Robert Lott reiterates support for Bert Fish merger with Florida Hospital at public hearing in NSB; Observer newspaper not there | Headline Surfer / Award-Winning 24/7 Internet News Site Serving Daytona Beach/Sanford/Orlando, FL

Video by Multimedia Editor Sera Frederick.

Robert Lott, former board member of the Southeast Volusia Hospital Board takes to the podium Sept. 27 in the meeting room of the New Smyrna Beach Regional Public Library, in support of Bert Fish's May 27 merger with Florida Hospital. There were 150 people in attendance including media representatives from NSBNEWS.net, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Orlando Sentinel and Hometown News. The Observer, the weekly newspaper based in Lott's Canal Street office, which prides itself on being Southeast Volusia's newspaper was not there. Nevertheless, the Observer wrote a story directly quoting one speaker.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- "Gee whiz" was Robert Lott's response to allegations the Bert Fish Medical Center merger with Florida Hospital/Adventists was accomplished through a series of closed-door meetings when he stepped up to the podium during the Sept. 27 "open meeting" called by the new partners in an attempt to "cure" or redo a flawed process.

Litigation is already under way by the Bert Fish Foundation to nullify the merger because 16 meetings over 21 months were held in secret between the boards of both hospitals, with Halifax Hospital officials feeling squeezed out as well.

Photos by Henry Frederick.

Far left, Robert Lott, in the light brown camaflouge shirt and tan pants sits in the audience during the Sep. 27 "redo" meeting of Bert Fish in forming a merger. Bert Fish CEO Bob Williams, with his back to our camera sits nearby. Smaller top photo, Robert Lott takes notes. Second smaller photo, closeup of CEO Williams and Dr. Tom Omby, chairman of the Bert Fish board.

Lott, who served on the board from 2007 to 2009, praised his former colleagues and reiterated his support for the controversial May 27 merger between Bert Fish Medical Center and Florida Hospital. Bert Fish's own documents, released to the public in advance of the redo meeting, showed that just a couple of hours before the unanimous vote to merge with Florida Hospital instead of Halifax Health Systems, Bert Fish CEO Bob Williams led a dress rehearsal. Then during the actual vote, Lott spoke in favor of the merger, which his former board unanimously passed without comment.

A five-year agreement was signed in June between the two hospitals that revealed a $1 million buyout package for Bert Fish CEO Bob Williams, a close friend of Lott's, who serves with him on Edgewater's Economic Development Board, which Lott chairs. And the Observer newspaper, which Robert Lott claims is run by his wife, Michele, has received thousands of dollars in advertising revenue from Bert Fish over the past three years, including his two years on the hospital board, and more recently from Bert Fish/Florida Hospital.

When Lott made his sarcastic opening remark about the Sunshine issue at the Sept. 27 redo meeting, he was referring to a lawsuit filed by the Berrt Fish Hospital Foundation regarding the secret meetings and an ongoing investigation by the State Attorney's Office into allegations of Bert Fish administrators and the board holding a series of meetings prior to the merger behind closed doors.

In its Sept. 29 issue, The Observer published a story "Tax and Budget Time." The story, written by Robert Burns, which quoted County Councilman Jack Hayman as saying "You need to start over." But Burns was not at that meeting and there were no contriuting writers listed at the end of that story.

Robert Lott was taking notes of the meeting, but it's unclear if he provided those notes to Burns. Lott was emphatic in an earlier interview with NSBNEWS.net that he has no connection to The Observer's news operations. And marketing officials for Bert Fish and Florida Hospital, who routinely send items to the Observer, said they did not feed any quotes to the newspaper for that story.

Here is a link to The Observer story:

sevobserver.com/index.php