City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox says words matter especially when it comes to the contentious hospital deal between Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
With Tallahassee city commissioners poised to tee up a final public hearing on the sale of the city’s stake in Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare to Florida State University on Jan. 14, the commissioner held a townhall at the Smith-Williams Service Center in an effort to get the community on the same page ahead of the meeting.
On Jan. 12, the audience of less than a dozen people were treated to some pizza and sweet tea before they took their seats in front of Williams-Cox, who sat at a small table in the center of the room with a microphone. The meeting was also streamed online with several watching from Zoom such as former county commissioner Gary Yordon, who has been working on the hospital’s strategy team, and defense attorney Mutaqee Akbar
Williams-Cox promoted the discussion on her social media platforms alongside a simplified info sheet titled “Transfer of hospitals assets, what it means to you.” It broke down the sale into four different categories: community care, creation of an academic health center, investment in Tallahassee and economic impact.
Despite the small turnout at the Monday meeting, dozens of people are expected to make their presence known at Wednesday’s commission meeting.
Community gets to speak up
The questions varied based on people’s concerns, some were worried about maintaining ongoing practices such as pediatric care, others wanted to get the specifics on the deal, others asked about the potential for state and political leaders having control over local healthcare.
One of the points Williams-Cox wanted to nail home was the wording of sale versus transfer. Even though FSU will pay the city millions each year, she maintains the transaction is more of a transfer of assets than a sale because it revolves around the city’s decades-old $1-a-year lease deal with TMH.
“We’re not selling the hospital, we’re transferring assets to FSU so that our hospital can continue to be a community hospital,” she said. “We have a lease agreement (with TMH), and that lease will be transferred FSU.”
She noted how under the current arrangement, the city only gets $1 a year from TMH. Under the transfer, FSU is expected to pay $109 million over 30 years and invest $100 million for facility upgrades and $150 million for clinical and academic enhancements by Dec. 31, 2034.
She clarified that what city commissioners will be voting on Wednesday is to move forward in the process. A final agreement and public hearing could come in March if TMH and FSU negotiators are able to find common ground on dozens of other matters.
She acknowledged the many concerns revolving around state involvement due to the decisions coming out of the Capitol.
“It’s up to us to decide who the next governor is going to be, instead of looking at who is in place now we need to be looking at what the future holds,” she said, pointing to the 2026 elections.
Williams-Cox even got personal on what this transfer means to her, sharing the story of her aide’s fight with cancer and the trips she takes with her husband to Shands to seek proper care.
“I don’t know how many of you had drives out of the area to get help for your family members. Last week I was in Gainesville,” she said. “My husband had a liver transplant… and for the past two years we’ve been driving back and forth to Gainesville.”
She said ensuring local residents can get quality care without trekking hundreds of miles remains the prime mission of the merger.
“That is our goal, because Shands (hospital) and Moffit (cancer center) and all these other things, they didn’t necessarily become who they are but we have to start somewhere.”
“It’s not going to happen overnight, it’s going to take some time, but we’ve got to start somewhere.”
If you go
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect date for the city commission meeting.
Arianna Otero is the trending and breaking news reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com and follow her on X: @ari_v_otero.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: City Commissioner talks up TMH-FSU sale ahead of pivotal vote
Reporting by Arianna Otero, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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