Hospital’s soap opera continues

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 18, 2008

The headline of the Tuesday edition of The Natchez Democrat read “Natchez Regional bids down to one.”

The article carried a sub-heading that read “CEO, boards agree its still best to keep details quiet.” I assume the word “boards” to mean the members of the Board of Supervisors and Board of Trustees of NRMC.

Since the letter I wrote last week primarily credited NRMC CEO Scott Phillips with the withholding of information surrounding the bids from the public, I’ll assume that either Mr. Phillips felt the need for the “boards” to back him up on the need for secrecy, or the “boards” felt the need to offer him their backing.

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Though we didn’t get a lot of new information, we did get a few actual quotes from participants in this week’s article. Trustee President Dan Bland said the deal is just not ready to be signed off on yet. He also said, “The fat woman hadn’t sung,” but that “It’s going to be great for the community.”

Scott Phillips says we have a “terrific bid” submitted by an “extremely qualified bidder,” and “Negotiations are at a delicate point.” Also, according to Phillips, that bidder has asked not to be publicly named yet.

Hospital attorney Walter Brown said of the supervisors, “They’re still backing the administration.” “They’ve agreed continued confidentiality is appropriate.” I guess that means my ranting last week has not “flipped” any of the supervisors on the need for confidentiality.

If we are in fact now down to one bidder, I’ll assume we are now down to two choices in the bid process. Those choices would be to accept that bid, or not accept that bid.

My question to the supervisors at this point would be are we down to one bid because you all reviewed all of the bids carefully, and determined this bid is best? Or, are we down to one bid because Scott Phillips, and whoever else may have actually seen the bids, has made that determination for you?

If the former is the case, so be it. You are our duly elected officials. You have performed the necessary level of due diligence, and made a decision.

If the latter is the case, I would say you have allowed yourselves to be painted into a corner by individuals who will not face the wrath of the electorate, if this process does not end in a manner beneficial to the public.

As for the matter of withholding information surrounding this process from the public, that notion seems to have fallen on deaf ears with the boards.

I will leave them to explain that necessity if this process blows up in their collective faces, as they attempt to extricate themselves from the left-over pile of debris.

History tells me that when facts are withheld, poor decisions are made.

The boards have gone along with this secretive process for some unknown reason. They may all find this hard to believe, but I truly hope this turns out good for the community.

Even if it does though, I think the secrecy surrounding the process has been a disservice to the voters of Adams County!

Chuck Fields

Natchez Resident