October 06, 2009
The Valencia County Commission will hold a quietly announced meeting today to discuss the hospital. Public notice of the meeting was posted on the front door of the county administration building yesterday morning, according to the county manager’s office. County officials are saying they expect only two commissioners to show up and meet behind closed [...]
September 24, 2009
Early last week, Valencia! obtained the hospital lawsuit settlement offer provided to Valencia County by the plaintiffs’ attorney, James L. Sanchez. We chose not to immediately publish the letter after speaking with the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government; however, we used the letter to guide our reporting. Since that time, the Valencia County News-Bulletin [...]
September 21, 2009
The Historic Tome-Adelino Neighborhood Association last night briefly celebrated the Valencia County Commission’s vote on Wednesday to accept, in principle, the hospital lawsuit settlement offer from the case’s plaintiffs. After the group’s board members spent the afternoon removing their hospital signs from along Highway 47, the board briefly addressed the vote, expressing appreciation for the [...]
September 17, 2009
Valencia! spent the day speaking with attorneys and others both on and off the record about what the motion passed by the Valencia County Commission actually means. As is the case with the English language, sometimes one or two words can change the meaning of a sentence, or in this case, a motion. Last night [...]
September 17, 2009
Valencia County Commission Chairman Pedro Rael last night declared the days of attacking commissioners on the hospital project are over, shortly after the commission voted 4 to 1 to terminate the contract the county entered into with a local nonprofit for management of the project. The commission also decided to work to dismiss the hospital [...]
September 16, 2009
The Valencia County Commission voted minutes ago to move forward to terminate the county’s contract with Valencia Health Commons. With Commission Chairman Pedro Rael reading the motion from scribble on a yellow notebook page, commissioners agreed “in principle” to void the contract, dismiss the lawsuit appeal, consider other locations for a healthcare facility and move [...]
September 16, 2009
The closed executive session in which commissioners and attorneys are debating accepting a settlement offer from the hospital lawsuit’s plaintiffs has been ongoing for more than two hours. At least three of the commissioners have come out of the closed session for breaks, but they didn’t interact with anyone and didn’t offer any hints about [...]
September 16, 2009
Hospital lawsuit plaintiffs, hospital supporters, Valencia Health Commons board members and others who have been involved in the fight over the hospital arrived a short time ago for the Valencia County Commission meeting tonight. After a brief discussion of the agenda and who will be allowed to enter into executive session with commissioners, the commissioners [...]
September 16, 2009
The Valencia County Commission’s meeting room is quiet right now, with a fresh stack of agendas and excerpts from the New Mexico Hospital Funding Act sitting by the entrance. In a matter of hours, however, the county commission will take up a settlement offer by the plaintiffs in the hospital lawsuit, a discussion and vote [...]
September 16, 2009
In an interview with Valencia County Commission Chairman Pedro Rael last week, he explained the details of the legal arguments against the Valencia Health Commons contract. The commission, by a 3-to-2 vote, approved the contract in July 2008. The health care facilities contract, as it’s titled, is an eight-year contract with possible termination after three [...]