NATCHEZ — Representatives from Community Health Systems were in Natchez last week to evaluate Natchez Regional Medical Center as part of their intention to purchase the facility.

NRMC officials confirmed last week CHS — the owner of Natchez Community Hospital — was the potential buyer who had signed a letter of intent with NRMC for a possible sale.

A letter of intent is a non-binding but formal acknowledgement both parties are working together to finalize an asset purchase agreement for the hospital.

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said he met with the team CHS sent to review the hospital facilities as part of the due diligence necessary for the purchase.

Grennell said he spoke with the team about the community as a whole and about specific needs in the local medical industry.

“I gave them an overview of Adams County and the surrounding communities — Wilkinson and Franklin counties and Concordia Parish — because Natchez has always been the hub of the greater Miss-Lou area,” he said. “I also talked about the need for future doctors and specialists for this area.”

Grennell said after the meeting he felt “really good” about how it went.

“They appeared to be very receptive to everything I discussed with them,” he said.

Healthcare Management Partners Chief Executive Officer Scott Phillips previously said he hoped an asset purchase agreement might be finalized and ready for review and possible approval by Monday, but NRMC attorney Walter Brown said that wouldn’t happen Monday because CHS was still performing due diligence work.

“The purchaser necessarily needs to have all the information about the hospital, including all the title work, all the surveys, all the leases, all the contracts, all the information about audits, and just trying to pull all that together takes a considerable amount of time,” Brown said.

“You have to go back historically and pull a lot of information and documents that are sometimes decades old. They have to look at zoning, land use regulations, and hundreds of things that have to be pulled so they can make an informed judgment with respect to what they are acquiring.”

Though Brown didn’t say when the due diligence process would be over, he said he expected it would be soon.

Brown said after the sale resolution is adopted a timeline for the final sale of the hospital will become more clear because the law mandates a timeline.

If the supervisors approve the asset purchase agreement and adopt a sale resolution, the hospital will be advertised for sale.

Once the notice advertising the sale is published, county residents have the option of filing a petition asking to take the sale to a voter referendum for approval. The petition would require 1,500 signatures to take the matter to a vote.

If a successful petition is not filed, the hospital can go to sale without further objection.

After 30 days, NRMC will be go up for auction, and if no one outbids the negotiated agreement, the sale will automatically close with CHS.

NRMC opened in 1960 as Jefferson Davis Memorial Hospital. Its $2.4 million construction was underwritten by an $800,000 local contribution and state and federal funds.

It has been financially independent since 1974 and does not receive tax support, but is backed by a 5-mill standby tax that the Mississippi Development Bank required the hospital to get in 2006 when it asked for the MDB to reissue its revenue bond.

The hospital board of trustees announced in February its intention to declare bankruptcy, citing at the time a $3 million deficit between financial assets and liabilities.

The county supervisors, who have to approve any action to sell the facility, appoint the hospital’s volunteer trustees. The board of trustees includes the Rev. Leroy White, John Serafin, Dr. Linda Godley, Bill Ernst, Lionel Stepter, Lee Martin and Dr. Jennifer Russ.