News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A healthcare provider called Boa Vida has expressed interest in reopening the Cumberland River Hospital.
Celina Mayor Luke Collins said the group wants to ensure that the local community would be invested, so he proposed a compensation plan that would pay the company to reopen the facility.
“They just want to make sure that they have community buy-in,” Collins said. “It is important. This is to show that we are not just talking, and that we are willing to have some skin in the game.”
The Board of Aldermen approved the proposal that earmarks $250,000 for any company to operate the hospital. Collins said the incentive would be open to any company willing to step up.
“When a critical access hospital opens in Celina, they would receive $125,000 on opening day,” Collins said. “In six months, they would receive another $125,000. We hope to get the county to match that to make it $500,000. That would come out of the COVID money. It is a time of opportunity for us. In no other time would the city or county have that money available.”
Clay County Commissioner Winton Young was present for the meeting. Young said the opportunity sounds promising.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Young said. “I think most of the commissioners are interested in helping their community.”
Collins said Boa Vida indicated that they would invest over $3 million into the building to bring the hospital back to standard. However, Collins said the property remains privately owned, so it still needs to be purchased by a company
Boa Vida’s interest in reopening the facility dates back to June. Collins said at that time, the company signed a letter of intent to operate the hospital if the city borrowed $5.2 million and purchased the property. Collins said the city attorney advised against the deal, so it never came to the Board.
