Today we take yet another step in the process of deciding the future of Memorial Health System, when a city council-led task force charged with drafting a Request for Proposal for potential leasing partners finally decides who’s a member and who’s not. Whether it’s a step forward or backward remains to be seen. But early indicators aren’t hopeful.

While the public was focused on a flap over task force transparency, Chair Jan Martin was summarily, and without the benefit of any public process, remaking the task force according to her personal specifications. She blackballed two potential task force members suggested by Mayor Stave Bach, former mayoral candidate Brian Bahr and former state senator Andy McElhany, while adding other people to the task force presumably more sympathetic to her already-determined position on the issue. 

The process is again in danger of being steered toward a pre-determined conclusion, by insiders who don’t want the public presented with all the options, presumably because they don’t trust the public to make the right choice.

Bahr and McElhany were banned from the task force because they still have open minds on the issue, and because they’ve voiced skepticism about an insider-preferred plan to simply give Memorial away to current administrators and board, with token compensation to the citizen-owners of Memorial. Yet Martin is at the same time adding new members, including Memorial employees, who are highly likely to see things her way. She is stacking the team with ringers, in short, forcing those of us on the outside to throw a yellow flag.

What gives Martin the authority to add or subtract people based on personal whim? Should Memorial personnel — who are interested parties and have already arguably exercised too much influence over the process — be allowed to serve on the group? Who hired the latest $150,000 consultant, based on whose recommendation and according to what criteria? All these questions remain unanswered, if they’ve been asked at all, suggesting that all the recent calls for “transparency” are selectively applied.

Council’s decision to issue an RFP seemed like a step in the right direction. But it’s in danger of becoming a stumble if it’s not done right. An RFP should broaden options and encourage participants to come forward. The danger here is that those who have already made up their minds on the issue will work to narrow options and discourage potential partners, in the interest of getting the outcome they desire.

That’s not just a corruption of the process, but it undermines and defeats the point of the exercise, leading to even more wasted money and effort. And the taint it attaches to whatever plan emerges will almost certainly work against it at the ballot box.

Why are only leasing arrangements under consideration, excluding the possibility of a sale? A sale at the end of the day may or may not make sense. And we know it isn’t the first preference of certain insiders. But Memorial doesn’t belong to insiders and employees. It belongs to the citizens of Colorado Springs. And how will the owners have a true choice in the matter if a group of insiders and enterprise employees already have made most decisions for them?

Is leasing the best option? What might a sale look like? What is the true market value of Memorial, for purposes of a sale or a lease? Who might bring what to the table if we really open the process up? These are just a few questions we won’t get answered as long as those who already have made up their minds are steering the process.

I haven’t yet made up my mind about what the best possible future for Memorial looks like. That’s because, like the majority of Springs residents, I feel failed by a flawed process. An honest and inclusive RFP offers an opportunity to put distrust behind us, restore integrity to the process and present the public with all the options for consideration.

I trust voters to make a sound decision when presented with the facts. And I believe they’ll reject any ballot proposal that isn’t the product of an honest, fair and professional process.

Manitou Middle School seventh-graders run around the high school track Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011. Every student at the school spent 30 minutes running or walking around the track Tuesday to kick off a program challenging students to run a marathon over the course of 13 weeks, by encouraging them to do two miles a week. “The goal is to get them walking or running,” said Annie Collopy who teaches at the middle school and also is the cross-country coach. Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette