LDC Solution Suggestion

I've been reading a lot of detail about the legalities of LDCs lately, as they relate to how the Board will handle the sale of the Manor. It'll all be over, one way or another, on Wednesday, and I've still got the same concerns about this path as I did when I last wrote about it.

However, I've got a partial solution. It turns out that the Board can write anything it wants into the LDC's establishing document. It can configure the Corporation, and its relationship to the Board, any way it wants.

So – what if the LDC's mission was to write and distribute the RFP (request for proposals), vet the bidders, and make a choice among them – and then present that choice to the Board, which will make the final decision?

Harris-Beach has argued against the Board making the final decision regarding the successful bidder, mostly because, in politics, things change. Every Board member is running in November, and we already have two members who are not seeking reelection. We could have a whole new approach come January 1, 2014. 

This is a valid point. However, real democracy is often messy and complicated, and, if we're doing it right, change is actually a reflection of the will of the people. But even more important, the timeline for this sale suggests that a successful bidder will be chosen well before December. After that, the bidder will have to be approved by the NYS Department of Health. That could take a year or more. But the Board approval that I'm suggesting would take place after the LDC has settled on a successful bidder, but before that bidder begins the DoH process.

At this moment in time, a majority of the Board is willing to hand off the Manor decision to an LDC. Why wouldn't we be willing to affirm that decision – and take responsibility for it – with one vote?