Site preparation is being done at the proposed hospital site off Millard Rd. before the board is granted a certificate of need. The question that comes to my mind is just how did the hospital board and their lawyers and consultant manage to manipulate the County of Columbia to circumvent land use laws to justify their construction work. If the ordinary citizen came before the county and ask if they could proceed with their home construction before permits and land use laws were met because the land owner wanted to get started before the fall rains came, or they would have to wait until spring to begin site preparation we all know what the answer would be. A definite unequivocal NO!
Most people with any logic and common thoughts would not proceed with construction costs before granted a permit, unfortunately the hospital board does not meet these simple logical standards and have proceeded with a huge cost of $1.2 million in just site prep before their Certificate of Need is issued, in fact they may not even be granted the certificate, and will have spent our tax dollars for not. But then many actions of this board have not been very forthright or logical in my opinion.

The failure of Pamela Powell Pulliam and or the consultant Tarry Carlson in simple filing of the most important document to insure Critical Access designation, pertaining to the feasibility of the hospital other than the rush through referendum by the county commissioner Tony Hyde and Rita Bernhard to bullshit the taxpayers into believing that they would be getting this magnificent hospital for a mere .38 per thousand with full Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements sounded wonderful. But then as usual if it sounds to good to be true it usually is and unfortunately for the taxpayers in the special district this is the case.

The hospital boards need for operating funds is an issue that they like to keep quiet, spending well over $120,000.00 for a firm to look for private donors to fund operating costs and then adding that they would need to pursue fund raisers as well, so far after 5 years they have had no takers on private donors and $500,000.00 per year in bake sales may be a little hard to accomplish even for this enthusiastic board of individuals who has no care as how to spend other people money. It certainly sounds to me that this project is far from being feasible, that is unless the people in the district cough up some more funds.

I have a problem with hospital project funds being spent on public health programs EXCUSE ME, Pamela Powell Pulliam, the taxpayers passed a Critical Access Hospital ballot measure, they are not getting a Critical Access Hospital and a Small Rural Hospital is very different than a CAH. The taxpayers did not vote to supplement Public Health programs with hospital project funds. These actions in my opinion are nothing more than a bait and switch could it be because Public Health came before the voters before with a levy and it failed, so they decided to get their money one way or the other? These not so candid actions by this board leaves me to question whether the taxpayers of the district can honestly believe one word that this board says or trust them with the handling of millions of taxpayer funds.
Since the health district is transferring funds into public health, and public health is countywide why are the people in the health district paying tax dollars 4 times into public health while the rest of the county are paying only three times. We pay federal, state county and now health district taxes that are going into public health I believe that is discrimination between the taxpayers of Columbia County.

I want to thank Commissioner Tony Hyde and Commissioner Rita Bernhard for their not so wise decision to support a hospital by taxing me and other folks in the health district for the rest of our lives and future generations and a hospital board that has no more idea how to manage a hospital or fill out simple applications than I do flying the Space Shuttle into space.
PT Barnum once said, there was a fool born every minute "O" how right he was just take a gander at the health district board.