[Vision2020] Att. Latah County Commissioners: RE: Latah Health Services

[Jim Meyer]

Dear Commissioners,

At some point in the recent past it might have been appropriate to ask 
Latah County voters whether or not there should be a Latah Health 
Services. Unfortunately, the voters were not asked that question and you 
all as county commissioners took it upon yourselves to make that 
decision on your own in the form of incompetent management and 
intentional neglect. The voters trusted you to do a good job and you did 
not. Over the years, you were lazy, unimaginative, and uninterested. 
Shame on you. Shame on you for making it impossible for Latah Health 
Services to maintain quality nursing care. Shame on you for not 
providing money for building upkeep. Shame on your for not applying for 
available grants. Shame on you for putting the remaining residents out 
in the cold at Christmas. Shame on you for letting a publicly supported 
facility go to ruin. Your legacy is shame.

It seems clear that even now, with deadlines approaching, you may still 
be unwilling to perform your collective duty to the citizens of Latah 
County to salvage whatever is left of the facility/pool. Especially you, 
Jack Nelson.--You with rumored  intention to resign long before your 
term is up--You whose priority appears to be a new office and of course, 
preserving your commission seat for an appointed buddy should you resign 
early. By appearances, all of you care more about yourselves and next to 
nothing about the poor suckers who are being evicted with less notice 
than necessitated by law when students are evicted by landlords. You 
guys are just plain mean or incompetent or both. And by the way, you 
shouldn't be trusted with offices so far out of the way that nobody can 
see you aren't working. Lastly, you should all hope you yourselves don't 
end up in a neglected facility (or kicked out into the street) when you 
reach old age.

So what can you do to redeem yourselves? Sell the facility to Gritman 
Medical Center in a timely and well thought out manner. At this point 
there doesn't seem to be much choice and they are doing a good job.  
Make sure the current residents are not abandoned. Do what you can to 
preserve at least the pool by working with Gritman Medical Center in 
good faith. You were entrusted to work for the citizens of Latah county. 
Time to do your job and do it well.

Sincerely,

Jim and Kim Meyer