Honesty In Local Government V

[Mark Kindt]

I am posting this document because on a single page of emails we can see when the recommendation to close the hospital was made and the response of Mayor Summers to that recommendation.

November 1, 2013

[Stan Austin]

So, some of the plots and swamp shenanigans go back at least 5 years? Do these people really get their rocks off by civic destruction?

[Mark Kindt]

Mr. Austin, its gets even swampier.

Even earlier than the email posted above, by September 26, 2013, Mayor Summers is reviewing a draft power-point slide deck from the Cleveland Clinic to close the hospital and replace it with something other than a hospital.

Stay-tuned.

[Mark Kindt]

Please re-read the document that I have posted above.

Pay special note to the year in the text -- "2026".

At the time this was written, Subsidium, LHA, and the City of Lakewood had in hand a written proposal from the Cleveland Clinic to close the hospital. It was not a proposal to operate Lakewood Hospital through its lease expiration of 2026.

Since the topic of this Series is "Honesty In Local Government", I will suggest to you that we are also witnessing the construction of a misrepresentation about the actual intent and actions of the participants.

This is also part of the basis for my argument that the city administration engaged in a systematic pattern of misrepresentations in violation of the federal securities law.

This may also have facilitated the false narrative heard by so many citizens that "the hospital isn't closing" or "the hospital isn't really closing."

[Mark Kindt]

Why The Lies?

This series of emails (posted above) shows how one of our major public officials (Mayor Summers) was involved in concocting an immense falsehood about our municipally-owned hospital--a public asset worth tens of millions of dollars.

Why were we being lied to?

It is clear that none of the parties were waiting until 2026 to shut-down Lakewood Hospital.

As I will soon illustrate with public documents and schematics, as early as September 26, 2013, the Mayor was already reviewing the third draft of the Clinic's proposal to close Lakewood Hospital and build a medical office building on the empty hospital site.

As others have established, the Clinic decanting plan was on paper even earlier than this.

We will do this document-by-document. Read them and reach you own conclusion. You be the judge. Be patient, this may take several days to get through.

[Mark Kindt]

In the attached and heavily redacted document, we can actually see that lawyers for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation are negotiating the contract with Subsidium and making changes to the draft agreement. This is being channeled to Subsidium via the Mayor.

Note that Michael J. Meehan, Esq. is an attorney in the CCF Law Department.

With this document we have clear documentary evidence that "[...the Clinic's proposed changes to your agreement]" "Your agreement" referring to the retention agreement with Subsidium Healthcare.

Despite the heavy black-out, we can now infer that the retention of Subsidium by the Lakewood Hospital Association was not independent of management by the Clinic.

Subsidium is the firm that handled the proposal process to solicit and review proposals from other healthcare systems to operate Lakewood Hospital.

I am going to argue to you on a document-by-document basis that the Subsidium proposal process was a "sham" that was always being driven to achieve the goal of closure of Lakewood Hospital.

[Mark Kindt]

For those of you who regularly "track changes" in Microsoft Word, you will recognize the little editorial boxes along the right margin of this blacked-out page. I have also attached the entire document, so you can see what has been redacted.

LKWD-PRR158-001420.jpg (705.75 KiB) Viewed 6008 times

[Mark Kindt]

So, Why The Lies?

One of the common falsehoods that we heard in 2015 was one that went something like this. "You know, we don't really own the hospital anymore."

I'm sure that some of you read statements like this in other social media.

We can put that falsehood to bed right now by reading one sentence. "The assets, both real and financial, of Lakewood Hospital are owned by the City of Lakewood."

This letter is signed by both Mayor Summers and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Lakewood Hospital Association.

I have attached both pages of the letter.

LKWD-PRR158-001406.jpg (804.24 KiB) Viewed 5951 times

[Stan Austin]

Mr. Kindt--any absence of replies to your posts does not indicate lack of attention. Maybe it is , rather, astonishment. Stan Austin

[Mark Kindt]

We will continue to review more public documents over the weekend.

Keep in mind that the City of Lakewood fought in court for almost two years to keep these documents from public review. Kudos to Mr. Essi and his team of lawyers for their hard work then and now.

The City is still waging its fight against open records. Eventually, the courts may force the City to release additional records.

That sense of astonishment may, perhaps, explain why these records needed court orders to be made public.

[Mark Kindt]

Why The Big Lie?

In the first set of emails that I posted in this Series, we can see that on November 1, 2013, Mayor Summers and the LHA consultant, Subsidium are working on a false narrative about re-positioning healthcare services in Lakewood sometime before 2026.

What is actually happening?

In this email dated four months earlier (August 13, 2013), the same individuals are making plans to review the Clinic's architect's plans to replace the hospital with non-hospital buildings (!)

[Mark Kindt]

I want to take a moment to stress the point that the City of Lakewood along with representatives of both Lakewood Hospital Association and Lakewood Hospital Foundation are viewing Clinic plan's to replace Lakewood Hospital, before their consultant has even issued the formal letters to other potentially interested health care systems.

Closure of the hospital is far along a decision-path.

A full scale proposal from the Cleveland Clinic has been in the hands of the consultant as early as September 18, 2013. Perhaps, even earlier. This proposal was called "Lakewood HealthCare Partners".

Next I will post two schematics that show the planned closure of Lakewood Hospital, the new Clinic Family Health Center, and a New Community Wellness Center.

These are from a slide deck dated September 23, 2013.

Note the word "Demolition".

[Mark Kindt]

I believe that the "New Community Wellness Center" related to municipal interest in a rec. center that eventually morphed into something at Lakewood High School.

[Mark Kindt]

No Time Planned To Negotiate With Other Providers

In this "Proposed Decision Timeline" dated September 23, 2013, the Clinic's plan calls for approval by the LHA Select Committee by October 20, 2013.

The LHA Select Committee had been reviewing Clinic plans to close the hospital since at least mid-August of 2013--perhaps earlier.

It is clear that no one was waiting until sometime between 2013 and 2026 to re-position the hospital despite the November 1st email to the contrary.

Under this proposed decision timeline, the Select Committee would only have about three weeks available for the review of proposals from other healthcare providers.

Now keep in mind that legally, the Clinic was the sole member of the Lakewood Hospital Association.

Ask yourself one question. Why would the retained consultant (Subsidium) be reviewing proposals in draft form from the Clinic without having the final set of proposals from all the providers who were solicited?

With additional document review, we will try and figure that out. We will see that Subsidium hadn't even requested plans from other healthcare providers as of September 24, 2013.

[Mark Kindt]

This Could Have Been Accomplished In Compliance With Law

Every former and current public official in the State of Ohio understands that there is a proper and legal way to sell public assets (including hospitals).

Here's a radical thought to consider:

Lakewood Hospital could have been closed on a normal public basis that was consistent with legal requirements, without conflicts-of-interest, without misrepresentations, without cover-ups, and without public interest litigation against the City in three separate cases.

Right off the bat, from the very first documents we are reviewing, we can see that this non-public, private process was not conducted on any sort of a blind solicitation basis.

You know, all the bidders submit their proposals simultaneously in sealed envelopes that are then evaluated on their merits.

Lest I be accused of "cherry-picking" documents, I have attached a PDF file of the entire Clinic plan.