Mecosta County Commissioner News Reel For October 1, 2009

Click on video to play.

 Dr. Frederick Guenther showed up at the Mecosta County Commission meeting to give an update of the "affiliation agreement" between Spectrum Health and the Mecosta County Medical Center.

 On May 14, 2009, The Grand Rapids News reported that "the agreement is part of a larger trend, as small community hospitals, battered by the recession, declining admissions and funding cuts, seek the financial security of larger hospitals."

 The article, titled "Spectrum Health a step closer to merger with Mecosta County Medical Center in Big Rapids", also reported that as of June 1, 2009, Mecosta County Hospital Administrator Sam Daugherty would become an employee of Spectrum Health, and be the head Administrator of the Big Rapids and Reed City hospitals.

 On July 2, 2009, Dr. Frederick Guenther came before the Board of Commissioners with the President of Spectrum Health Hospitals, Matt VanVraken. According to Board meeting minutes, VanVraken talked before the Board about the benefit's and anti-competitive considerations that would come with the Mecosta County Medical Center and Spectrum Health working together.

 According to a Spectrum Health news release: dated, May 13, 2009, As part of the agreement, Mecosta County Medical Center's CEO, Sam Daugherty, will be employed by Spectrum Health and will remain accountable to the MCMC governing board. The affiliation agreement also includes the provision for full integration of the Mecosta County Medical Center into the Spectrum Health system in 24 months pending due diligence and other details.

Also included in the Mecosta County Commissioner News-Reel Video, is a brief update from County Administrator Paul Bullock about the Vern Cole, tire clean up.

In short, the gentleman seen standing in the photo on the right, "Vern Cole," has been collecting tires since the 1970's. Most of the tires are shredded into chunks and scattered over almost three acres of his 230-acre farm in Mecosta County. It has been reported that a few miles west of this farm, Cole filled three potato barns with about 354,000 un-shredded tires.  The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has put up, about 1.57 million dollars to clean up this mess. In the photo, taken in March of 2009; Vern Cole is asking county commissioners for more time, so he could sell his tires to recycling companies. The clean-up went forward.