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O'Shaughnessy officially fires Fenton from Massena Memorial Hospital board

Posted 2/22/19

By ANDY GARDNER North Country Now MASSENA --Town Supervisor Steve O'Shaughnessy has officially fired Carol Fenton from the Massena Memorial Hosptial Board of Managers. “I am of course disappointed …

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O'Shaughnessy officially fires Fenton from Massena Memorial Hospital board

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER
North Country Now

MASSENA --Town Supervisor Steve O'Shaughnessy has officially fired Carol Fenton from the Massena Memorial Hosptial Board of Managers.

“I am of course disappointed in my removal from the Board of Managers. I had hoped that my offer last night to work with Mr. O’Shaughnessy and the Town Council would carry some weight. However, the olive branch offered was rejected," Fenton said in a prepared statement on Friday evening.

She was chair of the MMH board for less than 10 days before O'Shaughnessy sent her a notice of termination. He at the same time fired MMH board vice chair Dave MacLennan.

Her termination followed a tense hearing and public comment session at Thursday's Town Council meeting that about 100 people attended. Members of the public called on all members of the Town Council to resign. More about that is here.

Current, Former Board Members Support Fenton

Town Council and Massena Memorial Hospital board members voiced support for Fenton.

About 30 demonstrators also picketed outside the Town Hall for about an hour before Fenton’s hearing, protesting O’Shaughnessy’s recent handling of the MMH Board of Managers. See story for more on the protest.

In addition to Fenton’s and MacLennan's removals, the supervisor recently former chair Sue Bellor. O’Shaughnessy also declined to reappoint the chairman before Bellor, Scott Wilson, whose term had expired Dec. 31. Bellor was chair for four days before she was fired.

At the Thursday night meeting, two councilors expressed opinions on the still-unfolding MMH-town saga, but stopped short of directly criticizing the supervisor.

"I spoke to Carol and I support Carol,” Councilor Tom Miller said. "I have spoke to the supervisor about my opinion. I have no authority about how he appoints or removes (MMH board members).”

"I'm appalled by it,” Councilor Al Nicola said when a member of the public asked for his opinion on what’s happened over the last couple of months. “I've been on the board for a long, long time and I’ve never seen anything like this before. Everybody in this room, everyone ... we all have one thing in common. We're trying to save MMH. That's the thing we have in common. If we could use those things to bring us together, that's the only way this problem's going to be solved."

Real “Frenchie” Coupal, an MMH board member, spoke in favor of Fenton and said he believes the supervisor should work in concert with the town councilors before firing MMH board members. State law grants Supervisor O’Shaughnessy sole authority to appoint or remove MMH trustees.

"It bothers me Steve that you get rid of people without consulting your board,” Coupal said. "You got rid of her before we even had a chance to form this committee.”

"That lady has to put be back on the board,” Coupal said.

“All of them!” several members of the audience then yelled in unison.

Coupal suggested O’Shaughnessy grant Fenton six months to prove herself as MMH board chair.

"If she doesn't satisfy your need, get rid of her and me too!" he said. "That's where this is going because I'm probably going to get a (termination) letter tomorrow.”

Joe Gray, former town supervisor, spoke in Fenton’s defense during her hearing.

"Your dismissal of Carol Fenton was unfounded and capricious,” he said. "The disruption and chaos created by you and Councilman (Sam) Carbone has caused a fifth to resign.”

He is referring to Tina Buckley, former MMH board secretary, who resigned this month for reasons that have not been made clear.

Gray also called on all of the town board members to resign because, he said, they also have done nothing to improve financial conditions at the hospital.

Bellor also spoke in Fenton’s defense.

“In your blatant disregard for board of managers who dared exercise free speech or vote for an affiliation not to your choice, you removed hardworking volunteers Carol, Dave and myself, who obviously have more commitment to keeping MMH a full service hospital,” Bellor said. “As a result, you have also destroyed a planned process of board of managers’ yearly rotations and now have added members, some who have shown a bias or disgruntled behavior toward MMH, but who will support you and your choice of affiliation that will condense our community hospital. By the way, it is pretty obvious to many in our community that Dr. (Michael) Maresca has a potential conflict of interest serving on our board when he is chief medical officer of SLH/CPH. So you have taken ownership of removing valuable board members and for the record, through your actions, you alone have taken full ownership and full responsibility of the future of MMH, which means if MMH is not maintained as a full service hospital, it may result in loss of services and jobs.”

Although he has never served on the town or hospital boards, Charlie Romigh also went to bat for Fenton as a witness in her defense.

"We have been failed by an autocratic town supervisor and four town councilpeople who have not been our voice in a check and balance system,” Romigh said. "This meeting is a farce. No person should be allowed to be judge and jury. That's a system that should be changed.”

Fenton, Gray, Bellor and Romigh all received loud applause at the conclusion of their remarks. Members of the public periodically shouted support for Fenton and MacLennan during the public comment session.

Fenton Speaks Against Accusations

Speaking in her own defense, Fenton addressed the accusations O’Shaughnessy made in the letter where he fired her.

“As to the charge of failing to improve the financial condition of the hospital, I would submit that doing so in eight days would be a tall order for most individuals; to claim that I haven’t done so in eight days is both unfair and unrealistic. As you are aware, there are numerous reasons our hospital is facing financial constraints; many small community hospitals are facing the same. That is the reason we are working towards an affiliation with a larger hospital network,” Fenton said.

Fenton also responded to O’Shaughnessy’s charge that she failed to install a capable management team. She cited the departure of former MMH CEO Robert Wolleben. Although there has never been an official explanation from the town, MMH board member Paul Morrow in December said Wolleben resigned because the supervisor wanted him out. Morrow said O’Shaughnessy and Wolleben disagreed on the direction the hospital was heading, and Wolleben was “forced out” by the town board.

Fenton did not repeat any of Morrow’s claims. She did reference remarks from O’Shaughnessy quoted in the Watertown Daily Times over the summer where the supervisor said Wolleben’s interim replacement, Ann Gilpin, “has excellent credentials and comes highly recommended.”

“Ann Gilpin was a very capable CEO during her short tenure. She assisted the Board of Managers in locating Chuck Gijanto who is currently serving as interim president and chief executive officer since August of 2018. He has been a tremendous asset to this hospital,” Fenton said during her hearing. “The rest of the MMH management team has been there for many years and are some of the brightest, most dedicated individuals I have ever worked with. To infer otherwise is insulting to them.”

Fenton also took issue with the supervisor’s claim that she “failed to exercise adequate control” at the hospital and “failed to maintain an effective inspection of the hospital” and keep herself informed of its affairs.

“During my eight days as chair and on a daily basis, I met with, emailed and spoke on the phone with not only the CEO but other hospital management staff and board members as well. Did I schedule or conduct any inspections of the hospital? No. Did I keep myself informed of the affairs and management of the hospital? To the extent that I could in eight days, absolutely. If you have information to the contrary, please let me know,” Fenton said. A copy of her remarks can be read here.

She later in the meeting refuted a claim from the supervisor that she refused to work toward joint meetings of the town and hospital boards.

“I sent you an email that I wanted to come to your special meeting to discuss the affiliation to set up a date in early March to discuss the proposals from Crouse and Canton-Potsdam,” she said. "I wrote an agenda and sent it to you and the board members.”

"Do not sit there and let the public think I have sat there and ignored your summons,” Fenton said.

Bellor spoke up and pointed out that MMH board bylaws prohibit them from meeting off hospital grounds.

"I asked for a roundtable meeting back Jan. 2 when you relieved me,” Bellor said. "Carol has asked for a roundtable meeting. It shouldn't be down here. It should be at the hospital."

Near the end of public comment, Fenton implored O’Shaughnessy to consider their long working relationship and reconsider his decision to fire her.

"You and I have known each other for a long time. We've served on committees together, post-9/11 to come up with security plans,” she said, referring to when she was with the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. and he was at the New York Power Authority.

"I know this has been difficult for both of us, and this is not pleasant. In my career, I learned the most from people that didn't agree with me, but from people who disagreed with me,” Fenton said. "I think we can work together, Steve. I really want to work with this board, with the physicians, for the people of Massena. We really do want the same things.”

"I'll carry the olive branch and if you want to work together like we did years ago, I'm open to that,” she said.

Electronic Devices

Two instances of board members using electronic devices during open session drew ire from a member of the public.

David Romigh, who broadsided the board over the MMH controversy and called the whole thing a “dumpster fire,” lambasted O’Shaughnessy for sending text messages during Bellor’s hearing earlier in the month.

"I have to commend you Mr. O’Shaughnessy you showed much more decorum and respect ... I didn't see you texting anybody,” Romigh said. “Or is it because the person you were texting then is here and not at work?”

"I wasn't at work,” Councilor Sam Carbone said.

"How'd you know I was talking about you Sam?" Romigh said, to which Carbone did not reply.

Later in the meeting, when Romigh spoke again, Carbone started using his tablet, which all councilors are given instead of paper documents.

"Am I interrupting your Pokemon time?" Romigh said.

"That's rude David,” Carbone said. "I'm printing an email … I'm listening to your dumpster story.”

"You guys are already a mockery in the press, in the minds of the people,” Romigh replied.

Supervisor Defends Actions

Just after Fenton’s hearing and prior to public comment, O’Shaughnessy read a statement to justify his recent actions toward the MMH board.

"Although I've consulted with the TB in the past, the statute that allows creation of a town-owned hospital gives the supervisor authority to appoint and remove hospital board members,” he said. "Massena Memorial Hospital has incurred multi-million dollar losses over the last several years.”

O’Shaughnessy also pointed to a resolution from the Town Council that permitted the MMH board to privatize as long as the final outcome meets several criteria, including "creation of a successor pension plan with negotiated bridge payment for most affected employees.”

"To this date, the Board of Managers has not produced any such plan, affiliation, contract or other document that would satisfy this criteria,” the supervisor said.

The supervisor repeated previous statements that he was surprised by the Board of Managers’ December vote to pursue affiliation with Claxton-Hepburn/Crouse and was upset that it was not included on the agenda or announced during the first portion of the meeting when town officials and press were present. O’Shaughnessy told North Country Now in the days following that he doesn’t think Claxton/Crouse is the best choice of an affiliate.

He also panned Fenton and MacLennan for not attending three special meetings he tried to call in January and February, a charge Fenton later addressed, which is mentioned earlier in this story.

"I recognize the importance of Massena Memorial to this community and appreciated the effort and work of employees and medical staff,” the supervisor said. "I appreciate the dedication of the Board of Managers, even if I disagree with them.”