LSHA: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Hosp. Auth. Board is at it again: ADA & Sunshine Law non-compliance, document swapping, life-safety issues
December 11, 2025 11:35 am | 6 min read
AI Summary
Columbia County Observer graphic (photo via Unsplash)
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Governor Ron DeSantis’ hand-picked Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) Board is at it again: ADA compliance issues, violations of the Sunshine Law, document swapping, and life-safety issues all came to light during the runup to and during Monday’s Authority Board meeting.
ADA Compliance Issues
Never important to LSHA Executive Directors or Boards
The Lake Shore Hospital Authority’s history with ADA compliance and accessibility has been dismal and uncaring.
Going back to 2009, when the old county jail was reconstructed into the unneeded vanity Authority headquarters, the Authority has never been friendly to those with challenges.
See: LSHA Berry nixes ADA compliance (2009)
See: New LSHA boss refuses to comply with ADA wheel chair requirements (2010)
See: LSHA's Berry and LC's Johnson Ignoring the Needs of the Handicapped on the Authority Campus (2015)
In 2018, after North Florida legend Dale Williams became the part-time Authority Manager, he said he would have an automatic door opener installed on the Authority entrance. He didn’t.
From 2009 until the present day, no Governor-appointed Board member or Executive Director cared much about those with challenges.
Another New Authority Low:
Ignoring those with reading challenges
In the run-up to Monday’s December 8, 2025, LSHA Board meeting, the Authority hit another new low: ignoring accessibility for people with reading challenges, such as low vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers, while also ignoring those who could actually see.
Your reporter was not aware of the ADA issues until Sunday, December 7, the day before the Board meeting, when he downloaded and reviewed the material. On Monday morning, he contacted the Authority.
1. Another Dale Williams document was missing a date: the amended memo to the Trustees was “amended” without any acknowledgement of when it was updated. According to Mr. Williams, it was amended the “day after” it was posted to the Authority website. There is no indication of when the material was updated or posted.
2. Some of the documents posted to the Authority were of such poor quality that they were barely readable by the sighted and totally unreadable by those who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers.
The document below is a portion of one page from a multi page agreement that was replaced; even though the document was replaced, no one would admit to any problems.
Violations of the Sunshine Law
Monday evening, the Authority voted to approve Resolution 2025-004. The Authority agenda did not mention the resolution number or that there was even a resolution. Neither Authority Attorney Todd Kennon, an experienced municipal attorney, nor anyone else, read the resolution by title. This is a standard practice.
With the resolution not on the agenda and its title not visible or read aloud, the Authority violated not only established good government practice, but also the public’s right to speak on a proposition (resolution, etc.) legally before the board. The public’s right to speak is guaranteed by Florida Statute 286.0114.
Section 286.0114 requires members of the public to be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on a proposition before a board or commission. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, a proposition is another word for a motion; “motions are the formal proposals by members, that the assembly take a certain action.”
The Governor’s Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board, particularly Board members Don Kennedy and Brandon Beil, don’t believe the public should be able to comment after a proposition is officially before the Board, and led the charge to make sure the Authority’s rules did not comply with the intent of the legislation.
Authority Attorney Todd Kennon knew better and said so before he was forced to resign from his position as Lake City's contract City Attorney.
There was only one item on the Authority’s agenda for action:
Todd Kennon, LSHA Attorney - Discussion and Possible Action - City of Lake City Zoning Determination regarding Lake Shore Hospital including settlement proposals from the March 12, 2025, Chapter 164 meeting between LSHA and City of Lake City representatives, including Request by City of Lake City regarding 11.2-acre parcel (surplus)
Looking at the agenda item, there appears to be one main item, something from March 2025, and an after-part, which was just ignored.
Unknown to the public and anyone reading the agenda were the resolution number and two additional items (two addenda) that weren’t mentioned. One of the addenda found its way into the backup material, which the Authority calls “other documents”; the other, “Addendum Two”, was nowhere to be found.
Confusion: Addendum Two – What's That?
Board Member Lorry Chancy wants to end the big Authority Lie:
We are not the "seller." We are "giving" them the Hospital.
Without an agenda stating what the Board was about to approve, there was confusion.
Board member Don Kennedy made a motion to approve the unlisted resolution, and then said, “I assume that’s known as addendum two.”
It wasn’t.
Board member Beil, who claims to be a Google expert, could have Googled far and wide and not found the next item that Board Attorney Kennon announced as “Addendum Two,” as it was nowhere to be found.
Mr. Beil asked, “What is Addendum Two?”
Attorney Kennon gave a one-sentence explanation, and then, without the addendum being available anywhere, the Board approved it – except for Board member Lorry Chancy.
While Ms. Chancy did not know the addendum was nowhere to be found, she objected because on all the legal documents between the Authority and Meridian, it mentions that the Authority is the “seller,” and Meridian is the “purchaser.”
Ms. Chancy wanted the documents to reflect the truth and that the Authority was giving or “gifting” the hospital to Meridian.
As reported earlier, to sweeten the pot for Meridian, Executive Director Dale Williams came up with the idea to give Meridian $2.5M to take the trashed hospital without an inspection.
Attorney Kennon said he would see what he could do.
Document Swapping
After your reporter pointed out to both the Authority and Meridian’s CEO, Lauren Cohn, and Meridian Board Chair Jeff Feller that the Authority’s backup material was not ADA-compliant, the Authority's webmasters, Click Five Media, replaced the unintelligible, ADA-inaccessible documents.
According to Click Five Media, “updated, more legible documents” were received Monday afternoon, and the documents were swapped out and posted to the Authority website. This appears to have happened somewhere around 3:30 pm (the afternoon of the meeting).
As usual, there was no indication on the website that anything had changed. If one had downloaded an earlier version of the inaccessible documents, there would have been no reason to refresh the download, and they would have remained uninformed.
However, other than just refreshing the illegible with the legible, the City’s Building Official Letter, a key element in the City’s legal maneuverings, a document that was approved by the City Council on December 1, was replaced with a different version, which was not approved by the City Council.
The mysterious Addendum Number Two also remained missing.
Ignored, Building Safety Issues
Attorney Todd Kennon: a legal opinion scam – or
what?
As previously reported, LSHA Attorney Todd Kenn, on October 24, 2025, wrote that the Lake Shore Hospital was so unsafe that even a waiver of insurance would not allow your reporter to enter the building to take photographs.
However, the building was not unsafe for everyone. Besides College President Larry Barrett and College personnel touring the trashed and unsafe hospital without insurance waivers, this past Monday evening during the Board meeting, Authority Manager Dale Williams said Meridian inspection teams “have been to the building. They've removed huge samples of materials. They've tore (sic) insulation off pipes, they've took (sic) paint samples, they've cored floors, you name it.”
Lake Shore Hospital was not unsafe for everyone; just the media that would exposed the trashed state of the hospital and the malfeasance by the Governor's Board and its Executive Director.