By Staff
Staff Reports
Several items related to Beaufort County Medical Center and its parent, Beaufort Regional Health System, are on the tentative agenda for today’s meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.
Among the items on the agenda is the board’s consideration of a resolution to close on properties the county is buying from Beaufort Regional Medical Authority. In July, the board unanimously voted to buy 13 pieces of property, valued at about $6.26 million, for $4.8 million.
Once the sale is completed, Beaufort County will become the landlord for the buildings and land, much as it is now for the medical center. The county will not manage the medical practices that use the buildings included in the sale, said County Manager Paul Spruill earlier this summer.
The sale will give BRHS the money it needs to pay the county $1.57 million that BRHS owes as a debt payment for the recent construction project at the Beaufort County Medical Center, formerly Beaufort County Hospital. It also will give BRHS the operating capital it needs for the remainder of the year.
Commissioner Hood Richardson is scheduled to give an update regarding Beaufort County Medical Center and Beaufort Regional Health System. Richardson serves on a committee that is looking for ways to increase revenues and reduce expenses for Beaufort Regional Health System. He’s also expected to deliver a report about the Beaufort County Medical Center audit.
Commissioner Robert Cayton is scheduled to introduce a resolution regarding funding for an economic-impact study of making U.S. Highway 17 four lanes along its entire route through North Carolina.
In August, Washington’s City Council approved such a resolution. It called for the Highway 17 Association to seek funding for an economic-impact study of the U.S. Highway 17 corridor that runs through North Carolina from the Virginia-North Carolina line to the North Carolina-South Carolina line.
The highway weaves through 13 eastern North Carolina counties, including Beaufort County. Portions of the highway have just two lanes, including a 30-mile stretch between Washington and New Bern and a 20-mile stretch between Washington and Williamston.
According to its website, the association’s mission is to assure, through collective action and constancy of purpose, that the inclusion and funding of all unfunded portions of the U.S. 17 corridor shall be part of DOT’s Transportation Improvement Program.
During the association’s annual meeting in New Bern in April, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who delivered the event’s keynote address, touched on the economic effects a completely four-laned U.S. 17 would have on eastern North Carolina. Four-laning the entire highway throughout the state would improve trade routes to the area’s seaports and access to its military bases, including Camp Lejune and Cherry Point. It also would promote tourism to the region’s coastal areas, he said.
“It (U.S. 17) has always been a main artery for coastal tourists,” Dalton said.
The funding will be sought from the Golden LEAF Foundation.
The foundation was created in 1999 as a nonprofit corporation by court order in the consent decree resolving tobacco litigation started by the N.C. Department of Justice. It receives half of the funds coming to North Carolina as a result of the master settlement agreement. It makes grants to nonprofit and government agencies in efforts to improve the economic and social conditions of the state’s residents. Among its goals is receiving and distributing money for economic impact assistance.
LEAF stands for Long-Term Economic Advancement Foundation.
The board meets at 5 p.m. at the Beaufort County Administrative Building, 121 W. Third St., Washington.