The Greenwood City Council has approved a request from the Greenwood Leflore Hospital Board that it be allowed to solicit proposals from entities interested in leasing the hospital.
The council went into executive session to discuss the situation after its regular Tuesday meeting. Attorneys John England and Sam Keys from the Butler Snow law firm of Ridgeland discussed the request with the council.
The Leflore County Board of Supervisors had earlier approved the same request from the hospital board. For the hospital to enter into a long-term lease agreement with another organization, the request had to be approved by both governing bodies since the hospital is jointly owned by the city and the county.
The hospital board has been investigating the possibility of leasing the medical facility’s operation to an outside entity in light of a financial downturn at the hospital in recent years.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital reported losses of $22.4 million in fiscal year 2016-17 and $5.9 million the year before. Of the $22.4 million, about two-thirds was caused by new accounting standards requiring hospitals to more quickly write off patient balances that are unlikely to be collected.
Sammy Foster, vice chairman of the hospital board, has said that the leasing possibility is unconnected to the board’s recent interviews with a potential interim CEO for the hospital.
The hospital board has met in executive session with representatives from the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a CEO candidate UMMC has recommended. The hospital has been without a CEO since Jim Jackson was fired in March.
Also during Tuesday’s executive session, McAdams said Angela Curry, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Board and the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation, updated the council on a prospective business interested in coming to Greenwood.
In other business, the council approved a slew of annual reappointments:
• Cinderella Morris as clerk of the council.
• Don Brock as city attorney and special prosecutor for code violations.
• Carlos Palmer as municipal court judge. Ward 7 Councilman Carl Palmer, who is Carlos Palmer’s father, recused himself from the vote.
• Elizabeth Davis as public defender.
• Charlie Swayze III as prosecuting attorney.
The City Council also approved a $500 donation to the Leflore County Alumni Chapter of Mississippi Valley State University for a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of the Mississippi Delta.
• Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@gwcommonwealth.com.
