It is not very often that a Mayor’s race hinges on what’s going to happen to the local hospital.
That is exactly what happened last week in North Kansas City. For over a year, the city has been in a legal, legislative and public relations battle with North Kansas City Hospital over the hospital’s future.
This fight between the city and the hospital has been expensive. So far, both sides say they have spent almost a million and a half dollars on lawyers. And while the new Mayor, Don Stielow, ran on a platform of saving the hospital, we don’t know what the rest of the council will do.
Also, the city recently added eight members to the hospital’s board of trustees and we don’t know what they’re going to do either. It’s a good bet this is going to be bogged down in the courts for some time.
Who really owns it? Why are residents so upset? And more importantly, will it be sold to a for-profit hospital chain? KCPT special correspondent Sam Zeff has been digging into those thorny questions.
