Quorum Court hears annual hospital report
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
Members of the Washington County Quorum Court on Thursday night heard their annual report about Washington Regional Medical Center from its president and CEO, Bill Bradley.
The biggest news for the past year was the $ 64 million expansion project at the hospital to provide more bed capacity, double the capacity of the Emergency Department and add kitchen facilities on-site.
"I really appreciated our board of directors and their commitment to do that in challenging times like this in health care and, really, for everybody," Bradley said.
He outlined several parts of the expansion - including the new fifth floor that opened on Sept. 4 and the Emergency Department expansion.
Justice of the Peace David Daniel asked about the aver- age waiting time for emergency patients. Bradley said it is an average of about three hours, 30 minutes, depending on the condition being treated.
"We hope the expansion helps us cut that by about a third," Bradley said.
In another matter Thursday, County Judge Jerry Hunton agreed with the Quorum Court's Energy Committee to advertise requests for qualifications for an energy audit of the county's buildings.
An Arkansas statute passed in 2005 allows the issuance of revenue bonds to pay for energy audits to be retired via the energy-efficient cost-savings payments. But County Attorney George Butler is awaiting a state attorney general's opinion on the constitutionality of using tax funds for bond issues without an election. The other option is to retire juvenile detention center bonds and pay for the audit with funds and fees that presently go to pay off that bond.
It is unclear which method will be used.
Hunton said it would be OK to go ahead and advertise the request for qualifications and receive responses from firms interested in performing the audit.
Also Thursday, the Quorum Court voted to approve taking $ 100, 000 from general fund short-term contingencies to pay for the upfront purchase of fuel that will be reimbursed from other county departments. Fuel will be pumped from the county's two locations. This upfront purchase will save the county 7 percent in fuel costs because there are no network or convenience store fees charged.
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