A City Council task force has moved one step closer to finalizing a ballot proposal to turn city-owned Memorial Health System into an independent enterprise managed by a nonprofit. On Friday, the group decided several basic points for the ballot, and discussed its language.

City Attorney Pat Kelley will present the task force with three drafts of the potential ballot language as early as next week.

“This is a significant first step to placing Memorial Hospital on the ballot for November,” said City Councilwoman Jan Martin, president of the task force.

Martin said the task force plans to lease Memorial and its assets to a new nonprofit created to manage the operation. This would to allow the hospital’s board of directors to operate independently from city government, and, supporters say, improve its ability to compete.

“Because we’re a public entity we have to (publicize) everything we do,” said City Councilman Tim Leigh. “Because we have to do that, our competitors know our strategy and this casts us in a very disadvantageous light.”

The task force also agreed that the ballot should call for elimination of a city charter requiring residents to provide funds for the hospital if it has financial trouble, and creation of a citizens board to appoint hospital board members, with City Council approving the selections.

The task force could vote on the ballot wording as early as next week, hospital spokesman Brian Newsome said in an e-mail.

But it’s still waiting on the estimated cost for the hospital ending its affiliation with the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association. A push earlier this year for a ballot initiative regarding Memorial’s future was stopped after PERA said it would cost the hospital system $246 million if it left the retirement plan. Memorial has disputed the number, and officials with PERA and the hospital system are in talks to reach an agreement on the number, which is essential for the proposal to appear on the November ballot, said City Councilwoman Brandy Williams.

“That shoe has to fall before anything else can happen,” Williams said.

Memorial and PERA are in ongoing negotiations about the cost, which Leigh expects the cost to be less than $246 million.

“They have sufficient cash on hand to do this deal,” Leigh said.

After reviewing the three drafts, the task force will craft a proposal and present it to the City Council. The proposal’s language must be submitted by Aug. 16. The council plans to vote on it on Aug. 23 to determine if it will be on the November ballot.

MARINATED ANTIPASTI VEGETABLES Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS