As I told you on Friday, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure was harshly rebuked by NorCo Council during its Thursday night meeting. The obloquy was prompted by a Controller's report that less than half of $5 million expressly authorized by Council for retention bonuses had actually been spent for that purpose. The rest of the money was just dumped into Gracedale's general fund (not to be confused with the county's general fund) and was used to pay the home's operating expenses during 2024. McClure believes the money was used to pay overtime to agency nurses (these are not employed by the county) as well as overtime to career service employees. Because there was no line item for the retention bonuses, however, it is impossible to determine precisely how the money was spent. McClure insisted that this all happened without his knowledge, but he is the captain of the ship and he is ultimately responsible. Three Council members told the Exec they don't believe him. It would really help County Council to have someone who actually understands the nursing home culture, and more specifically, what the hell is going on at Gracedale. Fortunately, County Council candidate Dave Holland is such a person.
Holland, a nursing professor, is a former administrator at Gracedale. During his tenure, the home passed its annual state inspection without a single citation. He was part of a third-party team replaced for an in-house administrator.
If we're interested in fixing what is wrong at one of the few remaining county-owned nursing homes, we need Holland on County Council.
52 comments:
With Ron Heckman leaving, I agree. Ron once told me he felt it may have been unwise to have fired a professional management company at the home. My fear is he is just another McClure/ Zirtinski plant like the rubber stamps.
Here is an interesting thought. If we need change…. Then elect new leaders for County Government. Get rid of McClure and his 2.0 option Tara Zrinski. Plain and simple these people need to be gone. They have failed Northampton County. I sure hope that Giovanni gets in there.
Throughout the summer we will witness the downfall of the McClure regime. Dems should move past him. Some already have.
Finally, the Gracedale county management myth is being exposed. When Premier Management came into Gracedale , with expertise on nursing home oversight, they had a plan, they had working knowledge of operational and financial criteria to keep the home running in the black and they had administrators and people, like Dave Holland, with the expertise and personality to handle the multi level needs that were required. It’s time to right this situation and allow professionals to step in once again, who can handle all aspects truthfully.
Should have gotten rid of the white elephant Gracedale a decade ago. McClure signed his own political death warrant with his clueless mishandling.
David Holland is a good man. He should be on Council, but Gracedale already has an entirely new administrative team. New Administrator, new Deputy Administrator, new Director of Nursing and two new Assistant Directors of Nursing. The mess is already cleaned up.
Tom Giovanni will sell the place.
Eh, Dave’s a nice guy, but he helped Brown cut 200 Union employees from Gracedale.
David Holland will be excellent for Gracedale, but not in the way most people think. He will be very supportive of the Gracedale Administration. He has been since he left there in fact.
David appears to have been part of the Premier team but it also appears that it was D Freeman who was able to right the Gracedale ship and it appears it was under his leadership that Gracedale had a deficiency free survey. Hard to believe that David who apparently works two jobs at present would want a third as a council member.
I voted to sell Gracedale way back when. The people spoke and I had hoped it would work out. Clearly it has not. Government has enough on their plate without having to run a 700 bed nursing home. It’s a money pit, time to revisit selling it.
What a mess. Sell the place. Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic wouldn't have helped. Holland won't either, and that's not his fault. Stoffa and Angle were right. Remember bipartisanship? Yeah. I don't either. Seems like centuries ago.
McClure is more popular now then he’s ever been. There’s some polling that reflects this, but Cozze had Casey AND Wild. All Tara had was Lamont. All the undecideds broke Tara’s way because of Monty’s support.
Yes, there’s the potential that the new professionals are more talented than the prior folks in those positions, but many of those positions have turned over multiple times over in recent years. This type of turnover is symptomatic of much larger issues. There’s more to this than just repeatedly changing out leaders. The council and particularly the executive set the direction for the entire operation. They are ultimately responsible for the performance of the nursing home. If they don’t understand what’s going on, they better understand soon. Unfortunately the excuse from the executive that he didn’t understand any of the financial maneuverings of the nursing home is likely a fabrication, but if it is true, it is a shocking admission of complete incompetence right out of the executive’s mouth. That is the real story here, bigger than anything else. His political career is finished.
Good for him
Your solution is precisely what needs to happen at all levels of government. But, we keep electing the same slugs over and over and over again! This makes little sense.
I believe this nation is much too hung up on political party label. There are underperforming, useless elected representative in BOTH major parties. You cannot expect improvement by hanging with the same people regardless of their performance. Move ‘em out regularly.
It is my practice to vote against ANY politician who has already completed 2 terms. Politicians are like fruit. Given time, they are no longer sweet . . . they rot in place.
So out of all these recent articles, the reason behind it is to plug a council candidate?
Not to show that McClure is unfit to be county executive and certainly should not to be a member of Congress?
Not to show that Zrinski is unqualified and compromised as a supposedly independent controller, and that she certainly shouldn’t be elevated to county executive?
Not that the need for a county-run nursing home, which serves a select few county residents at a cost far above private facilities (and isn’t even at full capacity), should be looked at as far as whether or not it’s truly needed?
But merely that we need another of the author’s man-crushes on county council, and everything will be ok?
Yikes!
I worked at Gracedale with David Holland when he was the interim administrator through Premier. He is the most caring , most intelligent and fairest leader I ever worked with. He has COMMON SENSE and knows how to rally the troops. The staff wanted to work with him. It wasn’t just a job we held. WE CARED. It’s really a shame that now it’s just about being paid to put hours in. The residents are not properly being taken care of. Wouldn’t it be something if Gracedale administration actually popped in on EVERY shift (without leaking that they were coming in) to see what actually is going on?????
If so, he's the wrong guy. Anything John Brown touches turns to shit.
Ron Heckman had little to no input in the functions or management of Gracedale at that time. I doubt he ever visited the home or could even find it if he had to.
He won't and you'll be crying... you should get some sleep!
Yes he will. He is dumb enough to listen to his buddy John Brown!
The constituents of this county will not let that happen.He will be voted out.
Let's be honest. Brown was a terrible exec who unilaterally and illegally cut healthcare and tried to hide plans to move the jail to Gracedale. But no employees were "cut" at Gracedale under Brown. That is false. Brown did refuse to fill vacancies, but many of those were obsolete positions.
I doubt very much the mess is cleaned up. There still are large numbers of vacancies, and turnover is very high. How much nursing is still provided by agencies? Last I heard it was 80%. Some holes may have been plugged, but I am concerned that the ship is sinking. We need someone on Council who really understands nursing homes.
You need a Gracedale brochure. Not just a few people, but 650 residents/ patients, a rehabilitation center, and 2,000 employees. Educate yourself before you embarrass yourself.
The problems at Gracedale are quite serious. Sure, it's fun to bash someone but I am more interested in solving the problem. I know that Holland was part of the management team that turned Gracedale around. He knows how nursing homes work. That is why I believe he needs to be given high consideration. I don't know the guy, never met him. Just know he has expertise we truly need. If he were an R, I'd be saying the same thing.
A straw poll indicated McClure not as popular as being portrayed, much like his handling of the funds for his nursing home.
There you go. Sounds like you still are there so there is hope. There are people who care. Yes, administrators should be there EVERY shift, and it should be a foregone conclusion.
Not a question of just getting out , the people of this county voted on keeping it. The way all democratic decisions are made, less you forget.
Steve Barron is responsible for the financial affairs of the County.
Shallow Hal, you should come up to speed on your facts before speaking untruth.
True.
Join the ancestral colleagues on the titanic. The nursing home needs a professional, experienced group who know how to navigate the federal and local needs of the 650 residents, not wannabe commissioners and know it alls.
The home will always be an asset for those in our county to depend on, but not with people like you.
Question: has David Holland taken any position on the independence of county council from the executive? I want to vote for him but I am terrified of electing more rubber stamps for McClure/Zrinski
Lamont should be pushed out of office and Tara step aside as a candidate. Tara knew this report was coming and held it off to after the primary. Talk about a conflict of interest. If the Dems want even an outside shot of winning they are gonna have to put a different candidate out. Tara is tied way to tight to Lamont.
Been here (Gracedale for a while, now in the tower) and don't remember seeing ANY Council members, Executive, or even you, Bernie, walking around, talking to people, or even examining how things look or work. Seeing is believing, some of it's good, some not so good. Biggest problem is staffing, next is morale. Both could be somewhat relieved by paying more than one makes at Amazon or Walmart....
Yes he is. He also inputs in line item request for the budget. He and Tara will need to explain the misappropriation error and who decided how the money was
Utilized.
7:06, Last time I was at Gracedale was about a year ago when the daycare was established. I took the opportunity to walk a few halls and did manage to get lost. I know one of the elevators was not working, but I use steps. I did not linger too long. McClure was there, too. I was also there for two volunteer appreciation days. That is what made me realize I was wrong to want to see the home sold. There are many good employees who really care about the residents. I'll take you up on this. I am going to stop by and see how much I can observe on my own unannounced.
This is a bullshit political comment. You are trying to tie Zrinski to this as though she was already exec. It is her audit that reveals that less than half of the $ appropriated for bonuses went there. Even though McClure contributed to her campaign, she released a report that damages him. Incidentally, nothing in state or county law prevents a controller from accepting campaign contributions. If this matters so much to you, as it does to me, where have you been all these years when I tried several times to get Council to consider campaign finance reform? Nowhere, because you are just playing politics. The only two guys who ever went along were Ron Angle and Joe Brennan.
He applied for the council vacancy, and McClure's three rubber stamps refused to vote for him. In fact, John Brown actually nominated him in one round. I will be sending out questionnaires to ALL county council candidates, and they will include questions that, depending how they are answered, will tell me they understand that Council is a separate branch of government.
Off topic, but why has not McClure replaced Sheriff Johnston yet.
Either HR or McClure don’t feel the County needs a Sheriff or the Acting Sheriff’s wife who works in HR is helping him pad his pension.
Eliminate the position if it is not needed and save the taxpayers some money or distribute this wage to the County workforce.
The Sheriff job has been posted internally as per protocol.
Good riddance. Put the real estate back on the tax rolls.
Almost 1 year after Johnston’s retirement and the posting just goes up.
How much did the Chief Deputy salary go up as a result of his 1 year “acting” tenure
And the Council Personnel Committee should look into this as well as any money funneled into McClure’s campaign by close relatives of this employee
Ron Heckman visited the home.
Accurate Bernie! Positions were vacant for years and never used so were cut. Had to request positions but if needed brown let you hire in nursing
You mean that daycare building. It would be an actual daycare center if it was open and operating with children and employees
Her report, their report, was released AFTER the campaign was done, after the voters were enlightened. How convenient.
Will be interested in seeing how long the new administration lasts at Gracedale.
Too late to react, too late to respond, too late for voters.
Johnson won't take the job because if Tara loses he will be replaced because our sheriff is appointed. So both the husband and wifey will lose thier job. No conflict of interest there??? So stay as second in command. But get top dog pay.
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