$31.5M restructure package aims to keep Mystic Aquarium afloat
MYSTIC — A $31.5 million public-private restructure package has been reached with Mystic Aquarium to help the Connecticut tourist attraction recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the restructure, Mystic Aquarium has raised more than $10 million from private donors and eliminated $14.5 million in long-term debt. Part of the package also includes a $7 million line of credit with the state for working capital.
“This is a great deal for Connecticut,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. “This is an investment in one of our treasured assets, and which the state leveraged its support to get significant investment from the private sector, including debt forgiveness and incredible support from the philanthropic community.
“Like the hundreds of thousands who visit Mystic Aquarium each year, I am in awe every time I walk through the gates. It is not only a destination — it is an education and conservation center. This plan assures that Mystic Aquarium will prosper and continue to provide social and economic benefit to the citizens of Connecticut.”
The plan calls for Mystic Aquarium to replace the state funding with private capital after recovering from COVID-19.
“Mystic Aquarium worked diligently to raise an impressive amount of private donations from its board and other donors and to work with its banks on a global solution in which the state was one of many partners,” Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman said. “This is a model for economic development in COVID-19 and beyond with shared public-private investment.”
The aquarium closed to the public on March 17 and reopened July 1.
It has been operating at 50 percent visitor capacity since it reopened. It also has safety protocols that includes advance purchase of timed tickets, mandatory temperature checks and a one-way path through the exhibits.
Before the pandemic, Mystic Aquarium had a yearly attendance of 800,000 people and serves 100,000 students in the state with distance learning and other education programs. It is home to 5,000 animals, including endangered and threatened marine mammals.
“We are appreciative of Governor Lamont and Commissioner Lehman, state and federal leaders, board donors, and new donors for an incredibly collaborative approach to positioning Mystic Aquarium for the future,” said Stephen M. Coan, president and CEO of Mystic Aquarium, said.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is investigating allegations of illegal employment practices at VA Connecticut Healthcare System connected to the hiring of seven employees—some in top management positions—who are all former co-workers of the system’s director.
A separate complaint filed by a whistleblower to the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs alleges “gross misconduct” in the hiring of staff from the Manchester (New Hampshire) VA Medical Center. It says that “all management positions were pre-selected.”
“VA Connecticut is in turmoil,” wrote the whistleblower in an anonymous complaint filed in August and obtained by C-HIT.
The complaints have put a spotlight on the management of Alfred A. Montoya Jr., who has been head of the West Haven VA for almost a year. Montoya was brought in from the Manchester (New Hampshire) VA Medical Center after years of upheaval in the delivery of health care at the West Haven VA, where surgeries were outsourced to Yale New Haven Hospital after deficiencies were found in sterile procedures.
The charges contend that hiring people who worked in Manchester with Montoya denied VA Connecticut staff advancement opportunities.
The Manchester VA is a low-tier outpatient facility with four offsite clinics. VA Connecticut is a top-tier system, rated a 1A facility that operates a hospital in West Haven, an outpatient center in Newington, and six local clinics.
A request to interview Montoya was denied by VA communications staff for the New England region and in Washington, according to Pamela Redmond, VA Connecticut spokesman. She issued a statement without having questions from a C-HIT reporter.
It states that “VA Connecticut strives to fill positions with the most qualified candidates while adhering to all federal hiring guidelines.”
“We recognize and respect our talented pool of employees and offer many paths for advancement, including leadership programs, scholarship opportunities and mentorships,” it adds.
Sandra Salmon, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2138, filed the Special Counsel complaint on behalf of the union, alleging Connecticut VA leaders acted illegally by obstructing competition for jobs, giving unauthorized preference or advantage, and encouraging withdrawal from the application process.
“It appears that only those level 3 hospital staff was good enough to work here at VA CT,” Salmon said. The union local represents more than 820 employees, predominantly nurses, as well as physician assistants, social workers, audiologists, psychologists, and biomedical engineers.
“If you love the VA at all, you have to do something,” said Salmon, who is representing the union.
“There’s a lot of unfairness at every level,” she said.
The Special Counsel’s office responded to Salmon in an August 17 letter that the complaint “may be allegations of possible prohibited personnel practice” and that a staff member was assigned to the matter.
In April, Montoya hired Bernadette Y. Jao, a doctor of nursing practice, as associate director for nursing and patient care services, the same job she had in Manchester. The senior management position is part of the VA Connecticut five-person leadership team.
A union grievance filed by a registered nurse claims that the direct hires of the case management manager and veteran travel coordinator were a “violation of prohibited personnel practice and upward mobility.” The grievance states that direct hire customarily is used in “hard to recruit positions” and only after being posted twice.
“Positions are not posted, and employees are not given the chance to apply and improve their career prospects for the most lucrative positions,” the grievance says.
Meanwhile, the union filed an employment discrimination complaint this month with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of minority nurses, citing a lack of racial diversity in VA Connecticut management.
VA statistics show 41 percent of employees are people of color and 22 percent are Black people. There are no Black executives, according to the union’s employment discrimination complaint. There are more than 3,300 VA Connecticut employees.
Most of the hires from the Manchester facility are white, except for Bernadette and Edwin Jao, who are Filipino, and Montoya, who is Latino.
Salmon said the typical six-figure management salaries are incentives for people to remain in their jobs for many years.
“Systemic racism will be entrenched for years to come at VA CT,” she said.
Montoya established a diversity council in July to help “every employee reach their full potential in an environment free of bias,” according to an employee newsletter.
Redmond, the VA spokeswoman, said VA Connecticut continues to work to improve its surgical facilities. She said $17 million has been approved for a sterile processing facility for surgical instruments, which is in the design phase; a new HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system for the operating room suite and a still-unfunded addition that would include a new surgery department are planned.
This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.