Residents Call for S.R.H.S. to Hold Open Meetings

In the wake of controversy over Singing River Health System’s (S.R.H.S.) terminated pension plan, many people are calling for more oversight of the hospital system.

Decisions about the system’s finances are often made behind closed doors because hospitals are exempt from open meeting requirements. Hoping to change this, Coast representatives in this year’s legislature want to pass a bill requiring hospitals to open their meetings to the public and the media.

State Senator Sean Tindell (R), District 49, says, “Well if you look at the open meetings law, there is a list of exceptions, and we can certainly offer some clarity for that, but in general, hospitals have been excluded from the open meetings requirement all together, and I think it’s bringing them under that umbrella so they do have conduct parts of their meetings in open, so there is transparency there.”

Tindell says the bill may also include clarifications about county committees in the wake of a federal indictment involving the Harrison County Utility Authority.