Clayton County Board of Commissioners adopted a budget Monday that includes $750,000 for the county's ailing hospital, along with funds to create a stand-alone 911 operations.
The $182.2 million budget was approved by a 3-2 vote after two hours of contentious debate over the need to create an emergency services center at a time when the county is trying to figure out how to help Southern Regional Medical Center.
The money allotted to the hospital in the fiscal 2016 budget is intended to help tide the facility over until another funding source can be found.
Last week, the county gave the hospital $500,000 toward a pharmaceutical bill. And, last year, county voters agreed to a $50 million bailout for the hospital, Clayton’s third-largest employer with 1,366 workers. The hospital’s problem stem , in part, from some $21 million in indigent care.
Clayton’s budget goes into effect Wednesday.
On Tuesday, turnaround specialist Prime Healthcare Services, which has expressed interest in acquiring Southern Regional, is set to meet with hospital officials and tour the 331-bed facility. Three other undisclosed parties that had expressed interest in the Riverdale facility appear no longer interested.
Perhaps the most heated moments in Monday’s meeting centered around who would run the 911 center and an ongoing concern over transparency from the board. In a 3-2 vote, the commission appointed Clayton Police Chief Greg Porter to head the 60-employee department, despite fervent pleas from citizens and commissioners Gail Hambrick and Sonna Singleton Gregory to keep him as Clayton’s top police official.
“I don’t see the urgency of (creating a separate) 911,” said Gregory, noting that setting up the separate system and creating a director’s position is another example of “a constant waste of taxpayer money.”
Chairman Jeff Turner, who made the motion to move Porter to the 911 operation, said Porter is best equipped and is intimately familiar with the operation. The county recently installed a $60 million communication system.
“It’s retaliation,” Porter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the meeting ended. Last fall, Porter wrote a memo to county officials complaining about Turner’s efforts to override his authority. His complaints were looked into by an independent investigator, Turner said, and were found to be baseless.
Turner insists that he holds no grudge against Porter and that his plan to create a separate 911 system was based on the county’s growing needs.
“He possesses the knowledge and skills to run the 911 department,” Turner said.
But Porter insists the move is a demotion that will strip him of his law enforcement authority. Turner denied that, saying Porter will still earn the same pay — $154,000 — and his status won’t change.
Commissioner Shana Rooks, Hambrick and Gregory said they learned about the 911 plan about a week ago. But Hambrick and Gregory said they were surprised to see it on the agenda.
“Nobody expected this 911 plan,” Gregory said.
The meeting drew a large crowd that, at times, became vocal.
“It’s a personal vendetta against Chief Porter,” said Karolen Mazyck of Morrow. “If people are pleased with what they see, why disrupt what’s already there?”
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