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Lost, Sold, and Downright Not Feasible.
The saga of lost, sold, and down right non-feasible hospitals in St. Helens, Oregon will come to a close in the near but distant future. The chronicle's of the ill-fated facilities is more than a yarn and has been told for several generations in the county. There is no taste of sour grapes associated with the first hospital in town which was located on 4th street, and the building still stands today's and has been used in the past as a hospital, a nursing home an adult care center to name a few o its uses.
Where the sour grapes start to leech into the mouths of the locals is the newer hospital that was located right off Columbia River Hwy on the North end of town. The taxpayers were asked to support the cost of the construction and cost to run the new hospital. Everyone did and was glad to do so. The facility was quite impressive they did surgeries, delivered babies, sported a great x-ray and lab, had doctor offices right in the facility, and had a fairly good emergency room, which also had a life flight pad. There was also a nursing home in the building right down from the lab; the nursing home was later taken away from the care of the facility. The people of the entire county used and plainly loved this facility.
Unfortunately poor management by the administration, poor billing and some say the switching of health insurance by Boise Cascade resulted in the financial failure of the facility. Instead of contracting the billing and administration out to someone who was capable of handling business, or hiring an individual who had a degree in these fields the good ole boys had one of their own running the show the result was the closing and sale of the hospital.
If the hospital was losing money why not go back to the taxpayers and ask for a few more cents per thousand until things got sorted out? I bet my bottom dollar that the taxpayers would have funded and come to the need of the hospital. That certainly did not happen and the taxpayers lost the hospital sold for a pittance and still to this day have questions as where the money went.
That brings use to the ill-fated facility that could never be built. The taxpayer funded the new hospital idea back in 2004, by January 1st 2006 the health district knew they would never get the critical access designation they simply failed to fill out the application and could not get grand fathered in so to speak even though they were warned that the program was going away. That huge mistake cost them the ability to be financial feasible. But the board and I might add was the some of the same who lost the old facility, proceeding on. The current board continued to collect taxes for approximately 7 years to the tune of about $7 million. Unfortunately they have spent all but $5,000.00 leaving the taxpayers wondering where all that money went. We know that they paid millions to attorneys and consultant's misguided studies and site prep on property when they were warned not to proceed. We also know that they transferred funds into a private nonprofit organization to look for rich donors that might want to donate funds to the hospital project, no takers, that sure was not a surprise. There was hundreds of thousands co-mingled through out the years between the hospital project and public health in my opinion and that of the taxpayers as a no no. And the people want answers to where their money went.
It brings us to now, where the current board decided not to run to retain their seats after a group of people decided to run for the positions after a ballot measure was passed in 2010 to stop the hospital tax. The current board refused to honor the vote until pressure was put on them through the prospect of a new board. That is when they decide to dissolve the district all paper work done I day before the new board takes their seats. The vote will be in September 2011. Leaving the new board $5,000.00 cash out of about nearly 1 million collected since November of 2010. Those numbers may change after the new board gets into office and starts figuring the books.
The new elected board will not have enough funds to proceed with a forensic audit which the taxpayers wants done, the Taxpayers want to see exactly where and how their money was spent and they want to see how much money was transferred to public health.
The new board will do everything in their power to achieve this goal on behalf of the taxpayers in the special district.
The board elect has filed an injunction against the old board in the old boards attempt to transfer CHD building and property over to Columbia County. The new board feels that the taxpayers in the special district owns that property and the old boards attempt to transfer the property June 30 one day before the new board takes office is not up to par and the county commissioners are on board with the old board because they want the building and property so they can transfer it into the private nonprofit foundation for public health. I think the taxpayers have funded public health enough over the last 7 years with money that was intended for a critical access hospital with out their ok.
Transparency is not a virtue that the current board has used in the pass but will be the number one goal of the board elect. The new board will have 2 ½ months to try and sell the property on Millard rd. before the dissolution vote takes place September 20th 2011 if the developed land cannot be sold the city of St. Helens will take possession for free and any money left will go into the county coffers. Hopefully the board elect will have a few ideas on how to get the forensic audit done, the property sold and credited back to the taxpayers of the special district.
It will be a challenge for the board elect because they are being kicked out of the CHD building, records will be shipped to the old courthouse into a room, there will be no phones or copy machines. Unfortunately the money left must be spent on insurances and liability insurance and a fence for the property on Millard Rd. that will be paid out of the $5,000.00. A meeting between the board elects and the bookkeeper for the district might reveal more funds but until then the board must go on the premise of only having $5,000.00
The new board has asked for certain records but has been refused by the old board unless the new board pays for the records and pay for some one to watch them read the documents so that is out until July 5, 2011 when the documents are made available at no cost to the new board, at that time the new board will start going through every record starting prior 2004, to try and obtain an accurate accounting of the money spent and the money transferred so the public can be informed as how their money was squandered over the last 7 years. I believe after the board elect goes through the records and if money allows they will publish the results in both local newspapers. Hopefully after this endeavor the miserable saga of the hospital debacle will be laid to rest for good.
Tammy
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