Nursing home lease, county budget approved

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
By Mary Reeves

Within 30 days, Bedford County Nursing Home will be under new management. In a special called meeting Tuesday evening, the county commission passed a resolution approving a lease agreement with Christian Care Center of Shelbyville, a subsidiary of Johnson City-based Care Centers Management Consultants.

The company would pay Bedford County $10,000 per month in rent for the nursing home if it uses the existing cafeteria, which is located in the adjoining old Bedford County Medical Center. If CCMC were to build its own cafeteria, or obtain food service from off-site, it would only have to pay the county $2,000 per month.

Gary Parker, vice president of operations for CCMC, said the company has no plans to build a cafeteria and would like to continue using the existing facility. If the current cafeteria were to become unavailable, for example, if the county decided to dispose of the hospital building, Parker said CCMC would still like the county to provide a cafeteria.

Bedford County would remain responsible for major structural maintenance -- for example, replacing a roof or an air conditioning unit -- while the company would be responsible for other routine maintenance, such as painting, plumbing, landscaping and personal property. The lease also sets requirements for CCMC to provide insurance coverage.

"The new company will not be able to take over until the state approves," said Commissioner Joe Tillett. "That should be about 30 days. We will need to have a continuing budget until that point."

The nursing home board voted to recommend the proposal at its last meeting. The vote to approve the resolution passed 13-3, with commissioners Joyce Tune, Billy King and Billy Farrar voting no. Commissioners Linda Yockey and Phillip Vincent were not present at the vote.

Budget passes

For the first time in years, the county's budget passed before the beginning of the new fiscal year, and County Mayor Eugene Ray praised the commission's efforts.

"I'd like to take my hat off to you all for a job well done," he said.

The new fiscal year began today.

The budget passed unanimously, as did the amended budget for 2008-2009. The majority of the amendments made to that budget, said County Finance Manager Robert Daniel, was due to moving life and health insurance payments from one account to each designated department.

"It helps the auditors," he said.

Because of high utility costs and other unexpected expenses, some money was drawn from the general fund, creating the need for other amendments.

Resolutions

The commission also passed several resolutions brought forward by Daniel, including one consolidating Volunteer Fire Services Inc. with Bedford County Emergency Management Agency.

The resolution states that the consolidation will involve "the transfer of all VFSI assets to BCEMA, an agency of Bedford County, and that all paid personnel of VFSI shall become employees of BCEMA. The Fire Chief for VFSI shall become the Assistant Director of BCEMA responsible for firefighting and rescue services. The Fire Chief will also serve as Fire Marshal...."

Resolutions setting the tax rates in Bedford County were also passed; the rate will remain $2.27 per $100 assessed value. Even though there is no increase in the tax rate, Daniel said passing the resolution was a matter of "housekeeping" and helped auditors.

Broken down, the tax rate includes $1.11 for the general fund, 4 cents for Highway and Public Works, $1.02 for General Purpose Schools, and 10 cents for General Debt Service.

Certain court clerks may also be seeing a pay increase. The commission passed a resolution 10-4 at the meeting, authorizing additional compensation to certain officials.

According to the resolution, two clerks are serving for Circuit, General Sessions, Juvenile, Chancery and Probate courts, and "that in the opinion of the Board of County Commissioners, it is appropriate to provide additional compensation for the clerks serving in those courts."

The resolution approved additional compensation equivalent to 10 percent of the $63,954 base salary paid the clerk.

The commission also passed a resolution that will pay education incentives to any full-time elected county official who completes the County Officials Certificate Training Program and attains the designation of Certified Public Administrator. The county will pay up to $2,500, less any payment made by the state of Tennessee.

Comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on t-g.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

From the above article it states that the $10,000 monthly rent will drop to only $2,000 if they stop using the kitchen area of the old hospital. So I guess that means that the kitchen rents for $8,000 a month and the entire nursing home rents for $2,000 a month. That appears to be a horrible deal to rent a facility that size for $2,000 a month. I would like to hear more clarification on this subject.

-- Posted by justwanaknow on Thu, Jul 2, 2009, at 10:30 AM