Dennis MockA low-cost clinic appears to be leaving Dalton in two months, but the mayor says the government will provide a replacement soon.
Steven Miracle, the CEO of Georgia Mountains Health, said Mayor Dennis Mock sent him a letter about two weeks ago, telling him the company’s clinic inside the Mack Gaston Community Center won’t be able to operate past July 31. The company has leased the space for $1 a month for the past five years, but its contract ends in eight weeks.
Mock said Miracle did not apply to renew the lease in time. However, he added, the real problem has been the quality of the clinic’s work. He said the clinic was closed during regular business hours 46 different times. Also, the city’s human resources department had to contact the clinic about problems several times.
Asked for more specifics about those issues, Mock referred the Times Free Press to Greg Batts, the city’s human resources director. Batts did not return a call or email seeking comment Thursday.
But Miracle said he had not heard from Batts in “quite some time,” and he was unaware of any ongoing complaints. He added that city officials had not spoken to him about the clinic being closed during the day.