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Commissioners approve budget amendments, hospital funding

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ASHEBORO — The Randolph County Board of Commissioners held a meeting Monday to vote on multiple budget amendments as well as to approve a funding for new projects. 

To kick off the meeting, Lieutenant Reid Linthicum was recognized before the board for 40 years of voluntary service as a Reserve Deputy for Randolph County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s been an honor,” said Sheriff Greg Seabolt on working with Lt. Linthicum. “I’ve been working some more at night and I’ve observed Reid as he’s working with the younger guys. I’ve seen what kind of mentor he is to them. He’s a great person to have out working with these young guys and you can’t go wrong with him being out there. I even act as if I’m a sponge when I’m around him because he is very knowledgeable.”

The board was also given an update on the status of a few settlements from the national opioid lawsuit the county participated in a few years back. 

“There’s a $750 million settlement that’s coming to North Carolina,” said Paul Coates, one of the local attorneys working on the litigation.” Randolph County’s share of that is just under $10 million. It will be paid out over 18 years and that is only the settlement with the three distributors [AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson] and Johnson and Johnson. There are still cases out there that are being litigated, but this year, you are going to get roughly $1.2 million.”

The settlement includes a memorandum of agreement that stipulates that the money can only be used for things such as treatment, overdose response teams, Naloxone distribution, criminal justice diversion programs, housing support, recovery programs, and etc. 

In order to address potential flooding concerns, the board gave the Soil and Water Conservation Commission permission to pursue a grant from the Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program for a little over $3 million for stream rehabilitation projects in Randolph County.

If selected for funding, the program would assist in rehabilitating multiple waterways in Randolph County. The rehabilitation aims to protect and restore the integrity of drainage infrastructure by removing debris and obstructions in the waterways to help alleviate future flooding concerns. 

“Recent hurricanes in the mountains have caused tremendous flooding,” said Kaitlyn Johnson, a technician for the Soil and Water Conservation District. “Most notably, a couple of months ago in Haywood County, there was substantial flooding and substantial loss of life due to that flooding.”

The commissioners also gave approval for the establishment of the Hospital Psychiatric Renovation Capital Fund. The State of North Carolina had set aside $4 million in order for Randolph Health to renovate space for 32-35 psychiatric beds, and the board needed to establish a fund to account for the proceeds and related renovation costs. 

Along with those funding approvals, the board gave the nod to multiple capital projects for increased budget amendments utilizing County capital reserves funds that were already available due to the prior year’s surplus. 

“We had a good financial year in 2021,” said Assistant County Manager and Finance Officer, Will Massie. “We budgeted conservatively as we didn’t know what the effects of the pandemic were going to be. With all the stimulus money that came down, our sales tax staying strong and us not operating a lot of programs that we normally operate, we had a substantial amount of money that was in excess of 24% of our fund balance requirement. That money was usually set aside for capital improvements and that allows us to do the things we need to do for our facilities without borrowing money.”

The board approved a budget amendment of $5 million for the Farm, Food and Family Education Center, $300,000 for renovations for the Juvenile Day Reporting Center, $1.5 million for the Northgate Rent-A-Center Space Renovation and $3 million for renovations to the historic courthouse. 

In addition to the $300,000 budget amendment for renovations to the JDRC building, the board also approved a new contract with Garanco, Inc. for $161,400 to build four new classrooms in it as well. 

Finally, the board issued a proclamation designating April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Randolph County. The board urged all citizens, “to recognize this month by dedicating themselves to the task of improving the quality of life for all children and families.”

The next meeting will be held on Monday, May 2.

Randolph Hospital Jul 10, 3 28 27 PM

Hospital funding becomes complex

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ASHEBORO — The good news is that Randolph Hospital is operating and patient care is ongoing.

But sorting out the financial picture under new ownership remains complex, a task that has been addressed in an ongoing manner by Randolph County commissioners.

The State of North Carolina is a lender of a $12 million loan, though it’s up to commissioners to administer that grant. At last week’s monthly board meeting, chairman of the board of commissioners Darrell Frye said there’s still fact-finding taking place with the new owners.

“So far, proper documentation requested has not been forthcoming. It’s too early to say that it’s a problem,” Frye said. “We’re not going to provide a dollar until we have our security because it is on the taxpayer of Randolph County to repay this.”

Even with that, Frye and many of his colleagues have offered an encouraging tone regarding the hospital despite a saga that has lasted more than 2 ½ years and has included bankruptcy and the severing of ownership ties with Cone Health.

Randolph Hospital’s new owner is American Healthcare Systems, a transaction that officially took place July 1. The 145-bed facility has Tim Ford as the new CEO of what’s called Randolph Health.

AHS has requested an advance of $3 million in order to replace outdated equipment and what has been described as maintaining an efficient operation during this transition period.

There are several factors involved, including the intention of AHS to conduct a for-profit operation.

As of late last week, 60 beds were in use and the emergency room was functioning.

“The doors are open,” Frye said. “They’ve been open. The employees should be confident. We lost some employees, but employees should be confident.”

Yet on the financial side, it’s not so clear. Frye calls it a “tangled mess,” noting that AHS is handicapped to a degree in the process. It could be up to six months before all the kinks are worked out, he said.

“The buyer of the hospital needs some money,” Frye said, something he has repeated as one of the latest themes.

Commissioner Kenny Kidd said the value of sustainable local health has been at the center of the episode for a few years. So, with AHS in place, that’s viewed as a positive step.

“The commissioners are breathing a sigh of relief that that got done,” Kidd said. “There have been so many chapters there.”

As part of the agreement, Cone Hospital will build a new cancer center within 10 miles of current hospital. The for-profit status means the loss of Medicaid discounts.

“There are so many moving parts in this thing and so much of it we can’t control,” Frye said.

What the commissioners did last week is approve borrowing money from state of North Carolina, approved an agreement with AHS and approved an ordinance to establish a separate budget strictly to deal with Randolph Hospital.

“Right now, we have no financial exposure,” Frye said. “Our exposure comes if that hospital closes again.”

Frye, who’s a former board member of High Point Regional Hospital, and commissioner David Allen, the vice chair of the county board, have met with the new ownership group.

Commissioner Maxton McDowell had several questions during the county meeting.

“The fact that it’s kind of an up-in-the-air situation day to day,” McDowell said in summary.

A bankruptcy hearing in early June set some of the terms as the final transaction neared. Among the arrangements, Mike Miller was appointed temporary CEO until July 1. 

“I know Randolph Health and the current challenges it faces,” Miller said at the time. “I’m dedicated to working alongside the staff and ensuring that providing high-quality care remains a top priority.”

With a population of about 145,000, commissioners have stressed a need for Randolph County to have a hospital. Data provided by Frye shows that Randolph EMS delivered about 10,000 patients to the hospital in Asheboro in a year-long period prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

The facility operated under Cone for about a decade. The 16 months of bankruptcy created countless questions, though the hospital never closed.

Without a hospital, emergency calls likely would cause Randolph County patients to be transported to High Point, Greensboro, Winston-Salem or Chapel Hill – meaning the passing of life-threatening minutes.

A new hospital board will consist of 13 seats. The county commissioners approved Frye and Allen to fill the two slots reserved for its group. The mayor of Asheboro will have a spot as well.

“It has been a work in progress and it still is,” Frye said. “Every time we think it’s clear sailing ahead, we get another storm.”