Grassroots effort close to forcing OCH referendum
A petition has been filed that - if approved - would force a referendum in determining the future of OCH Regional Medical Center.
The Starkville City Clerk’s office is in the process of verifying or “qualifying” signatures, delivered to them by grassroots organizer Frank Davis, with some 800 more left to verify. If approved, a referendum would allow Oktibbeha County residents to vote on whether to sell, lease or maintain the county-owned medical center.
Election Deputy Clerk Sheryl Elmore told the SDN on Thursday she has processed roughly 1,200 to 1,300 signatures and still has more to go. The verification process is expected to be complete by the beginning of next week.
For a referendum to be forced, 1,500 qualified elector signatures are required on the petition - a threshold likely to be met once all the signatures have been confirmed.
Davis has been the point man on the petition and said organizers still have a few more signatures to deliver to the City Clerk.
“We have just a tiny number left and I’m getting them to (Elmore) probably in the next couple of days,” Davis said. “We are looking at a possibility of at least 2,000 signatures, so we are right around the corner.”
Davis told the SDN if the signatures are verified and exceed the threshold, then the next logical step would be to set a date for the county-wide referendum. He said the target date would likely be in early November.
“That’s where we are now,” Davis said. “(If decision comes to referendum) We come up with a date, then go from there. That’s really where we are but that’s pretty good, though.”
Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors President Orlando Trainer - who has been an outspoken proponent of selling or leasing the hospital - still had questions and concerns about the signatures, but said he hopes those in the county would be willing to follow the process currently being employed by the Board of Supervisors.
Trainer said he believes the petition has been revised from when it was first drafted and now would just decide on whether to have an election on the question.
“We are going to do what we need to do legally, but at the same time I think it would make a better process with better cooperation, because a lot of avenues need to be addressed,” Trainer said. “I think it is a good investment of county resources.”
Even if the referendum comes to fruition, it will not slam the brakes
on the process of shopping the hospital out to potential bidders. However, a vote against the sale would keep the county from further pursuing the deal past accepting proposals from bidders.
“My position is that we need to follow the process, and at this point now, it’s not a matter of buy, sell or keep,” Trainer said. “We need to follow our process and if we have a better opportunity, we need to go with it.”
Earlier this month, supervisors voted 3-2 in favor of a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the possible sale or lease of the hospital. Following the vote, Trainer expressed his satisfaction with the supervisor’s approving the deal.
District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery and District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard, both longtime opponents of an OCH sale or lease, voted no.
Davis said the county also stands to lose any future growth from a hospital that drastically redefined the local
landscape in years past.
“We had I think four doctors in 1974 and now we are in the 50 or 75 range,” Davis said. “We’ve come a long long way. And look at all the buildings that go from OCH all the way to Jackson Street. A lot of good things have happened in that time.”
OCH chief executivc officer Richard Hilton - who has been with OCH since 1983 - said in an interview with the SDN that worries are circulating among hospital staffers as to what the future could hold, due to the cloud of uncertainty surrounding the potential deal.
Hilton then pointed to Gilmore Memorial Hospital in Amory, which he said is on its third owner since first relinquishing local governmental control. Gilmore Memorial is currently a not-forprofit hospital after being purchased by Curae Health earlier this month.
“Once you are sold or leased, you don’t go back,” Hilton said. “The hospital then becomes a pawn and if the owner doesn’t like it, then a new owner comes in.”
OCH is the second largest
employer in Oktibbeha County in terms of payroll, and with an economic impact totaling $127 million, the staff of the hospital represents the cogs that keep the machine running efficiently.
“The hospital has not rallied with a large group of people to supplement what’s going on,” Hilton said. “If there was a collective large organization of people getting people engaged, there is no telling how many signatures would have been taken … a larger number would really show how great the community is behind the hospital and wants to keep it under self-governing local control.”
Many in the community have expressed fears of the impact had on employee retention for the hospital, but on the bigger stage, the economic impact had by the hospital on the local economy could see a sharp downturn.
“We have a good group of hospital employees … and our hospital is playing a role in between education, health care and business development,” Hilton said. “That
can change when acquisition resources take away from what’s purchased here locally and purchased somewhere else. Will the community die from it? No. There will just be less (economic impact).”
Hilton said from a statute standpoint, the time frame of when a referendum has to be called is not specified in terms of its impact on moves by the Board of Supervisors.
“So that’s within the discretion of the supervisors,” Hilton said. “We hope it is called as soon as possible and not delayed. If it’s the will of the people that the hospital not be sold, then that needs to be put down.”
While Davis has spent his time canvasing for support, he said he acknowledges there are some in the community that feel selling the hospital would be the right decision. However, he said he knows a sizable population of committed citizens who oppose any deal.
“I know a lot of the older people that had gone to OCH and had been taken care of,” Davis said. “They are all for keeping it and it makes sense.”