The following is the article from The Allegan News Gazette, Monday April 5, 1956
LEGISLATURE APPROVES TWO BILLS TO ALLOW CHANGE IN COUNTY HOSPITAL SITES IN STATE
Two state bills of vital importance to Allegan county were approved by the state House of Representatives last week.
The actions
were amendments to existing House Bills N. 83 and 84 and will change the existing laws which prohibited the erection of a county medical
care facility at a new site.
As changed the amendments now read, "The several said boards of supervisors shall have power and
they are hereby authorized to ... fix upon and determine the site of any such building [county medical care facility], if not previously
located ... To remove or designate a new site for any county buildings required to be at the county seats, when such removal shall not
exceed the limits of the village or city at which the county seat is located, and to remove or designate a new site for any county
infirmary or medical care facility."
In House bill No. 83, the pertinent changes read, "the board of supervisors may at any
annual or special meeting determine to erect a county infirmary and/or a county medical care facility for the Reception and care of
the poor of the county, which medical care facility may be on a different site than the infirmary."
State Representative Ben E.
Lohman and Senator Edward Hutchinson, were instrumental in the swift passage of these bills. Lohman was co-sponsor of both house bills,
and Hutchinson was active in the amendments.
The two actions clear away a roadblock which has been credited with the defeat of
the hospital bonding issue at Allegan last month. Prior to the enactment of these bills, the county supervisors were obligated by law
to erect any new county hospital a the "present site of the county infirmary." This law was upheld by the state attorney general in
an opinion at the time of the balloting. The law under which the site was designated dated to 1851. No changes had been deemed
necessary, until several counties attempted to change their county hospital and infirmary sites. Mason county costarred with Allegan
in the predicament.
The Allegan county Medical Society had come out at the time of the March 12 voting opposing the rural site
of a new county hospital. The doctors expressed themselves as in favor of a new county medical care facility, if it could be built
at some site where city facilites were available, and the services of a general hospital were nearby.
The two bills just passed
clear the way for the board of supervisors to re-open the issue and allow the voters to choose the site they feel is most favorable.
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Allegan News Gazette
Apr. 5, 1956 |
The following is the article from The Allegan News Gazette, Monday July 26, 1956
QUIRK IN LAW MAKES NEW VOTE NECESSARY ON MEDICAL CARE SITE
A quirk in Michigan laws will cause the Allegan county board of supervisors to reconvene on July 31 to formally consider
their former vote on the site and details of the proposed new Allegan county medical care facility.
On advice of
prosecutor Dwight M. Cheever, the board set the date for the vote after being informed that such a vote must be held
either at a "regularly scheduled meeting," or one called by a petition of or a third of the group.
Since Allegan
county holds no regularly scheduled meeting of its supervisors board and all are called by order of the chairman, a petition
was circulated and was signed by 13 supervisors to set up the July 31 date.
Little change was expected in either
the site or details of the facility. The supervisors had voted earlier in the June session to place the new one million
dollar hospital site in Otsego. This special session of July 31 was considered by most to be a mere compliance
with legal technicalities.
In other business during the day, the board accepted a $2,000 bond posted by Don E. Allen,
Allegan newly appointed Allegan county surveyor for the remainder of the term of the of the late Hugh MacDougal. Allen has
also filed for nomination on the August 7 Republican primary state for the surveyor post.
The board ordered the
transfer of $2500 from general fund for use of the Social Welfare Dept. for Direct Relief for the balance of July, and
approved the transfer of $15,000 to the Social Welfare fund for use in maintenance of the county farm infirmary and hospital
for the balance of the month.
A windstorm damage insurance payment $82.38, received for damage at the county farm
was ordered turned over to the county farm fund.
The board went on record as opposing a request by the Political
Action Committee of the CIC for support in their drive for additional funds for relief of unemployed areas. The county
clerk was instructed to write to the area congressman and senator advising them of the opposition of the board to any new
grants not now provided by law. The action carried 28-2.
In compliance with a state fire marshall's order that
combustable materials be removed from the basement and attic of the buildings a the county farm, the board approved the
cost of remodeling the old blacksmith shop at the farm for storage. T.D. Hicks, Social Welfare head, reported that the
remodeling has been completed at a cost of $770.30.
The county officers requested and were granted permission to
meet with the Salaries Committee of the board prior to the October session.
October 1 was set as the tentative date.
The meeting is expected to result in a request by the county officials for a standardized wage scale for the workers in
the court house, based on a job classification table.
In the final minutes of their prolonged June meet, the
supervisors approved their own debentures which showed that 33 supervisors drove a total of 5,918 miles in the seven days of
meets, for a total mileage allowance of $414.26. In 225 man days spent in session the board authorized per diem pay of
$2,250.00, for a total cost of the June session of $2,664.26.
The supervisors adjourned subject to the call of
their chairman. |
Allegan Gazette
Jul. 26, 1956 |
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