City Lawsuit Unrelated to Hospital Downsizing

Pending litigation brought by the City against Glen Cove Hospital is unrelated to proposed service cutbacks, according to Glen Cove Hospital COO Mark Solazzo.

"I would like to confirm that our plans for the future of Glen Cove hospital have been established solely on the basis of ensuring the hospital’s viability into the future," Glen Cove Hospital COO Mark Solazzo wrote in a recent letter to the Mayor. "Our planning is in no way related to the City’s Freon litigation.”

The city's lawsuit, filed in 2012, is seeking compensation for the cost of installing a 
$5.4 million air stripping plant mandated by the Nassau County Department of Health to reopen one of the city's two water wells.

According to an engineering report commissioned by the city, Glen Cove Hospital is the most likely source of an underground Freon plume which infiltrated the well beginning in 2009. 

The well was shut down in 2010. Since then, the City has had to purchase water from neighboring district to meet usage demands. 

Suozzi said health and safety for residents are his priorities and maintains that Freon-contaminated drinking water did not reach residents. The law suit, he said, will hopefully cover the cost of installing the air stripper so the well may be reopened without burdening taxpayers.

"The City's 2012 lawsuit to stop the pollution of our water supply had only one purpose - to protect everyone who lives and works in Glen Cove,” said Suozzi.  “There is absolutely no correlation between the two issues.  Anyone who thinks that NS-LIJ would even considering closing a hospital on the basis of a year-old lawsuit that protects human health and safety and our City assets is misguided.”