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County wants to meet with DCHS’s agent

IRON MOUNTAIN — Dickinson County wants to schedule its own meeting with the law firm representing Dickinson County Healthcare System in its financial restructuring.

“As a board, we need to really question and understand so that we’re not left in the dark,” Commissioner John Degenaer Jr. said during a county board meeting Monday.

DCHS said on Friday that a full range of health services will continue as Washington D.C- based Venable LLC works with creditors for a lasting solution to the system’s financial challenges. A bankruptcy filing is not being considered at this point.

Commissioner Joe Stevens, a liaison to the hospital board, agreed with Degenaer’s suggestion, but said keeping the facility open is the top priority.

“We have to be patient,” he said. “We have to be positive. We have to use the hospital. If they can’t make it work, we know what the options are.”

The hospital board approved a recommendation 10 days ago from attorney Michael Celello to contract with Venable at a cost of $150,000. Celello had been authorized to recruit a bankruptcy counsel to guide the hospital through a Chapter 11 filing, but he instead advocated a restructuring after conversations with Venable’s Bart Stupak, a former U.S. congressman for the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan.

Commissioner Ann Martin said the county must be persistent in seeking a meeting with Venable.

“I don’t think we should take no or a delay for an answer,” she said.

Stevens said the hospital board is scheduled to have its regular monthly meeting at noon Thursday and a discussion with Venable’s representatives will “tell us a lot going forward.”

During citizens’ comments, Dale Alessandrini and Pam Maule of Iron Mountain, among others, said the hospital trustees should meet at a more convenient time.

“That’s their call,” Stevens said of the noon scheduling, though he and other commissioners said they would want an evening meeting.

Alessandrini, meanwhile, complained the hospital board continues to have closed sessions and said he may seek an attorney to challenge their legality. He claimed the board’s secretive approach has contributed to the hospital losing at least two doctors and maybe more. “These doctors are leaving because they don’t know what’s going on,” he said.

Heidi Harwell, a nurse and Felch resident, urged the board to ask informed questions of DCHS on issues such as reimbursements and insurance incentives.

DCHS announced Sept. 18 that a potential sale to Marquette-based UP Health System no longer would be pursued, saying the parties were unable to agree on terms. Talks with UP Health began after Green Bay-based Bellin Health withdrew in May from an acquisition agreement that was estimated at $61 million, all of which would have gone to pay the hospital’s long-term debt and unfunded pension liabilities.

DCHS operates as a Michigan municipal health facility corporation under Public Act 230. It receives no direct county appropriations or taxpayer support and has been self-sustaining since moving to its U.S. 2 facility in 1996. Its 49-bed hospital has more than 80 active physicians.

Under a 1994 deed, the county agreed to lease the U.S. 2 site to DCHS for a century but retained title to the property and buildings.

For legal questions during the restructuring, the county will rely on counsel from Cohl, Stoker & Toskey PC of Lansing, Controller Brian Bousley said Monday.

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