8/14/2019 Solaris: Letter to Council, Mayor, Assemblyman

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IHEALTH SYSTEM SM

February 19, 2009The Honorable Rashid BurneyCity Council PresidentCity of Plainfield1127 Watchung AvenuePlainfield, NJ 07060

Dear Council President Burney:It has come to my attention that the Plainfield City Council held a hearing on February 17regarding the Plainfield Rescue Squad. Several blog recounts of that meeting suggest that someCouncil members and/or members of the Robinson-Briggs Administration indicated that SolarisHealth System is obligated to provide the Plainfield Rescue Squad with additional ambulanceservices based on a "handshake agreement" between Solaris and the CitylPOPlRestoreMuhlenberg to settle a pending lawsuit appealing the decision to close acute care services atMuhlenberg Regional Medical Center. I am very upset by these comments and would like to setthe record straight.As you know, my office contacted the Robinson-Briggs Administration last October with aninterest in settling the pending CN appeal out of court. The City presented us with a list ofnearly a dozen demands to settle this lawsuit. Solaris verbally agreed to substantially all of thosedemands pending a written agreement and speedy withdrawal of the lawsuit by all parties. Wedrafted the written agreement reflecting our understanding of the agreed upon terms, which wasforwarded to the City Attorney on October 31. The City Attorney responded on November 5indicating that the Mayor did not approve of the settlement agreement and promised to forwardsuggested changes to Solaris within a week.From that point on, the City Attorney and the Mayor stopped returning telephone or emailinquiries about the status of the settlement. When approached in person to discuss the settlementon two separate occasions, the Mayor claimed she was unaware of the status of the negotiationand promised to follow up within days. We received no response for almost three months.Finally, on January 26, nearly three months after we were scheduled to finalize our "handshakeagreement" to settle the Muhlenberg CN appeal, my office received a new settlement proposalfrom the Mayor's office which included several new provisions that were not discussed last fall.

Affiliates of SOLARISHealth SystemJFK Medical Center e Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center 6 JFKJohnson Rehabilitation Institute e New Jersey Neuroscience InstituteThe Women's Auxilary Pavilion e JFK Hartwyck Nursing, Convalescent E S t Rehabilitation Centers < 1 1 Muhlenberg Schools of Nursing,Medical Imaging E S t Therapeutic Sciences Mediplex Surgery Center e Diabetes Center of New Jersey @ Whispering Knoll - Assisted Living Community

65 James Street, P.O. Box 3059, Edison, New Jersey 08818-3059 (732) 321-7000 www.solarishs.org

8/14/2019 Solaris: Letter to Council, Mayor, Assemblyman

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