Anniston and RMC Board reach last minute agreement settling lawsuit

After two months of mediation, the Anniston City Council and the board of directors for Regional Medical Center reached an agreement Monday.

Mayor Vaughn Stewart said the agreement  allows RMC to get back to patient care and taking care of the mission. It allows the city to get back to providing city services and creating a better quality of life for the citizens of Anniston.

The council met December 1 to send a statement of intent to the RMC board.  The board did not accept the initial conditions, but approved part of an agreement Saturday.  The council voted 4-0 in favor of accepting the agreement for resolution.  Council member David Reddick abstained from the vote.

The resolution comes one day before a deadline set by a Calhoun County judge.  Had they not settle the legal dispute by Today, it likely would have gone to court.

The Anniston City Council would have limited veto power over actions of Regional Medical Center's board of directors — but would gain power over RMC's subsidiaries — under the agreement.

The city and the hospital have been locked in a legal battle since early autumn, when the council appointed City Manager Brian Johnson to RMC's board of directors, in what city officials called an attempt to improve communication with the RMC board.

Board members blocked Johnson from attending his first meeting as board member. The City Council later voted to remove RMC board chairman Greg Kernion, whom they'd appointed to the board. The RMC board took the City Council to court, arguing that as a public official, he would have to go through a formal impeachment process to be removed from office.

The ensuing legal battle has cost the city $60,000 in legal costs in the space of roughly two months. Last week, the council voted on a proposal that would leave Kernion on the board, but require him to resign effective at the end of May, the close of his term as chairman. The RMC board rejected the proposal.

On Monday, council members unveiled a new proposed agreement, one that would leave Kernion on the board and would give the RMC board the power to dispose of assets of less than $5 million in value without consulting the City Council. In transactions of more than $5 million, the council would have 30 days to vote any deal down.

The Surgery Center, an Oxford outpatient clinic half-owned by RMC, is exempt from the $5 million limit, according to the terms of the agreement.

The agreement gives the Anniston City Council similar veto power over actions by “affiliate and subsidiary boards” created by RMC.