CHI lease finally blessed by Grimes County

Following one year of extensive negotiations with CHI St. Joseph Grimes Hospital and corporate owners Catholic Health Initiatives/Common Spirit, an Amended and Restated Lease Agreement was approved by Grimes County commissioners Wednesday, April 5, and named the county judge as signatory. Representing Grimes County through the lengthy negotiation period were County Attorney Jon C. Fultz and Pct. 3 Commissioner Barbara Walker.

The terms of the 5-year lease call for monthly rent of $59,809.26 for the period beginning April 1, 2023, through March 31, 2028, with a 2% annual increase.

According to Fultz, determining responsibility for repairs - facility versus landlord - for the county-owned building has been a struggle for years but the new contract “hammered out” those details and also established parameters for renewal at the termination of the lease period.

Fultz said, “I would remind the court that we have this symbiotic relationship that we own the property with a reversionary provision in the conveyance to the County that says the property should be used as a hospital. If St. Jos decided to go somewhere else, we’re left with ownership of it but we’ve got to put somebody else in there to use as a hospital. Having somebody to continue to use it, providing that service to the folks of Navasota as well as Grimes County, is a grand benefit to your constituents.”

Meetings may be viewed in their entirety at https://grimescountytx.granicus.com.