Phoebe officials: We're not holding up Lee County hospital
Jun. 15—LEESBURG — In an interview with The Albany Herald last week, Lee County Commission Chairman Billy Mathis mentioned that some funding the county will receive from the federal government "will be used to get things going on building a hospital ... that's not dead."
Mathis' reference was to the long-delayed Lee Medical Center, which was granted a certificate of need in 2017 by the Georgia Department of Community Health and has since been subject to a struggle to get off the ground, a struggle that, Lee officials note, was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Mathis mentioned at the Lee Commission's meeting Tuesday night that the project was indeed moving forward and indicated that legal action taken by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany also had hindered the project moving forward, Phoebe officials responded Wednesday.
"The fact that developers have been unable to secure financing or begin construction on the promised Lee County hospital has absolutely nothing to do with Phoebe," hospital officials said in a statement Wednesday. "Phoebe did not file any legal challenge to the county's right to build a hospital. It has, though, objected to the failure of the developers to comply with state laws and regulations in connection with the project.
"The initial certificate of need (CON) granted by the Georgia Department of Community Health on Nov. 15, 2017 mandated that construction of the hospital be completed by Aug. 6, 2020. Lee County Medical Center, and its out-of-state developer and CEO Eddie Alexander, have now requested a fifth extension to the CON, inaccurately stating that substantial work on the hospital has been completed, when — in fact — no construction has taken place.
"The latest request includes major changes to the project approved in the initial CON, including reducing the number of beds, transferring ownership to a new corporation and altering the proposed — but heretofore unsecured — financing for the project. In addition, the request seeks an extension of time for completion of the hospital to July 2024. Phoebe simply filed an objection with DCH, stating such wholesale changes should be impermissible under CON law and the department's own rules.
"It seems the only time Lee County officials speak publicly about the hospital is when they want to shift blame for the project's failures onto Phoebe. All other discussions happen under a cloak of secrecy, with no public debate or votes by the county commission.
"Any implications that Phoebe is forcing delays that could cost Lee County taxpayers money are outrageous and run counter to Lee County leaders' previous pledges that local tax money would not be used to fund construction of the hospital. Mr. Alexander should take responsibility for the many delays to this project, and — if he plans to pass costs on to the taxpayers of Lee County — he owes them an explanation."
Mathis said he had not read Phoebe's statement, but he reiterated Wednesday his claim that Phoebe has prolonged Lee County's efforts to get the hospital project off the ground.
"I think I said once before when you and I talked: 'Different CEO, same old Phoebe,'" Mathis said in reference to Phoebe Health System President/CEO Scott Steiner, who replaced Joel Wernick at the helm of the health system. "I'm just laying out the facts: Every time Phoebe files an objection, it slows the process. And they know that. They talk about delays, but they cause the delays. They're a public hospital using public funds to stifle the process for a project that would help the public.
"They've filed lawsuits, filed legal objections — then there was the pandemic — and now they're filing another objection. They're just slowing the process."
