Par Florent Lemaire
Published on
See my news
The Eure-Seine Hospital Center (CHES) did it misuse public funds to restore the company accommodation of its general manager, Sandrine Cotton? This is what an anonymous email suggests, the drafting of whichEure News La Dispatch was recipient. The informant – probably one or more agents of the establishment – intends to “denounce embezzlement of public funds, for the benefit of Sandrine Cotton”.
“Urgency to ask me”
Supporting invoices, the latter accuses the hospital of having taken charge of the work of carpentry (mainly floor covering installation) and paint within the accommodation rented by CHES since mid-January 2021, for an amount of €25,050.
Arriving at the head of CHES in October 2020, Sandrine Cotton joined this four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the vicinity of Saint-Andre-de-l’Eure, four months later, as required by his office, and by law. “We can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and must be 30-45 minutes from the establishments we run. The objective was to find something in Évreux or Vernon, but there was nothing available at the time. There was nothing on the market, and real estate prices had skyrocketed. I had arrived several months ago, it was urgent for me to settle down, ”recalls Sandrine Cotton.
Negotiated rent
Before the manager puts down her suitcases, the owner carries out various works, the most substantial (bathrooms, fence, gate). “Refreshment works” are also implemented and devolved to the tenant.
Not without having negotiated with the owner, advances Sandrine Cotton: “In order not to increase the rent – which was to go to €1,500 -, and that it be maintained for the duration of the lease, we had negotiated a reduction of €500 rent, at the level it was before the work done by the owner and the renovation work. You don’t bring a director into a house that isn’t clean”.
Refreshment work that was not done by hospital staff. “There were few of them, we were during the Covid. It was a very complicated period when I arrived. In full crisis management, Sandrine Cotton did not follow the file of her housing and the works herself. “I had other things to do,” she argues.
want to buy
Initially, the Treasury objected to the payment of works invoices. “He was not aware of the rent maintenance arrangement”, replies Sandrine Cotton, who took a requisition order, to proceed with the payment of the craftsmen.
“The purpose of the requisition is to show that the establishment was a winner. She explains the financial arrangement and the absence of loss of money. It also helps to justify our desire to buy this house in the long term. [le CHES n’est actuellement propriétaire d’aucun logement, NDLR]. Having houses is necessary to house our doctors or our executives. It is an attractiveness tool. »
Revenge ?
Another invoice was sent to us: €1,050, for the benefit of a green space company. “It’s a personal invoice, defends Sandrine Cotton. As the hospital is a tenant, I cannot involve a service provider without going through their services, which I reimburse immediately. The sending of the document affected the general manager: “It is misleading and defamatory to do something like this, by pretending that I am having the hospital pay for my personal procedures”.
Sandrine Cotton is convinced of being the subject of an attempt at destabilization.
I wanted to square a number of things when I got here. People probably didn’t appreciate my questioning their way of working. I did it in conjunction with the medical profession, which had been complaining of certain dysfunctions for a number of years. Behind, when we can’t beat the people on the inside, we find solutions to beat them otherwise.
A “well managed” situation
On the contrary, Sandrine Cotton believes that she “managed a situation that was very complicated at the start. A compensatory housing allowance would cost the hospital €20,000 more”.
Sandrine Cotton announces that she will “not leave things as they are, but it is not by filing a complaint that it will erase what I feel”.
” No problem “
Part of the work was carried out by the company Menuiserie andrésienne, whose manager is the wife of the owner of the accommodation, Patrice Fonck. Carpentry work and laying of floors invoiced at €7,660. “At that time, the technical services did not find a company that could be so fast and efficient on part of the work. There was an urgent need to finally have a place to settle down, ”defends Sandrine Cotton. When contacted, Patrice Fonck is surprised: “I don’t see how that would be a problem. It is a staff accommodation, and the hospital goes through a company. I have tenants who ask me to do work for them”.
Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.
