By ANDY GARDNER
North Country Now

MASSENA -- Massena Memorial Hospital is fighting back at the town supervisor’s attempt to remove their incoming chairperson.

Meanwhile, the town supervisor says he is “reassessing” the hospital board membership and “there may be changes.”

On Friday, Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy announced he is firing MMH board chair Sue Bellor, who assumed the role Jan. 1.

The same day O’Shaughnessy announced his decision, an attorney sent a cease and desist letter to the supervisor, and on Monday, MMH released a statement saying they still consider Bellor to be the board chair.

“Ms. Bellar [sic] intends to continue her dedicated quality service to the Board,” attorney Robert M. Germain wrote in the letter.

He calls the supervisor’s attempt to remove Bellor as “procedurally defective” and says MMH and the Board of Managers consider the firing “null and void.”

“On or about December 24th, 2018 we placed you on written notice that New York General Municipal Law Section 127(3) clearly states a manager may ‘be removed from office at any time by the appointing authority after having received notice in writing of the cause of the proposed removal and after an opportunity to be heard thereon.’ The law clearly requires a hearing before an independent hearing examiner upon notice prior to any removal becoming effective,” Germain wrote.

In a letter dated Dec. 24, Germain told O’Shaughnessy that removal for any reason other than misconduct would “have no legal basis.”

“Please consider this letter formal written notice that termination or removal of a member of the Board of Managers without proper cause (misconduct) would have no legal basis or effect and will be legally challenged immediately,” Germain wrote.

O’Shaughnessy said he sought legal advice from the town’s attorney, Eric Gustafson, before deciding to fire Bellor.

“It’s in the municipal law, and it’s also in the bylaws, specific procedure for removal. I didn’t do it lightly or on a whim, and I had legal advice as well as support from the town board,” the supervisor said.

In the letter from O’Shaughnessy to Bellor where he says she is being removed from the board, he cites poor financial performance at the hospital as his reasoning to get rid of her.

“The reason for your removal is the failure to improve the financial condition of Massena Memorial Hospital and the failure to install a management team capable of leading MMH without exposing the taxpayers of the Town of Massena to inordinate financial risk. Specifically, you have failed to exercise adequate control of the general superintendence and management of Massena Memorial and of the matters relating to the government, discipline, contracts and fiscal concerns thereof. Further, you have tailed to maintain an effective inspection of said hospital and keep yourself informed of the affairs and management thereof,” the supervisor wrote.

Hospital Charges ‘Abuse of Power’

In a lengthy statement released on Monday night, MMH accuses the supervisor of an “abuse of power” in removing Bellor and allegedly threatening board members who he sees as not going along with his wishes. The entire statement can be read here. At the Dec. 17 MMH board meeting, hospital trustees Paul Morrow and Frenchie Coupal each said that O’Shaughnessy had called most of the members and said he would remove them if they didn’t go along with his choice of an affiliate. O’Shaughnessy on Dec. 18 denied the accusations.

In a Jan. 4 phone interview, O’Shaughnessy wouldn’t say why he decided to fire Bellor just four days into her term as MMH board chair, and said the hospital “should be embarrassed to be trying to play this out in the press.”

“We’ve asked multiple times to meet with them in a quiet setting in an executive board session so we can move ahead. This bashing, trying to slam the supervisor and town board … in public is not truthful,” he said.

When asked what specifically the hospital has said that isn’t true, he wouldn’t comment.

“That speaks to my first sentence that I don’t think it should be done in the papers,” he said.

MMH’s Monday statement accuses O’Shaughnessy and the town board of having “private discussions” with SLHS.

“Additionally, it has been brought to the hospital board’s attention, that the Town Supervisor and Council have been in private discussions with representatives of St. Lawrence Health Systems. These discussions have not been shared with the hospital’s board members at large to date,” the hospital’s statement reads.

O’Shaughnessy would not comment on the allegation beyond saying “they should be embarrassed that they should be bringing this stuff up.”

Supervisor Won’t Comment on SLHS

Bellor’s firing came two days after she spoke during public comment at a Town Council meeting and criticized the supervisor over his appointment of Dr. Michael Maresca to the MMH board. He is a St. Lawrence Radiology doctor who is chair of Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s Radiology Department. She also criticized him for what she said was his preference of St. Lawrence Health System as MMH’s future affiliate. The MMH board last month voted to recommend affiliation with Claxton-Hepburn/North Star and Crouse Hospital. MMH’s CEO, Charles Gijanto, is also CEO of CHMC.

O’Shaughnessy would not confirm or deny that he prefers SLHS for an MMH affiliate, although he has in the past said he does not agree with the board’s affiliation recommendation. In mid-2018, the supervisor acknowledged that they have spoken to SLHS about affiliation, and SLHS CEO David Acker was seen leaving an unannounced executive session of the MMH board in September. Officials at the time characterized the meeting as an “education session on affiliation.”

“I have a preference but I really don’t want to name it at this time,” the supervisor said. “I believe the town board and the hospital board should work together to come up with the consensus to get the right partner to affiliate, not having it out in the public and in the newspaper going back and forth. They should be embarrassed.”

Bellor said she believes Maresca being on the MMH board represents a conflict of interest because a contract to provide imaging services at MMH “represents millions of dollars annually” to St. Lawrence Radiology.

Meeting ‘Boycotted’?

O’Shaughnessy on Jan. 7 said he felt the MMH board “boycotted” and didn’t show up to a joint meeting of the town and hospital boards that he called for on Jan. 3. He said the only MMH board members who showed up were Maresca, Coupal, Bedros Bakirtzian and Dawn Hewlett.

However, in a letter Bellor wrote to the Town Council dated Dec. 31, she says it wouldn’t be possible to get the board there on short notice that close to the holiday. She suggests having the discussion during the planned Jan. 21 Board of Managers meeting. O’Shaughnessy had said the discussion would involve contract negotiations tied in with the privatization and affiliation process, which would make it appropriate for executive session at either time.

“It is not apparently feasible to meet this week with availability and non-availability of board of managers with such short notice and/or still on holiday,” Bellor wrote Dec. 31. “Since this is in the best interest of our community hospital and our Massena community, I would like to invite all of you to meet with us on the date of our regularly scheduled board meeting on January 21st. We are happy to host the town board, in a round table discussion for a truly honest and rational discussion the hour before the regular meeting. I can then put this as an agenda item for the regular meeting that night to show that we are working together in harmony for the betterment of our hospital and our community. If we need to add a special meeting for further discussion, we can also do that with all members present.”