The meeting (hosted by the CHLB Foundation and Councilman Supernaw) came one day after the City Council held a closed session agendized to discuss price and terms under negotiation with MWN Community Hospital, LLC for the City-owned property at 1720 Termino Ave.

LBREPORT.com asked Mr. Cristales if during the Dec. 19 public meeting, Councilmembers Supernaw or Price stated or otherwise suggested that the City of LB would or should spend public money, and if so in what amount, to help finance or otherwise facilitate the deal, and if any member(s) of the public inquired about this. Mr. Cristales says there was no mention by the electeds or any inquiries from the audience about these matters.

In his Dec. 21 emailed weekly newsletter, Councilman Supernaw said the large number of attendees "clearly reflects the community interest in this project" and "the major takeaway from the meeting was the schedule for re-opening of the hospital. With City Council approval of a plan in January, the proposed new operator, MWN, will need 90 days get all preparations in place. That puts the hospital re-opening date at mid to late April 2019."

Similarly vague was Councilwoman Suzie Price's description on her Facebook page that "the updates from the new operators were great to hear as we continue moving forward toward reopening."

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City staff has previously acknowledged significant costs to address with the site's seismic issues and has hinted at the possibility of some type of "public participation" [which LBREPORT.com interprets as spending taxpayer dollars as part of the deal.] To our knowledge, no LB elected officials have asked the public how much LB taxpayers should spend, if anything, in connection with the deal.

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LBREPORT.com has commented that if/when the item eventually comes to public Council discussion and possible action, it should include the text of a proposed contract/lease with the entity. We noted that a number of other cities do this, and the Port of LB does on this on major items. However for many years, LB's City Councils has simply let city management "summarize" the salient terms in a memo and on that basis authorizes management to enter into a contract that will bind taxpayers.

LBREPORT.com has previously urged the Mayor and City Council to show the public major contracts proposed for Council approval before approving them "as a minimal level of businesslike, taxpayer-respectful transparency."

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