Rick Kennedy — Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT — A two-hour closed session Thursday night between the Board of the Lake County Tribal Health Consortium and respected local physician Tony Veletto appeared to leave much unresolved, and the parties will reportedly meet again June 4.
Veletto did confirm after the session that his contract had been terminated by the board; however, Veletto said he was still unclear as to the exact reasons. He declined further comment on the situation.
“I really appreciate the outpouring of support and well-wishes from the staff, the patients and the community, and I hope things will work out,” Veletto said.
Consortium Chairman Richard Stewart, who closed the session from a crowd of approximately 20 supporters, emerged from the meeting to say, “We are going through a process, and we will meet again on this matter June 4.”
Stewart further stated an official statement from Executive Director Rob Otome would be released in a couple of days.
Veletto, the winner of the 2007 Stars of Lake County Humanitarian Award in March, confirmed he had signed a contract renewal with the clinic at the end of January, and that it had a 120-day option, during which either party could terminate without cause.
Veletto was greeted in the clinic”s lobby by several of his patients and three nurses, when he showed up for the closed-door proceeding. No other persons, including several staff members who showed up in support of Veletto, were allowed in the meeting or permitted to speak.
Neither were any of the patients, or two persons who showed up with signed petitions in support of Veletto, allowed in the session, and were told to remain in the lobby area by Stewart. Stewart said, “This is a closed session regarding a personnel matter. I will make a short statement afterwards. We will not be hearing any public statements on this.”
When two angry patients confronted Stewart, he simply told them, “You have representatives on that board. You should communicate with them,” and he then closed the door to the conference room.
As the meeting continued into a second hour, the gallery in the lobby was clearly unhappy, and some of the group departed in disgust.
One of those supporters was Ben Ray, Jr., who said he and Charmaigne Mankiller were organizing a public meeting of all the tribes about the operations of the Tribal Clinic at the Big Valley Rancheria, and that given the way Veletto was treated, he had serious concerns about the administration.
“I think we need to get all the tribes together to discuss how this clinic is being run. The clinic is here for us, and they need to hear how we feel,” he said.
Contact Rick Kennedy at rkennedy@record-bee.com.
