A recent Channel 3 news report covered the proposed sale of the Sauk County-owned nursing home to a private company, featuring two differing perspectives.

Judy Brey, a community leader from Reedsburg, argued against the current sale, mentioning the improved financial state of the nursing home. Board Chair Tim McCumber supported the sale, while images of the Counties Magazine article titled "Saving the County Nursing Home by Selling the County Nursing Home" flashed across the screen to back up his argument.

I read that article, and it described how another county's decision to sell its health center was taken "after three years of discussions with the community and meetings with...staff, residents and their families, as well as visits to more than a dozen other county-run nursing homes, reports from financial consultants, a task force [and] an ad hoc committee."

That's not what has happened in Sauk County.

If the Sauk County Board chair wants to tout that article in a TV spot, he should follow the practices of good government it describes.

That would mean stopping the current sale effort so that public hearings can be held, and current health center finances evaluated, in an open and transparent fashion.

Damian Barta,
Spring Green