Monday’s Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors meeting was more about house-keeping than anything else, with the debate regarding the possible sale of the Oktibbeha County Hospital almost going unmentioned. Almost.
“It was kind of just the slow wind of county business,” said Board President Marvell Howard, “No big, hot button issues or anything like that. We took some bids for soil and cement in the county and we accepted our tax assessors incoming tax rolls.”
Though there was no official business pertaining to OCH, the continued debate over the future of the hospital was still briefly discussed.
Michael Lightsey approached the board during the citizens comment period asking the board to satisfy some stipulations before spending thousands of dollars on an outside analysis. An outside analysis to evaluate the hospital is required by the state prior to any transaction.
The five stipulations Lightsey proposed included a public hearing from OCH about their services and plans for enhancing them in the future, an opportunity to hear from two other county’s board representatives whose county either sold their hospital or chose not to sell when the issue arose, a general estimate of the potential sale price of OCH and a board approved plan of how the money from a sale would be expended. Lightsey said getting the board to prove that the profit from the sale would go to improve county infrastructure, public health or safety, was at the top of his list.
Lightsey said he was opposed to the sale with the information that he had presently but that he was not at the meeting Monday to speak in opposition to the sale, but rather to a costly analysis. He admitted he was unsure of the effect the sale of OCH would have on health care in Oktibbeha County, and told the board, by meeting the conditions presented, those uncertainties could be resolved.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer also reminded the board of the July 9 public education session on the possible OCH sale, and informed the board of plans for a similar session coordinated by a pro-OCH, grassroots group. Trainer said the pro-OCH group is still trying to work out details, but that it looked like it could be held at the Greensboro Center on July 12 at 5 p.m.
The board’s their next official meeting for July 16 at 5:30 p.m.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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