Private Acts of 1957 Chapter 32

SECTION 1. That a non-profit Hospital District, to be known as the Sumner County General Hospital District, is hereby created and established for and in behalf of Sumner County, Tennessee.

SECTION 2. That said Hospital District shall comprise and consist of the following described tract or parcel of land, together with all buildings and other improvements thereon and all appurtenance thereunto belonging, located in the Third (3rd) Civil District of Sumner County, Tennessee, and more particularly described as follows:

A tract or parcel of land beginning at a concrete monument on the west right of way line of the TVA access road to the Gallatin Steam Plant, said monument being 75.0 feet south of the centerline of Hartsville Pike (Tenn. Highway 25), and thence, south 10 degrees 10 feet west 432.29 feet along the TVA access road west right of way to a concrete monument, said monument also being a reference point for the tangent to spiral point of the centerline and being 50.0 feet west of said point; thence, along the TVA access road west right of way, said right of way line being parallel to and 50.0 feet west of the centerline of the TVA access road, said centerline being described as a 300 foot cubic apiral for a 2 degrees 30 feet curve to the left, 309.7 feet to a concrete monument at the intersection of the north right of way of a 40 ft. unnamed street, this curving line having a chord of 309.67 feet in length on a bearing of south 8 degrees 51 feet west, said chord including an arc of a 2 degrees 30 feet curve to the left; thence, south 86 degrees 36 feet west 480.53 feet along the north right of way of the 40 ft. street to a concrete monument; thence, north 5 degrees 36 feet east 693.09 feet to a concrete monument; thence, north 3 degrees 58 feet east 200.00 feet to a concrete monument in the south right of way of Hartsville Pike (Tenn. State Highway 25); thence, south 79 degrees 50 feet east 470.39 feet along the south right of way of Hartsville Pike to a concrete monument; thence, south 51 degrees 55 feet east 75.05 feet to the point of beginning containing 9.546 acres, more or less. Being the same property vested in Georgia Ramsey, Willie Ramsey, Leila Maie Ramsey Robertson, Sallie Ramsey North, Maude Ramsey Whiteside, and Effie Ramsey Sullivan, being the sole and only heirs at law of W. A. Ramsey, deceased, who died intestate in Sumner County, Tennessee, in February, 1923, and being the same property conveyed to W. A. Ramsey by deed from Jennie L. Donelson and husband, J. B. Donelson, dated October 6, 1905, and recorded in Deed Book 55, Page 171, in the Register's Office of Sumner County, Tennessee.  

SECTION 3. That said Hospital District shall be operated and controlled by a Commission composed of a Chairman and five (5) members, the members to be elected in the manner and for the terms hereinafter provided. The County Judge of Sumner County shall be ex-officio, a member of and the Chairman of the Sumner County Hospital Commission. The members of the Commission shall be paid the same per diem and mileage for attendance at regular meetings of the Commission as is paid to members of the Quarterly County Court of Sumner County for attendance on sessions of said Court, not to exceed twelve meetings and shall receive Five ($5.00) Dollars for attendance on other meetings for each meeting on the Commission.  

SECTION 4. That members of said Sumner County Hospital Commission shall be citizens of Sumner County, Tennessee. No person shall be a member of the Board if he is (1) an employee of the Board, (2) a physician, or registered nurse, (3) the holder of a full time remunerative position in the County Government or a position with the Tennessee Department of Health, or Department of Public Welfare, or the U. S. Public Health Service provided, however, that the above limitation with respect to anyone holding a remunerative position in the County Government shall not apply to Justices of the Peace of Sumner County, Tennessee, so long as no more than one (1) Justice of the Peace is a member of the Sumner County Hospital Commission at any time; that the initial members of the Sumner County Hospital Commission shall be elected by the Quarterly County Court at its October, 1957, term, as follows: A commissioner to serve a term of one year; a commissioner to serve a term of two years; a commissioner to serve a term for three years; a commissioner to serve a term of four years; and a commissioner to serve a term of five years; and thereafter, at the expiration of a term of a commissioner, the Quarterly County Court of Sumner County at its October term shall elect a successor for a term of five years. The terms of the initial member shall begin on November 1, 1957, and the terms of succeeding members shall begin on the 1st day of November, immediately following election.

SECTION 5. That said Commission shall hold regular meetings monthly on a date which it shall establish. The Commission shall be vested with full, absolute and complete authority and responsibility for the operation, management, conduct, and control of the business and affairs of the Hospital District herein created; such operation, management, conduct and control, however, shall not be inconsistent with existing contractual obligations of said county. Said authority and responsibility shall include, but it shall not be limited, the establishment, promulgation, and enforcement of the rules, regulations and policies of the District, the upkeep and maintenance of all property, the administration of all financial affairs of the District, the execution of all contracts, agreements, and other instruments, and the employment, compensation, discharge and supervision of all personnel. The Commission to have the authority to purchase real estate with the approval of the Quarterly County Court; to sell, with the approval and authorization of the Quarterly County Court any portion of the real estate which the District owns and which is considered surplus to its needs in the performance of its mission; and to execute deeds therefor, when authorized so to do by the Quarterly County Court; and otherwise to act for and in behalf of Sumner County, Tennessee, in the discharge of its mission as set forth in Section 6, of this Act as follows:  

SECTION 6. That the mission of the Hospital District shall be to manage the property of the hospital district, and to provide hospital service of the highest quality consistent with generally recognized standards of hospital service, and with the physical facilities provided and with the limitations imposed by the Budget. Such services shall be rendered, on the approval of the hospital administrator, to any person who makes satisfactory financial arrangements for his service and who is certified for entrance by a practicing physician; and to any person regardless of financial arrangements, if (1) in the opinion of the physicians of the hospital, the physical well being of the person is seriously and eminently endangered by delay in providing the service, or (2) it is determined after due investigative procedure of the board of commissioners or its delegated representatives that such person is without means whatsoever to pay for such services

SECTION 7. That within thirty (30) days after the election of the initial Sumner County Hospital Commission, said Commission shall meet on call by the County Judge and elect a Secretary from among its members who shall serve for a term of one year, and shall elect a Vice- Chairman who shall serve in the place and stead of the Chairman when the Chairman may be absent from any meeting and who shall also serve for a term of one year. Thereafter annually at the first meeting in November said Commission shall elect a Secretary and a Vice-Chairman; provided, that the Hospital Administrator may be elected Secretary of the Commission. Said Hospital Commission shall keep complete, permanent and public records and minutes reflecting all business and transactions of the Commission.  

SECTION 8. That a Commissioner whose term has expired shall continue to serve until his successor shall have been elected in the manner herein provided. In the event of the death or resignation of a Commissioner prior to the expiration of his term, his successor shall be elected for the unexpired term in the same manner as the deceased or retiring Commissioner was elected, such election being for the remainder of the unexpired term.

SECTION 9. That the Sumner County Hospital Commission shall have authority to employ and fix the compensation of a Hospital Administrator, whose duties and responsibilities shall be determined and prescribed by the Hospital Commission.  

SECTION 10. That said Hospital Commission shall annually prepare and submit for review to the Quarterly County Court, a budget reflecting in detail all estimated receipts and disbursements of the Hospital District.

SECTION 11. That the Hospital Commission shall prepare and submit to the Quarterly County Court semi-annually, a complete financial statement and report, which, among other things shall reflect a comparison of actual receipts and disbursements as of the dates of such financial statements.

SECTION 12. (That the Quarterly County Court of Sumner County, Tennessee, is hereby authorized to appropriate to the Hospital District from the General Funds of the county such sums as may be required to commence the operation of said District, including all sums heretofore budgeted therein for Hospital purposes and also the sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000) Dollars derived from the sale of Hospital Bonds, to commence the operation of said District.) Thereafter to appropriate such sums collected from the levy of taxes for Hospital purposes as may be required in the operation and maintenance of said District; and Sumner County is authorized and empowered, also to levy a tax for this purpose.

SECTION 13. That the sums appropriated to the Hospital District, and the fund derived from the tax for this purpose shall be kept by the County Trustee in a special account and fund designated "Hospital Maintenance Fund," and shall be paid out only upon warrant or voucher signed by the Chairman and by the Secretary of the Sumner County Hospital Commission.  

SECTION 14. That nothing in this Act shall impair, reduce or change the authority of the present Sumner County Hospital Building Committee in the construction, completion and equipping of hospital facilities within the Hospital District hereinbefore described or appurtenant thereto.  

SECTION 15. That if any section or part of section of this Act proves to be invalid or unconstitutional, the same shall be held to invalidate or impair the validity, force or effect of any other section or part of this Act, unless it clearly appears that such other section or part of section is wholly or necessarily dependent for its operation upon the section or part of section held to be unconstitutional or invalid.  

SECTION 16. That this Act shall have no effect unless the same shall have been approved by two-thirds vote of the Quarterly County Court of any County to which it may apply on or before the next regular meeting of such Quarterly County Court occurring more than thirty days after its approval by the Chief Executive of this State. Its approval or non-approval shall be proclaimed by the presiding officer of the body having jurisdiction to approve or the reverse and shall be certified by him to the Secretary of State.  

SECTION 17. Tha (sic) this Act shall take effect from and after its passage, the public welfare requiring it.

Passed: February 8, 1957.