It is unfortunate that no member of the Butler Memorial Hospital administration or board of trustees chose to attend Wednesday evening's public forum at Butler County Community College. If they had, they would have been impressed by the 250 to 300 people who gathered to learn about not only plans for a new hospital, but also how the board has been conducting its investigations of various options.

If BMH representatives had attended, there no doubt would have been a few uncomfortable moments, but the members of the panel, moderator Linda Harvey and the audience maintained an air of professionalism throughout the evening.

Accepting that hospital representation at the forum might have triggered some vigorous debate, it might also have performed a valuable function - begun a process of rebuilding some level of trust in the board.

To some in the community, however, it appears too late for that.

Unfortunately, the good will and trust earned by BMH administrators and the board of trustees through the successful introduction of the Heart Center and other recent advancements at the hospital have largely been squandered by way of the missteps, mismanagement and lack of public involvement regarding development of plans to build a new hospital.

The majority of those who spoke at Wednesday night's forum had nothing but praise for the medical staff at the hospital. Some relayed personal stories and expressions of deep appreciation for the medical care and compassion they have received at the hospital over many years. Joan Chew, former trustee and former county commissioner, praised the care she has received over the years at the hospital and concluded, "We have a fine hospital and I want to keep it that way."

And Dr. Ron Cypher, a former hospital trustee and panel member with Chew, correctly noted that it is unfortunate that hospital employees are caught in the crossfire of the current controversy.

For most who spoke, the greatest frustration was with the conduct of the board and the apparent lack of due diligence to fully explore and debate all options for building a new hospital.

A few audience members suggested that though they don't know which solution is best - reworking the current site or building from scratch on a new site - they do know that the board and administration have not allowed a full exploration of those to two competing visions or approaches. The board's actions over the past several years, as relayed by former board members and through media reports, suggest a strong bias within the BMH administration toward a pre-determined conclusion that an entirely new hospital on a new site is the only solution.

Defense of that bias toward building on a new site is the only explanation for the severe limits on discussion imposed on the trustees when it came to both analysis of the Hammes Co.'s consulting report, and the ultimate vote on approving the expenditure of approximately $160 million for the construction of a new hospital.

According to Chew and Cypher, who were both board members at the time, only 10 minutes and a few questions were permitted before the vote to build on a new site was taken. Most of those who spoke Wednesday night expressed the same frustration and disbelief that so little time would be spent on such a monumental decision and on analysis of the details in 39-page summary, let alone detailed review of the full 180-page Hammes report.

Dr. Stephen Seagant, who served a year on the board of trustees as head of the BMH medical staff, explained that his reading of the full Hammes report led to the inescapable conclusion that "we won't be getting what we want or need for a price we can afford," by building new on a different site.

As disturbing as all the commentary on board and administration conduct was, a glimmer of hope to break the current impasse was offered by Ron Brandon, a retired Butler businessman and formed member of the board of trustees from 1976 to 1989, who suggested that a joint study of the site options be prepared by Butler-based Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associate and RTKL, the Texas-based architectural firm that was the primary design consultant to the hospital for its 2002 study.

The objective of a study with Burt Hill and RTKL working together would be to have equally strong advocacy for building new on a new site and for building some new while including some renovation and reuse of the newest of the buildings on the current campus. A public report of such a joint study could go a long way towards easing the public's fears is based on incomplete analysis or some institutional bias toward a new site.

The two sides in this debate are pretty well entrenched. The board has an opportunity, as a unit and as individuals, to step up and possibly restore some level of public trust in the process of developing a new hospital for Butler County.