone should be able to have a facility that they can feel comfortable with when paying their tax dollars.”

The commission publicly debates

Because attorney-client privilege wasn’t waived by the commissioners, none of them discussed the terms of any settlement or the motion that was about to be made, but each of them reaffirmed their past comments on where they stand on the hospital issue.

Commissioner Georgia Otero-Kirkham said she continues to fully support a hospital and will work toward a hospital.

“My intention is to bring a hospital to Valencia County. That is my intention,” she said. “I have pleaded and I have talked to many people and told many people that my intention is to bring a hospital to Valencia County. I believe that we can support a small hospital. I am completely and totally for a hospital that we can use, that we can service the people of Valencia County in their health needs.”

She said her “passion, concern and feelings” is that Valencia County can have a hospital.

Commissioner David Medina said he continues to be a strong proponent of a hospital.

“I will work very hard to ensure we get a hospital in Valencia County,” he said. “The bickering – this thing is just going on and on and on. I think we need to bring it to a head. I’ve asked this commission to sit together as a commission and try to get this done. I am strongly in support of a hospital, and I’m going to work hard for it.”

He said he “might do something that doesn’t please anyone,” hinting at his coming vote in favor of the motion, but he is looking out for the whole county and working for a hospital.

Commissioner Don Holliday was mostly quiet, but said he didn’t think a hospital would be built for at least three years. He wants to see a hospital built at some point.

Commissioner Pedro Rael explained the legal reasons for supporting a settlement, saying state law says the contract the county signed for management of the hospital project needed to be with a hospital and Valencia Health Commons is not a hospital.

“Everybody wants a hospital, including myself,” he said. “That’s the gold standard. That’s the thing that all of us would like to see in Valencia County.”

He said he thought the county needed to consider 24-hour urgent cares or an emergency room first before having a hospital.

Commissioner Ron Gentry said he thought by voting in favor of the motion the county was taking the hospital issue out of private management and putting it into the hands of the county.

“We stayed out of it as elected officials, or as quote, unquote, politicians. There wouldn’t be any special interests. There wouldn’t be any favors. We would get a professional facility,” he said.

Gentry, the one vote against the motion, said he thought the settlement’s “allegations” weren’t “fair, true, legal or ethical.”

He said approval of the motion would “set back” the hospital three years or would “kill the hospital indefinitely.”

“Do we have the resources to reinvent the wheel, to throw all of this out — scrap it?” Gentry asked his fellow commissioners. “Do we have the resources? Do we have all the staff? Do we have the ability, the professionals, to put a hospital before you as it is proposed and has been worked on by the health commons group?”

The motion they passed

As read by Rael, the motion said:

“I make a motion that the county commission agree in principle to do the following things: void the contract, two, dismiss the appeal, three, consider other locations than the present location, move forward in these respects in accordance with the Hospital Funding Act, subject to discussion with the Valencia Health Commons regarding what they believe before making a final determination.”

The vote was 4 to 1, with Gentry as the dissenting vote.

A more confident commission emerges

After the vote, the atmosphere in the commission room immediately changed. Where the commission was typically drawn into contentious battles with the public and among themselves over the hospital issue, the commissioners now had a renewed cooperative confidence that allowed the chairman to quickly quash any attempts by members of the public to disrupt the meeting.

After the commissioners voiced their votes, Alice Torwirt, a hospital supporter from Rio Communities, hopped up from her seat and began yelling at commissioners.

“I cannot believe you people,” she said. “You are ridiculous. You don’t care about your people here in this county.”

She was escorted out by sheriff’s deputies, but was allowed to return later for a presentation she gave on a different issue.

A short time later, Mike Wood, another hospital supporter from Las Maravillas, attempted to approach the public microphone to make comments on a different issue without being recognized by the chairman. Rael called him out of order and four sheriff’s deputies escorted him out.

At any sign of a public outburst from members of the public, Rael moved to halt it, declaring, “We’re not going to accept any more attacks on commissioners. Those days are over.”

This page was published on September 17, 2009 at 11:35am and is filed under Hospital.