Lee County has reaffirmed its financial commitment to Keokuk Area Hospital.
The Board of Supervisors previously pledged $100,000 as a local match for KAH to receive roughly $250,000 in federal funding.
The money has been sitting in the county's economic development fund, though, since April 2012.
That will soon change as the supervisors have signed off on an agreement between Lee County and the Iowa Department of Human Services regarding how the money can be distributed.
Supervisor Gary Folluo says KAH needs the money to get through its current financial struggles.
There was opposition to the signing as the final vote was 3-2.
It surrounded current staffing levels at the hospital, compared to when the pledge was made, and the precedent of pledging county money for one business over another.
Meanwhile, the Board of Supervisors has officially abandoned the projected joint facility between the county's Health and Conservation Departments.
The supervisors took that step so associated engineering and architectural contracts could be terminated.
The board is now focusing its efforts on a stand-alone facility for the Lee County Health Department, possibly near the jail complex.
