Lee County hospital is ‘on the clock’ with six-month extension

LEESBURG — Billy Mathis admits that the challenge presented to the Lee County officials and private individuals who remain hell-bent and determined to build a hospital in the county is a daunting one … actually, an insurmountable one.

Talking about the glimmer of hope that the Department of Public Health gave partners in the Lee County Medical Center venture by granting a six-month extension on the project, Mathis conceded that the DCH had asked for the impossible.

“Certainly the folks at the Department of Community Health know that you can’t build a hospital in six months,” Mathis said Friday. “But that’s the way the state operates. You have to do it piece by piece, show them that you’re doing what you need to do to move things forward.

“I think that’s what will happen.”

The timing of the latest extension to Lee County’s certificate of need opened another bone of contention for the beleaguered hospital project. Because a five-year “gag-order” period during which officials at Albany-based Phoebe Putney Health System were not allowed to oppose health care facilities built in Phoebe’s “neighborhood,” an order imposed by the Federal Trade Commission after Phoebe purchased the Health Care of America-owned Palmyra Medical Centers, has expired, Phoebe officials had the right to challenge the extension recently granted by DCH.

But, Phoebe Health System President/CEO Scott Steiner said Friday, Phoebe has not so much challenged the Lee County extension as it has questioned the feasibility of that extension.

“I wouldn’t say we objected to their request; it was more like a suggestion that, under DCH guidelines, they have no more extensions,” Steiner said. “Eddie Alexander, who is supposed to be building the hospital, has asked for multiple extensions. First it was all the rain, and of course, now they can’t even get (possible health systems that would run the facility) to even look at the property with COVID going on.

“(Alexander) has exhausted the number of extensions allowed under state law, and yet he’s back asking for more time. They’ve had several years now to build a hospital. If they were going to build one, they would have done so. We simply pointed out that, under state law, this current extension should not be allowed.”

In what may be a sign that DCH’s patience is indeed growing thin, the agency granted Lee Medical Center principals the six-month extension rather than the 30 months they’d sought. Mathis, though, said the extension was granted because Lee officials had shown substantial progress in their efforts to get the project moving forward.

“We’ve been working on that site for a long time,” he said. “We had an agreement in place to take on the rain water from the businesses surrounding the (nearby) Albany Mall, and when there was a significant rain event, the (former Grand Island golf course on which the Lee hospital is to be built) would capture the water.

“We hired an engineer and have designed and constructed an outflow system to carry the overflow to the (Kinchafoonee) creek. There’s no worry about the water now, and we’re ready to go in and fill the low places on all that property.”

Mathis said Lee County’s master plan for the former golf course is “an entertainment-type development.”

“It’s not just the hospital; we’re looking at an outdoor mall, an amphitheater, unique businesses with perhaps residential elements,” he said. “That site work’s been a chore, but we’re ready to move forward. In fact, the commission has voted to allocate the funds to finish the (site work).”

Steiner said that while Phoebe officials are frustrated by the state’s refusal to follow its own guidelines, they understand the constraints under which health care officials are operating.

“Honestly, I think their plate is so full, with COVID and other health issues, that this is just a rubber-stamp extension,” he said. “I don’t blame them; they have their hands full. But if, as the Lee County folks say, Eddie Alexander and the county have the financing in order to complete this hospital, perhaps the state can spare someone to come down and check out what’s really going on on that site. It’s much closer to being a golf course than it is a hospital.”

Mathis said the next step for Lee officials is to issue bonds that will finance construction of the hospital. And he called the most current certificate of need extension and the failure of Phoebe to stop that extension a “victory” for Lee County and a “loss” for the Albany hospital system.

“If they build it, they build it,” Steiner said. “Of course, if they don’t get it built, they won’t talk about their own issues, they’ll lay it at our feet. There’s an old saying that ‘your spirit will irritate others’ demons.’ We’ll see.

“But, frankly, I’m not sure what they can do in six months. One thing’s for sure: They’re on the clock.”

File Photo: Carlton FletcherFile Photo: Carlton Fletcher