' I i X ) I i - v , , , i " J J I . 1 1 , - - , - --rr - . X "" - 1 1 '. ,' . t . . ..'i.S ... V""""t VERNAL CITY Councilmen raise their hands to give the county the deed to the hospital property. proper-ty. Four councilmen, Gene Anfinson, Jack Stagg, Greg Hawkins and Jack Seitz voted in favor of signing the deed to the county. City uoves 4fo 1 ?q give quit-claim on hospital faving claimed the city's portion of hospital block, the Uintah jaty Commissioners sold the ppital to Hospital Corporation of "erica (HCA) Monday morning for '.34,306, but it wasn't without a fight. a special meeting last Wednesday, Vernal City Council approved 4-1 to ? a quit-claim deed on their one-J'th one-J'th portion of the hospital property. tyor Samuel Snyder told those at S meeting that he opposed signing r -r the deed unless a buy -back agree-P'i agree-P'i tied to the original price of the , l,was included in the contract of "HCA does what they say they are, "'we have no problem," Snyder said. only thing we want is good sound medical care at a fair price. A buy-back agreement is the only insurance we have." "I received a telegram from Community Com-munity Health Service and they have a buy-back agreement in their contract," Snyder said. "They also said they would help with a nursing home, but didn't want a bidding war with HCA." The mayor then entertained comments com-ments from the group attending the meeting who were in equal numbers for and against the sale of the hospital. An Orem attorney, Federick A. Jackman, representing those opposed to the sale of the hospital, said "We intend in-tend to stop the sell of the hospital." He said there were several problems with the sale of the hospital and said his group was willing to go to court to stop the sale. He said that the county cannot sell property unless it has retired the bond. "Is it prudent to include the city in the county's mess?" Jackman asked the group. Uintah County Commissioner Neal Domgaard told the group that "V'e feel ' we have a good contract." "HCA is top in the nation and is more likely to stay in the community. We don't want to buy back the hospital, if so, we wouldn't sell it." Domgaard said that the commissioners commis-sioners choose not to bid the hospital because it isn't a bid item. "Other hospital corporations have not been (Continued on Page 2) Quit-claim deed - - - (Continued from Page 1) willing to put a figure to the hospital." Even though the 1947 deed between the county and Vernal City says that if the property is ever not used for a county coun-ty hospital the land will revert back to the county and not the city, which attor-nies attor-nies at the meeting said was a typographical error. "It is a lot better if we don't have to challenge it in court to lift the cloud," Domgaard said. Paul James Toscano, another' Orem attorney hired by the concerned citizens opposed to the sale, advised the council not to "give away their interest in the hospital for nothing - sell it, but not for money." "Pass a resolution requiring the county to spell out a buy back agreement agree-ment which allows you to trigger the buy back," he advised. County Attorney Clark Allred said that four months ago he had looked into the bonding issue, and it has been taken care of. "Yes, the loose ends are tied down, we are ready to go," Allred assured the group. Mayor Snyder said that it was indicated in-dicated to him that there would be a buy-back agreement in the contract, but when he finally got to read the contract, con-tract, there wasn't any. Allred told the mayor that the agreement agree-ment had always been that the county had the first right of refusal if HCA decided to sell the hospital, plus the county can't build another hospital for 10 years. Dr. Dennis Winder asked the council what guarantee did HCA provide for performance level? "Yes HCA is good, at making money from health care." Dr. Winder is the only doctor at the Uintah Uin-tah County Hospital opposed to its sale to HCA. Toscano said he believes there is a problem with the sale since the county is selling the hospital for less than it cost to build it. He interrupted this to be contrary to state law saying, "No county coun-ty shall give credit or aid to a private corporation." Domgaard said that the state attorney at-torney general had checked the guideline in the contract and had waived waiv-ed the 30-day waiting period because he didn't find anything wrong with the contract. con-tract. Vernal City attorney David Burm-ingham, Burm-ingham, upon request of Mayor Snyder, told the council that "there were no problems pro-blems legally with either way the city decided on the deed." Councilman Jack Seitz then moved to cooperate with the county and give them deed to the city's southeast corner of the hospital property. Included in his motion was a recommendation to the county to conceive a workable buy-back agreement or shorten the incompetition clause in the contract from 10 years to five years. After some discussion from opposing attornies and the mayor, Councilman Jack Stagg seconded Seitz 's motion. "In the eight years I've been on the city council, it has been my opinion the city should stay out of the medical business," "I'm disgusted that this issue has turned into a political fiasco," Stagg said. After some question from Jackman of conflicting interests of one of the coun-cilmen, coun-cilmen, Gene Anfinson, was cleared; the motion was approved by the council. coun-cil. Councilman Karl Migliori cast the only on-ly opposing vote, for which he received a round of applause from the south-side of the room who opposed the sale of the hospital. In melodrama fashion, the north side of the room applauded the council's decision. The sale of the hospital was solidified Monday morning as the money was transfered to a local bank from HCA, said Domgaard this week. "We telephoned Iron County (which has sold their hospital to a private enterprise) and they read back their contract to our attorney," Domgaard said. "Their contract was the same as ours except their noncompetition clause is only five years." HCA agreed to the five year noncompetition non-competition clause this morning," Domgaard said Monday. Mayor Snyder refused to sign the deed to the county Friday of last week, but in this week's council meeting a mayor pro tempore will be elected by the council, who will sign over the deed, city officials said. The reason HCA paid more for the hospital than the $3.5 million price tag was there were over $400,000 in accounts ac-counts receivable. Commissioners indicated Monday that although a court injunction to stop the sale of the hospital had been rumored, none had been filed and the sale has been finalized.