Tuesday, December 5, 2023, 6:55 pm News Flash Archive

The tragic saga of the financial collapse of the Greenwood Leflore Hospital sunk to new depths yesterday when, as it threatened to do, the Leflore County Board of Supervisors filed a lawsuit in the Leflore County Chancery Court against Greenwood Fire Chief Marcus Banks and the City of Greenwood.

The lawsuit is the latest twist in the fierce standoff between the county and the city over who will hold the joint appointment to the Greenwood Leflore Hospital board of trustees.

For several decades, the county appointed three of the five trustees, in violation of state law. See our original reporting here: A.G. says Hospital Board Illegally Appointed

Under state law, the city is to appoint two trustees, the county supervisors are to appoint two trustees, and the fifth trustee is to be appointed jointly.

Upon discovering this fact in 2018, Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams appointed fire chief Marcus Banks to the hospital board of trustees, and the city council confirmed his appointment. The Board of Supervisors also appointed Mr. Banks to the same position, so the joint appointment was made.

But now that Marcus Banks has served his five year term as the joint appointee, the city and the county cannot agree on a trustee to replace him.

Greenwood voted to reappoint Banks as the joint appointee, while the county voted to appoint Margie Pulley as the joint appointee. Sparks have continued to fly ever since. See our reporting here: Sparks fly at city council meeting discussion of hospital board reappointment

Since no new trustee has been lawfully appointed due to this disagreement, Chief Banks has "held over" and continued to act as the fifth hospital trustee since June 2023 when his term formally expired.

This angered the county supervisors, who threatened several times in the past three months to sue Banks and the city, to stop him from continuing to serve as the fifth hospital trustee. Yesterday, they finally did.

The case was initially assigned to Chancellor W. M. Sanders, who promptly recused herself. The case was then re-assigned to Chancellor Willie J. Perkins, Sr. of Greenwood.

The supervisors are represented by their new board attorney Kelvin Pulley, who is also the son of their rival appointee, Margie Pulley.

The lawsuit may be read here: Leflore County Supervisors v. Marcus Banks and City of Greenwood Complaint

Banks has gone on record stating that the Board of Supervisors opposes his reappointment because they want to fire the hospital's Interim CEO Gary Marchand, but he and the other two city appointees refuse to do so. Those three trustees have praised Marchand for his leadership during the ongoing financial crisis at the hospital.

Yesterday's lawsuit is styled as an "Emergency Petition for Temporary Preliminary and Permanent Injunction." Specifically, the Supervisors are asking the court to enter an order forbidding Mr. Banks from continuing to serve or act as a hospital trustee.

The supervisors claim that Banks' continued service will do real harm to the county, the hospital, and the citizens, although no actual examples are cited in the complaint. The implication is that Banks is not voting on hospital matters the way the supervisors would like him to vote, while he continues to serve as a joint appointee by the city and the county.

The complaint points out that there is no law authorizing Banks to continue to serve until his replacement is appointed.

On the other hand, the law doesn't provide for situations in which joint appointments cannot be agreed upon by the city and the county.

Presumably, Mr. Banks and the city will quickly file some sort of answer to the complaint.

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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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