Orangeburg County Council on Monday unanimously gave the Regional Medical Center the go-ahead it needs to borrow $25 million.

RMC wants to borrow the money to construct a 16,000-square-foot Dialysis Access Institute and add 8,560 square feet to the H. Filmore Mabry Center for Cancer Care, among other things.

“We are excited,” RMC President Tom Dandridge said. “It was a long time getting here and we are looking forward to expanding the Cancer Center and the Dialysis Access Institute.”

The loan will be closed this week and construction on the cancer center is expected to begin May 21, Dandridge said.

Council Chairman Johnnie Wright said after the meeting that council has always supported the borrowing.

“We just wanted to make sure that we had the county’s best interests involved,” Wright said. “There were some things we wanted to make sure that we looked at so that it would not come back to haunt us.”

Wright said after receiving financial advice from its experts, council was satisfied.

“We hope the citizens understand that it is our fiduciary duty to make sure we try our very best to make a decision that is best for the county and health care,” Wright said.

Hospital trustees voted 11-3 in favor of a 10-year loan with Fifth Third Bank at a fixed interest rate of 3.5 percent in February. Calhoun County Council has already approved the borrowing.

RMC Finance Committee Chairman Danny Covington, who did not attend Monday’s meeting, submitted a letter to council earlier in the day about his continued concerns over the borrowing package.

Covington has argued that the hospital could use its available cash instead of borrowing money. His letter was not immediately released Monday by the county or the hospital, but Covington said by phone that his concerns remain the same.

“I have documents to back up everything I have said, “ he said.

Orangeburg County Councilman Harry Wimberly asked the county’s adviser in the matter, Alexis Pierre Kisteneff, if the information provided changed anything.

“The short answer is no,” Kisteneff said. “None whatsoever.”

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