Saratoga 'unbound'

“The past council can’t bind this council until 2022. I’m sorry.”

This statement, from Mayor John Zeiger, came during the May 7 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council during a discussion of the current lease agreement between the Town of Saratoga and Platte Valley Clinic, LLC., a subsidiary company of Health Manage Services, LLC. (HMS). During their March 5 meeting, the council had made the motion to review the lease in May. Town attorney Tom Thompson was on hand to explain what he saw as deficiencies in the lease.

The clinic lease agreement was not the only contract discussed. Council members also held discussion on the lease between the Town of Saratoga and Venture Industries in regards to the E911 system used by the Saratoga Police Department. Action was also taken by the council over a recommendation from the Saratoga Recreation Commission to create a vacancy by removing Chia Valdez-Schwartz, who was appointed in October.

Looking at

Lease Language

It was under reports from departments that the lease agreement for the clinic came up for discussion, with Zeiger informing the council that he wanted their thoughts on the current lease following Thompson’s analysis. In his initial address to the council, Thompson expressed concern over the lease being addressed to Platte Valley Clinic, but signed by HMS. The issue of the term of the lease, beginning Oct. 1, 2017 and ending Dec. 31, 2022, was also raised by Thompson.

“The lease also has a term which is an extended term contract under Wyoming law, meaning that it binds one mayor and council from a previous mayor and council,” said Thompson. “Extended term contracts are permissible under Wyoming law, but there has to be language in the contract that recognizes the contracts of an extended term and it serves the public interest and it benefits the town. That was another issue with the lease agreement.”

An additional concern brought by Thompson to the council was that of the base obligations required of the lessee of the clinic by the Town of Saratoga. The attorney informed members of the council that, while he wasn’t familiar with the lessee, he had picked up information from comments made during previous town council meetings as well as conversations with Suzie Cox, Saratoga town clerk.

“It appears that there’s a number of those base obligations of lessee that have not been met such as clinic hours, availability for 24/7 on call service … so there were some issues under that paragraph with the lease,” Thompson said, finishing his comments to the council.

The current language of the lease agreement, which was made available to the Saratoga Sun, includes six items under “Base Obligation of Lessee” and include maintaining clinic hours consistent with “historical hours of operation,” 24/7 on-call services provided “by or at the direction of a doctor of medicine or osteopathy,” maintaining a staff of two full-time mid level practitioners and medical oversight doctor of medicine or osteopathy, telemedicine services, a quarterly report to the lessor and an annual community health needs assessment “that incorporates community feedback.”

“I know there’s been discussions about, we’ve waived the lease payment in the past. Is this on the agenda tonight to consider whether or not to enforce that lease payment or extend the waiver or are we talking about something else?” asked Saratoga Councilmember Jon Nelson.

“I just want to know what you feel on the lease in general,” replied Zeiger.

As the council discussed the current lease, a common concern expressed by each member was the financial support currently being provided by the Corbett Medical Foundation to Platte Valley Clinic. Council members Steve Wilcoxson and Judy Welton both stated that, while Corbett Medical Foundation was still supporting the clinic, they felt it was best for the Town of Saratoga to help as much as possible, including waiving the $1,000 lease fee. Before allowing Karl Rude, president of HMS, to speak, Zeiger expressed his concern about the lease not being valid and being entered into by the previous council.

“I think I’m comfortable with the position that the council has taken on this,” said Rude. “Our business is a fledgling effort to cover the gaps that were left in the absence of a physician leaving. We did so with some amount of haste because the negotiations we had to enter into at that time were done so with immediate need for the town to have a provision of medical services. I’m very delighted to have really consistent employees stand up and carry a lot of burden and support from Corbett Medical Foundation to make sure those employees continue to get paid.”

“Where are we on the 24/7 on-call services. Last time, we were told you have no intention of doing that,” said Zeiger.

“I didn’t say I had no intention of doing that,” Rude said.

“Well, it was said at the last council meeting,” replied Zeiger.

Recording from the April 16 meeting shows that, when Zeiger asked Saratoga Care Center Administrator Mark Pesognelli about 24/7 coverage, Pesognelli’s response had been “We’re not at this time. If it’s an emergency situation we’ll try and work our way through it, but at this time we are not providing 24-hour coverage.”

Continued discussion among the council and between council members and Rude covered concern about the lack of a doctor at the clinic and the ability of the council to dictate how a business should be run.

“Back in August, September, a picture was painted and expectations were set that these things were real and attainable. I think the quote was ‘I’m not going to tell you it’s going to happen on day one, but you will have a doctor.’ Well, for 200 days down the road, I understand why there’s concern about those expectations not being met, but what I also hear is a council trying to dictate the operations of a private business and I think history, recent history, will show us that that doesn’t work out so well,” said Nelson.

Before the council moved onto other business, Mike Foley, husband of Platte Valley Clinic Nurse Practitioner Susan Foley, offered additional insight.

“First off, as far as 24/7 coverage goes, I think I can probably count on my hands the number of days that my wife hasn’t worked on charting at home in the last year and a half. She is bombarded with work. You will kill these two providers if you try to enforce 24/7. You will cause some serious marriage issues, I’ll tell you that right off. It will not be sustained. I won’t allow it. I won’t watch her crash like that,” said Foley. “Try not to harm the people that are here, dedicated to the citizens of this Valley. Dedicated to keeping their health and dedicated to working for them, not for themselves. If that were the case, I think she (Susan Foley) would have demanded a hell of a lot more. As would Ruby Ayers. So have a little humanity in this, please.”

No action was taken by the council on the clinic lease, though Zeiger asked council members to review it before the May 21 meeting, and both Rude and Pesognelli were asked to attend the next meeting of the town council.

Who You Gonna Call?

Another lease discussed by the town council regarded that of the Saratoga Police Department’s E911 system, which had been installed in 2017 under acting Police Chief Robert Bifano. Police Chief Ken Lehr told the council that he had been unaware that the system was being leased until he received a call from Venture Technologies about a payment. According to Thompson, the lease for the $94,000 system began with a payment of $52,000 and continued for a 37 month period with payments of $1,000 a month.

Under the lease agreement, the Saratoga Police Department was supposed to be provided training for the system, which Lehr said he was unsure took place. Another section of the contract, according to Thompson, stated that the maintenance of the system was responsibility of the Town of Saratoga and not of the lessor.

“When it comes to finding out what got installed correctly and what didn’t and what training got done and what didn’t, I would think that the guy whose signature is on here would be the one to be able to tell us, right?” asked Nelson.

Thompson advised that investigation into whether or not there was training on the system be done. He also advised the council that, with only 10 months left in the contract, it would not be in the best interest of the town to walk away from the lease when considering the monetary penalties and the amount made in rental payments that would be forfeited.

Pearls Before Swine

Under reports from the recreation commission, Recreation Director Lisa Burton informed the council of a letter from chairperson Sarah Lincoln requesting the removal of commission member Chia Valdez-Schwartz.

According to Burton, since being appointed by the previous council in October, Valdez-Schwartz had not attended a single meeting and had sent an email in February informing Burton and the commission of her intention of being out of state until May.

Valdez-Schwartz, having returned to Saratoga, was in the audience during the May 7 council meeting.

“I would like to know why I’m not on the board because I sent Lisa an email that I was in Arizona and I’d be back in May and nobody communicated anything to me other than just now,” asked Valdez-Schwartz.

“The way it was communicated to me, and this goes back a couple months, but what I was told was that there was a period of four or five months that you weren’t attending the meetings,” replied Nelson.

Welton asked Valdez-Schwartz if she wanted to continue being on the commission, to which Valdez-Schwartz responded in the affirmative, stating that she had a number of ideas she had already communicated to the commission. Discussion among the council lead to them making the decision to follow through with the recommendation from the recreation commission. Before going to a vote, Councilmember Bob Keel addressed Valdez-Schwartz.

“For me, it’s my experience that, even if you’re not on the board, you can still show up and be heard. When I was not on town council, I would show up and have a lot of good interactions with the town council,” said Keel.

“Pearls before swine,” replied Valdez-Schwartz.

The phrase “pearls before swine” is taken from Matthew 7:6, which reads “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” Taken from Jesus’ Sermon the Mount, it is believed to mean that one should only preach to receptive audiences.

The town council voted unanimously, with a roll call vote, to accept the recommendation from the recreation commission and remove Valdez-Schwartz. The council also gave Burton permission to advertise for the, now, vacant position.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on May 21 at the Saratoga Town Hall.