The Leflore County Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of a residential property on River Road by Greenwood Leflore Hospital at its Monday meeting.
The Greenwood City Council approved the purchase last week.
The house is adjacent to two other properties already owned by the hospital, both of which currently house clinics, and is down the street from a third, currently unused.
Hospital CEO and Executive Director Jim Jackson said the space would likely be used for clinics currently being run out of leased property or for office space, thereby freeing up room within the main hospital building for medical services.
“Space is a premium for the hospital right now,” Jackson told the board. “We are continuing to expand our services by bringing in new providers.”
The hospital, which is required to obtain board approval before making any real estate purchase that will affect county tax rolls, has signed a sales agreement to pay $125,000 for the property, recently appraised at $130,000.
The board had few reservations about seeing the property change hands, noting that it had only earned the county $104.05 in real estate taxes last year.
Also Monday, the board agreed to rent part of the business incubator building on U.S. 82 in Itta Bena to Mississippi Valley State University for a year at the request of MVSU President William B. Bynum and Athletic Director Dianthia Ford-Kee. The university plans to use the space in coordination with Cornerstone Rehabilitation Services to provide sports medicine and athletic training services to student athletes.
“This shared partnership will allow us to provide better services to our student athletes and to get them into rehab and back on the other side of campus to class,” said Ford-Kee.
MVSU will lease the property for $1,000 per month plus utilities. “It’s not going to be expensive, and it’s not going to be a giveaway,” said Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham.
Ford-Kee told the board that MVSU wanted to begin by leasing for a year but hoped to continue for much longer.
“It would be our plan to be there indefinitely if possible,” agreed Bynum. “As long as MVSU has athletes, there will be athletes that need sports medicine care.”
In other business Monday, the board approved:
• The employment of Kendrick Foreman as deputy sheriff.
• The hiring of Tasha L. Johnson as an E911 dispatcher and salary increase for dispatchers from $10.19 to $11 an hour.
• A request from Emergency Management Director Fred Randle to designate the parking lots of the Leflore County Civic Center, the Leflore County Agri Center and the business incubator building as emergency staging areas. Randle said that in the event of a disaster, the staging areas would provide valuable spaces from which to organize an effective response.
• Contact Nick Rogers at 581-7235 or nrogers@gwcommonwealth.com.
