The Colorado Springs City Council approved plans to lease Memorial Health System to University of Colorado Health during a special 10 a.m. Wednesday meeting.
With the council’s vote, the Memorial/UCH agreement will go before voters in an Aug. 28 special election.
The council voted on several measures related to placing the Memorial/UCH agreement on an August ballot, passing each on an 8-0 vote. One council member, Tim Leigh, left the meeting early to help a daughter who received a fire evacuation order. Mayor Steve Bach also supported the resolutions.
“This is a historic day for CU and for UCCS,” Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak said. “The opportunity to bring physician education to the UCCS campus and the strength of UCH to Colorado Springs is something that should be celebrated. But we don’t have time. There is important business at hand.”
Shockley-Zalabak shared news of the council vote in a meeting of campus leaders meeting to discuss campus response to the fires that have ravaged Colorado Springs. The fires displaced faculty, staff and students, forced the campus to close early Tuesday night, and to receive evacuees from the fire’s path.
The fire’s wrath was not lost on members of the city council. According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, two council members didn’t know if their homes were still standing and five had been evacuated.
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