BAMBERG - The chief executive officer of the Bamberg County Hospital gave Bamberg County Council members a positive financial report on the facility Monday night, saying the hospital is continuing to exercise strict fiscal management.

"The net income for March was $84,000. ... We are paying our mission-critical vendors appropriately," hospital CEO Roy Vinson said during a regular county council meeting.

Also during his financial report for March, Vinson noted that while patient volume was down 13 percent from the previous month and surgery had decreased 10 percent, the hospital's net revenue was up $70,000 from February.

"The expenses were up $84,000 from February, however, still down from (a) year-to-date (figure of) $1.7 million," he said.

Vinson also reported the hospital still hopes to close on the sale of the nursing center to Toccoa, Ga.-based UHS Pruitt company by June 1.

"We continue to work on the facility and the facility agreement. The roof on the nursing home must be repaired to be in line with the requirements of the lender. We continue to have ... weekly meetings to try to shepherd the process along," he said.

Vinson said renovations and inspections by the state Department of Health and Environmental Control at the hospital were going well. The federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare has mandated that renovations be made at the facility.

The emergency department is expected to move back into its original area in the next two weeks, Vinson said. CMS is also slated to return to survey the construction in late June, he said.

In other business, council:

*Gave final third reading to an ordinance to amend the county's flood damage prevention ordinance following a public hearing. County building inspector Bill Johnson has said the ordinance will make it easier for residents to receive FEMA reimbursements if they sustain flood damage. County Administrator Rose Dobson-Elliott said there were "no substantive changes" made to the ordinance.

*Heard a report from the administrator that the county received 39 requests for qualifications as part of the County Facilities Project. "This is going to be the fine comb to come in and kind of help us analyze what we have as far as buildings, assess staff needs and develop a plan, budget and get a time line for us to find funding to kind of move that forward. It's apparently a very hungry market," said Dobson-Elliott, adding that the county will start wading through the requests within the next two weeks.

She also reported on a meeting she and others attended in which Dalton Tresvant, aide to Sixth District Congressman and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, explained the allocation of federal stimulus money.

"We went over everything from Homeland Security to water/wastewater and health care. There are some applications in the works. I think everybody understands what type projects the county and the cities are looking to," the administrator said. "I think everybody took away a lot of good information."

* Heard Kelle Anderson, project manager with the Southern Carolina Alliance economic development group, report that the Alliance had the opportunity to showcase the county's industrial parks during a visit by project managers from the state Department of Commerce. He also talked about a DOC-sponsored campaign called Growing Your Business. The campaign includes looking at the county's industries to assess where their finished products are going and if there are any by-products that could be used for another purpose. Anderson said the Alliance is reviewing the three low bidders among companies looking to build a spec building at Bamberg's CrossRhodes industrial park.

* Gave first and second reading, by title only, to a mutual easement between Bamberg County Memorial Hospital and UHS Pruitt, the company buying the Bamberg County Nursing Center. Under the mutual easement, additional parking space would be created for nursing center staff while also providing parking for hospital staff.

"We will retain the right to have our hospital staff park on what we're giving up as easement," county attorney Richard Ness said. "At the same time, the nursing home staff will be able to park over where the hospital is. That's why we wanted a mutual easement."

Council voted to hold a public hearing and third reading of the easement ordinance at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 21.

* Voted to accept the audit report, for information only, before the start of the county's third and final budget work session. The work session is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 11.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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