The Columbia County Hospital Authority met for the first time on Thursday, July 6.
The newly appointed board members, Trey Allen, Dewey Galeas, Rick Richard and Ronnie Kurtz were all sworn in, while Walter Massingale was absent from the meeting. During the meeting, the board of directors voted Allen as chairman, Galeas as vice chair, Kurtz as secretary and Massingale as treasurer.
“It was an initial meeting where we formed our authority. We created the officers and approved the bylaws and we had a general discussion with council over the authority’s duties in regards to the new hospital and what the actions and requirements will be, primarily bonding for the new hospital,” Allen said of the first meeting.
The main purpose of the Columbia County Hospital Authority is to help bond and fund the new hospital that will be located in Grovetown.
“We’ll be able to take part in that with the Augusta University and Wellstar merger taking place,” Allen said. “We’ll be involved in helping smooth that process as they build that structure here in Columbia County.”
Board members read through the bylaws and asked a few clarifying questions to county staff about terms used and other items before approving them. Richards asked about if the bylaws could be amended and County Manager Scott Johnson said yes, it can be.
The authority will meet at least once a quarter but can meet more often if needed. The meetings will be held in the commissioner’s conference room on the second floor of Building B but can be moved to a larger space if needed.
“We’re not going to have to meet very often,” Allen said. “Traditional general requirements are going to be quarterly…there may be special meetings called depending on the timeline of the progress of the hospital’s construction, the financing requirements, the mergers and the agreements between Wellstar and AU, so we may be meeting more regularly than once a quarter, but looking forward we would be meeting about once every three months.”
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
