PREVIOUS COVERAGE | More conflicts of interest at Manatee Rural Health?

MANATEE — Manatee County Rural Health Services’ chief executive is promising reforms following a Bradenton Herald investigation into his salary and the agency’s hiring of firms owned by its officials — even as other questionable business dealings are uncovered.

Walter “Mickey” Presha Sr. says the changes will include hiring a procurement director, canceling contracts with two employees’ side businesses and using an outside executive compensation consultant.

“We took it as an opportunity to look at all our parts and pieces and make sure we tightened up on them,” he said. “I don’t want anybody in the world to think we’ve got anything to hide.”

But the Herald’s continuing investigation has found more questionable business dealings and other issues involving high-ranking Rural Health officials. Among them:

n A land deal that netted an $850,000 profit for two top executives and three board members.

n A real estate investment partnership involving Presha and the agency’s board chairman.

n A previously undisclosed $1 million project awarded to a construction company that employed Presha’s daughter as an officer.

n Board members who exceeded term limits, then changed the bylaws so they could remain in office.

n The agency’s chief financial officer has lived in another state since 2001.

Presha strongly defends each one, saying they were legal and either private or in the agency’s best interest. But a non-profit ethics expert says those outside business dealings could impede the agency’s mission of providing health care to the area’s indigent and uninsured.

Consultant sees conflicts

Presha’s promised reforms are in response to an Aug. 23 Herald story on Rural Health’s financial dealings.

The Herald found the nonprofit, tax-exempt agency had paid nearly $2 million in recent years to businesses owned by board members, officers, employees or their relatives. The Herald also reported that Presha long has been the highest-paid CEO among federally qualified community health agencies in Florida, with a fiscal 2009 salary in excess of $433,000.

Agency officials had defended the insider dealings, saying they either were competitively bid or provided needed services and/or expertise at a reduced cost. They also said Presha’s salary was appropriate, given his skills and the organization’s size and complexity.

But Presha, interviewed last week by the Herald, said he asked a consultant — KVJINC LLC Inc. — to review the Herald’s findings and make recommendations to eliminate potential conflicts of interest.

The consultant’s top recommendation: Hire a procurement officer to oversee major purchases and contracts, which now are handled by department heads and a board committee. Presha said the agency began advertising the new position last week and plans to have it filled by the end of the year.