Press "Enter" to skip to content

UPDATED: After bill signing, future still unclear for North Kansas City Hospital

By Collin Reischman

UPDATE, 5/31: The Missouri Times learned that earlier today, the city of North Kansas City and North Kansas City Hospital both both filed a joint dismissal of litigation. Both parties have reached an agreement because of House Bill 163, sources say, and the lawsuit has been dropped.

Published 5/30

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Earlier this year, The Missouri Times reported that the city of North Kansas City and the North Kansas City Hospital were embroiled in a legal and legislative battle to determine the long-term fate of the city-owned facility.

North Kansas City Hospital
North Kansas City Hospital

In response, local Democratic representative Jay Swearingen and Republican Senator Ryan Silvey each filed nearly identical bills in the House and Senate to prevent the city from selling the facility.

While the bills as stand alone legislation ultimately failed, the language was successfully attached as a Senate amendment by Silvey onto the omnibus elections bill, House Bill 163, which deals mostly with Kansas City. Gov. Jay Nixon signed the bill just before the end of session.

The language prevents the sale or lease of the hospital unless it is approved by a majority of North Kansas City voters, which Silvey said is an unlikely prospect.

Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City
Sen. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City

“Right now, the people of North Kansas City do not want to sell or lease [the hospital],” Silvey told The Missouri Times. “But the beauty of this language is that it really does leave it up to the people. So if in five or 10 or 15 years it’s determined that the best course of action is to sell or lease that asset, they can still do it. All this does is make it the people’s decision.”

Municipal elections in NKC, held in April, focused largely on the possible sale of the hospital. A write-in candidate who campaigned for less than a month on a single issue defeated one incumbent council member. The issue? Retaining NKCH as a local asset.

The incumbent Mayor, also supportive of the possible sale or lease of the facility, lost to an opponent who ran exclusively on keeping the hospital locally owned.

But while no sale can take place without first the approval of two thirds of the hospital board and then a vote of the people, there still is pending litigation as to exactly who has the right to make such determinations for the facility.

“For me, this issue will be totally resolved once there is a settlement agreement in the courts as well that both parties have signed,” Swearingen said. “I don’t want to say with 100 percent certainty that this matter is totally resolved until the court case has been determined. But [Silvey and I] have done everything we can, legislatively, to help resolve the issue.”

Both men touted the bill as an example of good government. Silvey said it was proof that “government can help you,” and Swearingen called the matter “perfectly bi-partisan.”

Rep. Jay Swearingen, D-Kansas City
Rep. Jay Swearingen, D-Kansas City

“We say government is broken and sometimes it is, but this is an example of the best government has to offer,” Silvey said. “The people had a local outcry for a problem and a local representative and senator came together in a bipartisan matter to fix it and do it quickly and efficiently. This should encourage people that their government is functioning.”

Swearingen said he was pleased that his local community was able to get some attention.

“I like the fact that this shined some light on North Kansas City,” Swearingen said. “There’s no local newspaper and not a lot of coverage of what happens here, so whatever they do they do without a lot of sunlight. This just proves that if people pay more attention, it makes for better government.”

To contact Collin Reischman, email collin@themissouritimes.com, or via Twitter at @Collin_MOTimes.