Supes receive “adequate” number of OCH proposals
The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors approved a special call meeting to discuss the bid proposals it received in regards to the sale of the OCH Regional Medical Center during its meeting on Monday.
The board agreed to meet on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 3 p.m. to have its counsel rank, evaluate and provide a more informational stance on the submitted proposals.
Board consultant Ted Woodrell said due to confidentiality agreements with all of the respondents, he will not be able to release any information, including the number of bid proposals the county received.
The only confirmation Woodrell could provide to the Starkville Daily News is the board received an “adequate number of responses.”
“I really can't comment on the proposals until after the Board of Supervisors hears our report,” Woodrell said.
During the special call meeting, the board was advised to have its discussion on the proposals in executive session.
This will allow the board to discuss freely about those who submitted proposals. The board said the reasoning for a closed session is due to the amount of sensitive information, which could hurt both the hospital or the company submitting a proposal if the information were public.
“We will score them, which basically means compare their
responses of the proposals to the RFP requirements,” Woodrell said. “All we can do is present the information and (the board) ultimately has to make a decision yay or nay.”
Throughout the process, Woodrell said the public has had access to the RFP, which allows residents to see what questions the board is asking of those who submitted proposals.
“I don't believe the number will ever be released,” Woodrell said. “Until we get to the point where we're really down to a deal
there's not a lot of additional information that will be shared with the public.”
As the process continues, Woodrell said the final proposals are subject to change because there is still information missing it needs to accurately and thoroughly provide for those who submitted the proposals.
Woodrell said all the board can really do at this point is discuss and narrow down the best choice until after the special election on Nov. 7, which includes a referendum on the sale of the hospital.
“The bottom line is, assuming we have action by the board to continue, we really won't do much until after the referendum,” Woodrell said. “It kind of sits there until that occurs.”