Ellwood City Borough Council voted Monday night 6-0 to create a hospital/medical district on the property where the Ellwood City Medical Center is located.
Missing from the vote was councilman Rob Brough. There was no public input during Monday’s vote.
The move is meant to protect the hospital and surrounding offices from being developed as anything but a medical facility.
During a public hearing in April, Benjamin Steinberg an attorney representing Penn Med LLC, a lender who is seeking a more than $5 million judgement against Americore Health LLC, Ellwood Medical Center LLC, and Ellwood Medical Center Real Estate LLC, spoke on behalf of Penn Med LLC, expressing opposition to the zoning district. He said it is his client’s opinion that the zoning would be an “unconstitutional taking.”
“Multiple confessions of judgement that were entered into the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas are still active,” Steinberg said during the April hearing. “However my client, at this time, has not yet executed on them. With that said, it is not my clients intention to foreclose on the hospital. Penn Med’s main goal is simply to get paid what they are owed by Americore.”
Former state Rep. Jim Christiana, and owner of the m:7 Agency, was also in attendance at the April public hearing and after the meeting spoke on behalf of the hospital. He said the hospital has no formal stance on the hospital/medical district, but insisted that the hospital is committed to the community.
The hospital’s future came into question soon after it was purchased in 2017 by Americore Health, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based privately held company that specializes in acquiring and managing rural hospitals. Americore and Ellwood City Medical Center have have been under fire for months over claims that employees and vendors have not been paid in a timely manner.
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