By Shannon McFarlin, News Director
Paris, Tenn.–It was a busy night for the Henry County Commission Monday, with an update from Henry County Medical Center CEO John Tucker, a report on grant applications being sought by WK&T for Broadband coverage in Henry County and a presentation to County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway by Paris Mayor Kathy Ray, on behalf of the Paris/Henry County Bicentennial Committee.
Ray presented Ridgeway a watercolor drawing created by Paris Artist Dan Knowles of the three courthouses that have graced the court square over the past 200 years. Ridgeway thanked Ray and the Bicentennial Committee for its work over the past two years in commemorating both the city of Paris and Henry County’s 200 years.
Tucker introduced everyone to the hospital’s new Chief Finance Officer Dirk Morgan, who comes to his position with experience at Murray-Calloway Co. Hospital; Deaconess Health System in Evansville; and Lifepoint Health and Capella Healthcare.
While acknowledging that the hospital handled the closure of its Obstetrics Department badly, Tucker said 50 percent of its employees have relocated to open positions elsewhere in the hospital organization. He noted that Dr. Chin of West Tennessee Healthcare is seeing patients in Paris with the opening of its Women’s Health Care-Paris Clinic.
The planned sale of the Henry County Healthcare Center is moving along, with “a handful” of interested buyers.
A joint meeting of the hospital board and county commission will be held at 5 p.m. October 30 at the hospital. Ridgeway said items will be on the agenda relative to the Private Act: change in the language to allow the hospital to sell the healthcare center; change in the language to allow the county the flexibility to increase the amount of property tax that can be used for the hospital (this would not be an increase in property taxes) and a change in the language to allow the addition or subtraction of the number of board members.
Tucker said projected cash flow shows improved revenue cycle performance over the next several months, reduction in organization-wide expenses with the closure of the OB and other expense management initiatives. He anticipates sale of the Healthcare Center at $9 M in March of 2024 with $4M to retire the line of credit. “We appear to be on target for breaking even”, Tucker said.
In other business:
–Trevor Bonnstetter of WK&T reported on the applications his organization has applied for to help complete the Broadband coverage in Henry Co. “We’re hopeful we’ll have a 100 percent rate in the next couple of years,” he said. He said WK&T looks for every chance it can to increase coverage for countians.
–Ridgeway and Henry Co. Emergency Management Agency Director Ron Watkins reported on the lease of a fire truck to the Henry Volunteer Fire Department. Fire chiefs in the county got together and voted on which department should receive the truck and decided upon Henry, Watkins said.
The truck was purchased by CDBG funds, Watkins said, and the county has been waiting for this truck for three years.
The truck is a 2023 Freightliner Southeast Pumper/Tanker and will lease it for $1 per year for a five-year period.
Photo: Paris Mayor Kathy Ray presents a painting of the three courthouses that graced the court square in Paris in the past 200 years to County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway. Shannon McFarlin photo.