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Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Index
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July 20, 2024
11:59 am | 5 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore Hospital
was on the County 5 docket at its July 18
meeting. The 5 wasn't giving much away in detail
before the meeting. On the agenda was a
five-word explanation: Lake Shore Hospital
Authority update. The agenda item form did not
give much more information: this is a
continuation of discussions at the July 3
meeting.
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July 12 2024
5:45 pm |
5 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Monday evening’s
Lake Shore Hospital Authority agenda was
Meridian’s CEO Don Savoie. According to
Authority Manager Dale Williams, nobody knew
why Mr. Savoie wanted to be put on the
agenda. No one was expecting an hour-long
Meridian dog-and-pony show.
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July 10 2024
10:25 am |
6 min read
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Monday evening, July 8, Gov.
DeSantis' Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
blew off the County Commission (The 5, County
5), telling the folks who run the County, “We
don’t need to meet with you.”
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July 8, 2024
11:55 am| 3 min read
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Meridian CEO Don Savoie is making a
mysterious appearance at the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Governor’s Board this evening.
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June 23,2024, 2024
3 pm | 4 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Lately, the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority has been under scrutiny. Noah
Walker, the newly anointed Lake City
Mayor in waiting, has been dog-whistling
behavioral health and mental illness. He
has had some help from his friend and
fellow Rotarian, Shawn Holmgren.
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May 15, 2024
11:59 pm | 4 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday evening's
May 13 Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
meeting once again demonstrated the
dysfunction of Governor DeSantis's appointed
Board. Under the leadership of former
longtime Columbia County Manager Dale
Williams, the Board has, among other things,
seen the number of Hospital Authority
clients drop 91.4% (187 to 16) since Dale
Williams took over managing the Authority.
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Jan. 30, 2024 4:45 pm |
3 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Tonight, the illegally constituted Gov.
DeSantis Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Board may once again try and decide to
give the vacated Shands at Lake Shore
Hospital to Meridian Behavioral Health
Services of Gainesville.
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Dec. 16, 2023
05:15 pm | 4 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The saga of the
vacated Shands at Lake Shore Hospital
buildings and all the remaining
Authority property continues to roll
merrily along. The December 11 Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Governor’s
Board meeting once again had Meridian
CEO Don Savoie MIA.
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November 24, 2023
9 pm | 9 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – During the November
Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA)
Governor's Board meeting, after a year of
foot dragging by the Authority and, most
recently, Meridian, Meridian’s quality of
care finally became an issue.
.
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Nov. 13, 2023
11:00 am | 4 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – After three years
of foot-dragging and approximately $3
million spent maintaining empty buildings,
the final chapter in the history of the
vacated Shands At Lake Shore Hospital may be
written this evening. It has not been a
pretty picture for the Governor’s Board or
the Authority Manager, Dale Williams.
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Nov. 11,
2023 9:15 am | 3.5 min read
There are voices to be heard regarding
the gifting of the vacated Lake City Lake
Shore Hospital to Meridian Behavioral
Healthcare. The voices of those being
treated or have been treated by Meridian or
their family members.
.
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Sept. 26, 2023
12:45 pm | 6 min read
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night at Lake
Shore Hospital Authority headquarters, after
three years of foot-dragging and three
million dollars, the governor's Authority
Board finally agreed to deed the vacated
Shands at Lake Shore Hospital to Meridian –
the only folks that were willing to take the
hospital and save it from the wrecking ball.
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April 12, 2023
10:15 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – For almost three
years, Governor Ron DeSantis’ illegally
constituted LSHA Board has dragged its
collective feet filling the vacated Lake
Shore Hospital. While some progress finally
seems to be being made, its efforts to
subsidize an emergency care clinic, for
which it has not established a need, drag
along at a snail's pace.
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March 16, 2023
3:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore
Hospital Authority’s hospital, Shands at
Lake Shore, has been vacated, closed, and
out of business since October 2020. The
Authority is run by an illegally constituted
Board appointed by Florida Governor
DeSantis. It has spent an average of $81,495
monthly, keeping the vacated hospital from
falling in on itself. The Authority client
base is up two from its all-time low last
month.
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Manager Williams to interview
(poll?) the Board for members opinions.
February 8, 2023
7:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – After over
two-and-a-half years of foot-dragging,
excuses, dead-ends, propaganda, special
meetings, and fear-mongering, the vacated
Lake Shore Hospital Authority hospital,
Shands at Lake Shore may finally have an
occupier.
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January 31, 2023
12:45 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – This evening, after
over two years of foot-dragging by the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board and its Part
Time Manager Dale Williams, a concrete plan
for the vacated Shands at Lake Shore
Hospital will again be presented by Meridian
Behavioral Services. The Authority workshop
begins at 6 pm and is being held at the
School Board Administrative complex on US
90.
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January 12, 2023
4:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – After two years
plus of foot-dragging since the abandonment
of Shands at Lake Shore Hospital, and over a
year after Meridian Behavioral Healthcare
offered to occupy the vacated Authority
hospital, part-time Authority Manager Dale
Williams and Governor’s board member Brandon
Beil are finally taking a tour of Meridian’s
Gainesville campus.
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January 10, 2023
7:23 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night,
Governor Ron DeSantis’s illegally
constituted Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Board blew through the evening’s agenda in
eighteen minutes.
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Part II: With barely an exception, a
board member not voting is against the law in
Florida. That includes the LSHA.
November 17, 2022
11:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On November 14,
2022, Chairman Brandon Beil gaveled the
regularly scheduled Lake Shore Hospital
Authority board meeting to order. He asked,
“Are there any staff or trustee additions or
deletions to the agenda or consent agenda?”
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Part I: In the
civilized world of government, silence is
acquiescence.
November 17, 2022
07:25 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Governor’s Lake
Shore Hospital Board, along with Part-Time
Authority Manager Dale Williams, continues
to operate without benchmarks as it
squanders millions of taxpayer funds keeping
the illegally constituted Lake Shore
Hospital Authority alive.
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Hope Bridges’ Willie Peacock, using
another LLC, Well Care, recently agreed to
settle a lawsuit for $33 million.
November 1, 2022
04:23 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Tonight’s meeting
of the infamous Lake Shore Hospital
Authority should be a doozie. Hospital
Authority Manager Dale Williams once again
waited until the last minute to have the
backup material available for public
inspection. Absent from the backup material
is any mention of the $33,000,000 Willie
Peacock settlement.
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Posted July 11, 2022
09:45 am |
Part I |
Part II |
Part III
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – A 12th-hour request
from an unnamed Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Governor's Board member had
respondents who wanted to use the vacated
Lake Shore Hospital scrambling. Part III of this series is about the June 23
Authority meeting, which began two years ago on
July 10, 2020, when the Governor's Board was...
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The Bumpy Run-Up to Thurs. June 23
Board Meeting
Posted July 5, 2022
07:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Sitting on $21
million of public funds, the Governor’s Lake
Shore Hospital Board, after dragging its
feet for almost two years, has thrown due
diligence to the wind.
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Posted July 1, 2022
01:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Thursday, June
23, the Governor's LSHA Board once again
played 'fast and loose' with the
Authority agenda. The two-hour meeting
to review proposals for the use of the
vacated Lake Shore Hospital had no
discussion of the Meridian Behavioral
Health Care proposal, along with no
discussion of the illegally constituted
board that is sitting on a cash stash of $20 million plus.
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Posted June 16, 2022
09:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Monday evening,
June 13, Meridian Behavioral Health pitched
its proposal to use the vacated Lake Shore
Hospital. Former Columbia County County Manager and
present part-time Authority Exec Director Dale
Williams has facilitated the proposal process.
It has dragged out and has been highlighted by
late proposals, undated proposals, and folks
mysteriously showing up during one presentation.
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Part II - The
Presentation
Posted June 15, 2022
06:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night at the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority brought
Meridian Behavioral Healthcare in front of
the Governor's appointed Board. Meridian has
been providing mental health care services
in the region for 50 years and wants to
bring an enhanced level of care to Columbia
County.
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Posted June 13, 2022
11:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore
Hospital Authority’s Shands at Lake Shore
Hospital has been vacant since October 2020.
At that time, having just been paid by
Community Health Systems (CHS) to buy out
its lease, the Authority had $23,559,266 in
the bank. It has been a sad story ever
since.
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Posted May 26, 2022
04:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Governor DeSantis’s
Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board is at it
again tonight. After squandering up to $150k
a month since October 2020, tonight is
Willie Peacock night, a man and a business
without business cards, brochures, or a
letterhead.
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Posted March 14,
2022 09:15 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Florida Gateway
College (FGC) President Larry Barrett has a
plan for the shuttered Shands at Lake Shore
Hospital: turn it into a downtown campus for
FGC’s health care programs; open Florida’s
first health care charter school.
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Posted December 13,
2021 11:52 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore
Hospital Authority meets tonight with an
illegally constituted board. Since last
October, it has seen its client base
(now 75) and its funds diminish. After
over a year of failure, and having blown
through $1.6 mil, the Authority’s
Part-Time Executive Director wants to
start all over again.
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Posted July 12, 2021
03:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Seemingly
unknown to anybody in Lake City Government,
other than Mayor Witt, tonight’s soon-to-be
Ex-City Manager, Joe Helfenberger, met with
the Lake Shore Hospital Board members
privately to try and hammer out a deal.The subject: the property the Authority
donated to the City in February 2021 – they
want it back.
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Posted March 24, 2021
09:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Since October 2020,
Columbia County taxpayers have been paying
almost $100,000 a month to keep the
publically owned vacant “Shands at Lake
Shore” hospital habitable. Ace Medical
will make a presentation to the Governor’s
Board at 5:15 pm this evening.
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Posted March 10, 2021
01:10 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Sitting on a
cash stash of just under $23 mil, the
controversial Lake Shore Hospital Authority
is limping along in its search to find a
replacement to take over a vacated hospital
that needs about $12 mil in renovations.
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Posted January 13, 2021
11:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – In 2005, the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority was
re-legislated to provide indigent care to
Columbia County residents. A lack of vision
and Columbia County good ole' boy politics
recently led to its hospital's death. With
the Lake City Medical Center knocking on the
door, indigent care may have another home.
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Posted October 15, 2020
01:45 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – This past Monday evening, the
Governor's Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Board approved a $7.5 mil investment – sight
unseen, rate unknown, Florida statutes
ignored.
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Posted July 13, 2020
12:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – There is a lot
going on at the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority. Community Health Systems (CHS)
the operator of Shands at Lake Shore
Hospital is going down for the count. Look
at the agenda for this evening's meeting and
it looks like business as usual.
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Posted June 10, 2020
03:05 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday
night's Lake Shore Hospital Authority meeting
brought no surprises. The Board of Governor's
appointees was mum about the impending exit of
Community Health Systems, the operator of the
Authority owned hospital, Shands At Lake Shore.
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Posted June 8, 2020
04:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Tonight is the
second virtual meeting of the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority, a vestigial independent
taxing authority which leases a mostly empty
hospital to a NYSE listed Corporation which
has lost the knack of making money, at least
in Lake City.
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Posted May 29, 2020
08:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Just
short of 10 years after the 'sweetheart' deal
between the Governor's Board at the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority and the then Hospital
Management Associates (HMA), now CHS, Shand's
Lake Shore Hospital is 'on the rocks.'
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Posted January 14, 2020
11:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY / LAKE CITY, FL – Last
night at the Lake Shore Hospital Authority,
the Governor appointed Board declared 12
parcels, bought in crazed buying spree in
2006, surplus to the Authority's needs and
gifted the property to the City of Lake
City.
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Posted November 14,
2019 11:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night at the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority, Lake City's
City Manager Joe Helfenberger made his pitch
for four parcels of property bought by the
Authority during a crazed buying spree begun
in 2006. The City is looking to build a new
City municipal complex in downtown Lake
City.
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Posted September 10,
2019 01:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Governor's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board wasted no
time last night lowering the proposed tax
rate from 1.5 mils to .962. Reports in the
local mainstream print media that the Board
would adopt the 1.5 millage rate were wrong.
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Posted April 10, 2019
02:05 pm | updated April 11, 2019
COLMBIA COUNTY, FL – It was touch and go for
over an hour on Monday night to see which
way the Governor's Lake Shore Hospital Board
would swing on the Columbia Bank RPF
protest. The ultimate question was: would
the Authority Board again rubber stamp a
recommendation which was not in the RFP?
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Posted April 8, 2019
05:30 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Again, on the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority (LSHA) docket tonight is the wrangling
over the Authority' bungled request for proposal
(RFP) to allocate 6 CD's totaling $5,167,819.81
of LSHA money, money that belongs to the people
of Columbia County.
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Posted March 14, 2019
08:50 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Monday night, March 11, 2019, as
the Lake Shore Hospital Authority ramped up for
its evening meeting, Columbia Bank employees and
supporters overflowed into the lobby: on the
agenda, a bid protest by Columbia Bank - the
"hometown" bank. One of the major problems:
neither the Authority procurement policy, nor
the Request For Proposal (RFP) had any
instructions for protesting the bids.
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Posted December 11, 2018
05:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Last night at the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
(LSHA) there was a refreshing change from folks
coming before governmental agencies looking for
a handout, free money, favors, or looking to
cement deals hatched in the backroom corridors
of Columbia County. With food trucks established
as a burgeoning gourmet business throughout
America, Chef/Owner Santos Hernandez appeared
before the LSHA Board to make his case to park
his food truck in a couple of LSHA owned parking
spaces.
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Posted September 11, 2018
11:59 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority budget hearing had
Columbia County residents wondering if the
Governor's Board was going to hang tough
with the proposed 1.5 mil tax rate while the
Authority was sitting on a cash hoard $10.6
million.
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Posted September 10, 2018
12:45 pm
Columbia County, FL – Tonight at 5:15 pm, the
all Governor Scott appointed Republican Lake
Shore Hospital Board is on tap to raise
Authority taxes 61%, while floating on as sea of
millions and millions in cash reserves. This
year
the charge to raise taxes was led by
Board member Dr. Mark Thompson. The Board has
the ability to roll back the taxes both tonight
and at the
second budget hearing on September 24. Once
again, the Governor's Board has scheduled the
hearings at the most inconvenient time for
working families to attend.
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Posted August 11, 2018
08:50pm
Columbia County, FL – Thursday's last
minute Lake Shore Hospital Authority Budget
Workshop was a learning experience for most
of the Governor appointed board and for the
first time in over a decade a presentation
was given which gave the Board members an
idea of the budget; the Board's
responsibilities; and an idea of what was on
the road ahead. As for the taxpayers, the
one's that keep the Authority afloat, they
appear to be looking at a Governor appointed
board that does not represent the population
of the people it serves and higher taxes, a
trend in all political subdivisions of
Columbia County.
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Posted July 26, 2018
03:59 pm
Columbia County, FL – Parliamentary
procedure is the building block of good
government. For over a decade the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority was run by a manager with
questionable credentials, no respect for the
process or members of the public, and
complete and uncompromising disregard for
Florida's public record law. One of the last
holdovers from that era is Authority
Attorney Fred Koberlein, Jr., who is also
the Lake City attorney.
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Posted July 26, 2018
03:55 pm
Columbia County, FL – With Republican
Operative and former Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Manager and Board Chairman Jackson
P. "Jack" Berry gone from the
Authority with most of his
cronies, the task of
straightening out a mess that has been
brewing since the mid 2000's has been left
to the new leadership of Executive Director Dale Williams and
Board Chairman Brandon Beil.
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Posted April 13, 2018 07:58
am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Last night the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board chose former 30+ year
veteran Columbia County, County Manager Dale
Williams to Manage the Authority on a part time
salaried basis. What at first seemed like a
tough choice was a cake walk for the veteran
Williams, with only Board member Loretta Chancy
failing to give him the nod over two other
candidates. (47 Kraus – 44 Williams).
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Posted April 11,
2018 10:35 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore Hospital Authority,
reestablished by the Florida Legislature in
2005, has been a backwater contentious
institution since the appointment of Republican
Operative, past Republican leader and well known
"Repo Man" Jack Berry to the Authority Board in
2005. That era literally comes to an end
tomorrow night when the Authority Board chooses
a new manager.
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Posted March 14, 2018
06:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday's March 12, 2018 meeting
of Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
memorialized its October 9, 2017 vote to rebuild the
County owned privately run Emergency Department of
Shands at Lake Shore. The October 19 vote ran contrary
to the iron fisted Authority Manager Jack Berry's
recommendation and he submitted his resignation the next
day, claiming various health issues.
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Posted February 14, 2018
06:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority meeting had two new governor
appointees on the Board. Dr. Mark Thompson, a Lake City
radiation oncologist and James (Jay) Swisher, a former
Columbia County Sheriff's deputy and the Director of the
Public Safety Training Center at FGC. Dr. Thompson
questioned the need for an executive director and was
engaged in getting up to speed with the goings on of the
Authority. Mr. Swisher was quiet, other than
recommending a workshop to help get the Authority up to speed.
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Posted January 29, 2018
09:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
On Friday, Governor Scott's Appointment Office
announced the appointment of two new members to
the Lake Shore Hospital Board to fill the
vacated seats of Dr. Waseem Khan and former
Board Chair Koby Adams, Chief of Staff of Rep.
Elizabeth Porter, both of whom resigned.
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January 14,
2018 04:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA), its governor
appointed board, and former board member, repo-man,
political operative and Authority Manager, the legendary
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, went on a spending spree to
build vanity signs in downtown Lake City. The purpose of
the signs has never been clear, however, two of the
signs point to Shands at Lakeshore, the Authority
hospital leased to Community Health Systems (CHS), a for
profit NYSE listed corporation and one of the nation's
leading operators of general acute care hospitals.
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Posted Sept. 26, 2017,
11:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Hurricane Irma did not dampen
the enthusiasm of Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board at its last budget hearing
Monday night when the legendary Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, Manager of the 2 person staff Lake Shore Hospital Authority,
scored big in the raise department. His two person staff
also did just fine.
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Posted Sept. 18, 2017,
01:25 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Tonight, at 5:15 pm, the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
meets for its hurricane delayed first budget hearing for
its FY2018 budget year. The Authority, which has become
a drain on the local economy, has downsized its client
base from 2051 in July 2010 to an average of 144 in
2017, down from 158 clients in 2016. The total projected
Lake Shore Hospital Authority overhead, counting the
$115,000 cost of tax collection for the Authority, is
$512,821 or $3,561 per client.
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Posted July 13, 2017
12:40 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY/Lake City, FL – Monday's July
10 Lake Shore Hospital Authority meeting got
off to a shaky start when Representative
Elizabeth Porter's Chief of Staff, Koby
Adams, also the Chair of the LSHA, banned
retired pharmacist Sandra Buck-Camp from
addressing the Board. Things got
progressively worse as Authority Manager
Berry attempted to add to the agenda a
discussion item about the vacating of the
County Economic Development Department and
his new plan for those offices.
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Posted June 25, 2017
01:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday's June 12, 2017,
Lake Shore Hospital Authority meeting flew under the
radar, however, after obtaining an audio tape of the
meeting and interviews, it was not a pretty sight as the
Governor's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board, with
barely any conversation, slammed Columbia County (read
taxpayers) with a 76% rent increase for the offices used
by the County Economic Development Department.
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Posted April 12, 2017
07:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night's 26 minute
Lake Shore Hospital Authority monthly board meeting
again featured Authority Manager Jack Berry turning his
back on speakers addressing the Governor's Board and
more whispering by Authority Manager Jack Berry. As
usual, the Gov's Board turned a blind eye, as did
Authority Attorney Fred Koberlein, who was also at times
unintelligible only 10 feet away.
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Posted March 1, 2017
08:00 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – On Tuesday, February
21, the Lake City, City Council met. On its docket was
an item regarding the Jack Berry Hwy, technically known
by the state as Lake Shore Boulevard, or the East Access
Road. Beginning in 2012, the project was driven quickly
into the shadows by City Manager Wendell Johnson, who
claimed that if your reporter attended the meetings they
wouldn't go smoothly. County Commissioner Ronald
Williams also worked to keep these meetings in the dark,
never reporting back to the County Commission.
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Posted Feb. 16, 2017
10:55 am | Pt II |
Pt I
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The confusion at the Governor's
Lake Shore Hospital Authority Monday Board meeting could
have been avoided if Authority Manager Jack Berry had
contacted the DOT to get clarification of the
consequences of the County Commission's
revised Memorandum of Understanding that was before the
Authority Board.
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Berry Working on a Revival Plan
Posted Feb. 16, 2017
07:35 am |
Pt I |
Pt II
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Monday night, February 13,
Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Board
met for its monthly meeting. Confusion
reigned as Authority Chair Koby Adams, also
Rep. Elizabeth Porter's Chief
of Staff, put the 'Jack Berry Highway' on the
floor.
Former "Repo Man" and Political operative Jack Berry,
the Lake Shore Hospital Authority Manager, gave his
version of the history of the project to the Board. Up
for consideration: the revised Memorandum of
Understanding between the County, Lake City, and the
Authority for the design, building, and funding of the road.
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Record Filled With Cnty Alternative
Facts & Memories
Posted Feb. 6, 2017
| 10:00 pm | Pt II
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL
– On February 2, 2017, the Jack Berry Hwy
Tax Watch Turkey crash landed as it became
clear that the County 5 violated its Charter
and had an illegal meeting which kicked off
the project. By the end of the Jack Berry
Hwy discussion, The 5 was in confusion and
had rejected all routes
proposed by the FL DOT study, but they still
wanted the money for an undefined road
design. A modification of the 1977 state and
federal approved plan could have eliminated
any environmental impacts and used mostly
existing roads. The next step may be the FL
DOT's.
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Visit by Hosp Auth Chief to Home Owner -
Covered Up by County
Posted Feb. 5, 2017
| 02:10 pm | Pt I
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – During the conversation about the road and the route
designed by the DOT, Commissioner Williams asked County
Manager Ben Scott about the Pruett letter, failing to
mention the Pruetts by name, or any history of the
letter, which by now should have been common knowledge
to all the commissioners as well as the County's top
brass.
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Posted Feb. 2, 2017
| final version 03:28 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY – The Lake Shore Hospital Authority
"Jack Berry Highway" has been steeped in
secrecy for years. The third version of the
Florida Department of Transportation's (DOT)
"Lake Shore Hospital Emergency Access Study"
is still identified as a "Draft." The
study's introduction claims that the "FL
Legislature earmarked $2.1 million in fiscal
year 2016-17 for the engineering,
right-of-way, and construction of access
improvements to Lake Shore Hospital." A
spokesperson for DOT said this is not true
and the "only funds that have been provided
to DOT are $410,000 for design." The draft
report does...
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Posted January 12, 2017
02:30 pm | Part II |
Part I
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL –
Monday night's January 9, 2017 meeting of Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) Board was
marked by confusion, whispering, limited sunshine and an
Abbot and Costello moment during a land giveaway by an
agency, that while charged with the medical care of
Columbia County's indigent, has turned into an out of
control backroom real-estate agency – again.
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Posted
January 11, 2017 07:45 pm | Part I |
Part II
COLUMBIA
COUNTY/LAKE CITY – Monday night's
January 9, 2017 meeting of Governor Scott's
Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) Board
was marked by confusion, whispering,
conflict of interest, a disappeared motion
by Board member Ron Foreman, and a lack of
regard of the rudimentary rules of
parliamentary procedure by LSHA outside
Attorney, Fred Koberlein, who also
represents Lake City. Hospital Authority
Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry didn't
disappoint, as he again turned his back and
covered his face when members of the public
addressed the Governor's Board.
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Posted January 6, 2017
09:33 am | (2
comments)
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The 'Jack Berry
Highway,' which has gone through a few name
changes and is now officially called the
Lake Shore Boulevard Access Road has gone
from a $958,817 in 2013 to a $2mil plus
project in 2017. The Observer has been
unable to find any traffic studies; need
assessments; or anything else which
demonstrates a need for more access to the
Shands at Lakeshore Hospital emergency room.
|
Posted December 30, 2016 04:10 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – The Lake
Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) is a special
taxing district established by the Florida
legislature. All members of the board have
been appointed by Governor Rick Scott.
December 12 was the last official 2016
meeting of the LSHA Board. Moments after the
Board began consideration of the evening's
agenda, Board Chairman Koby Adams announced
that he was asking the Board to approve a
workshop on January 9, 2017, at 4 pm. Mr.
Adams, who is also Representative Elizabeth
Porter's Chief of Staff, did not volunteer
one word of explanation regarding the
purpose of the workshop.
|
Posted December 13, 2016 01:15 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Last night's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board meeting was
highlighted by no business and Manager Berry
turning his back on the two members of the
public that showed up for the Authority's
monthly meeting. Discounting the public
comments, the Board breezed through the
agenda in 5 minutes and 30 seconds. The
Authority's financial
advisor-auditor-accountant (one person),
according to last month's minutes, was to
present the Authority audit. Finance man
Powell showed up, the audit didn't and
neither did an explanation.
|
Posted December 12, 2016 07:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Tonight at 5:15 pm,
Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board is scheduled to meet.
According to Authority Manager Jack Berry's
agenda, there is nothing going on: no new
business; no old business. It is also
unclear if Shands at Lakeshore (the
hospital) will have a report or if Manager
Berry will have any additions to his printed
and improperly formatted staff report.
|
Posted September 29, 2016 12:01 am |
Part II |
Part I
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night, Governor Scott's
Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) Board held its
final budget hearing. In Part II, the meeting concludes
in chaos when the resolution establishing the millage
rate was not read into the record. After a bunch of
whispering by Board Attorney Fred Koberlein, Board
Member Foreman's amended motion attempting to add and
approve the millage rate was never voted upon. (photo:
Attny Koberlein)
|
Posted September 28, 2016 01:45 pm |
Part I |
Part II
OLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night, Governor Scott's
Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) Board held its final
budget hearing. The Board ignored Authority Manager
Berry's continuing rude behavior. The tax rate had a
built in $1.5+ mil surplus. Chairwoman Chancy, in
contravention of the law, claimed the public was not to
be asking questions at the budget hearing. The Gov's.
Board continued to turn a blind eye on
Manager Berry's rudeness.
|
Posted September 26, 2016 08:45 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – After a couple of tries and a meeting
where the Lake Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA) Attorney
trampled the rights of the public to comment on the
budget, Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Board holds its final budget hearing, tonight.
|
Posted September 19, 2016 04:35 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry appears to
have dropped the ball again. Tonight's budget hearing
was suddenly canceled. Manager Berry did not advise the
Observer. It is not clear who or what he advised.
|
Posted September 15, 2016 12:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – It was helter-skelter
business as usual Monday night, September
12, at the first of two FY 2017 Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Budget Hearings. The
Authority agenda for the Budget Hearing
provided no information regarding any budget
amendments. The agenda confused the day and
date of the next budget hearing and remains
uncorrected. Manager Berry's extreme
behavior continued to be rubber stamped by
the Governor Scott Board as it remained
silent while Mr. Berry turned his back on
citizens who commented on the budget.
|
Posted September 12, 2016 06:05 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Tonight, beginning at
5:15pm, Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Board will hold its first budget hearing. As usual, the
announcement did not make it to the LSHA calendar and
the public hearing is not mentioned on the evening's
posted agenda. Unessential, and floating on a sea of
public money, the Authority will be hearing from
Meridian's President/CEO, who has apparently caught wind
of the Authority's cash hoard. Meridian is asking the
Authority to contribute $60,000 a year for the next 5
years.
|
Posted
August 10, 2016 02:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Shortly after the
June 20 Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
sponsored clear cutting of the wooded
parkland and bird habitat next to the
hospital, Barbara Lemley and others noticed
that the monument dedicating the gift of the
park property disappeared along with the
trees. At midday On July 1, Ms. Lemley
stopped into the Authority Hdq to inquire
about the monument's whereabouts. After some
persuasion, Authority Manager Berry came out
of his office to greet Ms. Lemley.
|
Posted July 13, 2016 03:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Monday at
Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital board meeting, none
of the Governor's Board members had a single question
about the recent deforestation at the back of the
Authority owned hospital on Lake Desoto, except Bd.
Member Janet Creel. On Tuesday, the Lake City Community
Redevelopment Advisory Board met. The comments at that
meeting were attention grabbers, especially that of City
Councilwoman Melinda Moses who said she was satisfied
with the new look.
|
Posted June 22, 2016 06:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Friday morning June 3, a
shallow rooted maple tree around Lake DeSoto was one of
a few in the county that had toppled over after earlier
torrential downpours. Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, who had previously
ordered clear-cutting of 48 trees in the last remaining
shaded public parking area around Lake DeSoto, used the
fallen tree as vindication for his previously ordered
clear-cutting. On June 5, Mr. Berry appeared in the
daily print newspaper standing next to the roots of the
fallen tree.
|
Posted May
17, 2016 10:50 am
LAKE CITY, FL –
During
last
night's
City
Council
meeting,
City
Manager
Wendell
Johnson
brought
some
clarity
to two
projects
that
involve
the Lake
Shore
Hospital
Authority
and are
occurring
within
the City
limits:
the
clear
cutting
of the
trees on
the
south
side of
the Lake
Shore
Hospital
and the
relationship
of the
proposed
"Jack
Berry
Highway"
to those
trees.
|
Posted May 12, 2016 07:44 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Once again, the subject of
the Hawk family nesting on Hosp Auth
property in the last stand of publicly
accessible trees around Lake City's Lake
DeSoto was a topic of discussion at the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority during its monthly
meeting on Monday night. Three Columbia County residents came to
address the Governor's Board about the issue. Authority
Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry told Jacqui Sulek,
Conservation Chair for Four Rivers Audubon, "I just want
people to have the truth put in front of them."
|
Posted May
9, 2016 10:05 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Events that began in
February may have Governor Scott's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board and the
public questioning republican operative and
Authority Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry's
desire to clear cut a Hawk breeding habitat
on property leased from the Authority.
Questions remain regarding whether or not
Manager Berry followed Authority procurement
policies; facilitated an unfair bidding
process; or told the truth about drug
dealing in the little park which is home to
the trees and the hawks.
|
Posted May 5, 2016 11:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Two days ago, the Observer
received a call that there were nesting
hawks in a tree scheduled to be felled under
the orders of political operative Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, the Manager of the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority and the real leader of
Gov. Scott's rubber-stamp Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board. The Board had
previously approved the clear cutting of the
only stand of trees in an area around Lake
City's downtown Lake DeSoto Circle Drive. It
was reported that the hawk was first seen on
April 1 and Manager Berry was aware of the
hawk, a raptor, which is a federally
protected species.
|
Posted April 12, 2016 06:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night Governor Scott's
Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board met for its monthly
meeting. Floating on a sea of public money and
accountable to no one, the Governor's appointees, as
well as Authority Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry,
generally ignore the public refusing to answer any
questions. When resident Barbara Lemley asked about
various items that were paid for by the Authority all
she received was the back of Mr. Berry's head and the
cold shoulder from the Chair and the other board
members.
|
Posted March 17, 2016 11:45 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
On Monday night, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry and the LSHA
voted to clear cut one of the most beautiful areas of
trees around Lake DeSoto, saving just a handful of palm
trees. The Hospital Authority leases the land to
Community Health Systems (CHS). It is not clear if CHS
is going to give Berry clear-cutting permission. The
park is in the African Community. Governor Scott's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board is all white. Former City
Councilman, Jake Hill, told the Observer, "It would have
been nice if someone asked us about cutting down the
trees in our community."
|
Posted Feb. 10, 2016 12:26 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore Hospital
Authority (LSHA) put out calls for the
latest recipients
of the Authority's public benevolence, the School
District and the County, to show up for
Monday's February 8 monthly meeting for a defibrillator
"photo op," and they did. While the Authority had taken
receipt of the defibrillators, the recipients left
empty-handed. Mario Coppock, the County's Recreation
Director, was headed back to the Richardson Rec Center
for the AAU Basketball tryouts. It was a
good thing nobody had a heart attack.
|
Posted January 15, 2016 02:30 am |Pt II
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore Hospital
Authority's charter calls for it to furnish
temporary relief to the indigent of Columbia
County and collect millage (taxes) for the
purpose of maintenance and operation of the
hospital facilities and provide health care to
the indigent residents of Columbia County. The
Authority floats of a sea of millions of
dollars of public money and is run by a Manager,
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, a Republican operative.
The
|
Posted January 14, 2016 01:03 pm | Pt I of II
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Monday's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority (LSHA) meeting demonstrated that
Governor Scott's handpicked LSHA Board
doesn't bother to refer to its charter or
its attorney before backing up the iron
fisted and legendary political operative,
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, Manager of the
Authority. Absent a legal opinion from the
Authority's
|
Posted December 23, 2015 04:55 pm | (1
comment)
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – At its last meeting of the
year, Governor Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority
continued to be plagued by public record issues, the
rudeness of its Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, and
the "head in the sand" attitude of the Governor's
hand-picked board.
|
Posted Nov. 15, 2015 05:56 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last Monday night's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority meeting was over in what may be a
record: 14 minutes. A third of the meeting was taken up
by a discussion and vote for a client ID card system.
Gov. Scott's rubber-stamp board joined with Authority
Manager Jack Berry in violating the Authority's
procurement policy. Mr. Berry claimed he
researched ID software. He produced nothing in
writing other than a discounted $8,000 invoice and
claimed that replacement software could cost
$30,000 to $40,000.
|
Posted Nov. 9, 2015 02:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Floating
on a sea of cash, Lake Shore Hospital Authority Manager,
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, has inserted on tonight's
unpublished Authority agenda an item called: "New
Business, Computer Software." An invoice obtained by the
Observer shows the Board members received a quote for what
appears to be a new ID badge system at a total cost of $8,084
before discounts. The Authority now has approximately
200 indigent care clients, down from a total of
approximately 1200 in 2009-10.
|
Atny Bobby Case about importance of the
decision: Pt II
Posted November 6, 2015 02:45 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – On October 15, 2015, Columbia County's
hometown newspaper, The Lake City Reporter, wrote an
article titled, LSHA to pay $150K settlement. The article was a
half-hearted, mostly one-sided misrepresentation of the
Hospital Authority's Official Public Record Policy, at
which the LCR apparently never looked. The estimated
$300,000+ in legal fees paid by the Authority's
insurance company and the taxpayers were a result, not
of the Authority's Official Approved Policy, but of a
policy enacted by edict, without Board approval, by the
Authority Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry.
|
The inside story of
the LSHA decision to appeal: Part I
Posted November 3, 2015 09:45 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
On July 8, 2015, the 1st
District Court of Appeal (DCA) ruled against the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority and Jackson P. "Jack" Berry,
the Authority's Custodian of Records, in a lawsuit
brought by your reporter, the publisher of the Columbia
County Observer. Mr. Berry's failure to comply with the
Florida Constitution and the Florida Public Records Law
cost the Authority's insurance company an estimated
$300,000 in legal fees, which does not include the
Authority's out of pocket expenses, which were well over
$10,000.
|
Posted Oct. 27, 2015 04:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Governor's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board continues to
keep the public in the dark with the help of
its attorney, Fred Koberlein. Your reporter
arrived at last night's meeting early and asked to
see a copy of the proposed new pay policy.
Authority Manager Berry, whose failure to
produce public records recently resulted in
Zurich Insurance paying about $300,000 in
legal fees after Mr. Berry refused to allow
the inspection of a public record, told your
reporter, "You've got to file a public
record request."
|
Posted Oct. 26, 2015 12:20 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The Lake Shore Hospital
Authority, in the heart of
downtown Lake City, after
bollixing up its meeting
schedule for two of the last
three years, is holding its monthly
meeting tonight – two weeks
late. What is going on at the
meeting is anybody's guess, as
Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry
and Gov. Scott's handpicked
Board refuse to see that the
agendas are published to the
Authority's website, or
anywhere.
|
 Gov. Scott's Hand-Picked Lake Shore Hospital Authority:
Trouble Following the Law, Again
Posted Oct. 12, 2015 07:00 am |
Updated Oct. 12, 03:45 pm**
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Governor
Scott's hand-picked Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board is
having trouble following the
law, again. Answerable only to
Gov. Scott, the Authority Board,
chaired by Lory Chancy and
managed by political operative
and former Repo Man, Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, is scheduled to
meet tonight. Besides not
posting the agenda on the
Authority's website so that the
public might know what is going
on, the Chancy-Berry team, if it
holds its meeting tonight, will
have violated two other sections
of Florida law.
|
Posted September 23 2015 11:59 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night at
5:15 pm Gov. Scott's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board met for its final budget
hearing. The discussion began about giving
raises to the Authority's three employees
and concluded with Board member Ron Foreman
proposing a rate 15 times the CPI (Consumer
Price Index, or the Rate of Inflation).
|
Posted September 21, 2015 03:50 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Last week's LSHA budget hearing
once again had the Governor's
Authority Board demonstrating that
when it comes to unbelievability,
the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority is a hard act to
follow. Board member Janet Creel
wanted to give Manager Berry a 10% raise.
Some Board members balked. One wanted to
give him 5% and another 3%.
|
Posted September
21, 2015 11:59 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Gov.
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority is out
of compliance again: this time during budget
time. Nobody tells the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry
what to do. This time it is the rules
governing Florida's special district, of
which the Lake Shore Hospital Authority is
one.
|
Posted September 15, 2015
03:40 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority remains dug in. Last
night, the Authority Board met
for its September meeting. It
breezed through it in a record
setting eight minutes. While
Hospital Authority Manager Berry
and Board Chair Lory Chancy
continue to not post its meeting
agenda, or any of the supporting
documentation, to the LSHA
website, the rest of the
Governor's out-of-touch Board
shrugs, with its newest cherry-picked member, Dr. Ron Foreman,
marching in step with the rest.
|
Posted Sept. 14, 2015 12:20 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority is out of compliance
again. While the recent trashing
of the State's Public Records
Law has generally not altered
Authority Manager Berry's
handling of public record
requests, he has most recently
failed to follow the Florida
Statutes to post the Authority's
budget and contrary to the law,
refuses to publish the Authority
meeting agendas to the
Authority's website before its
meetings.
|
Posted August 11, 2015 09:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night
at the Lake Shore Hospital Authority proved
relatively uneventful. For the first time since
sometime before 2008 the Authority didn't hold a
budget workshop. However, Manager Berry
attempted a budget presentation. The big news of
the evening was Authority Manager Berry's
announcement that the County Commission will be
giving its employees $1,000 in either a one-time
bonus or a raise and that the City is "not givin'
anything."
|
Posted August 10, 2015 08:10 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – With less
than 9 hours before Gov. Scott's
Lake Shore Hospital Authority
meets for its August
monthly
meeting, Authority Manager
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry and
Chairperson Lorry Chancy have
once again refused to post or
have posted to the Authority
website its agenda and any
supporting material.
|
 Berry Pulls Agendas off LSHA Website; Authority Chair
Blows off 1st DCA Unanimous Opinion
Posted July 14, 2015 01:58 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last
night's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
(LSHA) meeting was notable for what it didn't
do, rather than what it did. In clear violation
of Florida law, Hospital
Authority Manager, Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, stopped posting
the Authority Board meeting
agendas on the Authority
website. The recent 1st District
Court of Appeals opinion
upholding the lower court
decision that Mr. Berry and the
Authority were not complying
with...
|
Posted July 10, 2015 12:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – A recent decision by the 1st District Court
of Appeal upheld a lower court
decision by Judge William F.
Williams, III which found that
the defendants, Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Manager,
Jackson P. Berry, and the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority,
violated Florida's public
records law.
|
Also: Eye On...
Posted June 9, 2015 01:05 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night Gov. Scott's Lake Shore
Hospital Auth. Board took
care of its business in a record
11 minutes to big smiles from
Bd. Chairwoman Lory Chancy and
Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry.
After the gavel fell, Board
member Janet Creel remarked,
"Are you kidding. This is the
shortest one we've ever had." In
addition to what was provided on
the last minute agenda, which
was clearly designed to keep the
public in the dark, two items of
important business took place:
one before and one after the
meeting.
|
Final
Posted June 8, 2015 02:30 pm
OLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Gov. Rick Scott's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Board is at it again.
This time, in clear violation of the Florida
Statute that requires: "not less than 7 days
before" this evening's Authority meeting, its
agenda be posted to its website and that the
"agenda, along with any meeting materials
available in electronic form ... shall [must] be
published on the agency's website." At 11 am
this morning Authority Manager Jackson P. (Jack)
Berry, the agencies "Director" has nothing
posted.
|
Posted
June 2, 2015 10:10 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – This year's Shands/Lake
Shore Hospital Authority "Ladies Night Out" went
off without a hitch according to reports
received by the Observer. The third annual
event, like last years, was held at the Lake
City Holiday Inn, and once again featured
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Melinda
Keener, M.D. The Holiday Inn invoiced the
Authority $3,335.15 for the room and food, the
main course being Chicken Alfredo, with
blueberry crisp for desert.
|
Posted
May 19, 2015 10:00 am
LAKE CITY/COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night in
City Hall, the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
land-buying spree, orchestrated by Jackson P.
“Jack” Berry in the mid-2000’s, paid off for
Lake City, when the City Council approved an
Interlocal Agreement, previously approved by the
Authority, giving a city block of Hospital
Authority land to Lake City. The property,
including legal fees, demolition, and other
expenses appears to have cost the Authority
tax-payers over $700,000. Now worth $34,000, it
will be turned into a parking lot.
|
Jack Berry and LSHA
get another free pass
April 15, 2015 10:10 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – For decades, Columbia
County/Lake City's daily newspaper, the Lake
City Reporter, has been known as the Lake City
Repeater; the Lake City Distorter; or simply the
Mullet Wrapper, although the late Superintendent
of Schools, Sam Markham, used to say, "I
wouldn't insult my fish in that." The LCR's
report of Monday's Lake Shore Hosp. Authority
meeting twisted; covered up; or just made up
much of its reporting.
|
April 13, 2015 11:50 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Beginning in
2009, the Lake Shore Hospital Authority's
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry and Lake City's, City
Manager Wendell Johnson have turned a blind eye
to the plight of the handicapped on the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority campus in downtown Lake
City. The Authority Headquarters has missed the
accessibility mark for years. In 2009, City
Manager Johnson told the Observer ADA
accessibility/compliance was not the City's
responsibility and that if your reporter had a
problem, "You should find someone in a wheel
chair and have them sue," he said.
|
Posted March 16, 2015 09:45 am
FLORIDA – March
15 through March 21 is the 10th anniversary of
Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week is an annual
national celebration of access to public
information and what it means to your community
and you. Reporter Glenn Marston was looking for
a good story. He came across the issues that
folks have obtaining public records from
Florida's Lake Shore Hospital Authority, located
in Columbia County.
|
Posted March 10, 2015 11:59 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE
CITY, FL – Last night, Governor Scott's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board, under the direction of
Authority Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, kept
the threat of the Craigslist-Cyberstalking civil
action alive against Barbara Lemley on a split
3-2 vote. Gov. Scott's recent appointment,
Ronald Foreman, moved the motion to table action
on the civil action to a later date. Long time
resident Sandra Buck-Camp said, "I have little
respect for the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Board and challenge their judgment."
|
Posted February 12, 2015 12:45 pm | Part II
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE
CITY, FL – As Monday's Lake Shore Hospital Authority
meeting swung into gear it became obvious why Manager
Berry wouldn't allow public or press access to the
supporting material before the meeting. Moments after
Board Chair Lory Chancy gaveled the meeting to order,
she moved to have added to the agenda an item which had
been in the hands of the Authority for days, the Lake
City Police Offence Report against citizen Barbara
Lemley – the charge: Cyberstalking.
|
Posted February 11, 2015 12:20 pm | Part I
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE
CITY, FL – Beginning on December 3, 2014, Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board and the Lake
City Police Department have been on a hunt for a
purported perpetrator, who according to Authority
Chieftain and Republican operative, Jackson P. "Jack"
Berry, represented the Hospital Authority. On Monday
night, February 9, 2015, the Scott Board voted to turn
the fruits of the LCPD Greear investigation over to the
Third Circuit's State Attorney, Jeff Siegmeister, for
prosecution, a decision which rests solely in his hands.
|
Posted February 9, 2015 10:35 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry supervises a staff of
two people. Mr. Berry's total compensation package costs
approximately $109,000 a year. The Lake Shore Hospital
does not have a uniform requirement. Last month Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board paid $171
for embroidered shirts for Manager Berry. It is not
clear if the Board knew what it was doing. Board member
Janet Creel did. She signed the check.
|
Posted January 14, 2015 07:15 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
On Monday night, the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority was at
it again. Authority Manager,
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, sprung
on the Board and the public a
request that the Authority Board
send a letter to the Florida
legislature requesting that the
Sunshine Law; Public Records
Law; Sale or Lease of a Public
Hospital Law; and the
Confidentiality of Hospital
Records and Meetings Law be
changed for them. The Board
wants to keep from the public
the value of its public hospital
and its discussions to sell it
until after it meets in secret
to seal a deal. It also wants to
keep the plan secret.
|
Posted January 12, 2015 02:12 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
With the resignation in June 2013 of Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board member, Bruce Naylor, the Gov. Scott
appointed Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board has given
its $109,000 a year Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, a
virtual free pass to do anything he wants, which
includes not answering questions from the public. Mr.
Berry has made it clear that he will not answer any
question unless it is through a public record request.
If the answer can't be found in a public record, he
won't answer. If a public record is available
electronically, he will charge for copies, rather than
emailing it.
|
Posted December 23, 2014 10:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
A little over two weeks ago on December 8, Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board, relying on
the approved Authority policy, told Authority Manager
Jack Berry to keep the Authority open on the Fridays
after Christmas and New Year's. A request by Hosp Auth
Manager Berry to close the Authority on Friday, December
26, and Friday January 2 was denied by the Authority
Board. On Friday, December 19, an undated, unsigned sign
hanging from the front door of the Authority said the
Authority was closed on December 26.
|
Posted December 15, 2014 07:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Governor Rick Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority is
in the news again. During last week's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority meeting, Authority Manager, Jack
Berry, pulled off the agenda an item to approve the
Authority's website redesign. He told the Governor's
Board, "It seems that one of my guardian angels that
don't think I know how to do my job posted a ad on
Craigslist for a web designer and I got a whole pile of
emails in regards to it."
|
$4,950 so the indigent can view the
website on their iPhones?
Posted December 8, 2014 03:20 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
On the Lake Shore Hosp Auth docket tonight are two items
of public interest: one under "unfinished business"
labeled "website update;" the other "action item"
labeled "website." Historically, the Authority provides
no other information to the public. Tonight is no
exception. It is not clear what the Governor
appointed Board will be reviewing, nor on what
they are voting. During the November 10, 2014
Authority meeting, Board Chair Lory Chancy told
the Board, "We do need to update our webpage and
put it on our new digital format with our new
server that offers digital."
|
Posted November 11, 2014 10:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night, Nov. 10, the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority hired a new
attorney to take the place of the retiring
Marlin Feagle, who told the Board he had been
the Authority Attorney for as long as he could
remember. During last month's October 13
meeting, Attorney Feagle and Mr. Berry said they
would begin the procedures to hire a
replacement. Authority Manager Berry did not put
out the public word; did not advertise the
position; did not post on the Authority website
that there was an opening; did not put out
either a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) or a
Request for Proposals (RFP).
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Posted November 10, 2014 03:25 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Tonight at 5:15 pm the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority meets for its monthly meeting.
Available online, for the first time in the
history of this secretive special district, is
the complete agenda and the agenda packet, which
contains the printed material that the Governor
Scott appointed board uses in its decision
making process. The rules governing Florida's
Special Districts require that the Authority's
agendas "shall be published" on its website 7
days in advance of its meetings. The Lake Shore
Hospital Authority appears to have never been in
compliance.
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Posted October 14, 2014 11:50 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night, Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board Chairman, Dr.
Waseem Khan, sat by as Authority Manager,
Jackson P. “Jack” Berry, called the cops to
have thrown out from the Authority lobby and
into the street, 4 citizens. The Board had
gone into an executive (secret)session in
the Board room to discuss a public records
law suit. In an effort clearly designed to
save the face of Jackson P. "Jack" Berry,
one of North Central Florida's most
notorious political operatives, the Board
voted to appeal its losing Public Records
Decision to the 1st. District Court of
Appeals.
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Posted October 13, 2014 12:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Florida's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority and Hospital Authority
Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, with the help
of Columbia County's cheerleading community
newspaper, the Lake City Reporter (LCR), known
as the Lake City Distorter – among other things,
has a historical problem separating fact from
fiction. While Sunday's LCR report of the
Authority saving $6mil might be half-true, the
report of Authority Manager Berry beginning the
Authority's prescription program is a lie.
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Posted September 24, 2014 10:35 am
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – Last night's Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Final Budget Hearing was barely
intelligible as various budget lines were
recited at breakneck speed by the Authority's
long time accountant-financial advisor-external
auditor (all one person) Richard Powell. As in
years past, there was no PowerPoint presentation
or any kind of graphic to visually explain the
Authority's $9,214,975 budget. Former Authority
Board Chairman and Tallahassee political
insider, Koby Adams, who along with Authority
Manager Berry was not sure how many years the
tax rate had remained unchanged, complained that
the Board "would be vilified and ridiculed and
criticized" for saving the taxpayers money. The
meeting then went Deep South...
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Posted
September 18, 2014 06:30 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – This past Monday night, Governor
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
rubber stamped a $1,000 cash bonus for each of
its two regular employees. This was just the tip
of the iceberg. On top of the cash bonuses, one
received a 6.1% increase for 2015, and the other
26.32%. The increases go into effect October 1.
The Observer has also learned that 12 year Lake
City/Columbia County Chamber veteran, Sonja
Meads, is the new employee hired to replace Sue
Fraze, the recently terminated 18 year Authority
veteran.
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Posted
September 18, 2014 06:30 pm
COLUMBIA
COUNTY, FL – The info-graphic, assembled by the
Observer, is from the budget documents of the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority. It shows the salaries for
the last 5 fiscal years. The Executive Director
is Manager Jack Berry, whose job title was
changed so that his retirement pay could be
jacked up. As one can see, beginning in FY2015,
which begins on October 1, 2014, Mr. Berry's
retirement is costing Columbia County's tax
payers $16,897.
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Posted September 16, 2014 01:55 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Dr. Waseem Khan, Chairman
of the Gov. Scott appointed Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board, again ignored SB50, the Florida
legislation which specifically gives the public
the right to be heard before a board or
commission makes a final decision.
Last night, when resident Barbara Lemley took
exception to Dr. Khan's refusal to allow public
comment on a matter, which was suddenly to come
before the board for a vote, he told her, "Keep
your mouth closed." The rest of the Scott
appointed board did nothing as he asked her to
leave the meeting. Ms. Lemley left and called
the police.
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Posted September 15, 2014 09:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The saga of the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority, overseen by Governor Rick
Scott's handpicked board, and administered by
former Authority board chairman, Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, a republican political operative
and former Repo Man, continues. Authority
Manager Berry failed to follow the Florida
Special District Accountability Act for
advertising the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
meeting scheduled for tonight; failed to post a
notice that the September 8th meeting was
cancelled and rescheduled; failed to post the
tentative Authority budget on the Authority's
website; failed to post the Authority charter...
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Posted September 2, 2014 11:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Meeting scheduling of Columbia
County's infamous County 5 (The 5) has once
again given the back seat to Columbia County's
residents. In order for The 5 to make a
pilgrimage to rub shoulders with other county
commissioners at the Florida Association of
Counties (FAC), a lobbying group for Florida
Counties, it has rescheduled its September 18th
board meeting. It appears, that through no fault
of its own, the rescheduled County 5 meeting is
now at the same time as the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Budget Hearing, the special district
encompassing all of the County.
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Posted August 12, 2014 08:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, with
a blind eye from the Gov. Scott appointed
Authority board, has turned the screws on folks
wishing to view Hospital Authority agenda
material before its monthly meetings. Vice
Chairman Stephen Douglas seemed surprised when
he discovered that Manager Berry wouldn't
forward the previous meeting's minutes. Columbia
County resident, Ralph Kitchens, was threatened
with expulsion when he said he had asked for them.
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Posted August 6, 2014 09:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The
Columbia County Department of Health (CCDOH) and
WellFlorida have partnered to improve health
outcomes in Columbia County. In August of 2013, CCDOH
Administrator, Mark Lander, formed the Columbia County
Health Advisory Panel (CHAP) whose membership is
composed of community and municipal partners ranging
from the Governor appointed Lake Shore Hospital
Authority, Columbia County and Lake City, health care
providers, Chamber of Commerce, and representatives of
the educational community.
In July, with the help of CHAP, the CCDOH and
WellFlorida developed a health survey to identify the
most pressing health issues in Columbia County. The
survey deadline is this Friday.
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Posted July 22, 2014 01:35 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last Monday night, July
14, the Governor Scott appointed Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board demonstrated again that
when it comes to transparency and accountability
it is the worst public agency in Columbia
County. The Authority Board members and its
General Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry,
continue to refuse to answer questions from the
public; refuse to post agenda material on the
Authority website; and continue to make public
record access almost impossible by limiting
public record inspections to only one hour a
day, early in the morning. During Monday's July
14 meeting the Board came up with a new trick
when it approved the nonexistent consent agenda.
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Posted July 16, 2014 08:14 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night at the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority saw business as usual as the
secretive Governor Scott appointed Authority Board tried
to understand the valuation of Shands Lake Shore
Hospital, buildings, and the vacant land owned by the
people of Columbia County and managed by the Authority
board. CBiz, one of the nation's leading accounting
firms, did the evaluations. The evaluations, put
together in three different reports, cost
$62,000.
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Posted July 11, 2014, 08:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Years ago, before Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry became the
Authority's Records Custodian, obtaining records
from the Lake Shore Hospital Authority was
generally not an issue. With the advent of Mr.
Berry's consolidation of power, public records
access has become a serious issue. Recently, Mr.
Berry refused to release his background credit
report used in the Board's deliberation to hire
him. The First Amendment Foundation said this
was wrong.
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Posted July 07, 2014, 07:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
From 1996 thru 2014, Columbia County/Lake City
"hometown girl" Sue Fraze had been a loyal
employee of the Lake Shore Hospital Authority.
For 14 of those years, Ms. Fraze was the
Authority's only employee. On June 23, 2014,
after coming back from vacation, Ms. Fraze was
called into Authority Manager Jackson P. "Jack"
Berry's office and without warning was
terminated for insubordination. Ms. Fraze has
appealed her termination to the Authority Board.
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Now the whole Board "is
free, white, and over twenty-one"
Posted June 21, 2014, 09:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On October 6, 2008,
present Lake Shore Hospital Manager, Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, was Chairman of the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority (LSHA). Mr. Berry, who had
repeatedly demonstrated that he did not like
answering questions, had been stonewalling this
reporter's questions for some time. On the night
of October 6, 2008, your reporter posed a
question to the Board. When no one answered your
reporter inquired if the Board was allowed to
answer. Mr. Berry responded, ""If they’re free,
white and over twenty-one."
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Posted June 10, 2014, 12:05 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night, the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority, one of Florida's most closed public
agencies, did
a virtual rerun of an issue presented in
May of 2013. At that time, Lake City OB/GYN,
Dr. Emad Atta, wanted to put a 1,300 sq. ft. prefab
doctor's office on a piece of downtown property bought
during the wild Jack Berry orchestrated 2006 Authority
downtown property buying spree. Last night, Dr. Atta came back with his proposal.
Manager Berry, who had a year to determine both the cost
of the property and its current value, came up
empty-handed. If he did know, he wasn't talking.
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Posted June 9, 2014, 10:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Jackson P. "Jack" Berry's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority (LSHA), with its Governor Scott
appointed board, remains one of the least
transparent public agencies in the State of
Florida. For years, the Governor's appointees
have not only shielded Mr. Berry from questions,
but ensured the latest Board minutes, and
everything else, would not be available on the
Authority's website before its meetings.
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Posted May 9, 2014, 07:35 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE
CITY, FL – Last night, at what the private
Shands Lake Shore Hospital billed as a "Free
Girls Night Out," Dr. Melinda Keener featured
saggy boobs, droopy eyes, mommy makeovers and
more. The event was co-sponsored by the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority using public funds. Dr.
Keener, in private practice, is affiliated with
Shands Lake Shore.
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Berry: "Don't shoot Paul Revere. I don't see anything
wrong with it."
Posted
February 11, 2014, 07:05 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Last night at the Lake Shore Hospital Authority,
Authority Manager Jackson P. "Jack" Berry,
former Republican Party Chieftain and operative,
ignored long standing Authority policy when he
attempted to score a free room for the Columbia
County Republican Executive Committee's monthly
meetings at the Authority's Headquarters.
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County tax payers could be paying for the next 26 years
Posted January 14, 12:51 pm | news/analysis
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Last night, a woefully unprepared Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board and General Manager visited the issue of
selling the Shands/Lake Shore Hospital. FL law mandates
a public hearing before the sale. Board Chairman and Gov
Scott reappointment, Dr. Waseem Khan, followed the
Authority practice of allowing no questions. Only one
person from the public spoke. By the conclusion of the
meeting it appeared that Columbia County's taxpayer's
will be paying for a long time to come.
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Posted December 10, 2013 04:29 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night the Governor
appointed Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board continued
its secretive practices. Authority Manager Berry refused
to release the new meeting rule changes to the public.
Rep. Liz Porter's Chief of Staff, Koby Adams, also a
LSHA Board member, along with the rest of the Board,
also refused to reveal what the changes were. The Lake
City Reporter whitewashed the story. There are now three
Gov. Scott appointees on the Authority.
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Posted November 12, 2013 10:30 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Columbia County
residents will get another bite of the apple
at 5:15 tonight when the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority will re-do this year's budget
hearing. The Governor appointed board will
have a chance to roll back the taxes from
the proposed 1.5 mils to the amount of its
choice. Due to mistakes in the published
legal notices the Florida Department of
Revenue has required the Lake Shore Hospital
to re-advertise and re-hold its FY 2014
budget hearing. The Hospital Authority
Manager, Jackson P. Berry, signed the Dept.
of Revenue forms and is responsible for the
management of the Authority.
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Posted October 30, 2013 01:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Recently, former Lakeshore
Hospital Authority Board Chairman and Representative
Elizabeth Porter's Chief Legislative Aid, Koby Adams,
claimed that Lakeshore Hospital Authority Board members
are answerable to the Governor. In December of 2011, a
report to the Governor pointed out a host of issues
regarding independent taxing districts like the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority. One of the main issues
highlighted was oversight and accountability.
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Board members reinventing history
Posted October 16, 2013 06:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – On Monday night, the
Lakeshore Hospital Authority met for its
regularly scheduled monthly meeting. For
weeks, the talk on the street was that the
Board would be discussing selling the
hospital. A look at the Authority agenda
only mentioned an item called planning for
the future. As if on cue, eleven minutes
into the meeting, Authority General Manager
Jack Berry told the Board, "I think the time
has arrived in the medical industry for the
taxpayers to seriously consider gettin' out
of the healthcare
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Pays HMA with tax money
and reserves
Posted September 24, 2013 04:58 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Late yesterday
afternoon, the Lakeshore Hospital
Authority's outside auditor, accountant, and
financial advisor, Richard Powel, presented
the Lakeshore Hospital Authority's FY 2014
budget. Mr. Powell explained that the
Authority “has a lease obligation for the
next 27 years that requires you to provide
1.5 mills.” Today, that 1.5 mills translates
into $3,331,227 that the Authority Board has
obligated the residents and business of
Columbia County to turn over to HMA this
year. The Board reached into Authority
reserves to keep the
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55.9% tax hike on the table;
last night before photo ban
Posted September 23, 2013 07:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Tonight, at the million plus dollar ADA challenged
headquarters of the Lakeshore Hospital Authority, the
Governor appointed Board, which includes Representative
Elizabeth Porter's Chief Legislative Aid and past Board
Chair Koby Adams, will decide how deep they want to
reach into pockets of the citizens and business of
Columbia County when they will chose from three tax
rates. As of 5 a.m. this morning, missing from the
Authority website, which is under the control of the
iron fisted Authority Manager Jackson P "Jack" Berry,
are the three budgets from which the Board is going to
choose.
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Public comments must
be allowed, but Authority bans photos
Posted September 16, 2013 03:20 pm
Columbia County, FL – One of the many anti
open and transparent government activities
of the Lakeshore Hospital Authority duo of
Jackson P. ("Jack") Berry, and
representative Elizabeth Porter's chief
legislative aide and Authority Board member,
Koby Adams, was finally foiled by the
passage of FL senate bill SB/HB 50, which
mandates public participation at Lakeshore
Hospital Authority Board meetings. The
Lakeshore Hospital Authority, whose board
members are appointed by the governor and
many believe should have disappeared years
ago, banned photos of it doing its official
business. Unable to ban photos before or
after their meetings convene, new Board
Chairman, Dr. Waseem Khan quipped, "We'll
pose for them."
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Posted September 13, 2013 03:58 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Former Jeb Bush appointee,
Lakeshore Hospital Authority Chieftain Jackson
P. Berry, is a legend in N. Central Florida. Mr.
Berry has survived public employment and ethics
issues and has a demonstrable history of not
liking to be challenged; told what to do; or
held up to public scrutiny for acts done as a
public official. During this year's Hospital
Authority budget cycle, Mr. Berry decided he
deserved a raise and ten additional paid days
off a year. This turned out to be too much for
the Governor's handpicked Board. When he didn't
get what he wanted he told the Board, "I would
just assume not have a contract." He will have
his chance. (file photo)
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Posted September 12, 2013 01:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Governor appointed
Lakeshore Hospital Authority Board did not
disappoint last night when they approved a 55.9%
tax increase; gave Hosp Auth Manager Berry a 5%
pay raise; banned photos when they are in
session; misrepresented the terms of the
indigent care lease provisions negotiated
between the Authority and HMA/Shands; and didn't
say a word when Manager Berry spoke to
HMA/Shands CEO Rhonda Sherrod like she was a
three year old in a demeaning and condescending
way.
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Posted August 12, 2013 06:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The Governor appointed board of the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority had been running one member short for over two
years until June 17th when board member and former bank
president Bruce Naylor resigned in a two sentence email
to Hosp Auth Manager Jack Berry: "I resign my position
as Trustee of the Lake Shore Hospital Authority
effective June 17, 2013. I wish the Authority and
Trustees the best in its future endeavors." Mr. Naylor
was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2008.
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Posted
June 12, 2013 06:20 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Monday night's Lake Shore Hospital Authority meeting had
the Old Generator Shop located in the heart of down town
Lake City once again percolating to the top of the
Authority's discussion as board member Stephen Douglas
kicked off a conversation on the future of the $230,000
albatross. Discussions with Authority Manager Berry's
doctor contacts had apparently fizzed.
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Posted May 24, 2013 08:55 am | Part II |
(2
comments)
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The May 13th Lake Shore
Hospital Authority meeting continued to bring up
many issues that had been brewing since the
uncontrolled and ill fated real-estate buying
spree orchestrated and begun in 2006 by then
Authority Board member Jackson P. "Jack" Berry.
Today, real-estate values have plummeted. Jack
Berry went from Authority Board Chairman, no
pay, to General Manager of the Authority, a job
which pays almost $100,000 a year. Stuck with a
portfolio of property the Authority can't give
away, Manager Berry is now claiming his
plan-less buying spree was urban renewal, and he
is looking to
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Posted May 22, 2013 08:05 am | Part I
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Columbia County's Lake
Shore Hospital Authority, one of the special
purpose hospital districts that Governor Scott
was thinking about eliminating after he was
elected, lingers on as former republican
political operative and quintessential public
figure, Hospital Authority Manager Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, finally took some heat from the
Governor appointed board after claiming he
failed to get a recent appraisal on the Shipp
property purchased in a wild property buying
spree in 2006.
|
 Lake Shore Hosp Auth: More Abbott
and Costello, Who's on First? Now it’s Jack Berry's cell
phone.
Posted
May 6, 2013 06:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – The Lake Shore Hospital
Authority has been one of Columbia County’s best
kept secrets for years. It is an independent
taxing district, run by a governor appointed
board, which is not answerable to the Columbia
County residents and businesses that pay the
taxes and the bills, one of which is the almost
$100,000 a year that goes to former Republican
Chieftain and Hospital Authority Manager,
Jackson P. “Jack” Berry.
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Posted April 22, 2013 02:20 pm | commentary
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Lake Shore Hospital Authority's (LSHA) Jackson P. "Jack"
Berry is North Florida's quintessential public figure
and public official. He is known far and wide through
political and public careers that span almost four
decades. Jack Berry has failed in quests for public
office multiple times. After being fired he sued the
Columbia County Sheriff in Federal Court for violating
his civil rights and lost. During the presidential
campaign of George W. Bush he bullied two little old
ladies because they
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Posted April 17, 2013 08:20 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Manager and quintessential public figure
Jackson P. "Jack" Berry failed to file state mandated
financial disclosures for 2010 and 2011 according to
both the Columbia County Supervisor of Elections Office
and the Florida Commission on Ethics. A recent public records request returned the
following response from the Sup. of Elections Office:
The Columbia County Supervisor of Elections does not
have Financial Disclosures for Jackson P. Berry for the
years 2010 and 2011.
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Posted April 9, 2013 02:30 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Last night the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board began
the process of what soon may become the
great Lake Shore Hospital Authority land
giveaway. It considered what to do with part
of the millions of dollars of land it
purchased at the height of the real estate
bubble in the mid 2000's. By June of 2007,
the total purchase or appraised value of the
Authority's land deals was $3,699,320...
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Posted December 12, 2012 04:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Monday night's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority meeting blew by in 29 minutes, but
not before Authority Chairman Waseem Khan disposed of
the newly presented Authority "Rules of Protection", and
not before Board member and former bank president, Bruce
Naylor, questioned the propriety of Authority Manager,
"Jack" Jackson P. Berry, commenting to the local paper
about allegations presented on 60 Minutes.
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Posted December 10, 2012 02:15 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – During the past fiscal
year, the secretive Lake Shore Hospital
Authority was presided over by Florida
Representative Elizabeth Porter's Chief of
Staff, Koby Adams. Mr. Adams, in an obvious
effort to protect his friend political operative
and
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Posted September 25, 2012 09:40 am
By Stew Lilker
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Last night's final Lake Shore Hospital Authority budget
hearing had no surprises. Two members of the governor
appointed board, Bruce Naylor and Laurie Chancy were
missing without explanation for this important meeting.
Also missing was the man that prepared the budget, the
Authority's external auditor and account, Richard
Powell. The Authority's General Manager, Jackson P.
"Jack" Berry, prepared no additional information for the
public, other than a salary comparison and the printed
budget, which, as usual gave no year to year comparisons
of expenditures or revenues.
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Posted September 12, 2012 07:50 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
The following is a notice which is concurrently being
sent to the Lake Shore Hospital Authority, Jackson P.
Berry and others regarding Mr. Berry's pending
litigation against the Columbia County Observer... I am
in receipt of various letters by you in representation
of your client, Jackson P. Berry... I do not waive
the defective notice; however, even before your proper
notice of the pending law suit, I am asking that you
carefully reexamine the alleged issues you seem to have
presented. I have not been served and I am requesting
that you withdraw this meritless action. However, if you
still feel it is
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Posted September 10, 2012 06:45 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Recently, the Columbia
County Observer, the online news source of
Columbia County, North Central Florida and
Florida news, came under attack by the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority's General Manager,
Jackson P. Berry, a quintessential public
figure, former head of the republican party, Jeb
Bush appointee to the Lake Shore Hosp Auth Board
and its past chairman, and present LSHA General
Manager.
Zurich Insurance, the global insurance
carrier, denied Mr. Berry liability insurance
and Mr. Berry is threatening a defamation law
suit, blaming the Columbia County Observer for
his woes. The FL Southern Christian Leadership
Conference told the Observer: "We will stand by
you."
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Posted September 3, 2012 06:00 pm
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL –
Columbia County's Lake Shore Hospital Authority was a
forgotten entity for years until the Columbia County
Observer began to report on what was going on. It was
not a pretty sight. Authority board members and county
commissioners getting contracts; an outside accountant,
who for years has and continues to serve simultaneously
as the Authority's accountant and outside auditor; and a
former Authority board chairman, Jackson P. "Jack"
Berry, who resigned from the Board and months later
became it's part time manager – 24 unverified hrs. a
week for a total package worth approximately $60k a
year.
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Posted August 14, 2012 07:40 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Manager, Jackson P. "Jack" Berry, allowed last night's
scheduled Authority budget work shop to begin almost
twenty minutes early even though it was advertised on
the LSHA website calendar as beginning at 6 pm. Unlike in years
past, when there was a little bit of supporting
documentation, Mr. Berry was unprepared for the workshop
and his presentation reflected that. This year the
tentative budget didn't even have a label stating that
it was the proposed budget. The Lake Shore Hospital
Board is appointed by the Governor.
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Posted July 10, 2012 07:55 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital
Authority General Council, Marlin Feagle,
announced at last night's monthly Authority
meeting that Jack (Jackson P.) Berry was dropped
from the Authority's D&O (Directors and
Officers) insurance policy. Mr. Feagle told the
Board that he was having trouble finding anyone
to insure Mr. Berry... "frankly it doesn't
look like it [insurance] is going to be
available for Mr. Berry..." Mr. Berry, a
quintessential public figure in Columbia County
since the 70s, blamed the internet. "Google my
name and you'll see what's there." The Observer
did.
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Posted June 12, 2012 08:45 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Columbia County's
Lakeshore Hospital Authority has proven time and
time again that it does not represent the people
who foot the bill for its existence, the
taxpayers of Columbia County. Last night, this
Governor appointed board out did itself by first
banning public comment and then flaunting the
fact that the General Manager, past Republican
chieftain and political operative, Jackson P.
(Jack) Berry, could facilitate a secret
procurement process for professional services
without the knowledge of this handpicked board.
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Posted April 9, 2012 11:59 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital
Authority's Jackson P "Jack" Berry, the overpaid
past Republican Chieftain whose political
appointment put him at the helm of a job created
just for him, that of General Manager of the
Authority, continues to dig in and not make
agenda material available on the internet before
its monthly board meetings. With the support of
the Authority's Board members, the Authority
continues to be the only municipal corporation
in Columbia County that refuses to make its
agenda information readily available to the
public before its meetings.
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Posted March 12, 2012 08:28 am
COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Lake Shore Hospital Authority
General Manager Jackson P (Jack) Berry was finally
busted in April of last year by the LCPD for illegally
parking his gas-guzzling truck the wrong way in the
street. For the past two years, he had been doing this
with impunity.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted October 11, 2011 07:30 am)
 Half
way through last night's Lakeshore Hospital
Authority Board meeting, after telling the
Authority Board that he wanted to spend
$9,000 of taxpayer money for furniture so for
profit companies could use the Authority meeting
rooms for free, Authority Manager Jackson "Jack"
Berry told the Board he was having issues with
the Authority's City water bill. He said,
"There's no way on Gods green earth we'd be
putin that much water out. I've tried to explain
this to the City of Lake City, it's like talkin
to the wall."
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted September 6, 2011
10:05 am)
On the City's docket tonight is Lake City's Franklin
Street Road project, which is designed to benefit the
Lakeshore Hospital Authority. Early in August, City
Manager Johnson voiced his approval of the project, but
was not in favor of the funding. Mr. Johnson told the Observer, "When the design is
finished it would be advantageous to the City Council and
the Hospital Authority to discuss the funding
arrangements. Mr. Berry has been opposed to this."
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted August 10, 2011 01:20 am
| updated 08:50 am)
Neither the Governor appointed Lakeshore
Hospital Authority Board, nor its unqualified
and overpaid Authority Manager, “Jack” Jackson
P. Berry, disappointed Monday evening during
their yearly meaningless budget workshop. As in
prior years, there were no yearly budget
comparisons, power points or charts showing
revenues and expenditures over time. The Board
and Mr. Berry clearly felt that his monotone
reading of the budget was good enough for them
and the working families of Columbia County. Of
course, no one on the Board asked any questions
and the only discussion was about raising taxes.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted July 12, 2011 02:40
pm)
 This
story begins on June 13, 2011, when the
Lakeshore Hospital Authority decided to move
ahead with a 200 car capacity parking lot for
HMA/Shands employees. Columbia County taxpayers
will pay to build the parking lot and then the
Authority will lease the property to HMA/Shands,
apparently for nothing, giving them a free
parking lot. Hospital Authority Manager "Jack"
Jackson P. Berry explained to the Board that the
lot would be fenced and parking would be on the
grass. He said, "My estimated cost would be
around $35,000." (Photo: Jack Berry)
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted July 11, 2011 01:50
pm)
The Lakeshore Hospital Authority runs its
business like a dirty little secret and has for
years, conveniently forgetting that its business
is the public's business.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted July 11, 2011 12:55 pm)
Sunday, July 10, the Palm Beach Post ran an article
describing the management style of
Florida's Gov. Rick Scott, the hospital industry and the
1.7 billion dollar Medicare fraud
which occurred when the Gov was in charge of HCA and
Solantic. The latest slight of hand
with LSHA reimbursements to HMA/Shands; the
unaccountability of the Gov appointed
Authority Board and its unqualified good ol' boy
manager, "Jack" Jackson P. Berry make this
mandatory reading.
|
Columbia
County, FL (Posted June 16, 2011 12:55 am)
After the Monday, June 13, 2011 Hosp Auth meeting,
the Observer met with Ms. Reeves in her son's living
room, where Ms. Reeves told your reporter, " I just knew
it wasn't going to do me no good to stand up there in
front of them. They are all good old boys up there."
¶ When the Observer asked, "How do you pay for your
medicine now?" Ms. Reeves replied, "I don't take it. I
can't afford to pay for it." (1
comment)
|
 Columbia County, FL (Posted
June 15, 2011 05:55 am)
Monday night at Columbia County's Lakeshore
Hospital Authority, cancer survivor Saundra
Reeves, addressed the surprised Governor
appointed board and the Authority Manager,
"Jack" Jackson P. Berry. A visibly shaken Ms.
Reeves asked, "I want to know why Jack Berry can
discriminate against a person getting care? I am
a cancer patient. He said there is nothing he
can do for me. All I need is a primary care
doctor... Jack Berry hung up on me. I need to go
to the people above him. He told me nobody's
above him."
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted May 13, 2011 11:05 am
| updated photo: 11:45: am)
Appointed by
the Governor and now managed by the $100,000 a
year overpriced and ill equipped Board appointed
manager, repo man and past Republican chieftain,
"Jack" Jackson P. Berry, the Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board, now chaired by Rep. Liz
Porter's Chief of Staff, Koby Adams, has become
one of Florida's premier rogue public
authorities. (Observer file photo: Koby Adams)
|
 Columbia County, FL (Posted
May 09, 2011 05:55 am)
When it comes to plain old good ol' boy
cronyism, Columbia County's Governor appointed
Lakeshore Hospital Authority Board takes a
backseat to no one in Florida. The words and
actions of both the Board and the newly
appointed full-time $100,000 a year, ill
equipped, and well connected ex Republican
Chieftain, Jackson (Jack) P. Berry, should put
everything these folks do into question. With
the real unemployment figures in Columbia County
approaching 20%, it is difficult to imagine how
a 48% profit on his health insurance premium
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted April
25, 2011 07:05 am)
The newly crowned $100,000 a year Czar of the
Lakeshore Hospital Authority, former Republican
chieftain and good ol' boy, Jackson P. Berry,
just can't seem to get it right. Even though the
Lakeshore Hospital Authority has ample off
street parking, Mr. Berry found it necessary to
park his giant gas guzzler the wrong way and in
the traffic lane this past Thursday – again.
This time the
Lake City Police Department gave him a ticket.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted
April 11, 2011 09:30 am)
Trying to
better his life, Hal DuPriest has been working
since he was 12 years old. Even though
qualified, his indigent care card, was pulled by
Columbia County's former repo man and
unqualified part time authority manager, Jack
Berry. Mr. DuPriest told the Observer: My income
is $550 every two weeks. I have a 15-year-old
living with me. The school is the most important
thing to me now, besides my daughter. This is a
safety net for me... I get a little bit of food
stamps for my 15-year-old. For extra money now I
pick up cans and sell the metal." (Photo:
Hal DuPriest)
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted March 24, 2011 010:10 am)
Yesterday afternoon, Columbia County proved once
again that when it comes to good ol' boy
wizardry, the County hasn't lost its touch. At 2
pm, a committee consisting of Hosp Authority
Attorney, Marlin Feagle, Hosp Auth Financial
Advisor - Accountant - External Auditor, Richard
Powell, met with Columbia County Bank President
and LSHA Board member, Bruce Naylor, to decide
how much the unqualified – unverified former
Republican Chieftain, Jackson P. Berry, was to
make, as he transcended from board member, to
part time employee, to a full time employee, in
a job created by the County's good ol' boys,
just for him.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted
March 15, 2011 10:00 am)
Columbia
County's good ol' boys didn't miss a beat last
night at the Lakeshore Hospital Authority's
monthly meeting. In a county where good
government has always taken a backseat to
political expediency, cronyism and bullying, the
Authority did not disappoint when it went off
its agenda, at the urging of Board Chairman Koby
Adams and appointed Columbia County's bad boy
and former Republican chieftain, Jack Berry, to
a full-time position for which he has
continually demonstrated he is uniquely
unqualified.
|
 Columbia County, FL (Posted Nov
9, 2010 12:59 pm)
Last night's Lake Shore Hospital Authority meeting
proved once again that when it comes to paying attention
to the contract of a Columbia County good old boy, all
bets are off. Former Republican chieftain, Jack Berry,
who back-doored himself into a part-time position paying
60 + thousand dollars a year for 24 hrs a week, is now
looking to go on the public dole full-time.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted Nov 6, 2010 02:22 pm)
It should prove to be interesting at Monday
night's Lake Shore Hospital Authority monthly
meeting. Obama style financing and Columbia
County's infamous Jack Berry top the Authority
chart... ¶it will be interesting to see how much
public money Mr. Berry and the Authority plan to
pump into these UF clinics to support UF's
private patients.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted Sept 20, 2010 09:00
am)
The budget also does not include actual
expenditures making it impossible to determine
how close the hospital authority came to its
proposed budgets... At last week's budget
hearing, Authority Chairman Vann explained that
Charles Briscoe (photo) had a private audience
with the Authority's Outside Auditor - Inside
Accountant Powell... With the Hospital Authority
floating on a sea of cash, it is obvious why
there haven't been any public explanations of
the kind that Charles Briscoe received
privately.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted June 15, 2010 01:15 pm)
It was business as usual in Columbia County last
night as the good old boys of the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority dug in and turned their backs
on going out to get the best deal for the
residents of Columbia County at the County Owned
Hospital, Shands at Lakeshore... Lake City
Medical Center's Attorney, Stephen Ecenia's
(photo) explanations of the law fell on the
usual deaf ears.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted June
3, 2010 09:15 am)
Columbia
County's Lake Shore Hospital Authority is
entering a new phase with the recent acquisition
and partnership between leaseholder
Shands and
Hospital Management Associates. Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Chairman Marc Vann and
Authority Manager and former Chairman Jack Berry
spoke to the Observer regarding the
merger/takeover and the new lease agreement.
|
Columbia County, FL (Posted April
13, 2010 07:45:am)
It was business as usual last night at the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority... when the Hospital
Authority picked the pockets of Columbia
County's working families to benefit the past
Republican Chief,
Mr. "Free – White – and Over
21" himself -- Jack Berry, hiring him as what
appears to be the nation's only part time
hospital authority manager. The hospital
authority... (2
comments)
|
Columbia County, FL (posted
March 18, 2010, at 09:05 am)
Ex Republican Chief, Jack Berry,
got a bye instead of the boot, when Columbia
County's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board failed
to consider its past chief's education references
and his inadequate resume, when it considered him
for a job that only months ago he used to do for
free.
|
Columbia
County, FL (Posted March 9, 2010 at 09:55 am)
No one was surprised last
night when the former Columbia County Republican Chief
and Hospital Authority Chairman, Jack Berry, was hired
by his old board to be the Authority's first paid
manager, just months after resigning from the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority. The Authority has two employees.
|
Columbia
County, FL (Posted Feb 16, 2010 at 01:00pm)
In August of 2009, Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Chairman, Jack Berry, began laying the
groundwork to establish the position of a part
time Hospital Authority executive director. He
told the Authority Board, at least the two who
showed up at the budget work shop, "You would
probably want whoever does that position to...
|
Columbia
County, FL (Posted Feb 8, 2010 at 08:20am)
During the Lake Shore Hospital Authority December 14,
2009, regular meeting, newly installed Hospital
Authority Chairman, Marc Vann, decided that it would be
a good idea for the Hospital Authority to have a self
appreciation dinner on the tax payers' tab. This dinner
was to include the Board members, the LSHA staff and
everybody's spouses.
|
Columbia County, FL (posted
January 19, 2010)
by Al Cimaglia
I
have been bound to a wheel chair my whole life and I can
assure you that to me and my wife, who can now only get
around in a wheel chair that ten feet can be like a
mile. Unfortunately, it appears that the local agency
that is responsible for seeing that the requirements of
the ADA are followed, the city of Lake City, has dropped
the ball and has for years been turning a blind eye on
this whole situation.
|
Columbia County, FL (posted
January 11, 2010)
Former LSHA Chairman, Jack Berry, along with his
protégé, Columbia County Commissioner, contractor and
LSHA construction manager, Jody DuPree, didn't much care
about the American's With Disabilities Act during the
renovation of the old county jail, which became the
new and unnecessary headquarters of the LSHA. The new
regime under the leadership of Chairman Marc Vann is
doing a little better, but not much. (1
comment)
Photo:
Former LSHA Chairman, Jack Berry, had no problem
showing his distain for ADA requirements or the
Observer..
|
Columbia County, FL (posted
August 28,
2009)
Columbia County’s iron fisted Lake Shore Hospital
Authority (“LSHA”) chairman, Jack Berry, has
demonstrated that for him, the letter and the spirit of
the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”) doesn’t have
much influence. Mr. Berry’s secretive and totalitarian
rule has left the handicapped and physically challenged
as second class citizens at the LSHA campus in Columbia
County.
|
Columbia County, FL (posted
August 18,
2009)
Lake Shore Hospital Authority (“LSHA”) Chairman, Jack
Berry, a man who claims that he gets his “orders from
the Governor,” hit a new low in a career of disregarding
the rights of others, when he called the Lake City
Police Department to come to the Hospital Authority to
remove the Observer for listening to a meeting. (file
photo)
|
Posted Oct. 13, 2008 |
Part 2
 As Columbia
County’s Lake Shore Hospital Authority floats on a sea of money, Chairman, Jack Berry, former chairman
of the Columbia County Republican Party, former law
enforcement officer, and the losing party in a lawsuit
where he kept suing two County Commissioners for
testifying against him in court, showed his character
once again at the monthly meeting of the Lake Shore
Hospital Authority (the Authority) on October 6th by
disgracing all Americans and especially people of color.
|
Columbia County Florida
(posted Oct. 13, 2008)
Part 1
The Observer told the Board: “There
are thirty thousand tax payers in the county that could
have questions about how the authority is run. My
question is, when they have a question and they come to
this board, how do they get an answer? You will not
answer any questions now from the public, which is
something new in my tenure of watching public officials.
I’ve never seen this before.” Chairman Berry sat silent, lips
pursed, as the Observer asked, “I guess you’re just not
going to answer?”
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LSHA At The 5: Straw Poll To
Do Away With the Authority Will Be on the Nov
Ballot. Commissioner Williams Looking for the
Hundred-Year-Old Man
LSHA Tonight:
Jacksonville’s ACE Medical to Make a
Presentation to Your Neighbors, the Governor’s
Hospital Authority Board
Lake Shore Hospital Authority: Foot Dragging By
Governor's Board Costing County Taxpayers $80k
Plus a Month
Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Has Been Striking Out
For Years. Sitting on a $23 Mil Cash Stash, Now
It Has a Chance to Get It Right
LSHA: Gov's Board Approves $7.5 mil Investment
No One Asks About the Rate, Ignores FL Statutes
LSHA: With Shands at
Lake Shore Going Down for the Count, Not One
Word On Tonight's Agenda About Its Eminent
Demise or the Future
Lake
Shore Hospital Authority Chairman Brandon Beil:
"I will recommend no tax for next year."
Shands
Lake Shore 'On the Rocks' – Gov's Lake Shore
Hospital Authority Board – 'Silence'
Lake City Downtown Revival
to Continue: LSHA Declares 12 Parcels Surplus -
Donate to City
A New Downtown Lake City
City Hall: 3 LSHA Gov Appointees Will be the
Deciders on LC's Future
LSHA RFP: After Mystifying
Explanations, Gov's Confused Board Says –
"Columbia Bank – Sue Us"
Another Lake Shore Hosp Auth Mess: LSHA Making
Second Attempt to Deal With Bungled RFP
Cake Walk For Former County Mgr Dale
Williams: Gov's Board Top Pick for PT LSHA
Manager
Curtain
Comes Down on Berry Era: Gov Scott's LSHA Bd
Will Select a New Auth Mgr
Governor Scott's LSHA
Board Votes to Subsidize CHS, America's
Largest Hospital Corporation
LSHA Meeting After 3
Month Hiatus: Is a full time Exec
Dir/Manager Necessary or Desirable?
LSHA
Board Remains "Free, White and Over 21" as
Gov Scott Appoints 2 to Vacated Seats
Berry's LSHA Vanity
Signs Now Front & Center $45k plus for signs
- $738,000 plus for property 
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Manager Jack
Berry & 2 Gal Staff Make Last Minute Score
in Budget Season
Columbia Cnty Residents Funding Astronomical
Admin Fee @ $3,561 Per LSHA Client + Med Costs
LSHA's Tossing of Cnty
Econ Dev to Cost Cnty Taxpayers Hundreds
of Thousands in Lost Revenue
Gov's LSHA Bd Looks the Other Way as Berry
Violates the Sunshine Law, Again
Jack Berry Hwy Moves to Lake City, City Has No
Plan or Funding Plan, Bogus Info Sent to FDOT
FDOT Explains the Ins & Outs of the Design,
Const, Funding of the 'Jack Berry Hwy' &
DOT Study
Confusion Reigns as Gov's Lake Shore Hosp Auth
Bd Puts Kibosh on 'Jack Berry Hwy'
Jack Berry Hwy Crash Lands. Confusion, All
Routes Rejected. The Next Step May Be the FL
DOT's
Transparency Takes a Back Seat in Jack Berry
Orchestrated Cnty-City-Hosp Auth Road Project
The Jack Berry Highway: Will the Columbia
Cnty 5 Allow This Tax Watch Turkey to Take
Flight
Confusion, Whispering, Limited Sunshine at Gov
Scott's Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board
Confusion,
Whispering, Conflict of Interest: Gov
Scott's Lake Shore Hosp Auth in Action 
Cnty 5 Temporarily Nixes 'Jack Berry Hwy,'
Nash Caves to Nephew, Legislative Turkey
Lives
Gov's LSHA Bd: 8 min Meeting, Nothing on
Agenda, No Questions 'Sort-of,' Berry Turns His
Back
Lake
Shore Hosp Auth: Jack Berry's Minimalist Agenda
Shows Nothing Going On
LSHA Final Budget Hearing Concludes in Chaos
Board Double-Dribbles, Budget Not Approved
LSHA Final Budget Hearing Tonight Berry Digs In,
Delays Public Records - Again
Another Year Where the LSHA Can't Get It Right
Helter-Skelter at the LSHA, Berry Rudeness
Un-Checked, Koberlein Legal Logic Questionable
Lake
DeSoto Deforestation Complete, "Chainsaw" Jack &
Gov Scott's Hosp Auth Bd Silent
Lake Shore Hosp Auth / Lake DeSoto Hawks
Procurement Mayhem at Gov Scott's LSHA May Give
Lake DeSoto Hawk Habitat a Reprieve
LSHA: Helping the Indigent with
Pens, Pencils, Pedometers & Unhealthy Food
"Chain Saw Jack" Berry & Gov's LSHA Board Vote
to Cut Down Lake DeSoto Trees
LSHA Defib Photo Op "Great for Exposure" –
Not Great for Safety – Recipients Leave
Empty Handed
Public Record Issues & Rudeness Continue to
Plague the Lake Shore Hospital Authority in 2015
Badgegate: Facts & Figures Don't Add Up at the
Lake Shore Hospital Authority
LSHA - $5,000 for a badge ID program, $1,500
for the camera • Procurement: What's That?
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Threw the Dice, 1st DCA
Upheld Public Records Law & Public's Rights
Lake Shore Hosp. Auth.: Public in the Dark –
$300,000 Later, Public Records Still an
Issue
Tonight, Gov. Scott's & Jack Berry's Lake Shore Hosp.
Auth.: What's going on is anybody's guess
LSHA's Berry & His Two Employees Score 3% Raises.
Governor's Board Oblivious to CPI
Gov. Scott's LSHA Board Has 8 Minute Meeting: Refuses to post
meeting agenda – Why?
Gov. Scott's Lake Shore Hosp Auth Has Public Dancing in
the Dark, Again
Gov. Scott's Lake Shore Hosp
Auth Board & Manager Berry: In Violation of the
Law, Again
Shands/Lake Shore Hosp Auth Ladies
Night Out: Paid With Columbia County Taxpayer Dollars
The Great Lake Shore Hosp Auth Land Give-a-way. Financed
by Columbia Cnty Tax Payers, City Scores
Associated
Press Features Trouble With Public Records at the Lake
Shore Hospital Authority
Lake
Shore Hosp Auth Berry Recommends Keeping Threat of
Cyberstalking Civil Action Alive
Gov Scott's LSHA Board Votes to
Prosecute Citizen for Cyberstalking Without Seeing
Evidence
LSHA Public Record Issues Again.
Public Paying to Buy Auth Manager Berry Clothes
LSHA
Berry to Gov. Scott's Board: Pull Down the Shade on
Florida's Sunshine
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Gov. Scott's Board Nixes Closing,
Berry Shuts Down the Auth – Anyway
LSHA's Berry Says, "Guardian Angel" Posted
Ad on Craigslist – Impersonated Hospital Authority
Gov.
Scott's Lake Shore Hosp Auth Board Chooses an Attorney:
No RFP, No RFQ, No Advertising
Lake Shore Hosp Auth:
Berry Calls Cops - Again
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Jack Berry
Takes Credit Lake City Reporter Prints Lie
Hospital
Auth Budget Presentation a Bust; Loyalty
Deserves Money; Meeting Goes Deep South Ugly
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Chairman Tosses
Resident: Tells Her, "Keep your mouth closed"
County
5 Reschedule Board Meeting On Night of Lake Shore Hosp
Auth Budget Hearing: Why?
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Scott-Appointed Board Nixes
Questions – Approves Nonexistent Agenda
In 2014 Blacks Don't Vote On The Lake Shore Hospital
Authority Board: There Are None
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Replays May
2013: Local OB/GYN Wants Prefab Office Downtown
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Transparency –
What's That? Scott Appointed Bd Answerable to
Nobody
Lake Shore Hosp Authority:
Lakeshore Hosp Authority:
To sell or not to sell
Lakeshore Hosp
Authority's Governor Appointed Board backs off tax
increase for another year
Lake
Shore Hosp Auth: Public Slammed - 55.9% Proposed Tax
Increase, Employees get 5% Raise
Lake Shore Hosp Auth:
Bd Member Resigns
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: $230,000 downtown eyesore may
fall. Where are the doctors?
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Urban renewal and building
doctor's offices on spec - its new job?
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Land buying spree to haunt
taxpayers. Berry, "Give em' the land."
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Board
Member: "Jack's in the paper.
I want to talk about it."
Lake
Shore Hosp Auth – On the Docket Tonight: Jackson P.
Berry asks for "Rules of Protection"
Lake
Shore Hosp Auth: Auth Manager, Jackson P. "Jack"
Berry, proposes effective 44% tax hike
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Manager Jackson P "Jack" Berry,
"Uninsurable": Threatens to sue
Lake Shore Hosp Auth: Jackson P "Jack" Berry,
The Only Dinosaur Left In Columbia County
Lake Shore Hosp Auth Chief Busted:
Cries to judge, complains of persecution, sees invisible
cars?
Columbia
County's Lakeshore Hosp Auth:
Busted - $100,000 a year Hosp Auth Chief
Lakeshore Hospital Authority - Former repo man Berry
KO's qualified applicant
Final
budget hearing today at 05:30 pm
Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Lake Shore Hospital Authority
Hospital Authority KO's working families
Good ole boy and former Republican Chief gets Hospital
Authority Nod
LSHA & Shands at Lake Shore ignore ADA
Old & New LSHA bosses
refuse to comply with ADA wheel chair requirements.
LSHA Berry nixes ADA compliance