As of yesterday morning, there was $39,026,601.36 in the Valley Hi fund, according to McHenry County Treasurer Glenda Miller. Of that, only $12.5 million in invested in Certificates of Deposit.
The following comment was written by former Valley Hi Operating Board member Mike Walkup under my last article about the huge balance in the McHenry County Nursing Home fund.
Having served on the Operating Board at Valley High for two years, and no longer being on it, I can offer a couple of observations.
Ralph Sarbaugh, Tom Annarella and Peter Austin at the Public Health Committee budget hearing for Valley HI.
(1) Tom Annarella is one of the most competent people we have in the entire county government and is largely responsible for the current good health of the facility. His knowledge of the complicated and Byzantine reimbursement and regulatory environment in which nursing homes operate is impressive.
(2) The Operating Board, although all very nice people, are not at all inquiring when it comes to the meetings which consist mostly of everyone sitting quietly and listening to two or more hours of reports and explanations from Tom, and not asking many questions, and voting “aye” unanimously. I had been pressing for a special meeting of the PHHS Committee and the Operating Board to discuss the surplus issue toward the end of my term.
(3) Very few people apply for positions on the Operating Board when terms of current members expire. I was on the committee that made those appointments and I don’t recall ever having had anyone to choose from other than current members seeking reappointment.
[There are three vacancies, but the deadline for applying for them is Friday, May 15th. See how to apply in this article.]
Mike Walkup
(4) Very few members of the public attend meetings of the VH Operating Board and those that do are usually relatives of current residents who have complaints about various minor incidents involving their family member which they don’t think were properly handled. (Care is generally very good but staff can’t be everywhere all the time). I only recall one meeting when anyone from the public who had concerns about the fund balance were present and they didn’t follow up in subsequent meetings.People who have concerns about the way the VH Operating Board is functioning need to
- go to the meetings which are held in the evenings at VH and
- apply to be on the Board when openings arise.
The functioning of the nursing home is excellent from what I was able to observe.
It is the fund balance that is the problem.
We are a victim here of our own success in that regard.
The current County Board committee which will be making appointments to VHOB does not have the composition of the previous committee on which I served.
Donna Kurtz was taken off as Chair, John Hammerand and I were removed, and Sandy Salgado is no longer on the County Board.
Ken Koehler
Mr. Koehler replaced me on the Operating Board (even though he is not on the PHHS Committee contrary to the previous practice), and I am now on the VH Cemetery Board instead.
The current PHHS Committee consists of McCann (Chair), Kopsell, Miller, Rein, Smith, Kurtz and Wheeler.
You can read whatever you want from those tea leaves.
Enjoy your tea.
If The Rat is complaining, something good must be happening.
Cal: how much does it pay?
It pays nothing but there are cookies.
Mike makes an excellent point about finding volunteers.
Typically, the people who apply for a committee are people who think more of whatever the committee “oversees” is better, and so they tend not to be watchdogs but zealous cheerleaders.
Most good people don’t want to serve on such boards and committees and get voted down 6-1 and be mistreated by the other members, which, sadly, quite often happens.
As a result, finding good people to serve is like pulling teeth.
I would suggest that the County run full page advertisements in the Herald saying that they are looking for volunteers for committees, that they are looking for “taxpayer advocates” and that expertise in the particular area (nursing homes, conservation district) is NOT a requirement, only common sense, a moderate amount of skepticism and good faith.
Say that the only way to keep taxes down is to be willing to serve.
Mention the time requirements in hours per month. (A lot of people think the time requirement is onerous.)
I don’t know if that approach will work, but what’s being done now isn’t working, and an ad would be a cheap experiment.
There is no pay.
Walkup is a straw boss no substance