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VAN DYKE -- Tax abatements for the
Roadrunner Wind Farm, the acquisition of new microbiology lab
machines, a large operating loss for September and the possible
addition of a new internal medicine physician were among the
highlights of the most recent Hospital Board meeting.
Vice president Joe Locke conducted the
Tuesday, October 30, meeting of the Board of Directors of the Comanche
County Consolidated Hospital District, the governing body of Comanche
County Medical Center and Doctors Medical Clinic.
Board members Karen Petty, Charles
Mazurek, Janna Morris and Billy Ray Evans attended. Board president
Gale Easley was unable to attend.
Executive Session for Medical Peer
Review
The first order of new business following
the approval of the minutes of the previous Board meeting involved the
Medical Staff Report. Medical Chief of Staff Dr. Howard Dickey noted
that there was a matter involving a request by Dr. Forrest Eisenrich
for additional medical privileges that had arisen and indicated the
matter needed to be considered in executive session.
Joe Locke called the Board into a closed,
executive session that ran around 45 minutes. During that period Dr.
Eisenrich and several other staff physicians joined the Board meeting,
leaving shortly before the executive session ended.
When the Board resumed open, public
session, Charles Mazurek offered a motion that Dr. Eisenrich's
application be approved. Karen Petty seconded and an immediate vote
was called where the vote of approval was unanimous.
Tax Abatement for Roadrunner Wind Farm
Wes Jackson, with Cummings Westlake, a
Houston property tax consulting firm, spoke to the Board. He was
representing Renewable Energy Systems and the Roadrunner Wind Farm
proposed to be located an area south and southwest of Comanche and
also in Brown and Mills counties. He addressed a proposed set of
guidelines and criteria for property tax abatement in the Consolidated
Hospital District.
The guidelines and criteria must be
adopted by any taxing authority prior to granting any property tax
abatements.
Jackson noted a few minor items that were
either not needed or should be corrected to correctly reflect the
proposed agreement. There were no significant problems noted, however,
and the guidelines were adopted by unanimous voted on a motion offered
by Billy Ray Evans and seconded by Janna Morris.
The next step in the process was the
adoption of a Board resolution which stated the Board's intention to
consider providing tax abatements under the Texas Property
Redevelopment and Tax Abatement act. Billy Ray Evans again provided
the motion to adopt the resolution, Charles Mazurek seconded, and the
vote of approval was again unanimous.
The final step in the tax abatement
granting process was the approval of the tax abatement agreement with
Roadrunner Wind, LLC, the parent company of the Roadrunner Wind Farm.
In the proposed agreement, Roadrunner
agrees to expend an estimated $425 million in constructing the new
facility within the Comanche County reinvestment zone, and the
Hospital District agrees to provide a 60% property tax abatement for
years 1-5, and 40% for years 6-10.
Of the total 300 megawatts of
wind-powered generating capacity planned for the project,
approximately 200 will be located in Comanche County. Jackson noted
that the project was currently around 75% leased.
There was a lengthy discussion of various aspects of the abatement
agreement, mainly focused on obtaining clarifications of which
exhibits were required to be in the application for exemption or as an
attachment to the agreement, and also regarding the extent of the
ancillary capital improvements that will be included in the abatement.
Charles Mazurek asked Kevin Storey if he
had carefully reviewed all aspects of the application and approved of
it and received two affirmative responses. Mazurek then offered a
motion to adopt the abatement agreement. Karen Carr seconded and the
motion was unanimously adopted without any further discussion.
Microbiology Lab Equipment Purchase
Proposal
CCMC Laboratory Manager Sarah Anderson
made an informational presentation to the Board regarding two machines
needed for the hospital to perform microbiology testing on site,
rather than sending samples to outside reference labs.
Anderson listed two main reasons for her
request. The first is the operating cost involved, because outside
labs use their service as a source of profit. The more important
reason, however, is the time savings involved.
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