No progress on clinic negotiations

Though it appears construction is complete on Red Bluffs Clinic, the Board of Trustees for Crook County Medical Services District (CCMSD) was not able to move ahead with negotiations to occupy the building during last week’s meeting.

The board made the request at June’s regular meeting for the Crook County Medical Foundation to provide further information, including a breakdown of the numbers. This request was made after the foundation rejected the board’s latest offer to lease space in the building and it became apparent that there had been a misunderstanding between the two boards regarding who will be expected to repay the loan for the building, minus the amount covered by donations from the public.

Foundation board member Bill Motley responded during the June meeting by stating that his board would need to discuss this issue as there appears to have been some “miscommunication.” CCMSD board chairman Mark Erickson requested that he return with the necessary numbers to allow the district to make an informed decision.

However, by Thursday’s meeting, trustees had only received a short email from Judy Hutchinson of the foundation, which stated the following:

“We have right now $3,267,418.00 in clinic. Have $1,815,00.00 in donations so have $3,085,918.00 invested of our money which is cds [certificates of deposit], cash and outstanding loans. This does include the land it sits on.”

Trustee Ed Ray pointed out that these figures do not match up. Only by moving the decimal point such that the donations total $181,500 instead of $1.8 million can the total of $3,085,918 be reached by subtracting the donations from the total amount currently invested in the clinic project.

“It appears they’ve only had $181,500 total donations,” said Erickson, noting that this is very different to the $1.5 million that the foundation has claimed in past reports.

Trustee Sandy Neiman informed her fellow board members that, while she did not have an official report from the foundation to share, it does appear that the clinic is complete and has been turned over to the foundation. The board would like to finalize this issue, she said, “If they would give us what their final numbers are going to be.”

CEO Micki Lyons stated that she had thought the foundation was supposed to send over a lease agreement proposal to be discussed.

“We haven’t heard anything from them,” said Erickson. “The ball still sits in their court.”

The lack of new information makes it difficult to move forward, he said.

“There’s no breakdown of numbers,” said Neiman.

“There’s no transparency,” agreed Erickson.

“And that’s what we need,” finished Neiman.

Erickson stated that his first question is what exactly the foundation will be donating to the district and, right now, it appears the answer is nothing. With the board finding it difficult to interpret Hutchinson’s numbers, Neiman made the proposal that Lyons contact the foundation to explain exactly what the district needs and how it is needed.

Trustee Trish Habeck commented that she feels the foundation has already been given this information. Yes, said Neiman, but Lyons can work with them directly to resolve things.

When it became clear that the numbers provided do not add up as presented, Neiman felt that the merit of her suggestion was apparent.

“It’s good that Micki is going to meet face to face,” she said.