The Cedarbrook nursing homes were at the center of the continuing power struggle between Lehigh County commissioners and county Executive Thomas Muller Wednesday night.
Some commissioners were steaming because Muller refused to withdraw the appointment of a new nursing director for Cedarbrook, which legally became effective before commissioners had a chance to vote on it.
“In my mind, we got slapped in the face,” complained Commissioner Michael Schware.
Commissioners also were not happy that Dan McCarthy, the county’s director of administration, twice walked out of their Wednesday meetings when they discussed a resolution about hiring a management company for the nursing homes later this year.
McCarthy’s boycotts were deliberate — done at the suggestion of Muller, who was not at the meetings.
Commissioner Vic Mazziotti said he was appalled that the director of administration walked away, adding commissioners had been assured that the administration would work with them to review the issue of Cedarbrook’s management.
“It appears they’re not even willing to talk to us about this subject,” said Mazziotti.
The commissioners unanimously approved a resolution asking Muller to issue a request for proposals —RFP—for the future management of Cedarbrook.
That resolution suggests the executive share all responses from interested companies and make a recommendation to commissioners on May 13.
But Muller intends to ignore that resolution, which he is not legally required to follow.
After the meetings, Muller said the normal time to do a request for proposals from companies interested in managing Cedarbrook would be three months from now and added that’s when he plans to do it.
“We do not need the board telling us how to run the operation,” said the executive. “It’s our business to run the business and we’re doing that.”
As for McCarthy walking out of the meeting room when the issue came up, Muller said he’s tired of commissioners verbally beating up members of his staff at meetings.
Muller felt the intent of the commissioners’ resolution was to publicly and unnecessarily give LW Consulting another “black eye.”
“I have just lost all confidence in LW Consulting,” declared Commissioner Percy Dougherty during the meeting.
“We need a good management team. We have to get somebody new in there who is going to turn the facility around and make it the proud facility we have had for many, many years.”
Indicating LW could submit a proposal to the county to continue managing Cedarbrook, Commissioner Geoff Brace expressed concern that negative comments made by commissioners about LW —including the need for a change in management — could compromise the integrity of any request for proposals process.
Schware said there has not been a lot of trust in the administration regarding Cedarbrook, adding: “There seems to be a continued dishonesty or obfuscation of the truth.”
Not combatants on a battlefield
Ironically, all that antagonism occurred on the same night when Brad Osborne, just-elected chairman of the commissioners, started his first meeting of 2015 by reminding his colleagues: “As elected officials, we are servants of the people, not combatants on the battlefield.
“In a battle of wills, it’s the people who suffer. I’m going to ask our board and the administration to engage each other in a positive way. We’re going to need that going forward as we wrestle with difficult topics.”
Osborne also said communication “is a powerful tool, not a sign of weakness. If we talk, we are empowering ourselves to make better solutions.”
McCarthy’s boycott
The first time McCarthy left the meeting room at the start of the Cedarbrook committee’s discussion of the RFP resolution Wednesday, Commissioner Lisa Scheller commented: “Maybe that’s some indication of where that resolution is.”
Mazziotti questioned if there is any action the commissioners could take on their own to initiate the RFP process “if the administration is not even willing to discuss it with us.”
Commissioner David Jones suggested: “Let’s give diplomacy a shot…rather than declaring war at this moment.”
Said Scheller: “You mean diplomacy didn’t just walk out the door?”
“Let’s not assume the he ran away from the issue,” said Jones.
But when the RFP resolution again was raised during the commissioners’ full board meeting later Wednesday night, McCarthy again walked out of the room.
“This is extremely disappointing,” said Mazziotti.
Schware called McCarthy leaving the room “a blow to diplomacy.”
Mazziotti confronted McCarthy when the director of administration later returned to the commissioners’ meeting.
“Maybe it was a coincidence that you walked out of the room twice,” said Mazziotti.
“Maybe it wasn’t.”
He asked if McCarthy was not willing to talk to them about the administration’s position on the RFP resolution they had just passed in a 9-0 vote.
“I have nothing to contribute to the conversation,” said McCarthy.
“So the administration has no response?” asked Mazziotti.
“I have no response,” agreed McCarthy.
Muller suggested boycott
Muller later said he did not order McCarthy to walk out of the meetings during discussions about hiring a management company for Cedarbrook, but suggested he do so.
He said he also told McCarthy: “If you disagree, you can do otherwise.”
Muller said he didn’t see any need for McCarthy to participate in another “big public conversation” about LW because the administration already is well aware of the commissioners’ position regarding continuing with that company.
Most of the commissioners have been publicly critical of LW since October 2013, when the county had to transfer $3.6 million to Cedarbrook to keep it operating through the end of that year.
Despite that, Muller maintained LW has been “a strong partner” with the county for 11 years and stayed within the county's budget for eight of those years.
Last year, the commissioners removed $200,000 that was allocated in the 2015 budget to pay for the management of Cedarbrook.
They did that to ensure they will be involved in any decision about renewing a contract with LW to continue managing Cedarbrook.
The current contract with LW expires June 30. Muller could extend that contract for another year, but said he already promised commissioners he does not intend to do that.
Why an RFP resolution?
Commissioners want proposals from other interested management firms “to ensure the best quality and price options have been evaluated.”
Scheller said “unfortunately” the RFP resolution is only a request to the administration, not a directive it must follow.
“Since we can’t force them, it has to be a collaborative agreement,” said Jones.
Commissioner Amanda Holt, who wrote the resolution, said no RFPs have been sought to hire a company to manage Cedarbrook for at least 29 years.
“So it seemed appropriate that we make a formal request that this be done,” said Holt.
Scheller said getting RFPs on a regular basis is a good practice, even with good business relationships and good management.
Both Holt and Scheller said the quality of service always improves after an RFP process, even if the vendor doesn’t change.
“Many of us have expressed dissatisfaction with the current vendor,” said Mazziotti. “We reduced the budget so that contract could not continue in 2015 beyond July 1.”
Once a management company is hired, the commissioners intend to restore that $200,000 budget allocation to pay it for the rest of this year.
Schware liked the May 13 deadline for the executive to make a recommendation to commissioners, saying: “That gives us enough time to evaluate different contracts and doesn’t run us right up to the [June 30] deadline when the fund runs out.”
He added: “I don’t think anyone wants to see Cedarbrook go without proper management.”
New director of nursing
Cedarbrook’s new nursing director is Lisa Moyer of Weatherly, Carbon County.
Moyer was introduced to commissioners at their Dec. 17 meeting, but was not present Wednesday night.
On Dec. 17, the commissioners’ appointments committee gave Moyer an unanimous positive recommendation to become the new nursing director and she was told the full board would act on her appointment Wednesday.
Her appointment was on the agenda of Wednesday’s commissioners meeting.
But commissioners learned Moyer already started her job as nursing director at Cedarbrook on Wednesday.
Moyer was nominated on Dec 10, but it was not on the agenda of the commissioners’ meeting for action that night.
Commissioners had 29 days to act on the appointment.
They did not act on it within that time, so Moyer’s appointment began without any vote.
Atty. Eman Jarrah, an assistant county solicitor, told commissioners that is in accordance with the county’s home rule charter.
“Ms. Moyer is currently the director of nursing for Cedarbrook nursing home because all the proper procedures took place,” said the lawyer.
Jarrah added: “Knowing the events as they occurred, Ms. Moyer, in my opinion, was appropriately appointed. I don’t see any other option.”
Commissioner Geoff Brace suggested his colleagues had a responsibility to know how long they had to act on the appointment.
Brace said commissioners could have acted on it at their Jan. 5 reorganizational meeting or scheduled a special meeting to beat the deadline.
“Things can fall through the cracks,” said Holt, “especially over the holidays.”
Questions arose about nominee
Scheller said “questions arose” about Moyer after the Dec. 17 meeting.
No one explained the nature of those questions during the meeting.
Schware said the questions did not originate with commissioners, but came from Cedarbrook employees and residents.
McCarthy said he wasn’t aware commissioners had any concerns about the candidate until Osborne spoke with him last week.
Osborne had asked McCarthy that Moyer’s nomination be withdrawn until those unspecified questions could be addressed, but Muller refused to go along with that request.
Mazziotti said Muller “thumbed his nose” at commissioners by not agreeing to withdraw Moyer’s nomination.
He suggested Muller may have done that because he was not comfortable the appointment would withstand the commissioners’ scrutiny.
“The letter of the law was followed,” said Mazziotti. “But the spirit of cooperation between the administration and the commissioners, which has not always been what we would like it to be, has not been helped by this process.”
Scheller and Mazziotti said when such things happened in the past, the county executive agreed to withdraw his appointment and the process started over.
Schware said the agreement to do that was a precedent that stood for 20 years.
Mazziotti asked McCarthy why the administration “broke that precedent in this case and let this appointment go ahead without our approval?”
McCarthy said it would be proper for the county executive to answer that question, adding: “I did not make the decision.”
Said Mazziotti: “I don’t see him here tonight. Aren’t you his representative?”
Responded McCarthy: “But I am not the executive.”
Fixing the problem
Jones said commissioners could “beat Dan up” and “start the year with a fresh new battle.”
“Rather than fighting about what happened, how do we fix this?” asked Jones.
He continued: “The thing that we want is for the administration to be willing to pull the nomination back so the board can feel its integrity in the process is honored and has a fair opportunity to vet the nominated person.”
McCarthy suggested the board could make a motion or pass a resolution to ask the executive for an explanation.
McCarthy said it’s not always a good idea to have a public airing of personnel issues — and could be illegal. But he added the commissioners might be satisfied if they can get specific questions answered by the executive.
Muller infrequently attends commissioners meetings.
He said commissioners “beat up on” McCarthy, county purchasing director Rick Molchany “or me, in absentia.”
Muller added: “I probably will show up at more meetings this year. I told my guys we’re not going to play a game this year where they just stand there and get beat up by Vic and some of the others.
“It’s time for us to push back.”
Muller interviewed Moyer
Muller said Cedarbrook had been operating without a nursing director since the beginning of November, when Jan Harrison retired.
The executive indicated that Moyer was thoroughly vetted by the administration during the interview process.
Muller said she was interviewed both by himself and by Cedarbrook administrator Terry Hollinger, who is a former nursing director.
Moyer was selected from 18 applicants for the position, including one current Cedarbrook employee.
In December, Moyer told commissioners she is a certified nursing director of long-term care. She said she has 27 years of experience in long-term care, mostly at Weatherwood, the Carbon County nursing home.
She told commissioners she looked forward to the challenge of working at a larger nursing home.
Moyer said she worked at both not-for-profit and for-profit nursing homes and prefers not-for-profit homes, because they benefit the residents the most.
Osborne’s priorities
At the beginning of the commissioners’ meeting Wednesday, Osborne encouraged more county residents to attend the public meetings.
“Through the input of the public, the decisions of our board can be shaped and sometimes be better,” said the new chairman.
Osborne also recommended placing a five-minute time limit on members of the public addressing the board and limiting the number of people who speak about the same issue.
He said there may be times when that five-minute limit is extended.
Other commissioners spoke in support of those suggestions.
Dougherty said some people come to meetings with “pages and pages” of information they want to read.
He recommended they be encouraged to summarize the key points and distribute the written information to commissioners.
Osborne also encouraged commissioners “to concentrate on those projects that have the potential to save taxpayers money, even as we preserve the quality of services.”
He said he wants to “aggressively” continue the board’s record of reducing taxes and spending.
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