Newspaper Page Text
Friday, December 25,2015
Lake Oconee News
Page A3
MORGAN COUNTY
Half-million mark reached in drive to build hospital
Jeff Warren
jeff@lakeoconeenews.us
During a meeting of the
Morgan County Hospital
Authority Dec. 17, hospital
Community Relations
Director Megan Morris
announced reaching the
halfway mark in the capital
fundraising campaign for
construction of an all-new
medical facility. Close
to $500,000 have been
pledged.
“A lot of that is grass
roots effort,” Morris told
authority members and
others present, includ
ing county commission
members. “We’re reaching
out to everybody, because
this hospital is important
to all of us.” Some $95,000
pledged came from hospital
employees, Morris said. A
single $150,000 donation
from the Bank of Madison
put the growing fund
balance halfway to its mil-
lion-dollar goal, she said.
“When we get to one
million, it will double,”
Morris added. The second
million is pledged from an
anonymous donor offering
to match with a million if
the capital campaign ac
cumulates $1 million in
donations by Feb. 15, 2016.
A large sign in the hospital’s
front yard near S. Main
Street shows campaign
progress as donations ac
cumulate, raising the tem
perature on a depiction
of an old-fashioned glass
medical thermometer.
In time reserved for old
business, the authority
voted to accept the inter
governmental agreement
between the hospital au
thority and county gov
ernment approved by the
Morgan County Commis
sion in a special called
meeting Dec. 15. “Now I
am really, really proud you
folks have stepped up to the
plate,” Hospital Authority
Chairman Terry Evans told
members of the commis
sion, all of them present at
the authority meeting.
In light of some citizen
concern over the million
dollars per year to be paid
by the county over 25 years
under the agreement,
Evans compared that
amount to county spending
for other purposes. After
listing the much larger
county expense for public
safety, Evans said the
county spends $1 million
yearly (what the hospital
agreement is slated to cost)
on its recreation depart
ment.
Before the vote to accept
the agreement, hospital
authority attorney, Terry
Massey, explained the
lender for hospital con
struction also must approve
the pact for it to take
effect. Language added
to the agreement outlines
how hospital authority
members are appointed,
he said, and requires that
any hospital expenditure
as large as $200,000 must
be approved by county
government. Massey rec
ommended approval of the
agreement, and members
voted that unanimously.
Near the start of the
meeting, representatives of
accounting firm, Draffin
& Tucker, gave results of
the hospital’s most recent
financial audit. “The books
are being kept very well,”
said Draffin & Tucker CPA,
Keara Dowling. “They’re
clean. You don’t have to
make many changes.
They’re all in order.”
The hospital showed
a $500,000 net income,
more than in the recent
past, Dowling said. Long
term debt is 20 percent of
total liabilities, she said.
That amount is decreasing,
she added, with bonds to be
paid off during 2017. Two
years and one day from
June 30, 2015, the hospital
should have its present debt
paid off, Dowling told au
thority members.
Her supervisor, CPA
Jimmie Richter, pro
nounced it “a very good
year.” “Your revenue is up;
a very good bottom line,” he
said.
GREENE COUNTY
LOA grants BOE request
Retreat with two boards planned in January
Lake Oconee Academy
Governance Board has
decided to grant the
Greene County Board of
Education’s request for
clarification and 90-day
extension on the school’s
charter renewal applica
tion, LOA CEO Dr. Otho
Tucker said Monday.
The boards are planning
a retreat, which is tenta
tively scheduled for Jan.
23, 2016, and no further
decisions will be made
until after that meeting, he
said.
Tucker was not available
for further comment by
press time.
- Jackie Gutknecht
GREENE COUNTY
Lewis questions city employee raises
Jackie Gutknecht
jackie@lakeoconeenews.us
The City of Greensboro will look at
changing its policy regarding annual
employee raises in 2016, after Councilman
Vince Lewis brought up the topic during
Monday night’s council meeting.
Mayor Glenn Wright suggested the
council get together for a work session
to figure out the best course of action for
future raises and incentives. Councilman
Chris Moore said he thought quarterly
evaluations by supervisors would be a good
start to determine wage increases.
Currently, supervisors designate a
1-3 percent wage per employee and City
Manager Larry Postell reviews the recom
mendations before bringing them to the
council.
Lewis said the council needs to have
some sort of methodology in place to
ensure the raises were fair.
“I want everybody to get a fair shake,” he
said. “As fair as fair can be.”
The council approved the 2015 raise rec
ommendations - with only Lewis opposing
- and approved a 3 percent raise for Postell.
Hospital
Continued from A1
forward to speak with
Commission Chairman
Andy Ainslie. They had
hoped to make a public
comment before the vote,
they explained, and ex
pressed displeasure at not
being allowed to speak.
It is understood the
yearly $1 million the
county provides to the
hospital authority under
the agreement will be
used to pay back the
lender who makes a loan
to the authority to build
the planned new hospital.
During the work session
before the vote, Clack
addressed a question to
County Attorney Chris
tian Henry.
“I’ve had numerous
calls concerning what
happens in the event of a
default,” Clack said. He
asked what would happen
under the arrangement
if the hospital authority
failed in paying back the
construction loan to the
lender.
“For us, it is my under
standing that under this
agreement, in the event
of the default, the county
would still owe the $1
million a year to the lender
anyway,” Henry answered.
As the vote was taken,
Clack announced he would
abstain for a personal
reason. Ainslie quickly clar
ified Clack’s abstention was
because Clack’s wife and son
both work at the hospital.
Speaking for himself,
Ainslie added he would vote
in favor of the agreement if
he could. The commission
chairman may only vote to
break a tie vote between the
other commissioners.
The chairman granted
Milton’s request to explain
his vote against the agree
ment. “Our citizens have
been very divided on it,
sending petitions, phone
calls and letters,” Milton
said. He does not oppose a
medical facility, he said, but
expressed concern over the
annual expense under the
arrangement and the quar
ter-century duration of the
pact.
“We had to raise taxes
last year,” Milton recalled.
“Nobody liked doing it. If the
timing were right, we might
could do this,” he reasoned.
“Half the people in the
county believe this is going
to cause a tax increase, and
they don’t want to pay more
taxes.”
A SMOKIN'DEAL FORFALlI
A Big Green Egg
LARGE GRILL with LONG PINE TABLE
218 S. MAIN ST., MADISON • 706.342.4141. • THRIFTYMACDRUG.COM
Clarification:
County firefighters helped fight city fire
A story in the Dec. 18
edition reporting fire
damage to the two-sto-
ry Vason Building of
downtown Madison failed
to mention the participa
tion of Morgan County
Fire Rescue personnel. By a
mutual support agreement
between the county and
Madison, any structure fire
in the city automatically
brings help from county fire
units.
County fire stations 2, 4,
and 16 responded. Fulltime
paid county firefighter
Russ McHugh served as
acting battalion chief on the
Vason fire. He was incident
commander, directing the
attack as fire fighting went
forward. The privately
owned aerial platform fire
truck of the Nesbitt Repair
company also worked at
the scene. Operator Frank
Nesbitt carried a firefighter
aloft to check the building’s
roof.
The initial fire battle took
place in the dark during the
first hours of the morning.
Three Madison firefighters
and two county firefighters
teamed, climbing stairs to
the second story and pulling
down the ceiling to hose the
fire overhead. The fire later
re-flashed before dawn and
a second time after daylight
with firefighters returning
each time.
Embers among old cel
lulose insulation caused
the rekindling, explained
Madison Fire Chief Tim
Carter the day after the
fire. Cellulose insulation is
essentially shredded news
paper, he said. On the final
revisit, application of foam
as a surface agent acted on
applied water to thoroughly
soak wood and insulation,
at last putting the fire out
for good.
— Jeff Warre n
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and share your own at
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Bill McLeese
Cardiovascular Patient
We put people first.
■
■
Athens Regional
HEALTH SYSTEM
