Jennifer Pae

[Pam Wetula]

I have also posted this on Lakewood Buzz


quote: From Jennifer Pae... "Quick Timeline...Lakewood Hospital

In the mid-1990s, UH no longer wanted to partner LHA, so in 1996, LHA entered into an agreement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) to run the hospital which known as the Definitive Agreement. And the Lease document between LHA and the City was updated, with LHA paying the City $1 million a year with the understanding that the city would take over the hospital's EMS services, which took place in 1999. There is no contract between the City of Lakewood and the Cleveland Clinic.

Fast forward to 2012. LHA's governing board which consists of 23 members of which only 3 people (the mayor and two council people) are city representatives, decided to study the future of the hospital, especially in light of recent declining revenues, significant capital needs, and the rapid changes in healthcare delivery. It engaged the services of Subsidium (http://www.subsidiumhealthcare.com/), a nationally recognized healthcare expert to assist.

Ms. Pae conveniently forgets to include the changes made in the agreement in 2010 as she so adeptly fast forwards from 1996 to 2012.

These changes are so crucial to the timeline that they are included in the Historical documents. See below a copy of the historical section that shows part of the true evolution of Lakewood Hospital's woes at the hands of CC/LHA and the City Council and Mayor who agreed to these changes.

• Historical documents-
• Lakewood Hospital Timeline
• 1996 Lakewood Hospital Lease Agreement
• 1996 Lakewood Hospital Definitive Agreement
• 2010 changes to required services portion of the Lakewood Hospital lease
• 2013 Community Health Needs Assessment

I invite you to go to onelakewood.com yourself and go to Community, then Hospital, then Historical Documents and THEN read them all including the 2010 changes.

Summers, Butler and Antonio were all on the council at that time. The ONLY Councilperson to have the guts to say no was Monique Smith. She understood that these changes were being requested to diminish Lakewood's power and enhance the Cleveland Clinic's power.

Ms. Pae is a good company woman. She was the Finance Director in 2010 too. I do not wish her ill but her support of Build Lakewood is lunacy. The site is filled with errors and misleading statements.Her support of Mayor Summer's Agenda can only be explained by a keen desire to keep her job.

Readers need to dig deeper and actually read documents themselves so they know the truth. I did that and it has resulted in a deep rage at the depth of the lies and misleading information being told to the public.

Don't trust me- go read and think about this Lakewood Hospital issue yourself. There are years of articles and documentation out there. It is not an easy read - but a necessary one.

I would be upset if we were closing a largest Lakewood employer called Lakewood Ball Bearings because of the financial impact (minimized by Pae)on our yearly economy. With the loss of Lakewood Hospital, we would lose not only the largest employer/industry in town but also a distinct service for our 52,000- residents.

Don't let this happen.

pam

[Jim O'Bryan]

Pam

I have zero idea why you would post anything on the other site, home to faux names,
stalkers, and serial pedophiles in past. "Phil Distasio, Brother Petty" currently serving
13 life sentences after we busted him trying to sign in here.

Be careful where you leave your information!

Jennifer Pae also posted that here, and while she is a good company person, and has been
through 4 mayors, she is pretty honest. By law she must be.

She has also been posting from her own personal point of view, which as a long time Lakewood
resident we enjoy, but, she still is always the Finance Director.

Sorry, carry on.

.

[Pam Wetula]

Hi Jim

Pam
I have zero idea why you would post anything on the other site, home to faux names,
stalkers, and serial pedophiles in past. "Phil Distasio, Brother Petty" currently serving
13 life sentences after we busted him trying to sign in here.

Be careful where you leave your information!

Jennifer Pae also posted that here, and while she is a good company person, and has been
through 4 mayors, she is pretty honest. By law she must be.

She has also been posting from her own personal point of view, which as a long time Lakewood
resident we enjoy, but, she still is always the Finance Director.
Sorry, carry on.

I initially responded to our "honest" Finance Director's posts on the Buzz because I have been too busy or too lazy to respond to her article in the actual Observer. Her misquoted of the timeline and misleading statements on the economic impact of the closing of Lakewood Hospital have not been sitting well with me.

Just because she should be honest by law does not mean that she won't stretch the truth or see things from her own personal or professional perspective. She is likely honest in her personal dealings but her articles and defense of the Build Lakewood site are always stated as her view but always pointing out that she is the Finance Director (so she must be right). Even the Cleveland Clinic quotes a more accurate negative economic impact on Lakewood if the Hospital closes than does Ms. Pae.

I know I am using my real name and that I am not trying to mislead people so I am comfortable posting (occasionally) on the Buzz..though I do prefer the Observation Deck!!!!!!! I did not respond to anyone I know to be a serial killer etc... I responded today to an older post by Lakewood's Finance Director, Jennifer Pae.

People need to be told that they need to read for themselves and think for themselves and not let Team Summers or even me do it for them. Even goofballs on the buzz.

I admire you Jim and thank you for the opportunity to post here but if Ms Pae posts elsewhere again, I might just have to respond again! Ha!

pam

[Bill Call]

I guess she has been blocked from the Observer web site so I don't know if she is free to respond on the Observer.

[Bridget Conant]

She is claiming on other "faux name" sites that she has been blocked from posting but I highly doubt that and I suspect its just another ruse to cast aspersions on Jim O'Bryan.

[marklingm]

I guess she has been blocked from the Observer web site so I don't know if she is free to respond on the Observer.

She is claiming on other "faux name" sites that she has been blocked from posting but I highly doubt that and I suspect its just another ruse to cast aspersions on Jim O'Bryan.

While Team Summers and Build Lakewood may have blocked her from posting here, I can guarantee that Jim O'Bryan never blocked her.

Jen Pae should retract that statement ... assuming the real "Jen Pae" actually made said statement ... these are faux name blogs we are talking about here after all.

[Bill Call]

Maybe she is just having trouble logging in. There were some supporters of Save Lakewood Hospital who had some trouble setting up accounts a while ago. Things happen.

Jennifer Pae is a fine public servant. Her job not only includes her financial duties but also the duty to support the Mayors policies in public.

The general rule of thumb is that you disagree in private and then salute and follow orders. I don't know that she does disagree I'm just saying her job requires her to follow the Mayors lead.

[Jennifer Pae]

I have also posted this on Lakewood Buzz


quote: From Jennifer Pae... "Quick Timeline...Lakewood Hospital

In the mid-1990s, UH no longer wanted to partner LHA, so in 1996, LHA entered into an agreement with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) to run the hospital which known as the Definitive Agreement. And the Lease document between LHA and the City was updated, with LHA paying the City $1 million a year with the understanding that the city would take over the hospital's EMS services, which took place in 1999. There is no contract between the City of Lakewood and the Cleveland Clinic.

Fast forward to 2012. LHA's governing board which consists of 23 members of which only 3 people (the mayor and two council people) are city representatives, decided to study the future of the hospital, especially in light of recent declining revenues, significant capital needs, and the rapid changes in healthcare delivery. It engaged the services of Subsidium (http://www.subsidiumhealthcare.com/), a nationally recognized healthcare expert to assist.

Ms. Pae conveniently forgets to include the changes made in the agreement in 2010 as she so adeptly fast forwards from 1996 to 2012.

These changes are so crucial to the timeline that they are included in the Historical documents. See below a copy of the historical section that shows part of the true evolution of Lakewood Hospital's woes at the hands of CC/LHA and the City Council and Mayor who agreed to these changes.

• Historical documents-
• Lakewood Hospital Timeline
• 1996 Lakewood Hospital Lease Agreement
• 1996 Lakewood Hospital Definitive Agreement
• 2010 changes to required services portion of the Lakewood Hospital lease
• 2013 Community Health Needs Assessment

I invite you to go to onelakewood.com yourself and go to Community, then Hospital, then Historical Documents and THEN read them all including the 2010 changes.

Summers, Butler and Antonio were all on the council at that time. The ONLY Councilperson to have the guts to say no was Monique Smith. She understood that these changes were being requested to diminish Lakewood's power and enhance the Cleveland Clinic's power.

Ms. Pae is a good company woman. She was the Finance Director in 2010 too. I do not wish her ill but her support of Build Lakewood is lunacy. The site is filled with errors and misleading statements.Her support of Mayor Summer's Agenda can only be explained by a keen desire to keep her job.

Readers need to dig deeper and actually read documents themselves so they know the truth. I did that and it has resulted in a deep rage at the depth of the lies and misleading information being told to the public.

Don't trust me- go read and think about this Lakewood Hospital issue yourself. There are years of articles and documentation out there. It is not an easy read - but a necessary one.

I would be upset if we were closing a largest Lakewood employer called Lakewood Ball Bearings because of the financial impact (minimized by Pae)on our yearly economy. With the loss of Lakewood Hospital, we would lose not only the largest employer/industry in town but also a distinct service for our 52,000- residents.

Don't let this happen.

pam

Thank you Ms. Wetula for referencing these documents, and I encourage everyone to read them too.

However, here are a few items that people should also consider and ask when reading them:

• The transfer of paramedic services in 1999 from being a required service within the lease with LHA was to now be performed by the City. This was in the works in 1996 when the lease was revised increasing the rent paid by LHA to the City from $200 annually to $1 million, even though the City began to collect EMS service fees with the transfer of services.
• Where in the lease document does it say that the Cleveland Clinic is party to the agreement?
• Where in the definitive agreement does it say that the Cleveland Clinic is under contract to be the sole “member” until 2026?

Yes, I was Finance Director in 2010 and was a recipient of the April 6, 2010 letter from LHA and the Clinic about changes in services. Here is another question for people to think about: How could have City Council forced LHA to continue to provide those services that were moved to Fairview? What are their remedies under the lease agreement? That letter also outlines services that were expanded too.

Let me be very clear: no one wants to the hospital to close, but there is a proposal that has made to City Council that needs to be fully understood and the ramifications going forward need to be explored. To think that the City can sue to make some unspecified healthcare provider operate the hospital in the manner it was prior to 2010 with added inpatient psychiatric services really needs to be seriously questioned on how that is even feasible especially in an era of radical changes in healthcare.

Even if there was a new mayor and new council, and all of the city’s LHA appointments were replaced with new trustees, they would still be the decision-making minority (10 vs. 13), and they would still have to follow the two established governing documents: the lease between LHA and the City, and the definitive agreement between LHA and the Cleveland Clinic.

My support of Build Lakewood is for the following two reasons:
1) Let City Council do what they were elected to do and do not circumvent their legal authority through lawsuits, charter changes and potential referendums.
2) The financial risk and liability of the LHA properties coming back on the City’s books.

I was asked by City Council what the impact of the LOI would be on the City government’s finances, which is what I provided. It is a significant hit, but the City has weathered worse financial storms in the past 9 years that I have been finance director under 3 very different mayors. It would be pure speculation to do an impact analysis of the LOI on private business. But one thing is certain that I am privy to as finance director: the City’s income tax overall withholding revenues have been steadily increasing while Lakewood Hospital withholding numbers have been decreasing.

[Michael Deneen]

Let City Council do what they were elected to do and do not circumvent their legal authority through lawsuits, charter changes and potential referendums.

Here is the translation for that nifty bit of "Summers Speak":

"We wish those damn citizens would shut up and get out of our way."

[Jennifer Pae]

Here is the translation for that nifty bit of "Summers Speak":

So with that logic Mr. Deneen, anything I've said or done personally and professionally from Jan. 1, 2011 to as of this minute has been "Summers Speak?"

And everything from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2010 was "FitzGerald Speak?"

And everything from Feb. 6, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2007 was "George Speak?"
Even when then Mayor George required that anything I said as Nov. 15, 2007 going forward had to have the following disclaimer: "This document is solely the views of the City of Lakewood Director of Finance and are not reflective of the policies or views of the Administration"?

Thanks for enlightening me and others.

[Bridget Conant]

The point is, Ms Pae, that we heard that same line during the West End debacle -trust those you elected!

I don't know about you, but I don't inherently trust politicians. Should we have trusted Commissioners Russo and Dimora?

Why do Summers et al "know better" than numerous well educated and informed residents? The fact remains that a VAST MAJORITY of residents think this deal stinks. Reciting platitudes will not convince them otherwise. You've got to do better than that.

Your last point about the "bricks and mortar" seems a bit odd. If, according to our mayor, there is so much interest in "developing" that land and developers are indeed lining up, then why would it matter if the lease played out or was liquidated with damages and we got the property back? Wouldn't the developers be interested in that "prime" piece of real estate we keep hearing about?

[Jennifer Pae]

The point is, Ms Pae, that we heard that same line during the West End debacle -trust those you elected!

And my point is I am capable of my own opinions, thoughts and analyses without the politically motivated accusation that I'm doing this because of who is currently the elected mayor.

As an individual who has her Master's of Public Administration, I learned and hold very dear the principle that it is important to have administrators that don't necessarily agree with everything and are willing to challenge the mayor when they have a difference of opinion, or they feel the need to look at an issue differently especially through the lens of the finance director.

Does this take place? Absolutely and it is necessary for establishing public policy. And I can say that Mayor Summers especially values this in his directors and chiefs. Not all mayors do or have.

Just because I may have differentiating opinion than you might have on this very serious issue doesn't mean I've formed my opinion because of who is in the mayor's office.

I've also read the documents, I've also sat through the meetings, and I've seriously looked at this through the lens of the City's finance director and as a tax-paying, long-term resident of this community.

[tom monahan]

Hi Jen:

Just reread to Amended and Restated Lease and on Page 2 of that document it talks about the Governing Board and how its membership is made up (23 members) and it also states that all of those on that Board will be ratified by the Member.

On Page 8 of that document it states: "Member means CCF or any Permitted Affiliate, etc. etc."


So it is very plain to see that the Clinic is the sole party to the agreement.

Hope this clarifies something.

[Michael Deneen]

So with that logic Mr. Deneen, anything I've said or done personally and professionally from Jan. 1, 2011 to as of this minute has been "Summers Speak?"

And everything from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2010 was "FitzGerald Speak?"

And everything from Feb. 6, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2007 was "George Speak?"
Even when then Mayor George required that anything I said as Nov. 15, 2007 going forward had to have the following disclaimer: "This document is solely the views of the City of Lakewood Director of Finance and are not reflective of the policies or views of the Administration"?

Thanks for enlightening me and others.

One doesn't survive three mayors without learning to tell the boss EXACTLY what he wants to hear.

As I've said, you have as much credibility on this issue as a tobacco executive in front of Congress. Those guys were all expressing their rights as citizens, too.



Getting back to your point....why are you opposed to the charter amendment?
In the words of Hillary Clinton, "What part of democracy are you afraid of?"

[Pam Wetula]

From Jennifer Pae to Ms. Wetula

My support of Build Lakewood is for the following two reasons:
1) Let City Council do what they were elected to do and do not circumvent their legal authority through lawsuits, charter changes and potential referendums.

I do hope that Tom M's explanation of CC's role takes care of the misunderstanding.

BUT I need to address the above quote by Ms. Pae.

I haven't had the time to look up the section of the Constitution & state & local laws that support citizens in suing their officials when those entities are not acting for the best interests of their constituents. (I will look this up & get back to you) But I know that we have the right.

I HAVE looked up the Charter of the City of Lakewood and the Original & all amendments, including 2014, set clear guideline and procedures for charter changes (initiatives) and referendums.

The "legal authority" you speak of is conferred on the City Council by the residents who voted them into office. Remember "By the people, For the people".

We have the right, nay the duty, as residents of this DEMOCRACY, the USA, to question our elected officials and to circumvent them by legal means when we believe they are doing the wrong thing.

We also have the right to lie and mislead each other (outside of committing slander or libel). The next time I blog, I will address your right to align yourself with Build Lakewood, a group whose website is a case study in lies and misleading information.

Your reasoning for joining Build Lakewood is a real head scratcher.

Again I say to everyone, read up on these topics yourself.

Good Evening.

pam, a very concerned Lakewood Citizen