Larry Dent (Photo by Chip Ellis)
The CEO of Roane County's Family Health Care has been fired by the agency's board.
Larry Dent, who came to the position in 2003 when Family Health was in financial distress, on the brink of bankruptcy, and unable to meet payroll, said "I called Mayor (Terry Williams) and Tom Whittier out for what I consider to be gross misconduct," regrading the disposition of property to WalMart.
Whittier asked for a piece of Family Health property to allow WalMart to come to town, leaving Family Health short on parking space.
"The premise was that FHC would get back an equal piece to replace critical parking. That did not happen. At the end of the transaction WalMart got its land, the Spencer EDA got $100,000, the City of Spencer got all of the taxes from WalMart and FHC got a 20' strip of grass and a critical parking problem that persists to this day," Dent said.
Dent said, "I got fired for doing everything right."
"I asked the Mayor to fix the problem that he had created and he ignored me. This exchange has put FHC at risk of failure and has put every one of 7,500 patients at risk of losing health care," Dent continued.
"It has placed at risk the jobs of 62 staff members and has placed all of the FHC creditors at risk."
"Tom Whittier has been in my office complaining about me pushing for a solution, and was more concerned about me making the Mayor angry than he was about solving this critical parking problem."
"No one in their right mind would have bought this old building on a postage stamp piece of property, much less spent over $2,000,000 trying to reconstruct it with grossly inadequate parking."
Dent, in a letter to media said, "Tom Whittier left town on vacation, he stopped by my office to relay a message from Mayor Williams that he would fix the parking problem if I would retire"
Dent declined.
Dent says he has filed reports with the USDA, the US Attorney, and HRSA in Washington regarding the matter, related to the leadership of Tom Whittier and the mayor of Spencer.
Meanwhile, Family Health Care patients must park on state right-of-way, which Dent claims is not legal.
I wear being fired by this group as a badge of honor. Firing me does not fix any problem and creates larger ones," Dent said.
Family Health Care had over 36,000 visits last year.
See related story SPENCER'S LARRY DENT: Wanderlust Leads To Life As 'Corporate Soldier Of Fortune'
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