PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Rural health exec’s pay tops in state

MANATEE — Providing medical services to the indigent and uninsured in Manatee and Sarasota counties has financially benefitted some of Manatee County Rural Health Services Inc.’s officers, board members and their families, records show.

The nonprofit agency has paid nearly $2 million in recent years to businesses owned by board members, officers, employees or their relatives, according to tax documents obtained by the Bradenton Herald. And its chief executive officer, Walter “Mickey” Presha Sr., has long been the highest-paid CEO of any such agency in Florida: His salary last year was $433,000 — $140,000 more than that of his closest counterpart, records show.

Agency officials defend the insider business dealings, saying those affiliated businesses either won competitive bids or offered unique expertise or services at a reduced cost. They also say Presha’s salary is appropriate, given his experience and the agency’s size and scope.

But Rural Health’s peers say they don’t do business with insiders, calling it a conflict of interest. And an executive compensation consultant who specializes in nonprofits says Rural Health’s payments to affiliated businesses are “large red flags” that call the agency’s integrity into question.

Conflict of interest?

According to tax returns filed since 2004, Rural Health has paid:

n $558,121 to John Lewis, a board member, for optometry services.

n $536,591 to The Pinnacle Group of West Coast Florida Inc. for construction, maintenance and repair work. One of its principals is Trina Presha-Rosier, Presha’s daughter.

n $344,766 to The Lawn Authority of Manatee County Inc. for lawn care maintenance at the agency’s facilities. Wardell Jackson, the agency’s vice president of support services, is a principal in the business.

n $387,673 to A to Z Complete Property Management Inc. for janitorial cleaning and maintenance services. It is owned by Chris Mullinex, the agency’s facilities director.

n $96,000 to R & L Healthcare Advisors, whose principals include Marc Lazarus, a board member, for consulting services.

n $44,242 to More Power Properties and Investments LLC, co-owned by board Chairman J. Garry Lowe, for storage of agency files and equipment and the purchase of a modular building.

According to a conflict of interest statement that board members are required to sign, Rural Health prohibits them, management and their families from having any “beneficial interest or substantial obligation to” any entity engaged in business with the agency. But some have been able to bypass that prohibition because of this loophole: “Unless it has been determined by the board, on the basis of full disclosure of facts, that such interest does not give rise to a conflict of interest.”

Board members say that’s what happened in each case.

“It’s always disclosed to the board, so we always have the opportunity to not do it,” said Juanine Lowery, a board member since 1984. “It hasn’t been a problem. It’s always been competitive.”