This week Hutcheson leaders are expected to adopt a new plan to cut costs at the struggling hospital. Specifics of the new plan aren’t known since HMC’s FIVE boards meet behind closed doors.

Hutcheson critics rightly point to multiple boards for ongoing problems. Defenders of the boards and hospital leaders blame current financial struggles on a plan from 1995.

Details of this article go far to explain the dysfunction at HMC: Five different overlapping redundant boards, with members appointed by either the county governments or members of the other boards. The boards meet in secret, which is unethical if not outright illegal, and they don’t even follow their own rules about who can serve on the various committees.

Hutcheson’s three county owners are ultimately responsible for this mess because they structured the hospital to run this way and selected the people in charge, but there are enough layers of boards and committees that each county government can point to them and defer blame.

Senator Mullis and Rep. Deffenbaugh (and whoever wins House District 2 vote) need to legislate two or three of those boards out of existence.. Streamline it, make the governance more transparent and simple. Take away their ability to hide their actions or blame them on others, and then it becomes clear who the problems are.   

Now confirmed: Walker Transit fees will double in January, from $4 per round trip to $8. New Transit Director Larry Brooks says the county had to raise rates to cover fuel costs, because ridership is up since Lookout Mountain Community Services stopped running busses.

Brooks says anyone with a medical problem can use Angel Medical, which charges $40 for the same trip, and then bill it to Medicare.

“‘The reason Lookout Mountain Community Services pulled out is because they were losing money, and that’s the same reason Walker County was looking at it,’ Brooks said, referencing Sole Commissioner Bebe Heiskell’s decision earlier this year to continue the service after she considered dropping it. ‘It’s not just Walker County. Other agencies [are struggling].'”

Back in July when LU said Bebe was killing the bus service, she claimed to have no intention or thought of shutting it down. Now she was “considering” dropping it.. (At the time she also said raising rates wasn’t an option.) The woman had every intention of killing this all along, and still would shut the busses down if she could get away with it. This fare increase is a step closer to that, cutting back usage in order to justify closing it down later on. She might as well just spit in the face of older and handicapped people who use Transit.

Hope everyone who goes out to the Mountain Cove Farms New Years party to enjoy “heavy horderves” and champagne thinks about old people sitting at home trying to decide if they want to pay their electric bill or ride the bus to Bi-Lo.   

The reason Walker County has to raise transit rates was opened to the public last weekend:

A dozen, or possibly two dozen, people showed up for SPLOSTmas Christmas At the Cove on Saturday and Sunday. The craft/gift festival hosted at county-owned Mountain Cove Farms was promoted as an opportunity for the county, and vendors, to make money. So far no financial numbers have been released; if the Civil War Reenactment held there in September is any indicator, they never will be.     

LaFayette’s rescheduled Christmas Parade was held last night. The weather cooperated and everything seemed to go smoothly.   

Coming up over the weekend: Marsh House “Civil War Christmas” continues, Rock Spring UMC Christmas program, and another showing of “Christmas of Light” at Smith Planetarium. For other upcoming events (holiday, political, and otherwise) check LU Local Calendar.

(Also: Happy Friday the Thirteenth!)

Today is the last day of business (apparently forever) at Kids Station Christian Learning Center on Hwy. 151 heading towards Ringgold. The daycare center’s owner reportedly knew this was coming for a year, but parents weren’t notified until Monday.

Catoosa County is opening a replacement Pre-K center at Wood Station Elementary, a solution only available for Catoosa residents. Walker County parents are left looking for replacement childcare on short notice.

Kids Station’s Facebook page seems to be gone, but the Web site is still up with events scheduled through next Friday. That indicates the shutdown happened on short notice, at least for some of the center’s staff. Parents say the center has recently done fundraisers, selling candles and various other things in an effort to stay open, apparently in vain.

According to one insider, the center is closing due to foreclosure – but the owner and director have so far refused to comment to media about what’s going on. Employees of Kids Station called police on Channel 3 reporters seeking to find more information.   

During Monday night’s Council meeting, city leaders began addressing some basic infrastructure problems, including the terrible condition of some sidewalks that prevents them from being used by people in wheelchairs, or pushing strollers, or riding a bicycle. They’re also putting money into handicap access at the rec. department and further repairs at the waste water plant that weren’t expected.

According to WQCH, the city will spend around $6,000 in the next year to fix handicap access problems at the recreation department, and an additional $4,000 repairing or replacing sidewalks with handicap obstacles. (Hopefully that includes the section depicted above.)

[Only $10,000 to fix a lot of small problems that have existed for a decade or more.. These could have been taken care of years ago if we had a city manager and council (and mayor) with better priorities. It’s going to take a lot of time and money over the next few years to catch the city up from the neglect left by Johnnie Arnold and some others who have now thankfully departed city government.]

Upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant will require another $8,000 to replace the building’s existing floor, deemed insufficiently strong to hold the weight of new equipment. The council also began working on a rule change that would allow meetings scheduled for Monday holidays to be held on the following Tuesday.   

In a semi-coherent video, Commissioner Heiskell explains (sort of) that Walker County is being fined by the state because property values are too low.

You may need a translator, and a stiff drink, to figure this out:

News reports on her statement don’t make it much clearer:

WQCH Radio, 12/06/13: “WALKER COUNTY HAS BEEN ASSESSED A FINE BY THE GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, BECAUSE THEY CONTEND THAT PROPERTY VALUATIONS HERE, ARE TOO LOW. COMMISSIONER BEBE HEISKELL SAID THE FINE IS FIVE-DOLLARS PER PARCEL, WHICH TOTALS OVER 165-THOUSAND DOLLARS.

“‘WE THINK THEY’RE WRONG’, THE COMMISSIONER SAID – ‘AND WE ARE CURRENTLY IN NEGOTIATIONS TO SHOW THEM THEY’RE INCORRECT’.

“THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE CLAIMS THAT WALKER’S PROPERTY VALUATION HAS BEEN TOO LOW FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS, EVEN THOUGH THE LEGISLATURE FROZE VALUATIONS THROUGH 2011.

“‘THE LOCAL BOARD OF ASSESSORS IS BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE’, HEISKELL SAID. ‘IF THEY VALUE PROPERTY TOO LOW, WE GET FINED AS A COUNTY, AND IF THEY VALUE IT TOO HIGH, CITIZENS GET UPSET’. THE LAW REQUIRES THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS TO KEEP PROPERTY VALUES AT 40-PERCENT.

“HEISKELL ADVISED THAT CITIZENS WHO BELIEVE THEIR PROPERTY VALUE HAS BEEN PLACED AT TOO HIGH A LEVEL SHOULD GET A PRIVATE APPRAISAL, AND THEN APPEAL WITH THAT INFORMATION, TO THE BOARD OF ASSESSORS.”

Bottom line, your taxes will go up soon because of reappraisal or an adjustment of the percentage of each home’s value the county taxes. The county’s latest fine from the state – Heiskell’s third huge fine in the last 18 months – may also contribute to higher taxes or cut services down the road. (An e-mail to Georgia Department of Revenue asking for clarification on this issue had not been answered as of noon today.)

In the video, Heiskell says “we’ve lost a lot of value because we’ve lost a lot of property.”

Property doesn’t just disappear, it went somewhere – somebody owns it and pays taxes on it. UNLESS it’s owned by government or a church. How many acres have the county and state bought in the last five years, taking them off the taxable list?   

Bi-Lo/Winn-Dixie has apologized for miscommunication about donations made in stores for The Care Mission, and says the Mission will get all of the food AND cash collected in local stores:

“..As long-time supporters of Care Mission and other local organizations, it pains us when good intent goes awry. After a little research, we now understand your frustration. Our in-store signage stated that we are collecting donations for Care Mission, when, in fact, the intent of the program was to direct funds to the closest Feeding America food bank for the ultimate benefit of Care Mission.

“..But our signage didn’t reflect this. Processes may be perfect but people aren’t, and we sincerely apologize for our miscommunication. It also brought to light a service-fee issue, and because of that, Care Mission will receive every cent that was donated by our generous customers.

“Being local is a natural extension of our core business, as well as being a neighbor our neighbors can count on. We thank you for calling to our attention what wasn’t right … so that we can make it so.”

Appreciate the company dealing with this and finding an acceptable end to this story.

Also, big thanks to all the people who contacted Bi-Lo or WD to make them aware of the issue, and to sources who passed along e-mails making LU aware of what was happening.       

During Monday night’s LaFayette Council meeting, long-time city employees were honored for their service and Mayor Florence was recognized for showing up most of the time since 1991. Council also voted to expand gas lines to Center Post, and raised taxes – but only on hotel rooms.

Middle of last week, signs for House District 2 candidate Neal Florence finally came in and started popping up like mushrooms. This one, unfortunately, could cause an accident:

Property owners have a right to display political signs, but should there be a limit on signs that obstruct views of oncoming traffic?

City codes department will get right on this one. (No.)

(Corner of Oak and Villanow at Dari Dip, Saturday.)     

Donations made at local Bi-Lo stores will not go to The Care Mission in LaFayette as advertised. Due to new company rules, cash and food collected at LaFayette, Rossville, and Mission Ridge Bi-Lo locations “for LaFayette Care Mission” will instead go to the Chattanooga Food Bank.

Excerpt from an e-mail sent out by The Care Mission:

“As you all know for the past 7 years the Walker County Bi-Lo Stores (Lafayette, Mission Ridge and Rossville) have given the food and/or funds raised during their Summer and Holiday Fight Hunger Drives to the Care Mission. With the merger of Winn-Dixie, these stores will now donate directly to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

“I have just spoken with the Chattanooga Area Food Bank’s representive and was told that the donations from these stores would be included in the food bank’s inventory with all other donations. The Care Mission, or any other food pantry/closet that is partnered with the food bank, can then purchase these donations at their normal 19 cents per lb. rate.

“These local store managers believed that the donations would be going directly to the Care Mission to be used for Walker County families, so they had posted as much on their signs. We have asked that the Care Mission’s name be removed from these signs since we don’t want anyone misled. ..”

That means food and money taken up in Walker County for a LaFayette charity will instead be trucked to Chattanooga, where the organization it was intended for will have to pay to get it back. Money taken at Bi-Lo registers intended for the Mission will also go to the Food Bank.

It’d be one thing if they said everything donated until this point would go to The Care Mission and the rest would go to the Food Bank, but people were giving stuff specifically TO the mission which will be diverted elsewhere – donations collected under false pretenses. If this was a private individual collecting for one charity and giving the collection to something else, they could be arrested for theft by deception.

Bi-Lo customers (especially those who made donations expected to help at the Mission) should contact the company and demand everything collected under the Care Mission name, through last week, be distributed where it was supposed to go. Bi-Lo executives should also be made to know how much continuing support for this LaFayette charity would be appreciated by customers in the future.   

Video from last Monday shows a Georgia State Patrol officer speeding without lights or siren down Hwy. 27 after tailgating another driver, en route to LaFayette Arby’s:

This isn’t an exceptionally bad example of cops speeding, but we’ve seen a lot worse – and it highlights how all too often the people called to enforce rules don’t follow the rules themselves. If police want the law (and law enforcement officers) to be taken seriously, they need to start with themselves and their own actions.   

Beacher Garmany, Jr. won yesterday’s run-off election to determine LaFayette City Council member for Ward 1. Wardlaw actually took a slim majority of Tuesday’s voting, but Garmany took the overall lead with absentee and early ballots included.

Garmany, along with new mayor Andy Arnold (who Garmany replaces on the council) and returning councilor Ben Bradford will be sworn in during the January City Council meeting.

Haven’t met anyone yet who would voice support for Mr. Garmany, but apparently he has his fans.         

Around 9 PM last night a Walker County ambulance carrying two EMT’s and a single patient was struck in a head-on collision with a Jeep Wrangler.

According to sources, the Jeep crossed into the oncoming lane. Based on the photos here, it looks like the Jeep was completely in the Ambulance’s lane and the ambo attempted to avoid it by crossing to the other side; that’s why damage to the vehicles is on the right instead of the left.

 

EMT’s were identified as Daniel Hyde and Bud Hatfield. Their patient and the Jeep driver have not been named so far. Of the four involved, only one EMT and the ambulance patient were injured; they were both hospitalized for minor injuries.       

Tuesday morning Catoosa County leaders decided not to extend additional financing to Hutcheson. The idea was suggested, but none of Catoosa’s commissioners would even put the plan up for a vote. Speaking for the county, a commissioner said “we just cannot go any further” because their share of HMC’s debt would be greater than the value of Catoosa’s stake in the hospital.

Now Walker County is left with Commissioner Heiskell deciding if we’ll keep giving Hutcheson money, which will eventually have to be paid back, or let them downsize and/or go bankrupt. A bankruptcy might not be the end of the world, as it would open the hospital’s finances to more public scrutiny and allow a judge to oversee a restructuring that could reduce debt and replace broken leadership. Bankruptcy might also provide a window for Dade County to exit the hospital entirely, which they seem all too eager to do.

How long before the hospital goes under without additional cash? Heiskell said they won’t be able to make another payroll without another loan, but a hospital representative said everything’s running fine even though they’ve requested more funding. In this case, for once, Bebe Heiskell is more believable than the hospital.