By By BETTY MITCHELL GRAY
betty@wdnweb.com
Contributing Writer
Two pivotal meetings on the future of health care in Beaufort County have been rescheduled for Monday, it was announced Wednesday afternoon by local hospital and county officials.
The Beaufort Regional Health System Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Monday, when it is expected to hear a recommendation from a committee that has been negotiating over the health system’s future, according to Pam Shadle, BRHS director of marketing and public relations.
At that meeting, the BRHS board could vote to recommend an affiliation arrangement to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.
The meeting had been originally scheduled for Dec. 27 but was cancelled due to weather.
A negotiating committee comprised of the BRHS board’s executive committee – Chairman Alice Mills Sadler, Vice Chairman Brenda Peacock and Secretary Hood Richardson – and board member Suzanne Gray, has been conducting a second round of negotiations with the health system’s potential partners.
A meeting with LHP Hospital Group of Plano, Texas, also scheduled Dec. 27, was cancelled. Hospital officials did not indicate if that meeting was also rescheduled for Monday.
The committee had recently met in a closed-door session with representatives from Greenville-based University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina and conducted a conference call with representatives of Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems Inc., according to Shadle.
Sources had previously confirmed that the negotiating committee could be prepared to make its recommendation to the BRHS board Monday.
In anticipation of the BRHS board meeting, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners has rescheduled its special session for 7 p.m. Monday in the Superior Courtroom of the Beaufort County Courthouse. 
The county commissioners will ultimately decide the fate of the local health system, but the panel is not expected to vote Monday on any recommendations from the BRHS board, county leaders have said.
Instead, that panel could outline for the public the process it will use to consider the recommendation made by the BRHS board.
“The county commissioners will in no way consider making a decision regarding the issue on Monday night,” said County Manager Paul Spruill. “Their interest is only to be available for the BRHS board to make its report to the elected body as soon as possible once the recommendation occurs.” 
If the BRHS board adjourns its meeting without reaching a consensus on the four proposals, it is expected that the county commissioners meeting will be cancelled.
Since late October, the BRHS board has been considering offers presented by four potential suitors who responded to the health system’s Request for Proposals, or RFP – Brim Healthcare, Community Health Systems Inc., LHP Hospital Group and University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina.
UHS initially presented a proposal for a 20-year lease; CHS, a 30-year lease plus two 10-year renewals; Brim Healthcare, a three-year management services arrangement with one two-year renewal, and LHP Healthcare, separate proposals for a 30-year lease with two 10-year renewals and a 80/20 joint venture arrangement.
These proposals have been the subject of negotiations since early November.