To the Readers' Forum:
All county legislators must file a conflict of interest form, stating if they own any business. Every county legislator is an owner of the county nursing home. That creates conflict of interest between their interest in the county budget and their interest in doing what is best for the county home. So maybe they should become a committee of the whole, a committee only responsible for the county home.
As such, would they then, knowing the county home has a deficit, ask for IGT funding from the county? I would think that would be the responsible thing to do. There may be concern that the home might be sold, but then it might not be sold.
As the best way to care for the residents is to make sure the home has enough money to pay the people who care for the residents, then the committee would say they would want $500,000 from the county so the county home would get the $500,000 plus $1,000,000 more from the federal government.
The committee would then adjourn and the legislators, knowing that as owners of the home they would want to ask for IGT funding, what would they do as legislators? If they vote against the IGT funding out of concern for the budget, then concern for the budget is being put above concern for the care of people. That is a serious mistake. The best action is to make sure the residents are cared for and thus vote for the IGT funding.
Lastly, if some buyer thinks it can manage the home and at least break even, then the process by which it would do so must be made known to the legislators before any vote is taken. If the process can be done by the home without selling it, and the home would not be a drain on the county budget, then we can keep the home as a county home, which is the best way to insure the good care of the residents.
Timothy Hoyer
County Legislator
District 14
Jamestown