By ANDY GARDNER
North Country Now

MASSENA -- Massena Memorial Hospital is eyeing four larger healthcare networks for a possible affiliation and discussed potential terms in closed-door sessions in August and September.

MMH Director of Public Relations and Planning Tina Corcoran said the four entities have signed non-disclosure agreements with MMH. She declined to comment on who attended, besides MMH board members, and the specific areas of discussion during the August and September executive sessions.

According to MMH Board of Managers meeting minutes, the board met for an “education session on affiliation” prior to their August and September meetings. The two sessions, which preceded each month’s board meeting by an hour, were not announced in advance.

At the Monday, Oct. 22 MMH board meeting, hospital board chairman Scott Wilson said the August and September discussions in executive session involved contract negotiations. Specifically, he said the hospital discussed potential affiliation terms with potential affiliates.

The board is allowed to expel the public for such a discussion.

St. Lawrence Health System CEO David Acker was spotted leaving the September session. Tracy Jarvis, Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s director of corporate communications, said the hospital is not commenting on Acker’s role in the meeting.

Massena Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy in June said the hospital had talked to SLHS about a potential affiliation. At the time, he characterized it as “nothing definite.”

As a public body in New York state, the MMH board is required to make an advance announcement when meetings, if a quorum of board members is present, are starting early. Publicly available meeting minutes show a quorum was present at both the August and September executive sessions, which started at 3 p.m. each time.

When the board meets at a different time than the one they normally schedule, which is 4 p.m., they are supposed to give notice to local news media, post the time change on their website and post the new time in a conspicuous public location, according to New York State Open Meetings Law.

The board went immediately into executive sessions at the 3 p.m. meetings in August and September for what was later explained as a legitimate reason. Had the revised meeting times have been announced, the public would have been able to attend the public portion preceding them, which included hearing the motions to go into executive session and seeing how the board voted on them.

Corcoran confirmed that she did not make announcements of the time change and in the past has not made announcements when a quorum of board members has met for similar purposes that she characterized as “education sessions.” She said she would make announcements of time changes going forward.