Monday, November 27, 2023, 5:56 pm News Flash Archive

The reprieve granted last Tuesday for the life of two bids received by the city and county for Greenwood Leflore Hospital lasted only six days.

This afternoon, in a special meeting, the city council decapitated the two bids from Quentin Whitwell and Dr. Jawad Shah, voting to reject them both.

The vote appeared to be unanimous.

There was no discussion and no questions about the resolution rejecting the bids.

The meeting lasted two minutes.

Last Monday, we first reported that such a resolution rejecting all the bids was indeed on the agenda for last Tuesday's meeting. See our original reporting here: Greenwood City Council prepares to reject all bids for the lease or sale of Greenwood Leflore Hospital

These are the only bids received for the most recent RFP issued by the hospital owners for the lease or sale of the hospital.

But when the council met last Tuesday, it voted to table the bid rejection resolution until the next meeting, because several of the council members had not reviewed the bids, and didn't know what was going on.

See here our detailed reporting on that meeting, and a recitation of the perceived problems that caused the RFP counsel at Wise Carter to recommend that all bids be rejected: Greenwood City Council tables resolution to reject all bids for the sale or lease of Greenwood Leflore Hospital

When asked by The Taxpayers Channel why this rejection of the bids was so urgent that it couldn't wait until the regular Tuesday December 5th meeting of the council, Mayor Carolyn McAdams stated:

Not urgent but just trying to calm the staff and employees [at GLH] that this is something we want to put to rest, and they not worry about this issue.

The staff and employees have been on a roller coaster for years.

To view the 2 minute long council meeting, see here: Greenwood City Council Special Meeting, November 27, 2023

It is not clear how much reading and learning took place amongst city council members during the 6 days around Thanksgiving, but apparently it was enough to silence all opposition to rejecting the bids.

Now the community awaits word from CMS as to whether GLH will receive Critical Access status, and with it, higher Medicare reimbursement rates. The hospital administration has stated several times that GLH will have to close if the status is not granted.

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To review our reporting on GLH and its financial woes, please see here: Index of Greenwood Leflore Hospital news articles

 

John Pittman Hey
The Taxpayers Channel

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