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WHEELING -- Members of Wheeling City Council are still in the process of considering whether or not to acquire buildings on the former campus of the Ohio Valley Medical Center, but differing opinions came to light Tuesday about the city's possible ownership of the sprawling site.
During Tuesday's regular city council meeting, a first reading was held on a purchase agreement for the property. For the past several weeks, city leaders have been considering the acquisition of the former hospital campus after its owner Medical Properties Trust LLC offered to transfer the property to the city basically for the price of back taxes and closing costs.
Mayor Glenn Elliott said that although the legislation is moving forward, action to officially acquire OVMC is still under consideration by council members, most of whom have not made up their minds on the matter.
"We're doing that just to get things moving along, but the due diligence remains," Elliott said. "There's a variety of reasons why the current owners want to sell the property or have the closing occur prior to July 1. There are tax reasons for that. It could impact the ultimate price that we would have to pay for the property as well. So we're kind of working back from that deadline, but we're still doing due diligence.
"Even though it's up for a first read today, and it's potentially up for a second read and vote at our second meeting in May, a lot of work is still going forward on that as well."
Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said the city has been given access to a wealth of information about the buildings, including details on utilities, tax information and other requested data. Additional information from architects and engineers also is being compiled, Herron said.
"I hope to have all that work done by the end of this week, in which case I will then submit it to city council in the form of a spreadsheet," Herron told council members Tuesday. "We've very close to having it completed so members of city council will have all the information available to them to make a decision on whether or not to move forward with this transaction by the end of May."
Herron noted that the letter of intent regarding the possible acquisition of OVMC that council approved last month is non-binding and subject to city council's approval. But it does call for action to be taken on the matter by the end of June.
"There's a lot of work yet to be done, and a lot of information will be coming out in the next week or so," Herron said.
On Tuesday's agenda under "those wishing to be heard," Chris Hamm of South Frazier Avenue, who is running against Elliott for the mayor's seat in the upcoming municipal election, urged city council members to hold back on the acquisition of the OVMC property. Hamm noted that inheriting these buildings will be a huge undertaking, and he stressed that the city is facing considerable losses in revenues in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The city had been considering the purchase of one of the buildings -- the Professional Building -- as an option for the city's new public safety building to house a new headquarters for the city's police and fire departments, which Hamm said he believed to be an excellent choice. Yet he indicated he opposed purchasing the OVMC buildings under the circumstances.
"We are living in epic times right now, and unless you have a crystal ball and can tell me exactly where the city finances are going to be at the end of this quarter into July, I think we should just take a deep breath and sit back. That property's not going anywhere."
Hamm said completing the transaction before the next fiscal year because of tax purposes benefits the seller, not the city.
"I think we need to take a deep breath and just step back a little bit on this purchase or any large purchase in the city of Wheeling, because we just truly do not know that this pandemic is going to do," Hamm said. "They may open up things, and it could bounce right back. But right now there's no gambling money coming in, hotel/motel tax is very low, 1 percent sales tax ... we have a lot of revenue that is not normal. To jump into something this large, I think it's just not good government."
In a statement, Wheeling Vice Mayor Chad Thalman came forward and indicated he believed purchasing OVMC would be the right thing for the city to do.
"City council has done its due diligence regarding the transfer of the OVMC campus to the city, and I feel it is in our best interest to move forward with the transaction," Thalman said. "There is commercial real estate value to the property, and by acquiring it, we would be in a better strategic position to oversee how it could be marketed or used in the future. What we don't want to see is the property remaining vacant for many years. However, the goal is not to maintain long-term ownership of the property."