MONROE -- Towns that oppose selling the hospital are lining up against the commissioners.

The Union County Board of Commissioners is shopping Carolinas Medical Center - Union and hopes to get upwards of $200 million for it. Monroe has already passed a resolution opposing the sale and Marshville and Wingate plan to do so in January.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to sell the biggest asset,” Monroe Councilman Lynn Keziah said.

“In my opinion, they are not taking the eastern part of the county into consideration,” said Marshville Mayor Frank Deese.

The board majority of Commissioners Lanny Openshaw, Tracy Kuehler and Kim Rogers said they want to sell the hospital in order to pay down debt incurred from school bonds.

“If they’ve got a better solution, I guess I’d like to see it,” Kuehler said.

She argued that opposition to the sale was a knee-jerk reaction for fear of losing quality health care. The county owns the building and the land, but has a lease with CMC-

-Union for the operation. The lease runs for more than a decade.

“If a different entity comes in, I do not believe that health care would suffer in Union County,” Kuehler said. “So I don’t see how that would change.”

Commissioner Allan Baucom has long opposed the sale. “I don’t see why every town in Union County wouldn’t adopt a similar resolution (opposing the sale),” he said. That towns were publicly opposing it, “I think goes to the good common sense of the people of Union County,” he said.

Wingate Commissioner Johnny Jacumin took a more historical point of view. “If you look at Union County you have Wingate University and Union Regional,” he said. “To take it away, is ridiculous.”

Exacerbating the debate, according to Kuehler, was hospital officials not helping clear up misconceptions. Under the “Leadership Team” tab on the CMC-Union Web site reads the line, “CMC-Union is owned by the citizens of Union County”.

CMC-Union is a nonprofit organization contracted with the county, not a county department, said Kuehler, so the residents of the county do not own the hospital operator. “That’s irritating,” she said.

Commissioners will meet Monday to discuss hospital issues, including a possible emergency department expansion at the CMC-Union Waxhaw location.