A two-campus Butler Memorial Hospital might work, but are the hospital's administration and board of trustees really serious about this approach? Or, is this a scheme to pacify the Butler community for the next four months?

With so much misinformation having been disseminated by the Butler Memorial administration over the past three years, along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on mailings and television and radio advertisements, how can the Butler community really believe that the hospital administration is sincere in pursuing the third option objectively?

Secondly, is the board of trustees fully involved in the decisions affecting our hospital's future?

Dr. Philip Lenko, a member of the trustees board, said the entire board was not consulted about this two-campus option.

Who made this decision, if the entire board was not consulted?

I am told by people in the know that the board is controlled by three people - the board chairman, the hospital's chief executive officer, and the board's vice chairman. In other words, since many of the board members have conflicts of interest because they are financially compensated by the hospital, because of being related to the chairman by marriage, or a college buddy, or a volunteer to the hospital administration, or a substantial financial vendor to the hospital, they have no choice but to go along with whatever the controlling threesome desires.

Basically, the other board members seem to be window dressing - head-nodders.

It's a shame that a board member has to sue the hospital administration in order to obtain information needed for making informed decisions regarding the hospital's operation.

Is there only one board member who does due diligence? It seems that no professional corporate governance really exists in the operation of the board at our community hospital.

Two of the controlling board members have been on the board about 20 years. The bylaws state that a board member shall serve no more than four consecutive three-year terms.

Then how do these board members serve for 20 years? They apparently amend the bylaws so they can stay on the board for a longer term.

This is part of the reason why the Butler community has to continue to push to reinstate the Butler Memorial Hospital Association, so the community can elect people to manage our hospital to ensure that the community's health care interests are properly represented.

The 12,000 Butler County residents who signed a petition to the state attorney general in June requested that the attorney general help in getting the hospital association reinstated. Let's not allow the attorney general to forget this.

I encourage people to call or send letters to the attorney general requesting him to reinstate our association so that Butler County residents can get back their hospital that has been hijacked by a few.

Also, since the hospital administration operates with tremendous secrecy and some board of trustees members manipulate the bylaws so they can continue to control the board, one might think that they must be trying to cover up some activities. Maybe the Butler community should request that the attorney general call for a grand jury investigation of the governance of the hospital.

Many people in the Butler area are afraid to come forth because they are concerned about their jobs and the retribution that would occur. With a grand jury investigation, they would be protected.

The attorney general's Pittsburgh phone number is 412-565-2577. Callers should ask for the Charitable Trust Organization Section. The mailing address is Charitable Trust Organization, Office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Sixth Floor, Manor Complex, 564 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

Some good news for hospital employees: My review of the U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filed by the hospital regarding pension funds indicated that the funds were properly funded as of Dec. 31, 2003. This is a result of the hospital injecting $9.1 million into these funds in August 2003.

The hospital always gets extensions in filing this form. Therefore, the status of the pension funds for the year 2004 was not yet available.