On a 3-1-1 vote, the Sylacauga City Council has approved a $2 million loan to Coosa Valley Medical Center to establish an in-patient mental health facility for adults under the age of 55.
With both said they support the mental health facility specifically and the hospital generally, Council president Tiffany Nix voted against, and Councilman Nate Brew abstained, citing misgivings about the contract details.
The $2 million would come from an escrow account set up by Baptist Health Systems in in 1994 that has not been touched in decades. The account has been drawing interest ever since, earning about $80,000 per year for the last 30 years.
The project is expected to take six to nine months to complete and create about 25 new jobs, as well as provide more local mental health treatment. The estimated cost of the project is $2.4 million.
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