Photo by Daniel J. Chacón
Two weeks ago today, the City Council asked the City Attorney’s Office to review a $1.15 million severance package for Memorial Health System’s former CEO to determine whether it was legally binding.
The council gave the office two weeks to come up with the answer.
City Attorney Chris Melcher said he will be discussing his findings with the council in closed executive session Wednesday.
“The City Attorney’s Office is still reviewing the facts and documents relating to the recent proposed separation agreement between Dr. (Larry) McEvoy and the former Board of Trustees of Memorial,” Melcher said in an email.
“I will be discussing this review and providing attorney client advice to Council tomorrow, at closed legal session, during the scheduled Special Meeting of Counsel (sic) that immediately follows the CSU Board Meeting,” he said.
McEvoy’s separation package, which includes $1 million in severance pay, a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid and $20,000 to help him find a new job, sparked a firestorm of controversy.
When Memorial board trustees refused to rescind the agreement, the council gave them an ultimatum: resign or be removed from the board.
Only one of the trustees resigned, prompting the council to remove the others from their seats. Another trustee resigned the day before the council gave the board the ultimatum.
Seriously? (Again) behind closed/Executive Session doors? Where is our transparent government, Mayor Bach?!?!?
“All but one of the trustees resigned . . . .”
Is that correct? I was under the impression all but one refused to resign and had to be removed.
Donna
I am betting Mr. Chacon will ‘proof’ that and change it in a heartbeat.
Springs Unigroup,
Good catch. I fixed the error.
Thanks.
Rick,
Mr. Chacon needs more coffee!
Well, knowing Larry and his lawyers, I’m sure they worked out a fail-safe package. I doubt if anyone can change it. He’s going to get his money.
He doesn’t deserve his money at all. His grand strategy of changing ownership backfired and morale. And right after giving several speeches on how he was here “for the team,” and that he was “staying till the end,” he bails. Right before he bails, he and his lawyers work out a deal with the Board of Trustees to come up with some clever wording in order to come up with a workaround and be able to work up a scenario that has a different contract.
So yeah, it’s watertight. He worked with the Board and lawyers to come up with his deal. The guy’s gonna get his money. The Board knew they had nothing to lose and wanted to keep up a nice “contact” in case they needed/wanted a job later on down the line if they happen to be in the city Larry will move too.
You see, here’s the problem: Memorial has hired people (and relatives) off of its own Board of Trustees. And for good wages for Memorial administrative jobs that they WERE NOT qualified for. So the Board was usually comprised of people who wanted to rub shoulders with “powerful” people just to cover their bases and keep their employer contacts open.
We should never have let the Board become like that. City Council is much the same and they knew about McEvoy’s severance deal too. But when public perception turned, the Council changed their mind.
So there are lots of guilty parties in this fiasco. I hope this huge mess makes everyone look very closely at things from now on.
Companies should never, ever, ever, ever hire people from their own Board of Trustees. It’s a huge conflict of interest. And a simple year’s waiting period is not enough so say that they are avoiding the conflict.
Hey Daniel, wouldn’t it be fun to find out which current and past employees either served on the Memorial’s Board of Trustees or had immediate relatives serve on the Board?
And then when we post their names, lets post their qualifications or lack thereof.
That’s were a real story can be found. Complaining over a severance that’s gonna be paid out regardless of how angry we are accomplishes nothing.
I can send you some names that I know of. It’d be fun to hear their comments on the subject of conflit of interest.
Can we do that please? You know, just for fun.
@LucyRN. No, not all of Council knew about McEvoys severance deal. Once again, several of the unknown details were revealed in the press. Some individual councilors may have known, I cant speak for them, but I absolutely did not. Chris Melcher knew. This Council woman didnt even know that McEvoy was coming in closed session to announce his departure because the session notice didnt reflect as much or even hint that a personnel matter was being discussed. Months earlier I vocalized my constituents would never support retention packages especially with the situation of leasing being negotiated and when I heard the severance pkg I opposed that as well. Transparency comes easy for me, not sure why so difficult for others.
WHY IS MORE TIME , MONEY ENGERY BEING SPENT ON THIS ISSUE LESSON LEARNED IF THERE WAS A CLEAR CUT RESOLUTION LEGALLY OR OTHER WISETHEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STOP IT , JP MORGAN CEO WAS MAKING 15.5 MILLION A YEAR SO 1.5 MILLION IS CRUMBS IN THE CEO WORLD.
NOW MEMORIAL HAS TO PAY OUT MORE MONEY FOR ANOTHER
DROPPED FLY.
LILITHIA
Lisa Czelatdko, thank you for replying to my concerns. I apologize for the mistake. Plenty of people have been grumbling that City Council knew about it.
From your comments, it appears some did, some didn’t. Shame on the ones who did and didn’t give you the heads up. So much for people having integrity.
Thank you for clarifying your role and correcting me. I hope the people responsible for this mess have to answer for it.
Breaking down the barriers to communication that Mrs. Czelatdko often advocates can only bring about a smoother transition to progress. The real concern: why is she having to fight this battle?