Fri
Jan 11 2008
08:52 pm

Think again. From WATE:

Plans to add a new hospital in Roane County hinge on the votes of just five people.

That's because the proposed site where Covenant Health wants to build is located outside Harriman's city limits. The city needs to annex some county property in order for the deal to work.

WATE is not clear on why the properties need to be annexed for the "deal to work," but a hospital is a great asset for any community.

I guess the question is why it has to be inside city limits (we're guessing it has to do with infrastructure and/or tax incentives). Maybe WhitesCreek Steve can help us out here?

At any rate, here's a case where two or three votes matter. So the moral of the story is, vote!

WhitesCreek's picture

It's not that there are

It's not that there are plans to add a hospital but that Covenant bought the Harriman Hospital from the City of Harriman and wants to relocate it to a more central Roane County location. Harriman has been annexing land as it crawls like an amoeba out to new commerce areas, as the old factories shut down and the search for jobs continues in the new economy.

The site that Covenant has chosen is currently in the middle of three Roane County towns and there's some squabbling over territory as Harriman gobbles up prime locations trying to maintain solvency. There are significant issues regarding developments and agreements where Harriman has already provided infrastructure, but this one is different in my view. This is simply Harriman trying to retain something it has always had...It's hospital. The city has the capability to provide infrastructure to the new hospital site, but I'm not completely checked out on all the ramifications.

Hopefully this discussion can happen in the full light of day, since the ice has been broken on making sure there is full disclosure on deals made involving public tax money.

I think Harriman is moving in the right direction, even if there are sometimes two steps back and three steps forward to get there.

jbr's picture

I assume no one has seen "Un

I assume no one has seen "Un Votante" Graham lurking about.

Those five folks will have a cool story to share with their grandkids.

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