|
|
News
Ducktown to help fund suit against Basin hospital
BY DUB JOINER, STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 8:03 AM CDT
The Ducktown City Commission has agreed to share in the cost of a possible lawsuit against the Copper Basin Community Hospital Inc. that the trustees of Copper Basin Hospital District are expected to file soon.
Ducktown Mayor James Talley said the lawsuit is the result of an on-going conflict between the two boards over back debt and hospital management.
“I feel that the lawsuit is what needs to be done to settle the situation,” Talley said. “The hospital continues to go into debt at nearly $40,000 per month, and we cannot afford that.”
He said the city of Ducktown, as well as the city of Copperhill and Polk County, are ultimately liable for the hospital debts and the lawsuit is necessary for protection from those debts.
“It’s a mess,” Talley said about the problems which started several year ago, “and the debts have escalated since then.”
He said the contract between the trustees and the corporate hospital board was changed a couple of years ago and signed under duress.
“When it was signed the last time, it was changed so that the district board was liable for the hospital debts,” Talley said. “That was not in the original contract.”
He said in the original contract, the corporate board that operated the hospital was responsible for its own debts, and at that time, the hospital was in the black financially.
“Now, the hospital is more than $3 million in debt and it’s growing at about $40,000 per month,” Talley said.
To pay for the lawsuit, Ducktown commissioners agreed to pay $2,000 toward attorney fees.
Talley said Copperhill has been asked to pay the same amount while the Polk County Commission has been asked to pay $4,000.
 printable version  e-mail this story
New Leaf donates to Open Arms
|
|
|
|
RSS Feeds | Place A Classified Ad | Copyright © 2009 
