NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The special session was held at North Kansas City City Hall and council members wasted no time in expanding the hospital’s board of trustees.
The meeting only lasted about five minutes with the council voting to add eight new members to the North Kansas City hospital board.
While the meeting was fast, the floor was not open to the public. But it didn’t stop more than two dozen citizens, many whom opposed the appointments, from having their voices heard.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” resident Shelly Pinto said. She passed out articles about a reported sale of the city-owned hospital and she wore a sticker that said “Don’t Sell Our Hospital.”
“We just concerned this hospital will get into the wrong hands,” she said. “We want to keep it a city-owned hospital, that’s owned by the citizens.”
For months, the city and hospital administrators have been entangled in an ongoing battle over the future direction of the hospital.
“The city has no position on the selling of the hospital. It has not even been a conversation,” said Matt Shatto, an administrator for North Kansas City.
Despite published reports and lots of rumors, Shatto insisted the 55-year-old city-owned hospital is not for sale and the city is not talking to potential private buyers.
“The city council is merely suggesting they would like to have access to the information necessary for there to be an evaluation of the hospital to make sure it’s best suited for moving forward for the future decades,” Shatto said.
But the former North Kansas City mayor doesn’t buy it.
“In the past two years, there have been so many closed door sessions, executive sessions, and to have gotten as far as they have gotten, which sounded like an almost done deal,” Elizabeth Short said.
Councilman Fred Steffen was the lone vote against the new appointments.
The hospital has yet to comment to FOX 4 regarding Wednesday night’s meeting.
