Who Will Run Neligh Nursing Home?

Nearly a year after Neligh’s nursing home went into receivership, the building’s owner is looking for someone to run the facility.

Neligh Mayor Joe Hartz began Monday’s special meeting — which was intended to go over a feasibility study on building a new nursing facility — by saying he was told just an hour earlier by Klaasmeyer & Associates that Golden Living was going to find business owners or operators for Neligh’s nursing home.

Linda Klaasmeyer from Klaasmeyer & Associates, which has managed the receivership for the State of Nebraska, said on Tuesday the Neligh facility remains in receivership at this time and could not confirm that it is not closing.

“The message we got yesterday was Golden Living is looking for an owner and operator,” Klaasmeyer said.

Golden Living Center owns the building in Neligh, which was one of 21 nursing facilities turned over to the state last March after the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services was alerted that Cottonwood Healthcare, the company that owns the Neligh Care & Rehabilitation Center, could not make payroll.

Klaasmeyer & Associates took over March 23, 2018, as managers from the New Jersey-based Cottonwood Healthcare L.L.C. also known as Skyline. Since the receivership, several facilities, including nursing homes in Wausa and Norfolk, have requested to close.

Hartz said since Golden Living Center notified the state that they are seeking an owner and operator, he is hopeful the Neligh facility will not close after it leaves receivership. The date the receivership will end is unclear at this time. The fear of closure was a key reason the City of Neligh had a feasibility study completed on building a new nursing facility.

“If you read the feasibility study, it should work. The home should work for folks,” Hartz said Monday night. “So I think it’s pretty clear in there that it’s a good deal and maybe Golden Living Center somewhere along the line decided it wasn’t a bad deal to keep moving ahead with it and find someone to run it. Right now, if we built a new one, we’d be in direct competition with them.”

Although Hartz was notified at about 4:30 p.m. Monday, the 5:30 p.m. meeting continued as advertised. Hartz began the meeting with that announcement, and council members Leonard Miller and Ted Hughes both asked to continue reviewing the feasibility study.
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“We don’t know that’s going to happen for sure,” Miller said.