The final hurdle between the beginning of construction of a new hospital in Chilton County was cleared Wednesday.

The Alabama Certificate of Need Review Board approved the CON application submitted by the Chilton County Healthcare Authority.

The board unanimously approved plans to construct a 30-bed hospital facility in Chilton County, which would be located off Highway 145 near Interstate 65 Exit 212.

A 1-cent sales tax increase is being collected to fund the project, after it was approved by voters during the June Primary Election.

Approval from the CON board is necessary for operation of a hospital in Alabama and was the last step of the process of opening a new hospital in Chilton County not in the hands of the local Healthcare Authority.

“We can now officially start,” Authority spokesman Sibley Reynolds said. “We’ve been running toward the race; now we’re in the race.”

The meeting was held in the State Capitol Auditorium and attended by more than 20 local leaders.

Among those present were Rep. Jimmy Martin, Sen. Clyde Chambliss and Kevin Flynn with St. Vincent’s Health System, which is in an agreement with the Authority to operate the facility.

Other groups represented included the Authority, Chilton County Chamber of Commerce, Chilton County Commission, city of Clanton, Chilton County Industrial Development Board, Chilton County Probate Judge’s office and others.

Dennis Neighbors, attorney for the Healthcare Authority, was first to address the CON Board.

“I don’t think there’s been a more dedicated team of workers that has tried to pull a hospital from the ashes as this group in Chilton County,” Neighbors said, only starting the praise for the local leaders. “We could’ve brought three or four busloads of people down here.”

Neighbors mentioned the overwhelming majority (almost 80 percent) of voters who approved the 1-cent sales tax increase–despite the general unpopularity of tax increases.

“That’s how much this has meant to the people of this county for a long time,” he said.

Neighbors also touched on the importance of a hospital to economic growth, and to the welfare of the elderly and impoverished.

Reynolds was sworn in and then addressed the CON Board, going over the history of the closed Chilton Medical Center and how the Healthcare Authority came to the point of focusing on the construction of a new facility as opposed to trying to reopen the old one.

“Let’s not do that; let’s start over,” Reynolds said was the prevailing opinion of the Authority.

Board Chairman Neal Morrison told the other board members that he has worked closely with the Authority and other Chilton County officials during the process.

“I think these folks have to be complimented because they’ve come a long way,” he said.

There was applause in the auditorium after the proposal was approved.

The proposal read that the Healthcare Authority…”proposes to construct a full-service 30-bed acute care hospital consisting of an emergency department, advanced imaging and diagnostic services as well as surgical and GI services.”

There was no opposition to the proposal.