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 Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy?

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Lady Hawk
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Lady Hawk


Number of posts : 622
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Registration date : 2008-05-16

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PostSubject: Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy?   Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy? Icon_minitimeTue Jan 13, 2009 7:52 am

Detective Does anyone else find this peculiar? Out of the blue two days before the end of the year it is announce that the City of Ortonville is purchasing the Northside Medical Center (NMC) for an undisclosed amount. The comment was made that they have been talking about this for twenty years. I have been living in this town for seven years and I don’t remember hearing anything being said before. Nor has there been any mention of it in the past months of Ortonville City Council meeting minutes. With that in mind I was curious and did some checking and this is the timeline of events as far as I could piece them together.

Sometime around the beginning of November a negligence trial began. (According to the Ortonville Independent on November 25).

On November 10 while the trial is going on the Mayor and the City Council met in a closed meeting with members of the OAHS to discuss the purchase of the Northside Medical Clinic.See minutes here.

On November 17th at the Ortonville City Council meeting it is announced that the city will be buying the NMC. Contingent upon the approval of City Attorney Craig Ash. See minutes 9.f Or click the spoiler.
Spoiler:
On November 20th, three days later, a seven member jury entered a verdict against the parties as reported by The Ortonville Independent.


The action of the City Council seems odd to me. In the first place last August it was pointed out that all resolutions should be voted on in there entirety. See minutes 9.a

At the next September meeting Craig Ash announced that Resolutions would be in their entirety. See minutes 3.a

Was resolution 08-102 in it’s entirety? Was the amount included? If it was in it’s entirety then why was City Attorney Craig Ash needed to approve it?


This is what I thought peculiar. Why did the City Council vote to purchase the NMC for an undisclosed amount? Why didn’t City Attorney Craig Ash review the documents before the Council Voted on the resolution? Why does City Attorney Craig Ash have veto power over the City Council? What was City Attorney Craig Ash supposed to approve? Did the verdict of the trial have anything to do with City Attorney Craig Ash’s decision?

There are no minutes of any City Council meeting stating that City Attorney Craig Ash approved the resolution. The announcement in the paper and on the OAHS website stated that as of January 1, 2009 the NMC would become a provider based clinic of the OAHS. When did City Attorney Ash approve it? See OAHS blog.

The most important question that puzzles me is where was the Ortonville Independent in all of this? Isn’t the press supposed to report things? The Ortonville Independent didn’t say a word about the city council meeting discussing this on November 17th. It was over a month later on December 30th when it came out in the paper announcing that the deal is closed two days later on January 1st, 2009. Everyone was focused on the holiday and who can even think about it with only two days notice.

Why all the secrecy? Why didn’t the Ortonville Independent report it in November? Why did they sit on it for a month until it was to late to respond? How much influence does the Ortonville City Council have over the Ortonville Independent? Is there a connection? Detective



scratch


Last edited by Lady Hawk on Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:11 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Reconnected links that were severed by the City of Ortonville maintenence?)
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Lady Hawk
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Lady Hawk


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PostSubject: More Questions about the sale of Northside Medical Center.   Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy? Icon_minitimeSat Feb 14, 2009 10:30 pm

According to the OAHS website Rick Ash stated the following in regards to the purchase of the Northside Medical Center:
“We are able to qualify for the Medicare Designation called - Provider Based Clinic... and one of the largest benefits will be increased reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid, with the clinic being publicly owned, said Ash."

Read full article here.

It is interesting that largest benefit is more money for a clinic that is publicly owned. Twenty years ago people fought the idea of the government taking over our health care industry. See Trust the Government. It appears that this means that Medicare pays better for publicly owned clinics. One could wonder if the federal government was making it sweeter for local governments to take over medical facilities.
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PostSubject: Is Ortonville Moving towards this Socialized medicine?   Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy? Icon_minitimeSun Feb 15, 2009 10:06 pm

Is Ortonville Moving towards this Socialized medicine?

When I read your post on how the federal government is promoting cities or government entities to own hospitals or clinics so that government gets paid more than private entities is a prime example of the direction of our society and demonstrates how you compared Ortonville in a correct fashion. Lady Hawks ability to see this on a local level is enlightening.

From a national standpoint it appears that the national media is reporting the socialism is here and perhaps the local impact can be seen almost immediately. This is not a criticism but really states the facts. The federal government is mandating changes that are effecting us in Ortonville.
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Lady Hawk
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Lady Hawk


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PostSubject: Has the sale been approved?   Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy? Icon_minitimeSun Mar 01, 2009 11:03 am

doctor It has been 3 months since the sale of the Northside Medical Center and the city minutes still don't show that City Attorney Craig Ash approved the sale.

Where are the minutes that show this? To my knowledge there has been nothing said during any of the city council meetings on this subject. Is the sale finalized?

When and where did City Attorney Craig Ash approve the sale? Did the city council surrender their voting rights to the city attorney who is not an elected official? judge
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Lady Hawk
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Lady Hawk


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PostSubject: Did the City Attorney approve the sale of Northside Medical Center   Northside Medical Center Sold. Why the secrecy? Icon_minitimeSat Mar 21, 2009 9:59 pm

On March 7, 2009 a letter was sent to the City Administrator requesting documentation that The City Attorney approved the sale of the Northside Medical Center.

On March 20, 2009 City Attorney David Lang sent a reply stating, "Documentation that City Attorney Craig Ash approved the legal documents relating to the acquisition of the assets of Northside Medical Center by OAHS is contained in an email from Craig Ash to OAHS CEO Rick Ash dated October 27, 2008."

The email from the City Attorney stated that he had reviewed the documents he had received and "If these documents are approved by the OAHS Board, I will recommend approval to the Council." This email was dated October 27, 2009.

Mr. Jim Foster CFO, in a phone conversation on February 9, 2009, stated that they had been talking about this for nine months.

The City Administrator provided the minutes of the OAHS Board for the past year and the following was found.

The first mention of the sale is on May 27, 2008. Entry V-C-4 "Provider Base Clinic is closer to finalizing and continues to move forward." There is no mention of this in any other minutes from January to May.

June 24, 2008 VI-C-6 "Provider Base Clinic Continues to move forward. There is a meeting with Lawco next week.

October 28, 2008 V. "Healthcare Board went into Executive Session at 5:50 regarding acquisiton of Northside Mekical Center. Went out of Executive Session at 6:35 and discussion was held. Healthcare Board recommends to the City Council to move forward and to approve the asset purchase agreement and the provider service agreement with Northside Medical Center. Motion made by Conroy, seconded by Thomas, Motion carried with Dr. Alan Ross abstaining. (emphasis theirs)

December 9, 2008 VIII-C "Clinic Acquisition/Provider Based Clinic many have been working diligently to get this completed."

No mention was made in the January and February minutes.

The Ortonville City Council approved the purchase on November 17th based upon the "approval" of the City Attorney. The email from the City Attorney says he "will approve." Doesn't he have to "approve" them officially. There is no documentation in either the OAHS Board Meeting Minutes or the Ortonville City Council Minutes stating that the City Attorney "approved" the sale. To use an email that was dated prior to the OAHS meeting and say that is the approval is not logical.

Is it judge legal? How can the city council pass a vote based on the contingency of the City Attorney's approval? Isn't that like giving their votes away? Then we find no official documentation that the City Attorney approved it. The City Attorney is the one who is supposed to be watching the city to be sure that they are doing things legally. Who watches the City Attorney?
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