Staff photo / Chris McBride .... U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, at head of the table, addresses Trumbull County officials on Friday in Warren regarding action to save a $38 million FEMA grant for the Meander Reservoir. Trumbull County Commissioner Tony Bernard, left, looks on as Moreno talks about bipartisan collaboration to drive economic growth, including support for Kimberly-Clark’s $800 million plant in the county.

WARREN — Trumbull County’s elected officials gathered with Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno to discuss the state of local hospitals, infrastructure and the promise of economic revival through projects such as Kimberly-Clark’s plant to be build in the county.

The meeting, hosted by county commissioners, opened with a conversation on recent turmoil surrounding Insight Hospital & Medical Center Trumbull and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital, both formerly owned by Steward Health Care.

Moreno, elected in 2024 after defeating longtime Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown, condemned Steward’s leadership.

“This Robert de la Torre character should be brought to jail, and I will do everything possible to make certain that happens,” Moreno said, referring to Steward’s CEO.

He described the hospitals’ mismanagement as “completely unacceptable,” citing private equity practices that “buy assets, cut companies, dividend themselves out about millions of dollars, and leave the community hanging.”

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin echoed Moreno’s sentiments on calling for a criminal investigation into alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraud by Steward.

Franklin took it a step further by urging Moreno to monitor federal processes, particularly applications for AI-based billing systems critical to reopening the hospitals.

“The longer that hospital stays closed, the more difficult and expensive it is to bring it back,” he said.

Moreno responded with cautious optimism, noting progress in securing a new operator. “What we need is an operator that has a strong balance sheet, that’s healthy, and, most importantly, that wants to be in the hospital business,” he said.

He described the effort as being “at the 3-yard line,” adding, “I was actually hoping that by today I would come and tell you, ‘Hey, here’s what we got.'”

Infrastructure emerged as another critical concern, with Trumbull County Commissioner Denny Malloy highlighting the lack of water and sewer services in the county’s northern, rural areas.

“We’ve got Warren and Niles, the big cities, but two-thirds of our county is farmland, raw land, basically Mosquito Lake, second largest lake in the state, and we have no sewer, no water,” Malloy said.

He warned that without these utilities, businesses like Kimberly-Clark, which announced Thursday an $800 million hub for the Midwest and Northeast on the border of Howland and Warren townships, could struggle to attract workers.

“They need a place to live. Nobody wants to go where they’re going to have septic systems and well water in today’s day and age,” he said.

A specific infrastructure crisis loomed large as Malloy also shifted discussion toward a $38 million FEMA grant for the Meander Reservoir water supply, which he indicated was now at risk of cancellation. Malloy called it a “huge financial burden” that could spike water rates.

A representative noted the funds were obligated in March 2024 but now faced revocation.

Moreno pledged swift action, assigning his state director, James Coyne, to tackle the issue.

“I’m going to challenge James to get it resolved today. We can go the weekend and say we’re done,” he said.

Economic development was a bright spot, with Kimberly-Clark’s investment hailed as transformative.

State Rep. Nick Santucci, R-Niles, praised Moreno’s support, saying, “Thank you also for your support on Kimberly-Clark; that was a huge economic development impact. Lots of investment is coming here.”

Warren Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert highlighted the Warren Peninsula project, an infrastructure initiative to complement Kimberly-Clark’s arrival. “We think that those types of projects go hand-in-hand with helping make our community a little more attractive,” Colbert said.

Colbert and Franklin discussed asking Moreno to earmark federal applications for water and sewer improvements.

Moreno discussed prioritizing projects with matching funds.

“The projects that will get the highest consideration are federal dollars that have state dollars and local dollars attached to it,” Moreno said.

Medicaid funding, critical for Trumbull’s low-income residents, drew sharp criticism from Trumbull County Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush, a former Job and Family Services representative.

She said, “Trumbull County is at 16.8% poverty level. The average nationally is 12.4%. Our citizens, a lot of them are on Medicaid. We just want to ensure that there’s enough funding there for the administrative aspect, especially when you’re dealing with able-bodied individuals.”

Her comments referenced potential work requirements, and she warned that changing eligibility standards for Medicaid could significantly increase operating costs, noting the county’s mandated share of funding.

Moreno advocated for technological solutions to ease administrative burdens, saying, “This is not ordering something on Amazon with one click. This is an obscene amount of bureaucracy that can be solved with technology,” he said.

He proposed application programming interfaces, APIs, to streamline verification, adding, “Why not plug in some sort of API that says, hey, look, unemployment checks it, it’s checked for Medicaid. No more administrative burden on the county.”

Moreno also addressed fears of Medicaid cuts, refuting concerns about those funds being cut in any legislation. He assured those in the room, “We will not cut Medicaid benefits. I can’t say that loudly and clearly enough.”

Trumbull County Commissioner Rick Hernandez noted the bipartisanship in the room.

“This is about what we could do for the people as public servants. And we have been working Democrat, Republican, and we’ve been working diligently together,” he said.

As the discussion wrapped up, Moreno urged vigilance and collaboration.

“Please be my eyes and ears in this community. Let me know when things are bubbling up that are creating problems,” he said. “I feel really, really good about this.”