Petersburg’s municipal election is on the horizon, and the fate of the community’s new hospital hangs in the balance. Five candidates are running for three seats on the hospital board: incumbents Marlene Cushing, Jerod Cook, and Jim Roberts; and newcomers Don Koenigs and Mika Hasbrouck.
KFSK partnered with the Petersburg Pilot to host a Hospital Board Candidate Forum on September 20th. All five contenders participated. They weighed in on everything from the new hospital project to… the New World Order.
“The New World Order has been spoken about by a variety, a number of people,” said Don Koenigs, candidate for Petersburg’s Hospital Board. “Our population is growing, and there is clearly a philosophy regarding that… All of which states, now the population is over eight billion people, and they still would like to bring it down. That’s an agenda that’s before the United Nations.”
Koenigs believes, wholeheartedly, in a far-right conspiracy theory that says a group of shadowy global elites — which, he says, includes George H. W. Bush, George Soros, and the United Nations — is conspiring to reduce the global population — and that they’re using public health and safety measures around COVID-19 to do it. Koenigs touched on the idea at the candidate forum.
“There are some people in the community that may agree or clearly disagree with my reading and my information and say, ‘That’s just pure hogwash,’ which they’re entitled to,” said Koenigs. “But the reality will become evident over time, whether it’s true or not…”
Koenigs holds himself up to be something of a government watchdog around town. And he’s especially skeptical of the plans for a new hospital. Koenigs carries a big white binder around with him — it documents what he believes to be inconsistencies with PMC’s plans to finance the project.
If elected, he said he’d try to bring the project to a popular vote. And he thinks Petersburg voters would summarily throw out those plans, which were set in motion more than six years ago.
Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on the major systems of the existing facility. PMC put together a comprehensive facility condition assessment in 2015. And it shows that, by almost all major infrastructural standards, the hospital is failing.
The latest estimate for the new hospital is $85 million, which medical center CEO Phil Hofstetter says would be paid for by government grants. And he says repairing the existing facility could cost the Borough upwards of $110 million.
Marlene Cushing is running for reelection. She’s sat on the board for nine years, and she’s also its current secretary. At the forum, Cushing said the way forward is clear: building a new facility wholesale.
“Look at — in long term care, how small those rooms are: should our elders really be given a spot the size of a parking space to spend the last years of their life?” Cushing asked the audience. “Have you been in the ER? You can hear everything that’s said in the next cubicle when you’re there — yourself in crisis, or a family member in crisis. The funding is very tricky and complex and is not completely known at this point. But you have to be ready to take advantage of it when that possibility comes about.”
Jerod Cook is the president of the hospital board, on which he’s sat for six years. He also fiercely defended the project.
“As a board, we feel we have done our due diligence to make the best decisions for the community in the future healthcare of the community,” said Cook. “In getting a new facility, we feel that we’re still going in the right direction, and doing the best we can to keep the cost as low as we can. Trying to renovate the old building would come out of the community’s money, so grants are the best way to get it — in a phased approach.“
Jim Roberts is also on board with the new facility. He’s sat on the board for almost five years.
“We have a good hospital, a very good hospital,” said Roberts. “But the hospital needs a new building. The facility is way past its age, the mechanics of the building — the air handling the power, the sewer, all that — are just failing.”
Mika Hasbrouck is a newcomer. She said she supports the new hospital project, but she’s not sold on all the details quite yet.
“I’m still hesitant about exactly how the funding would look to make sure that we as we proceed, we address what our specific critical needs are,” said Hasbrouck.
Cushing said there’s no time to waste. She’s seen the structural decay inside the current facility firsthand.
“…There’s this room with this mishmash of wiring and piping and this and that,” said Cushing “All these systems are literally patched together. They’re not holding up — and this is critical stuff. Trying to heat that building properly for the people who are living there and working there can be an incredible challenge when it gets cold in the winter. I don’t think it’s feasible for that building to keep serving the purpose that it’s been serving for much longer.”
Even so, Koenigs thinks it’s salvageable.
“I think it has potential for renovation,” said Koenigs. “I’ve taken the liberty of reading all the information that’s on the hospital’s website.”
The most expensive option to bring services up to code is to restore the existing facility, which the hospital would also have to try to do while it’s still in use — and they’d have to ask the Borough to help pay for it.
The new hospital would be — ideally — paid for by state and federal grants. But the funds wouldn’t come in all at once. And if they don’t come through at all? Cushing says the board will have to reassess.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” said Cushing. “I wish I did. I think that this is an opportune time to seek that funding. And I sure hope it comes through. If it doesn’t, we’re gonna have to go back to square one and say: ‘Okay, what are we gonna do to get ourselves through the next ten, 15, 20 years?’
Borrowing the $85 million is not an option.
“We couldn’t afford to pay off a loan of that size,” said Cushing.
The new hospital project was top-of-mind at the candidate forum. That discussion bled into another topic: how to better fold the community into PMC’s decision-making process.
Roberts said, over the years, it’s been a challenge to collect community input.
“Trying to find time to try to get the whole community together is almost impossible,” he said.
Jerod Cook said he’s feeling a bit stumped; that the board thought they were doing the right thing by holding open houses and public forums — even broadcasting monthly meetings on the radio. But it didn’t seem to be enough.
“When we ran into this wall of opposition, because the public wasn’t informed,” said Cook. “We had to step back and [say] — okay, how do we fix this? We’re open to suggestions, so that we can get the community behind this project. And not just the project, but [behind] PMC as a whole.”
Hasbrouck said she feels like she’ll bring a fresh perspective to the board, and connect with people who are feeling left out of the conversation.
“I’m running for hospital board because I think it’s important for some of us younger people in the community to get more involved in these big decisions that are going to be impactful for the long term for us,” said Hasbrouck.
Koenigs said he feels like hospital administration owes it to the community to be more transparent. In particular, he doesn’t like the hospital board’s executive sessions, which are closed to the public.
“There shouldn’t be executive sessions,” said Koenigs. “They should be very narrowly used. they have to be significant, substantial — not just at the whim of somebody. Not just: let’s talk about building the hospital, or [whatever] scheme you might have.”
Phil Hofstetter says those sessions are private to allow board members to review confidential information about patients, legal matters, and finances.
Cushing, meanwhile, is at a loss. The board reopened the meetings to the public — and, more recently, moved them into Petersburg’s municipal building. But she said nobody ever shows up. And they’re still accused of being secretive. Cushing has lived here for almost half a century, and she said she sees a pattern.
“There’s always been a group who said: ‘We can’t do this. We can’t afford this. We don’t need this. This is highfalutin. We don’t need a community gym, we’ve got the old one that was built in the 1920s. We don’t need a swimming pool, the library…'” she said. “There’s been resistance to the idea and fear of the cost down the road. I know this item has a huge price tag — and that is very, very scary. “
The alternative, she said, is even scarier: not having a functioning facility at all.
You can listen to the hospital board and borough assembly candidate forums in their entirety in our 2023 Candidate Forum Archives.
Editor’s Note: This story has been changed to reflect the correct author of a quote.
