At least one lawyer with the Jackson-based firm Butler Snow will discuss with supervisors Monday what his organization can do to assist Oktibbeha County if the board decides to move forward with a process that could result in the sale or lease of OCH Regional Medical Center.
Attorney Sam Keyes confirmed he and possibly another Butler Snow representative will attend the 9 a.m. meeting “to gather information on what the board wants” in terms of legal representation moving forward. The meeting is slated for the chancery courthouse.
Supervisors have not yet voted to hire Butler Snow as consultants, but board president Orlando Trainer previously said Monday’s engagement is not expected to cost the county.
The board also hasn’t voted to move forward with exploring transaction options for the county-owned hospital, but the next likely step in such a process would be to follow consultant Stroudwater and Associates’ suggestion that the county develop a request for proposals to gauge interest in a possible move.
Butler Snow representatives and county supervisors are expected to parse through the hospital issue and determine if the firm’s legal experience is needed as supervisors broach the possible RFP issuance and countywide election on the question of a transaction.
“We’re viewing Monday as an information-gathering session from our ends, too,” Keyes said. “Our business with Oktibbeha County isn’t to try to convince the county to sell the hospital; it’s to hear how we can help if supervisors decide to go through with the process. We know it’s a controversial issue, and with the issues that have already popped up, it’s clearly time to get counsel in addition to the specialists and consultants already involved in the process.”
Oktibbeha County has already sent a letter to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood’s office seeking guidance on a possible election and questioning the validity of a petition effort pushing for a referendum. Without a referendum, a simple majority of the five-member board of supervisors could decide to sell or lease OCH.
Specifically, the county asked the AG if the hospital question could be added to Nov. 7’s special election for chancery clerk.
That letter has not yet been answered, but Mary Kathryn Kight, OCH public information officer, previously said the AG’s office told her organization the petition’s language satisfied the requirements to seek an election on a transaction.
The Dispatch requested a copy of the AG’s opinion to the hospital verbally and through a text message to Kight, but OCH had not provided that document by press time.
On Saturday, hospital Chief Executive Officer Richard Hilton told The Dispatch he would share the information “as soon as possible” and that he plans to attend the county’s Monday meeting.
Starkville resident Frank Davis, who is leading the grassroots group circulating a petition to force a public vote on the issue, previously confirmed the group restarted the signature-collecting effort in December and had about half of the 1,500 names needed.
Since Davis and other hospital supporters began collecting signatures last year after supervisors approved a hospital assessment — the first step required by law before a governing body can explore a transaction –Trainer has questioned the need for and timing of the petition drive.
Since the board has neither voted to issue an RFP for the hospital, nor committed to selling or leasing the public health facility, he questioned the validity of a petition requiring a vote on a non-existent transaction.
“I think the public needs to understand, especially with that petition floating around — I’m afraid that it might be invalid,” Trainer said earlier this month. “Even the letter we received from the business community, the one that says leave the decision to hospital trustees — that’s contrary to the law. It’s up to the board to make that decision.”
On background, a majority of the board of supervisors have agreed that a countywide election will likely be the deciding factor for any sale or lease if three supervisors agree to give up control to an outside entity.
Even Ted Woodrell, a consultant hired by the county to guide it through the hospital analysis, recommended in a December email to supervisors that the county put the transaction question to a public vote.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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