Chillicothe voters turned down a plan to use funds from the city’s existing capital improvement sales tax to help build a new hospital.
The proposal, which sought just a simple majority, failed 873 to 919. The special election saw a larger-than-expected voter turnout with 33 percent of Chillicothe’s registered voters casting ballots.
The measure passed in the 1st and 4th wards and lost in the 2nd and 3rd wards. The absentee ballots, which were the first ones counted, set the pace and gave an indication as to how the proposal would finish with 80 YES votes and 94 NO votes.
Proponents said that if the hospital measure passed, a new $30 million facility would be built in south Chillicothe with St. Luke’s funding $25 million, the city funding no more than $3 million plus interest and local foundations contributing $2 million.
Patricia Anderson, a certified public accountant who has years of experience in the health related field, campaigned against the proposal largely because of what she said were too many unanswered questions and a ballot proposal that did not identify the city’s cost.
“I am super pleased that there was such a large voter turnout, especially for a special election,” Anderson said shortly after the election results were posted at the Livingston County courthouse. “It showed that the electorate in the community took the time to understand the issues.”
“It’s unfortunate that it was such a rushed ballot,” she said. “There was too much information and not enough time to digest it.”
She also said that voters needed more information about what the proposal would have cost.
Mike Palmer, chairman of the hospital board, said he would like to have disseminated information to voters earlier in the campaign but was unable to until the terms of the lease between St. Luke’s and the city had been agreed upon. St. Luke’s currently leases the hospital building from the city but it wasn’t until late in the campaign that a verbal lease agreement had been reached stating that in addition to funding $25 million of the project, St. Luke’s would sign a 12-year lease of the hospital as well as five five-year renewals.
“We made tremendous progress in last two weeks, but we had hoped that we had more time,” Palmer said.
It is uncertain as to what will happen next.
“We want to thank all who worked so hard to get the facts in front of the people,” Palmer said. “We worked hard in trying to educate the electorate as to the benefits of the program. I want to thank the community for the support and thank the opposition for getting the issues out in front of the people.”
Chillicothe, Mo. —
