News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville City Council will hold an April work session with the Cookeville Regional Board of Trustees to help each entity gain a better understanding of the other.
Vice Mayor Laurin Wheaton serves on the CRMC Board of Trustees. She said that because the city owns the hospital, it has a responsibility to make sure the wants and needs of the community are being met.
“So I think coming together and making sure we understand that relationship,” Wheaton said. “And making sure that the hospital knows what the city council is looking for and wanting to do for the future for the hospital. Then in turn for the hospital, making sure city council understands those aspects.”
Wheaton said that being on city council, members do not always get an in-depth look at what is going on with the hospital. She said that after serving on the hospital’s board of trustees, she’s been able to learn much and more and is happy that the council also wants to expand their understanding.
Talks of a work session came about after the controversy between the city and the hospital last year. Wheaton said that work sessions of this nature used to happen semi-regularly, but that the pandemic prevented them from occuring. Wheaton said that through a two-day work session, the city council and the hospital hope to strengthen their partnership.
“The hospital has over $300 million in their budget which is huge obviously,” Wheaton said. “And so the city council wants to make sure that we understand what’s going on with the hospital, and the hospital, in turn, wants to make sure that city council has a good knowledge and that we’re working together just to figure out what the hospital needs coming from the board’s perspective and also from the city council’s. “
