In this episode of Open Line ON DEMAND, Jc sits down with Carmi Mayor Jeff Pollard and City Attorney Greg Stewart. Where did the money go? Where is the accountability? It’s been 7 years now since the fleecing of Carmi was complete with regards to the Carmi hospital. Over the next half hour, we’ll talk to where we came from and where we can possibly go from here. Listen in for more…
Angie Helsel
January 27, 2023 at 12:13 pmTed Allen had nothing to do with the operations or inner workings of the Phoenix Foundation. He was not a board member and played no part in the decision making.
Madison Helsel
January 27, 2023 at 1:49 pmMy mothers father was not a board member.
Gail
January 27, 2023 at 7:16 pmSomeone knows where the money was misappropriated and yet no one has yet to be held accountable and there are those in charge that know exactly where the money went Liz fortner needs to be charged for sure
AnonymousAlienAbductee
January 31, 2023 at 12:37 pmWith a state police office nearby – why hasnt this been investigated outside of city – by state police, FBI, or State Attorney General’s office. When someone with no connection to Carmi – investigates… the money will be located.
Ted Allen
February 1, 2023 at 11:04 amThe original scope of the hospital project was to fix or repair the building and the systems! The estimate to do that was to the best of my memory 1.2 million dollars. The Illinois Dept. of Public Health in Springfield initially agreed to that plan. After they became involved and did the survey of the property we were forced to hire architects and engineers to study and design all new mechanical systems (Hvac, electrical, air quality systems, alarms and emergency lighting and back up systems) Along with that they wanted fire walls between different areas of the building built or rebuilt. Two new public bathrooms, new roof, asbestos abatement. All of this required new studies of existing systems and stamped and approved drawings of new systems. The engineering and architectural designs and studies were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The original budget was quickly blown to bits! We were over budget by a few million dollars. When I would bring this to the attention of Lil she would not want to disclose this to IDPH for fear of losing the license. And so we forged ahead….the money was used on the hospital and I suspect when the nursing home couldn’t keep up, some funds were used there! Some people that donated money did so with the stipulation it be used on the hospital only, but there was no restriction on the Illinois Grant from the governor at the time as long as it was used on property. I do not believe that Lil used any of the money for personal gain! As far as an outside investigation, the FBI did investigate and Lil Fortner and I were interviewed by them at length, as were other people. I believe they also had access to the records at the Nursing home and hospital.