The Tallahassee City Commission voted Wednesday to begin negotiations with Florida State University on the potential sale of Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, moving forward on plans to create an academic health center in the city.
The city owns the hospital property and assets. TMH and FSU are asking the commission to transfer the property to the university, which will lease it back to TMH. Under the plan, a 17-person board would control the assets, with TMH holding control of nine seats and FSU eight.
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Before the 3-2 vote, FSU and TMH leadership presented the tentative agreement, with hospital CEO Mark O'Bryant saying the change will lead to improved regional health care access.
"It is a true partnership that will elevate the level of care here. It will be very good for TMH. It will be very good for FSU. But the most important population where it will provide value is the people we serve, patients we serve, and not just in this region, but a very broad region," he said.
The idea of an academic health center in Tallahassee received broad support from city commissioners and members of the community who spoke. But some did raise concerns.
During public comment, Tallahassee native Joe Kalicki said he hopes the city will be fairly compensated from the deal.
"The city has finite assets. If the time comes to move off of those assets, even for great reasons, the maximum possible benefit for those who serve should be the aim," he said.
Local resident Paul Aron said he's worried about whether the state government could block certain kinds of care.
"Is there any way that you can assure scientific and medical and human rights independence from political agendas that characterize our current state of federal government and culture. I assert that such guarantees are essential as this partnership is to move forward," he said.
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FSU president Richard McCullough told commissioners the university has academic freedom.
"Certainly, you could point to a few things that that the state has weighed in on for the whole state of Florida, right? But in general, we operate with full academic freedom to do what we want. We work hand in hand with the state and the legislative branch to talk to them about what our strategic initiatives look like and what we want to do. They're all wrapped up in what's good for the state, what's good for the students," he said.
But Commissioner Jeremy Matlow said he doesn't think the state exerting political pressure is outside the realm of possibility.
"We saw this in the UF presidential search. We saw it at New College. We even saw it at FAMU. Of how much that political pressure is weighing on the academic community. So, I understand you don't feel those pressures right now, and the reason you're moving forward is in the benefit of public health, and I respect that, and I appreciate that, but when we have an asset that's owned by local locals, a billion dollars, we have the duty to protect that," he said.
Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox said those concerns are valid, but not worth halting progress in negotiations because the deal will have a long-term impact on Tallahassee.
"I think what we have the ability to do right here right now is to put something in place that's going to live past this political climate, and it's going to live past us. I am not looking at this for myself. I'm looking at it for my great-grandchild that is on the way," she said.
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In a Facebook video posted after the meeting, Commissioner Jeremy Matlow said he is concerned about how the idea came about and would be hesitant to support the sale if the compensation isn't enough.
"While it was meant to be packaged as this great deal was reached, that's the farthest thing from the truth. This was kind of forced through, this steamroller is rolling, and it's really got to be up to the people to stand up and have their voices heard to see if they want it," he said.
Some of the details are still being hammered out — like the exact makeup of the governing board. But commissioners did vote to ask City Manager Reese Goad to begin negotiations with FSU about what that compensation would look like. They've also agreed to move forward with another public hearing on the issue on Oct. 22.
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