Commissioners request meeting with Mercy Health

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HUNTSVILLE — At the request of two commissioners, Scott County Mayor Rick Keeton will attempt to set up a face-to-face meeting with officials of Mercy Health concerning a request of a change in its lease of the local hospital.

In Monday night’s regular monthly meeting of county commission, Gerry Garrett, of the 6th district, and Alan Reed, of the 4th, requested Mayor Keeton to set up the meeting.

That request comes a week after it was announced that Mercy Health was seeking to change its hospital lease agreement by providing the county $1 million a year in rent payments in exchange for an equal amount being provided by the county to partially cover the cost of charity care at St. Mary’s of Scott County.

The request also states that the county would receive 10% ($100,000) annually from the hospital for taking such action.

Since May 1, 2009, St. Mary’s of Scott County has been operating under a rent-free, long term agreement with the county. The change in the lease being requested would be retroactive to that date — apparently to enable St. Mary’s of Scott County to obtain increased reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid funds.

After that request was made public, during the commission’s Intergovernmental Committee meeting on January 4, Mayor Keeton suggested that any questions from the commissioners should be directed to County Attorney John Beaty who, along with himself, would develop a series of “talking points” to submit to Mercy Health.

At Monday night’s regular meeting, however, both Garrett and Reed took exception to that method of communication, with Garrett requesting a sit-down meeting and Reed stating bluntly: “As tricky as Mercy has been, I don’t think we should forward any questions . . . I’m fed up with St. Mary’s.”

In other business Monday, the commission voted to approve the Finance Committee’s action of awarding bids to purchase three new truck chassis and have existing box-type ambulance modules remounted on them.

The successful bidders were Peach State Ambulance, of Tyrone, Ga., for a 2010 GMC truck and remount work in the amount of $54,369, and two new GMC trucks from the Taylor Made Ambulance, of Newport, Ark., in the amount of $60,000 each. A provision was included in the motion which would allow all three to be obtained from Taylor Made, in the event that Peach State Ambulance does not agree to the arrangement.

Scott County Ambulance Service Director Jim Reed told the commissioners that the Ambulance Service “not asking for anything we want; we’re asking because we need it.”

He explained that two of the service’s fleet have been taken off the road due to mechanical problems and new units were badly needed.

Also Monday night, the commission:

• Approved a Scott County Energy Plan which was required to be in place to qualify for federal Energy Efficiency Grants to upgrade county buildings;

• By a 10-1 vote, with three commissioners absent and Ron Blevins casting the no vote, adopted the 12-day, 2010 holiday schedule for county employees;

• Approved adopting a name for a private road in the Bear Creek section (Tyannah Trail) for E-911 mapping purposes;

• Approved the bid purchase of a 2005 Dodge Durango SUV with 98,000 miles at a price of $8,995, to be paid for with funds from the 8th Judicial District’s Drug Task Force; and,

• Heard a report from Budget Committee member Ron Blevins that thus far, $3 million had been expended on the new school construction projects currently under way, and that the county was being charged a 1.56% monthly interest rate on those funds. He urged the commission to begin repayment of the note as soon as possible.