The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors met on Monday and discussed a variety of topics, from road improvements to legal advisement on selling OCH.
The Board unanimously approved $4.5 million to go towards improvements on Blackjack Road, but the specifications have yet to be set.
District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams said it may be enough money to add another lane onto the road.
The Board also discussed improvements to be made on several other roads, including improvements on Turkey Creek Road, Chapel Hill Road, and Artesia Road.
Talk then turned to legal advisement concerning the future of OCH. Ted Woodrell of Woodrell Consulting proposed to that he advise them alongside Butler Snow on creating a request for proposal (RFP) for selling OCH.
"They will prepare the vast majority of a legal component, but there's also operational components that have to go within that," Woodrell said. "I talked with them and they don't have an operational person. They have plenty of legal people. I will provide that operational consultation."
Woodrell has experience dealing with hospital transactions and said they are complex and take a lot of time.
Woodrell said that he can answer questions that bidders have on the intricacies of the hospital.
"In interacting with the hospitals, I speak the same language as they do," Woodrell said. "It's amazing how often you have to translate from different professions to make sure we're actually getting to the right information, so I'd be working very much with Butler Snow and the hospital and putting together an RFP."
Woodrell could not give an exact figure or speak on behalf of Butler Snow, but he said that $500,000 would be a reasonable estimate for legal advisement.
Voting to hire Woodrell Consulting passed with a 3-2 vote. District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery, Jr, and District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard, were the opposing votes.
The supervisors also approved a contract that was submitted by Butler Snow with a 3-2 vote, with supervisors from District 1 and District 3 voting against.