Thought Oncology: Can We All Agree It Was Not a "Malicious Rumor" that Council Acted in Secret to Destroy the Hospital?

[Brian Essi]

I have posted below several posts that led to Mr. Buckley coining the revolutionary term "Thought Oncology" when referring to Jim Kenny trying to say Councilman Anderson was ridding the Deck of "cancerous thoughts" in what Mr. Kenny said was an effort to help the Deck become a "healthier place."

Please note below that Mr. Kenny claimed there was a "malicious rumor that council was somehow acting in secret to destroy the hospital."

We all know that by December 7, 2015, Council had met in secret executive sessions and agreed to terms of the Master Agreement prior to it announcement that day. Mr. Anderson's posts below concede this point when he claims Butler and Thompson Hine lawyers told him the secret sessions were somehow legal.

So can we all agree that Council agreed to the terms of the Master Agreement prior to public meetings and, therefore it was not "malicious rumor that council was somehow acting in secret to destroy the hospital" ??

Can we also agree that "thought oncology" is not a good thing?


Please note that per Councilman Anderson, the alleged "malicious rumor" was posted on the Cleveland.com, not on the Deck.

Mr. Kenny wrote on the Build Lakewood Facebook sometime in October, 2015:

“I appreciate the Deck for what it is. Councilman David Anderson must too, as it’s the only forum he went to ask for an end to malicious rumors that the council was somehow acting in secret to destroy the hospital. Mr. Anderson didn’t share this plea with Lakewood Buzz, nor on this FB page or the SHL [sic} page. He went to the Deck and the Deck only. Like a surgeon attacking a cancer, we went right to the source. My hope is that he was effective so the rest of the Deck can be a healthier place.”


Mr. Deneen's post of October 15, 2015:

Mike: You have me confused with someone else. I've only ever given praise for the Observer and its mission, so I award this effort with critical feedback when some members fail to hold true to these ends.

As Mr. Wadden so consistently points out, I like to keep screenshots.
This is a good example why.

This statement was made by Mr. Kenny on the BL FB page:
"Mr. Anderson didn't share this plea with Lakewood Buzz, nor on this FB page or the SLH page. He went to the Deck and the Deck only. Like a surgeon attacking a cancer, he went right to the source."

Here is David Anderson's posts from September 21, 2015 and September 22, 2015:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... 775#p97775

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes” – Mark Twain

While characterizing it as a lie as opposed to a rumor may be a stretch, I think the quote above is applicable to my note below.

I received a text message as well as a couple of emails from residents over the past few days concerned that Council recently has or may hold a secret session to vote for Lakewood Hospital’s closure. The text message was in response to a reader comment linked to a Bruce Geiselman’s Lakewood Hospital related article posted on Cleveland.com. The emails were from concerned citizens who appeared to have heard the rumor from different sources.

Before I joined Council just over four years ago I had a basic understanding of the requirements that must be met for elected officials to hold sessions/hearings and to call for votes. So, I appreciate that some residents, informed and engaged as they may be, might not be completely aware of all that is involved. I certainly know I wasn’t until 2011.

Per Lakewood’s Second Amended Charter and Ohio Revised Code:
1. Public notice must be issued in order for Council to meet. This applies for a Council session as well as a committee hearing.
2. Council cannot vote while in executive session.
3. While in executive session, Council can only discuss publically noticed topics.
4. Council cannot vote on ordinances or resolutions without a publically noticed meeting (date, time, location, ordinances and resolutions to be considered).
5. Ordinances are required to have three public readings. Passage of an ordinance before three readings requires the rules to be suspended which can only take place via a recorded and public vote of a super majority of Council members present during a properly noticed public session.

My intent was to disprove the rumor as well as to assure residents that there are checks and balances written into our Second Amended Charter and supported by Ohio law to prevent any concocted scenarios related to the rumor.

There have been no votes. There will be no secret votes.

I pledge to check in on this thread regularly and will try answer any questions and comments that I can.

Yours in Service,
David W. Anderson
216-789-6463
David.Anderson@Lakewoodoh.net

September 22, 2015:

A couple of points were made that I want to follow up on.

M. Buckley’s post and concern about the use of executive sessions seems to hit home with many who are less than confident that the current stable of elected officials can be trusted to make the best choices and that decisions are being made behind closed doors.

In my years on Council, executive sessions have been utilized to discuss pending lawsuits against the city and proposed collective bargaining agreements. We certainly would not want to discuss these type of active and sensitive topics in an open forum. Although, the results that the city would ultimately accept are public information.

Yes, Council has used executive sessions in recent months to discuss issues regarding Lakewood Hospital – potential sale or purchase of property and pending litigation. (For my part, I have voted against going into executive session to discuss hospital matters only once.) These sessions are not recorded and, again, we are not permitted to vote on anything. We have, however, used these to meet with lawyers from Thompson Hine which is the firm we hired to prepare for and initiate a negotiation process with the Cleveland Clinic. Some residents’ lack of faith in the elected representatives in these sessions notwithstanding, I am sure all would agree that discussing a negotiating strategy in an open session would provide an advantage to those with whom we are negotiating. We simply need some time and space to do this important work as a group.

There is some debate in the community as to whether the use of executive sessions to discuss potential Lakewood Hospital real estate transactions and litigation meet the legal criteria. I, and others, have consistently asked the City’s law department as well as the law firm of Thompson Hine to give an opinion as to whether our use of executive sessions in this setting is proper. We have been repeatedly assured that these do meet the standard. I am not a lawyer and would not be able to make sense of a binder of case law on this issue if I had to. Therefore, I must act on the legal advice solicited and provided.

To reinforce Mr. Baker’s comments, I have suggested to a number of residents over the years that attending committee hearings is a great way to better understand the issues at hand, the working style of individual Council members and how members work together as well as with the Administration.

Just yesterday, the Housing Committee met from 5:30-7:00 p.m. As the chair, I noticed that the committee would discuss (1) the permitting and inspection process and the 2016 budget, (2) progress regarding the 2015 housing surveys, (3) Substitute Ordinance 15-15 – air conditioner compressors, (4) Substitute Ordinance 16-15 – garage height definitions and (5) city owned home renovations and sales updates.

We utilized the entire 90 minutes and had a great discussion where Council members shared anecdotes on what we are hearing on the streets, thoughts about strengths and areas for improvement. We also recommended that Council approve the two Ordinances upon third reading.

I appreciate all the feedback on my original post.

David W. Anderson
Member of Council, Ward 1
216-789-6463
David.Anderson@lakewoodoh.net

[james fitzgibbons]

I like the way Anderson says yours in service at the end of his post, who is he serving surely not the citizens of Ward 1 or anyone else that I know of, he went against what I encouraged him to do. It is a Malicious Rumor to say that council and Mayor Summers
are working for the good of Lakewood's people in Healthcare and Financial Stability. I am still asking the question, How Has Closing Lakewood Hospital Improved Healthcare and Financial Stability of our city. No one has responded so far.

VOTE AGAINST 64

[Kate McCarthy]

I cannot figure out how it was possible for council to arrive at this December 7 press conference without voting in executive session. And what does Councilman Anderson mean when he says he will "go off script" at the press conference? When was this "script" developed? Is it appropriate for council to coordinate a scripted roll-out of an agreement without any public vetting of the agreement?

I still feel that of all the shameful conduct of our city officials, this press conference stands out and the process that led up to it was quite possibly unlawful.

[Lori Allen _]

I'm still waiting for an answer as to how opening smoke shops, vape stores, e-cig stores, vape lounges, bitcoin stores, and bars at almost every council meeting makes us healthier. Crickets. Gee, I wonder why?!

[Brian Essi]

I have posted below several posts that led to Mr. Buckley coining the revolutionary term "Thought Oncology" when referring to Jim Kenny trying to say Councilman Anderson was ridding the Deck of "cancerous thoughts" in what Mr. Kenny said was an effort to help the Deck become a "healthier place."

Please note below that Mr. Kenny claimed there was a "malicious rumor that council was somehow acting in secret to destroy the hospital."

We all know that by December 7, 2015, Council had met in secret executive sessions and agreed to terms of the Master Agreement prior to it announcement that day. Mr. Anderson's posts below concede this point when he claims Butler and Thompson Hine lawyers told him the secret sessions were somehow legal.

So can we all agree that Council agreed to the terms of the Master Agreement prior to public meetings and, therefore it was not "malicious rumor that council was somehow acting in secret to destroy the hospital" ??

Can we also agree that "thought oncology" is not a good thing?


Please note that per Councilman Anderson, the alleged "malicious rumor" was posted on the Cleveland.com, not on the Deck.

Mr. Kenny wrote on the Build Lakewood Facebook sometime in October, 2015:

“I appreciate the Deck for what it is. Councilman David Anderson must too, as it’s the only forum he went to ask for an end to malicious rumors that the council was somehow acting in secret to destroy the hospital. Mr. Anderson didn’t share this plea with Lakewood Buzz, nor on this FB page or the SHL [sic} page. He went to the Deck and the Deck only. Like a surgeon attacking a cancer, we went right to the source. My hope is that he was effective so the rest of the Deck can be a healthier place.”


Mr. Deneen's post of October 15, 2015:

Mike: You have me confused with someone else. I've only ever given praise for the Observer and its mission, so I award this effort with critical feedback when some members fail to hold true to these ends.

As Mr. Wadden so consistently points out, I like to keep screenshots.
This is a good example why.

This statement was made by Mr. Kenny on the BL FB page:
"Mr. Anderson didn't share this plea with Lakewood Buzz, nor on this FB page or the SLH page. He went to the Deck and the Deck only. Like a surgeon attacking a cancer, he went right to the source."

Here is David Anderson's posts from September 21, 2015 and September 22, 2015:

http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... 775#p97775

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes” – Mark Twain

While characterizing it as a lie as opposed to a rumor may be a stretch, I think the quote above is applicable to my note below.

I received a text message as well as a couple of emails from residents over the past few days concerned that Council recently has or may hold a secret session to vote for Lakewood Hospital’s closure. The text message was in response to a reader comment linked to a Bruce Geiselman’s Lakewood Hospital related article posted on Cleveland.com. The emails were from concerned citizens who appeared to have heard the rumor from different sources.

Before I joined Council just over four years ago I had a basic understanding of the requirements that must be met for elected officials to hold sessions/hearings and to call for votes. So, I appreciate that some residents, informed and engaged as they may be, might not be completely aware of all that is involved. I certainly know I wasn’t until 2011.

Per Lakewood’s Second Amended Charter and Ohio Revised Code:
1. Public notice must be issued in order for Council to meet. This applies for a Council session as well as a committee hearing.
2. Council cannot vote while in executive session.
3. While in executive session, Council can only discuss publically noticed topics.
4. Council cannot vote on ordinances or resolutions without a publically noticed meeting (date, time, location, ordinances and resolutions to be considered).
5. Ordinances are required to have three public readings. Passage of an ordinance before three readings requires the rules to be suspended which can only take place via a recorded and public vote of a super majority of Council members present during a properly noticed public session.

My intent was to disprove the rumor as well as to assure residents that there are checks and balances written into our Second Amended Charter and supported by Ohio law to prevent any concocted scenarios related to the rumor.

There have been no votes. There will be no secret votes.

I pledge to check in on this thread regularly and will try answer any questions and comments that I can.

Yours in Service,
David W. Anderson
216-789-6463
David.Anderson@Lakewoodoh.net

September 22, 2015:

A couple of points were made that I want to follow up on.

M. Buckley’s post and concern about the use of executive sessions seems to hit home with many who are less than confident that the current stable of elected officials can be trusted to make the best choices and that decisions are being made behind closed doors.

In my years on Council, executive sessions have been utilized to discuss pending lawsuits against the city and proposed collective bargaining agreements. We certainly would not want to discuss these type of active and sensitive topics in an open forum. Although, the results that the city would ultimately accept are public information.

Yes, Council has used executive sessions in recent months to discuss issues regarding Lakewood Hospital – potential sale or purchase of property and pending litigation. (For my part, I have voted against going into executive session to discuss hospital matters only once.) These sessions are not recorded and, again, we are not permitted to vote on anything. We have, however, used these to meet with lawyers from Thompson Hine which is the firm we hired to prepare for and initiate a negotiation process with the Cleveland Clinic. Some residents’ lack of faith in the elected representatives in these sessions notwithstanding, I am sure all would agree that discussing a negotiating strategy in an open session would provide an advantage to those with whom we are negotiating. We simply need some time and space to do this important work as a group.

There is some debate in the community as to whether the use of executive sessions to discuss potential Lakewood Hospital real estate transactions and litigation meet the legal criteria. I, and others, have consistently asked the City’s law department as well as the law firm of Thompson Hine to give an opinion as to whether our use of executive sessions in this setting is proper. We have been repeatedly assured that these do meet the standard. I am not a lawyer and would not be able to make sense of a binder of case law on this issue if I had to. Therefore, I must act on the legal advice solicited and provided.

To reinforce Mr. Baker’s comments, I have suggested to a number of residents over the years that attending committee hearings is a great way to better understand the issues at hand, the working style of individual Council members and how members work together as well as with the Administration.

Just yesterday, the Housing Committee met from 5:30-7:00 p.m. As the chair, I noticed that the committee would discuss (1) the permitting and inspection process and the 2016 budget, (2) progress regarding the 2015 housing surveys, (3) Substitute Ordinance 15-15 – air conditioner compressors, (4) Substitute Ordinance 16-15 – garage height definitions and (5) city owned home renovations and sales updates.

We utilized the entire 90 minutes and had a great discussion where Council members shared anecdotes on what we are hearing on the streets, thoughts about strengths and areas for improvement. We also recommended that Council approve the two Ordinances upon third reading.

I appreciate all the feedback on my original post.

David W. Anderson
Member of Council, Ward 1
216-789-6463
David.Anderson@lakewoodoh.net

Mr. Anderson,

Isn't it a fact that you met in secret and negotiated the destruction of the hospital?

That is a fact, not a "rumor."