The twisted tale about the size of the pay cheque and the paying for a parking lot garage.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  December 28, 2011  –  In the world of politics it is called getting ahead of the parade.  When there is some news you know is going to create some controversy,  you get out in front of it and do your best to control it, put it in context and frame it with as much positive data as you can.  Smart people do that –they work at creating the agenda rather than being the agenda.

Come Tuesday of next week, Eric Vandewall and others at the Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital (JBMH) will be the agenda when what they are paid each year is made public.  The province decided some time ago that what hospital administrators are paid is public information and can be learned through a simple access to information request.

Several local media then gave the JBMH a call a few days before Christmas and asked – “well just how much are you paying the lad?” and were told that the media would have to wait until January 3rd, which is what the rules call for.  All the hospitals in the Burlington-Hamilton area got together and agreed that they would all release the numbers at the same time.  In the commercial world that’s called collusion and if they were selling something we would call it price fixing, but I digress.

Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital CEO Eric Vandewall is about to tell us what he gets paid annually. He didn't volunteer this information.

Hospital administrators are paid with tax dollars and Ontario has for some time made the salaries of those paid by the taxpayers public information.  It has been called the Sunshine list and is released each year.

The public relations people at JBMH had an excellent opportunity to be seen as complying openly and willingly with the new rule – but instead of doing that they decided to drag their feet and leave the impression that they really don’t want you to know – and come Monday they will be the news story of the day unless there is a natural disaster somewhere in the world.

I have always wondered why intelligent, highly paid people do such stupid things.  It’s kind of scary when you think about it.  They don’t seem to be able to think much beyond the end of their noses or they are far too focused on their own self-interests – either way – scary.

These are the people we pay very well to make good decisions on our behalf and when they behave like this – stalling for what amount to less than two weeks one wonders – why?

A positive news story would state what Vandewall is paid and then put it in context with say what the city manager is paid ($214,000+ for the last one) and what the President of McMaster University is paid and then look for what some of the publicly traded companies are paying their CEO’s.  Help the public see and appreciate the value we taxpayers are getting for the dollars that go into their pockets.

The medical community has always had a rather high level of arrogance about it.  One had to just watch Vandewall when he last appeared before city council.  He wanted money the city had set aside as its share for the re-build of the hospital and the sooner the better was the message he was sending.  Vandewall told council that the hospital Foundation would match what the city was putting up, $60 million of your dollars over a six year period.  Add the city’s $60 million to what the hospital Foundation was committed to raising and you have a handy $120 million.

Hospital Foundation Board - needs to raise $60 million. So far has only managed to get their picture taken. Nice picture though.

Problem is the Foundation has yet to raise a dime, at least they haven’t reported any funds being raised but they did have a nice picture taken of themselves.  In due course the Foundation will raise its share but right now the hospital needs to lay its hands on some cash so the early prep work for the eventual re-build of the hospital can get done.

One of the first layers of that work is the building of a parking garage.  Why a parking garage first?  The hospital has to clear some land that will be used to add the new extensions to the hospital and they need a place to put the cars currently parked on the hospital lot.  So, they thought, why not get the city of Burlington to pass along some of the money needed to build the garage.

Parking space - someone has to come up with the money to pay for a parking garage so that these cars have a place to go. Burlington city council isn't very keen on city money being used to pay for a hospital parking lot.

Not so fast, say the folks at city hall. Before as much as a dime of city money goes to the hospital,  the Memorandum of Understanding (or whatever they are going to call the document that sets out who gets what and who does what) has to be signed.  That document has been in the negotiation/development stage for more than four months now.  Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor is keeping a very close eye on this one – he’s not about to see a big chunk of the city’s money get used to pay for a hospital parking garage. Taylor was heard to mutter something about maybe having the parking lot revenue go to the city.

All the Senior people at City Hall get their names published in the Annual Sunshine list (Its officially known as the Public Sector Salary Disclosure Act),  if they earn more than $100,000.  The list comes out early in August – we’ll see that you get a copy.  Eric Vandewall earns well in excess of $100,000; he may well be the best paid civil servant in the city, an accolade he isn’t going to want to wear on his lapel.

Hospital CEO Eric Vandewall stalling for time while waiting for a provincial government Minister to show up to announce that the hospital re-build would be funded. The Minister never arrived. This isn't the last time the provincial government is going to let the CEO down.

Good talent has to be paid the going rate and there are not a lot of exceptional hospital administrators in the province.  Vandewall was brought in to clean up a real mess and it would appear that he is doing a very good job at what he is being paid a very good salary to do.  The public needs to appreciate that his job is to get the new hospital Burlington has wanted for some time built – and the faster the better.

Part of the problem is that the kind of hospital Vandewall is beavering away to get built down on Lakeshore Road may not be the kind of hospital Burlington needs for its aging population.  There is reason to believe that Burlington might be much better served with a community type hospital and have Hamilton and Oakville handle the type of medical situations that calls for the high tech/emergency level care.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the needs of our aging population are probably not best met with the type of hospital JBMH is slated to be rebuilt into.  What is best for the city is not yet clear but no one seems to want to ask the question: What kind of hospital is going to meet the needs of our changing demographic and at the same time meet the needs of the current growing population.  But there isn’t a politician in this city who is going to stand up and ask that question publicly.  It would be really interesting to hear what people within the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care think is best for Burlington long term.

He has to do this job and get it done while working with a government that seldom tells him the truth and happens to be broke and isn’t likely to come through with the money needed to do the rebuild.  Eric Vandewall has a very tough five years in front of him.  He isn’t going to be able to do what he was hired to do – through no fault of his own.

So he looks at the pile of cash Burlington is sitting on and looks for ways to get it out of the city’s bank account and into the hospital’s.   Good luck Mr. Vandewall.  There happens to be a wily old coot sitting at that Council table and he isn’t at all keen on seeing city money used to pay for the building of a parking garage.  Part of the garage ? – probably.

When they all learn what you’re being paid – they are going to make you work very hard for every dollar of it.

 

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