A lawyer advising Leflore County on its use of American Rescue Plan Act funds says his firm is still awaiting documentation from Greenwood Leflore Hospital before finalizing the paperwork to provide stopgap funding to the financially troubled medical institution.
Parker Berry with the Ridgeland-based law firm Butler Snow appeared before the county Board of Supervisors on Monday to update it on ARPA-funded projects.
One of those is the county’s plan to use $2.25 million of its ARPA allocation to help the hospital remain open while work continues on a long-term viability plan.
The hospital, which is jointly owned by Greenwood and Leflore County, has said it would have to shut down by early January without an infusion of cash. The City Council is expected to approve a matching amount of supplemental funding.
Berry said his firm had requested from the hospital last week a budget detailing how it would use the ARPA funding.
“They can’t spend this money on debt service payments. They can’t spend this money on pension benefits. So they can’t use it for their purse requirements. There’s restrictions for that, so we’ve got to get some specifics,” Berry said.
He said the hospital has submitted a letter to the firm requesting the ARPA funds as well as recent financial statements, but the firm is still waiting on the proposed expenditures in order to move forward with finalizing the resolution for the supervisors to approve.
Betty Sanders, who is presently acting as the county board’s attorney, said the plan had been for Berry to present the resolution on Monday.
“To be clear,” District 3’s Anjuan Brown said, “it’s not the Board of Supervisors holding us up. We’re waiting on documentation from the hospital.”
Berry also discussed projects for new heating and air units at the Greenwood Community Center and Greenwood Community and Recreation Center.
In July, the county agreed to provide up to $105,000 in ARPA funds for the two projects combined. Berry told the board the county would be responsible for payment once the work was completed and proper documentation had been submitted.
The board voted 4-1 Monday to approve the resolutions committing the funds, with District 1’s Sam Abraham dissenting because of his concern with the payment process.
He asked that the resolutions presented by Berry be modified to ensure both community centers pay the contractor on the job prior to the county releasing any funds.
“The only thing I’m trying to do right now is cover this board,” he said. “If they write a check and we give them ours the same day, there’s no covering it. I want them to write a check, and that check go out, and (then) we put our money in.”
District 2’s Reginald Moore argued that it was understood in July — at the time of the board’s initial approval for the projects — that the community centers would not be able to front the full amount required, though each center is putting up some funds. He said that is why the board was asked to help in the first place.
“We’re both going to have some skin in the game,” he said. “I trust this process the way it is right now because it requires the documentation.”
In other business, the board:
- Heard from Marcellus Gray, who recently organized the 21 Days of Prayer in response to gun violence in the community. Gray asked the board to support a community rally and town hall meeting Dec. 17 to address the issue further.
- Voted 3-2 to approve the minutes from the seven meetings the board held in August. Abraham and Brown cast the dissenting votes.
Abraham said he voted no due to discrepancies in his personally kept minutes and the minutes kept by the Chancery Clerk’s Office, but he declined to say what specific discrepancies those were. Brown voted no because he had not yet reviewed the minutes.
- Entered a half-hour executive session to discuss litigation but took no action.
When back in open session, the board voted to allow Sanders to work on some cases left by the late board attorney Joyce Chiles.
- Contact Katherine Parker at 662-581-7239 or kparker@gwcommonwealth.com.
