Civic Accountability -- Honesty in Local Government III

[Bridget Conant]

Which is why Butler's contention that the election "cured" the open meetings violations is so laughable.

Had all relevant information been provided to voters, it's still a stretch to think that citizens could "vote" and suddenly make violations of sunshine laws irrelevant.

In fact, the concealment of information and distortion of facts makes the violations and subsequent vote even more concerning. We were systematically misled and deceived.

[Mark Kindt]

Ms. Conant, to take your comment one step further.

The vote by the citizens cannot cure misrepresentations made at the trial or appellate court levels by the city administration and its legal counsel in the open meetings violations litigation.

Deck readers, please keep your eyes on further documents that Mr. Essi will post. This is going to get real interesting!

[Mark Kindt]

Like Mr. Essi previously stated---folks, I'm not making this stuff up. The documents speak for themselves.

The noted American historian, Barbara W. Tuchman, has some words on this topic as well:

"Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts."

For the moment, I will leave it at that.

[Mark Kindt]

And, please, watch this space.

In the coming weeks, we will quantify how much taxpayer wealth was (and is planned to be) transferred to private entities.

We will learn that most of the value of what the City of Lakewood received under the Master Agreement has been committed to the benefit of the private entity recommended to redevelop the site.

[Mark Kindt]

We will learn that most of the value of what the City of Lakewood received under the Master Agreement has been committed to the benefit of the private entity recommended to redevelop the site.

CORRECTION: We will learn that most of the value of what the City of Lakewood received for the hospital (under the Master Agreement) may be used to benefit site redevelopment.

[Mark Kindt]

The Mayor Always Understood That Metro Health System Was The Better Partner For Lakewood

We've already looked at the Subsidium document that told the mayor and the secret LHA step-two committee that the CCF offer had no material advantage for the community.

Now, let's review an insider document from just a month later that shows us that the mayor and the committee knew that Metro was a better fit across all dimensions.

Please read the document and judge for yourself.

LKWD-PRR158-001976_Page_1.jpg (294.79 KiB) Viewed 4331 times

LKWD-PRR158-001976_Page_2.jpg (369.7 KiB) Viewed 4331 times

LKWD-PRR158-001976_Page_3.jpg (226.44 KiB) Viewed 4331 times

[Bridget Conant]

Revolting.

It was clear to many of us that Metro was a great opportunity.

To see how the mayor and his minions ACTIVELY WORKED TO KEEP METRO OUT when it would have been a BETTER FIT for Lakewood is just unconscionable.

The people who orchestrated this truly "have blood on their hands."

[Mark Kindt]

Now, recall to yourself how many times we heard Metro dismissed out-of-hand by our elected officials.

The city administration embraced the offer that had no material advantage to the community (words of their own consultant) and, with a determined sense of the "wooden-headed", they launched extended campaigns of misrepresentation designed to mislead the citizenry and the voters.

Along the way, they trampled on the Ohio Sunshine Laws, basic principles of fiduciary duty and conflict of interest, and probably some other laws.

If you have read this far, have I not described and documented a culture of dishonesty?

[Marguerite Harkness]

Oh. My. God.

Bill Gorton KNEW that Metro was a really good fit.
He KNEW that they should negotiate with Metro.
He KNEW that Metro would result in keeping JOBS, INCOME TAX, and HEALTH CARE right here, in Lakewood.

He WANTED TO NEGOTIATE WITH METRO.
He INTENDED to negotiate with Metro.

What the h..ll ???

[Mark Kindt]

Subsidium also presented a slide deck in June of 2014 that offered a side-by-side comparison of the Metro proposal with the CCF proposal. Lakewood Hospital Association Board of Trustee members (including Mr. Summers) on the Step-Two Committee always knew from its earliest presentation that Metro had offered a far better deal for the City. I do not have my own copy of this slide deck, but I have seen it in hard copy. It has been released under court order to Mr. Essi.

As far as I can tell (and I may be incorrect), the LHA Board of Trustee members never had the opportunity or never took the opportunity or were never permitted to negotiate with Metro. That is why I have characterized this as a "sham" bidding process in my written complaints to the Ohio Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission.

The activities of the LHA Select Committee and the LHA Step-Two Committee have many of the typical indicia of "bid rigging". Public bidding requirement were ignored/evaded and were supplanted by a closed non-public process where CCF insiders always knew what LHA Board Trustees were doing.

Ms. Harkness, I have yet to see a document that does not raise questions of impropriety in my mind. I could (and may) devote an entire series to just the problems with the questionable search process used by LHA.

[Mark Kindt]

Laws requiring the public bidding of contracts related to public assets or expenditures were enacted to prevent exactly what happened to Lakewood in losing its hospital.

Once the city administration made the decision not to conduct an open process on the future of its hospital assets, it entered into a flawed and secretive private process where the controlling party in that process successfully dealt the assets to itself.

From a careful review of the October 2014 "talking points" document posted above, we gain a clear impression that the controlling party (CCF as sole member of LHA) had never permitted the LHA Trustees to actually negotiate with the only party that had even submitted a proposal (Metro Health Systems).

The fact that the Subsidium proposal process yielded such sparse participation is, by itself, an indication of a flawed solicitation process.

[Brian Essi]

Subsidium also presented a slide deck in June of 2014 that offered a side-by-side comparison of the Metro proposal with the CCF proposal. Lakewood Hospital Association Board of Trustee members (including Mr. Summers) on the Step-Two Committee always knew from its earliest presentation that Metro had offered a far better deal for the City. I do not have my own copy of this slide deck, but I have seen it in hard copy. It has been released under court order to Mr. Essi.

Mr. Kindt,

I took a brief break from my review of records and through the "blind squirrel-OneLakewood.com" method, I was able to find the following records that were allegedly responsive to my PRR158 at:

http://www.onelakewood.com/wp-content/u ... PRR158.pdf

I believe the slides you were referring to may be found at LKWD PPR 001077-1103--if not give me a call.

FYI PRR 158 was a request for: "All records, notes, and communications – electronic or otherwise – regarding discussions, meeting, or negotiations between any City of Lakewood council member with Subsidium."

I have also created a new post where I tried to assemble all of the Records responses on the city website, but it is very incomplete because for whatever reason, the City is shuffling these disclosures within its own website--no surprise:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24262

[Mark Kindt]

The mayor fully understood that the Clinic was diverting valuable medical programs from Lakewood Hospital to its Clinic-owned facilities.

[Mark Kindt]

And, I quote:

"The absence of these monies will have a devastating impact on the financial viability of our hospital."

So, during the very midst of the flawed, secret Subsidium process, the Clinic is brazenly pursing its "decanting" plan to gut the viability of Lakewood Hospital right in front of the eyes of the mayor.

I will suggest an easy alternative option.

At this point, the proper course of conduct would have been for the mayor to end his participation in the flawed process, call his litigators in, and tell them to proceed with a temporary restraining order against breaches of the lease.

[Brian Essi]

And, I quote:

"The absence of these monies will have a devastating impact on the financial viability of our hospital."

So, during the very midst of the flawed, secret Subsidium process, the Clinic is brazenly pursing its "decanting" plan to gut the viability of Lakewood Hospital right in front of the eyes of the mayor.

I will suggest an easy alternative option.

At this point, the proper course of conduct would have been for the mayor to end his participation in the flawed process, call his litigators in, and tell them to proceed with a temporary restraining order against breaches of the lease.

Any rational acting public official, especially one with Summers' alleged business background, experience and intellect would have sought to enforce the Landloord's rights.

Among the City's rights under the Lease were:

Section 14.15 "Matters Related to the Definitive Agreement" which gave the City the right to use any available remedy, including "injunctive relief, to compel Leasee [LHA] to enforce its rights and entitlements under Article 2 of the Definitive Agreement."

Article 2.1.1 is the requirement that CCF shall ensure a cash to debt ratio of 1:1 and "advance sufficient funds to Lakewood [Hospital] to meet such ratio."
AND THE KICKER, if Lakewood Hospital cannot repay CCF by the time the lease ends from the cash advancements to maintain the 1:1 ratio, then they "shall be forgiven by CCF."

Public records indicate that the Summers had been given information in June/July 2014 that showed the Clinic was liable to Lakewood for $150M to $200M, plus that Lakewood was entitled to the LHA portfolio $50M, LHF portfolio --$33M, all the real estate (including 850 Columbia Road $12M), all equipment and bed licenses etc.

Summers got us nothing.

In my April 8, 2015 meeting with Summers I asked him about the Article 2.1.1 requirement that CCF shall ensure a cash to debt ratio of 1:1.

After claiming he spent 4 years up until that time analyzing Lakewood's option, Summers pretended he didn't know anything about that provision that required CCF to fund debt and losses at the hospital through 2026.

I asked him why he did not engage lawyers to help him and he said this was not the kind of deal that you use lawyers for.