BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — The Blount County Commission met Thursday to discuss several different topics, many of which centered around controversy with the Blount Memorial Hospital.
One item on the agenda would have passed a resolution about the lawsuit brought against Blount County leaders by the Blount Memorial Hospital. It was filed in December and in it, BMH asked to be declared independent from the Blount County Commission and the Blount County Mayor.
The lawsuit was filed after several weeks of controversy over the hospital's ownership and operations. Most of the controversy centers around the sale of some property in Alcoa, which was used at the hospital's Springbrook Clinic.
The hospital tried to sell it for $22 million. In November 2022, Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell sent a letter to the Blount Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, asking for the three board members appointed by Blount County to be removed, citing "grave" concerns he had with the hospital's operation.
The mayor's letter argued Blount County owned all of Blount Memorial Hospital's assets and said he believed the non-profit corporation could not sell the property.
Thursday's resolution would allow the county attorney to defend Blount County in the lawsuit and would have allowed them to file any counterclaims they needed to. It passed 18-1-1 on Thursday.
They also were expected to discuss whether they should ask the Tennessee legislature to change a 1945 law so the Blount County Commission could formally take over the hospital's operations.
The draft would change the Private Acts of 1945 to explicitly allow the county to "operate and manage the hospital itself, or may retain a non-profit corporation to operate and manage the hospital."
In the lawsuit, the hospital's board claimed that the law showed it could operate independently from the county and the mayor. BMH was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1946 and the lawsuit said in 1947, the commission passed a resolution declaring that the county did not intend to operate a hospital, but instead intended to lease its space to an operating corporation.
The amended law would also explicitly not allow a nonprofit chosen to manage the hospital to be the owner of any hospital assets, and the county would explicitly be the owner of those assets. It would also allow the county to end its relationship with a nonprofit at any point, and would require the nonprofit to transfer any assets of the hospital to the county.
The Blount County Commission would need to approve any changes by a two-thirds vote, according to the law.
The Tennessee legislature would need to approve the changes to the Private Acts of 1945 before they could take effect. Commissioners passed the resolution in an 18-1-1 vote Thursday evening.