El Paso Commissioners Court meeting with UMC officials gets heated

The relationship between El Paso Commissioners Court and University Medical Center officials has been strained, to say the least.

On Tuesday, both sides sat down for the first of several quarterly meetings designed to repair the relationship and it didn’t take long for things to get heated.

“I felt basically that last year in the budget, we did not get the information that we clearly asked for,” said Commissioner Pat Abeln. “I don’t think we would have voted on bonuses had that been made clear.”

Commissioner Abeln grew agitated while questioning UMC CEO Jim Valenti about an email Valenti wrote in reply to Commissioner Carlos Leon. Valenti wrote that no bonuses were awarded or anticipated this year, even though he got one for $120,000. Valenti later apologized, saying he was confused about which fiscal year they were talking about.

But Abeln wasn’t buying it.

He told Valenti in the meeting: “Is that really an appropriate answer or was it smoke and mirrors? It just doesn’t make sense. The question was clear, it was to the point. To put that into the following year is disingenuous at best.”

Valenti declined comment after the meeting, but Commissioners opened up.

“I think we’re in a better spot,” Abeln said. “But I think the challenges are real and to ignore those challenges or pretend like they’re not there would be a huge mistake.”

“We have a lot to get past this upcoming year,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said. “We’ve got uncompensated care, dollars that may shrink from the state, we’ve got challenges with Children’s and how we’re going to move forward with Children’s and whether Children’s Hospital ends up becoming subsidiary of UMC or not.”

“It’s ultimately in everybody’s best interest to have a collaborative relationship where information is shared and everybody is on the same page,” Commissioner Vince Perez said. “There are no misunderstandings, everybody feels confident the information they are receiving is complete and accurate.”

Commissioner Perez added that Commissioners may explore additional policies giving the court more control over the amount of money that can be spent at UMC without their approval.