Hope City Board Holds Special Meeting, Votes to Purchase Hope Hospital With Hempstead County

The Hope City Board met for a special called meeting on Friday (6-28). The main topic of the meeting was the alteration of a resolution passed last week concerning the hospital in Hope. The previous resolution made funds available for the payment of salaries. The resolution was altered in order to allow for the purchase and maintenance of the hospital. Medical Properties Trust, the current owner of the property has accepted an offer on the hospital to be purchased jointly by the City of Hope and Hempstead County. The agreement has been approved by City Attorney Randy Wright.

The City and County will be splitting the costs with $250,000 provided by each for a total of $500,000. Anna Powell of the Southwest Arkansas Healthcare Authority she knew it was a lot of money and did not ask lightly but she felt it was a good price. If the purchase goes through, the city and county will jointly own the land while the Southwest Arkansas Healthcare Authority would be the lease holder and Jamie Pafford-Gresham would run the hospital.  SWAHA would be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the building. Powell noted state ARPA funds would be key when it came to maintenance. These will have to be approved by legislative committee.

City Director Mark Ross asked about if there will be a press conference when this is all over and was told yes. Pafford-Gresham said there was a desire to keep everyone informed.

Director Steve Montgomery said he appreciated all the help from those involved in keeping the hospital running.

A motion was made and passed to approve the new wording of the resolution allowing the money to be used for the purchase and maintenance of the hospital. If the purchase succeeds, $250,000 of the $1,000,000 approved to be spent on the hospital would be used to purchase the property while the rest ($750,000) would be used for the upkeep, maintenance and salaries. In the event the hospital was not purchased, the full amount could be used for operations and maintenance.

In other news on Sixth Street pavement is expected to begin on July 9th.

The meeting adjourned.