Glenn Medical plans to expand

Glenn Medical Center will soon open escrow on its Sycamore Street site with Tuesday's approval of the sale by the Glenn County supervisors.

"It has been a process, and we're there," board Chairman Steve Soeth said. "We sat down and hammered out a contract signed by the medical center."

The sale is for $300,000 in cash to be paid at the end of escrow, which could take a few months, and the cancellation of an agreement between Glenn County and the medical center of a monthly subsidy paid to the center for providing standby emergency room services and acute inpatient services.

This subsidy amounted to $450,000, county officials said, and brings the total purchase price to $750,000.

The sale includes the real estate, buildings, parking lots, appliances, furniture and other personal property owned by the county related to the hospital, the agreement said.

It also paves the way for the medical center to expand the facility.

Glenn Medical's Chief Executive Officer William Casey described the sale as "fantastic."

"One hundred and fifty people have been working 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the last six years to get to this point," Casey said.

But before it was approved, Soeth said the board wanted "to give the public the opportunity to comment on the sale of their asset (the county-owned hospital)."

The public hearing on the sale only brought comment from Health Services Director Scott Gruendl, who wanted everyone to know some emergency equipment stored on the center grounds could not go with the sale since it was purchased with federal funding.

Casey said the medical center is looking for financing for its expansion, but it could take 18 months to two years to get everything approved.