Wheeling City Council to Hear Comments On Alecto TIF Plan
Spokeswoman Says Hospital Hiring Medical Professionals
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WHEELING --Ohio Valley Medical Center spokeswoman Karin Janiszewski said the long-troubled hospital is "actively recruiting physician specialists and primary care physicians," a step which officials said could not occur without city leaders agreeing to renovate a parking garage and demolish a building in Center Wheeling.
Wheeling City Council recently agreed to establish a business and occupation tax of 17 cents for every $100 of gross income which the hospital -- now owned by Irvine, Calif.-based Alecto Healthcare Services -- generates. At noon Oct. 3, council will hold a public hearing regarding plans to sell up to $10 million in tax increment financing bonds to pay for the Center Wheeling improvements, in addition to some yet-to-be determined work.
However, city officials have said they likely will not sell the entire $10 million in bonds the ordinance would authorize, noting the actual amount would be closer to $5 million.
Leaders said they plan to use as much as $1.5 million to demolish the former nurses' residence at OVMC, along with as much as $2 million for upgrades and new elevators at the Center Wheeling Parking Garage.
TIF allows governments to perform improvements to a property by accessing the money that will result from the property's increase in value.
"Currently, the plan would be to sell the TIF bonds after Jan. 1, and the work on the garage would begin as soon as logistically possible after that," Mayor Glenn Elliott said.
"A lot still has to be figured out and agreed upon, so I'm not expecting the garage work to start anytime in the immediate future," Vice Mayor Chad Thalman added.
In May, city council voted 6-0, with Elliott absent for the meeting, to enter a memorandum of understanding with Alecto regarding the garage and the former nurses' residence. Alecto then completed a $36 million acquisition of the hospital on June 1, a step city leaders believe helped save at least 1,000 jobs. Alecto also purchased East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry.
Since then, Janiszewski said the hospitals have received new paint and flooring, along with new computers and medical equipment. Officials also installed a new Pyxis SupplyStation to facilitate care in the emergency room, along with new vital signs machines and new electrocardiogram machines throughout the hospital.
"Further infrastructure changes are in the planning process with an overhaul, both internally and externally, of (the emergency room) at OVMC and a new outpatient clinic at the Valley Professional Building on Chapline Street in Wheeling -- the main goal being to improve the overall patient experience and provide greater access to care for all members of the community," Janiszewski said.
Documents filed with the West Virginia Health Care Authority show Irvine, Calif.-based Alecto plans to spend at least an additional $20 million for capital improvements at both OVMC and at Martins Ferry's East Ohio Regional Hospital during the next five years.
City officials said they were unwilling to risk a bankruptcy or closure of OVMC because of the jobs that would be lost, in addition to having a massive vacant building in Center Wheeling.
"City council recognizes their importance to the city and surrounding area, and we are doing our part to keep them here so they can continue to provide jobs and health care to the community," Thalman said of OVMC.
Ultimately, the city plans to transfer ownership of the garage to the Area Development Corp., which is a nonprofit entity that Wheeling uses to facilitate property deals. The ADC will then lease the 830-space garage to Alecto for $1 per year.
Additionally, the city will use funds toward the demolition of the former nurses' residence at OVMC, as city leaders said Alecto plans to construct a new building on this site. Officials initially said the cost for the garage work and the removal of the nurses' residence would be about $3 million, with the remaining $2 million to go toward other improvements in the downtown or Center Wheeling area.
"My hope is that whatever funds we have left over after the garage improvements and demolition would be utilized by city council to incentivize existing and future developments downtown," Elliott said. "That means both efforts to obtain site control of suitable parcels for development and additional infrastructure improvements both underground and on the surface."