Hospital safety grades rank Marion County facilities
A national patient safety report again ranked AdventHealth Ocala as the top-scoring hospital in Marion County.
The facility at 1500 SW First Ave. maintained a grade of B from the nonprofit Leapfrog Group for the third straight report dating back to the fall 2019 rankings.
The group releases the rankings twice per year: One in the spring and again in the fall.
Meanwhile, West Marion Community Hospital and Ocala Regional Medical Center, both operated by Ocala Health, maintained a C grade. West Marion s report grade slipped from a B to C in the spring rankings.
Homeowners in Ocala can expect a lump of coal in their stockings for 2021, a new annual tax to pay for fire services that replaces a fee on utility bills that was ruled unconstitutional earlier this year.
The City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution detailing the proposed amount property owners can expect to pay: $190.77. The new taxing scheme requires another public hearing and vote before it is officially enacted.
The tax replaces the city s previous method of collecting money for fire services. That method – billed as a monthly user fee to all customers of Ocala Electric Utility – was deemed by the courts as an illegal tax.
Longtime Marion County Clerk of Court David Ellspermann honored
On Tuesday, after 24 years, David Ellspermann worked his last Marion County Commission meeting.
The longtime Marion County Clerk of the Court and Comptroller will leave office in January after nearly a quarter of a century in the position. Greg Harrell will take over after running unopposed in November s election.
Ellspermann, who in his role also serves as the clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, auditor, recorder and custodian of all county funds, has been a fixture at the commission meetings.
On Tuesday, the commission issued a proclamation in Ellspermann s honor for the work he has done, including his efforts to make public records available online and his three-time selection as Clerk of the Year by the Florida Clerks and Comptrollers Association.
The Ocala City Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to extend the city s emergency face mask mandate for a second time.
Councilman Jay Musleh was the lone vote against extending the mandate, which would have expired on Friday. The ordinance will continue for another 60 days.
There was no public comment or discussion among the council on Tuesday about the measure. When the original ordinance first passed in August, Mayor Kent Guinn vetoed the measure. The council, however, voted to override that veto.
Since the original ordinance passed, a $25 fine option is no longer included.
The ordinance still requires business owners to post a notice requesting customers wear a mask, make announcements during the day that masks are suggested and requires employees wear masks unless exempt due to medical or religious reasons. Residents are not required to wear masks.
The Marion County Hospital District trustees passed on a multimillion-dollar plan to renovate the College of Central Florida s gym into a nursing school facility.
CF President Jim Henningsen brought the idea to the trustees in June after the prospects of state money for a new health science building at the college dwindled thanks to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
State officials expect deep cuts to the budget during the coming legislative session because of drops in tax revenue. But the Legislature had already frozen out the CF building project, appropriating nothing to the planned building for the last two years.