The Sept. 13, article titled “Fate of retirement payments unknown,” with the subheading “Hospital employees told no payments made in months” came as just one more kick in the teeth to Natchez Regional Medical Center employees. I can only commend them for not throwing up their hands and walking out the door.

That was followed by an article on Sept. 16, titled “Leaders approve $3M (as in million) loan.” The loan will purportedly cover “administrative fees to close out the sale of the county owned hospital and fulfill a requirement of a plan submitted to the bankruptcy court” according to Board of Supervisors attorney Scott Slover.

Supervisor Mike Lazarus stated he was not happy about it, but signed (the loan authorization). Lazarus also stated that Scott Phillips had been paid $745,000 in fees since the bankruptcy filing, but probably closer to a million by now, to which he stated, “It’s just not right.” Lazarus also stated that something didn’t smell right about those fees, and he wanted to know how that money was spent.

Kudos to Lazarus for questioning some of the fees being charged to get this sale closed, though it  seems to me to be coming rather late in the game, given that anyone who has been paying attention to these proceedings noticed the foul smell a long time ago.

That was followed up by two articles on Sept. 17. One titled “Officials disagree on funds,” wherein Scott Phillips was quick to dispute the comments made by Lazarus concerning the amount of money his firm had been paid. There was a mention that The Natchez Democrat had requested a copy of the list of payments since the bankruptcy petition from NRMC CFO Charles Mock last week, who reported he didn’t have the list. Gee, I wonder who prepared the list the supervisors got. A formal written request by The Natchez Democrat for the list has not even been acknowledged by the hospital.

The other article on Sept. 17, stated NRMC employees had been kept in the dark about everything related to the bankruptcy filing. It also stated there had been no meetings with department heads for over a year now.  Sounds like a great way to run a business.

But the most disturbing news of the week to me was something that I did not read in the newspaper, but rather a rumor I heard in a casual conversation. And that was that NRMC Board of Trustees attorney Walter Brown had requested an increase in the rate that he is charging for his services.

Not wanting to spread an unsubstantiated rumor, I called my supervisor, David Carter, and asked if that rumor was true. He confirmed to me that Brown had requested an increase in his hourly rate. When I asked Carter whether Brown had actually received an increase in his rate, he responded that the answer to that question would have to come from the NRMC Board of Trustees, since they hired Brown.

An attempt to get an answer to that question from the only member of that board that I know well enough to ask was not successful, so I will use this article as a means to direct two questions to the NRMC Board of Trustees.

First, did the trustees grant Brown an increase in the rate he charges for his services?

Second, if so, how much was that increase and when did it go into effect?

I, along with all of the NRMC employees, and citizen taxpayers of Adams County, will anxiously await a response to these simple questions, and we do not expect to have to wait until this sale is closed to get these answers.

 

Chuck Fields

Adams County Resident