Clinton Voters Say "Yes" To Hospital Funds

March 8, 2023

By News Director Jared Atha

A measure that frees up $11.6 million to reopen Clinton Regional Hospital won 93.7 percent of the vote Tuesday.

AllianceHealth told city officials last year it was closing Clinton Regional Hospital on Dec. 31. AllianceHealth, which operated the hospital the past several years, gradually had been reducing services.

But instead of transferring state and federal licenses to the city of Clinton as previous operators had done, the company canceled the permits. Reapplication for those licenses will require the city to spend millions of dollars on upgrades to the hospital – thus the need for the now approved funds.

When the hospital was built in 1973, the City of Clinton operated it, and a fund was established to pay for long-term needs with the fund starting out with about $6 million. With interest and revenue over the years, the fund now stands at $11.6 million.

But to get access to that fund, the city’s hospital authority, made up of the Clinton’s City Council members, had to get approval from Clinton voters.

It’s unclear as to how long it will take for the upgrades to be completed or how long it will take to get the required federal and state licenses, but it was recently announced that a portion of the building will open an urgent care clinic in the building on Monday.

Also on Tuesday voters rejected the legalization of recreational marijuana on Tuesday.

Oklahoma voters strongly voted “no” against State Question 820, with that no vote getting roughly 61% of the vote.

Gov. Kevin Stitt and many of the state’s GOP legislators, including nearly every Republican senator, opposed the idea. Former Republican Gov. Frank Keating, an ex-FBI agent, and Terri White, the former head of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, also voiced opposition.

Oklahoma voters had already approved medical marijuana in 2018.

State Question 820, the result of a signature gathering drive last year, was the only item on the statewide ballot, and early results showed heavy opposition in rural areas.