It’s been several weeks since the Hoover Healthcare Authority defended its Certificate of Need application for an outpatient surgery center at the proposed Riverwalk development. Citizens were given little to no notice to participate in the contentious hearing, which revealed a great deal of information beyond the proposed facility itself.
The hearing included testimony detailing millions in pre-paid rent for a building that is currently unoccupied, behind-the-scenes accusations and counter-accusations of wrongdoing, a previously undisclosed forensic audit, and more. Council President John Lyda testified that he saw it primarily as an economic development rather than a healthcare facility project. City lawyers clarified his answer during later testimony.
Council meetings continue to reveal a pattern of secret-keeping by Hoover’s leadership. For instance, the city’s budget has had to be amended twice since the hearings began related to that project, once for legal fees and once because the city needed to increase the budget for expenses with totals unavailable at the time when the lease was signed.
Most recently, it was revealed that in an email sent in April, which was exclusively obtained by Alabama Today, City Council President John Lyda described “financial disarray.”
Here are the Top 5 questions residents of Hoover should be asking their City Councilor and the Mayor since city leadership is not volunteering answers:
- Was the Hoover Healthcare Authority legally permitted to apply for the Certificate of Need? Page 60 of City Ordinance 23-2634, passed by the Hoover City Council on November 20, 2023, clearly states that the Developer would obtain the Certificate of Need. However, the Hoover Healthcare Authority (solely funded within the City of Hoover budget) applied for the CON instead.
- Should taxpayers be responsible for the legal fees and other costs associated with something that records indicate would be the developer’s responsibility?
- Why did Mayor Frank Bracoto and the City Council hide the need for the ongoing forensic audit?
- What is the status of the forensic audit revealed during the hearing and the annual audit?
- How will the forensic audit be paid for, and why didn’t the Council approve the costs before it began? Here’s what John Lyda said on April 9 in his email about the need for an audit:
Silence is golden unless the silence is from city officials hiding the truth from their constituents.
Alabama Today still awaits answers from the Public Information Office, which hasn’t responded to requests from May 17th and multiple follow-ups. Fortunately, sources reveal that Wendy Dickerson, the City Clerk, has a record of readily providing information when asked, except for when city leadership, including its lawyer, steps in and objects. As of last week, when asked, Dickerson insisted that the request, which was submitted on June 12, continues to be reviewed.
Contact information for the Mayor can be found here. You can see their contact information here to reach a city councilor.
