TMH Board: When Control Matters More Than Care | Opinion

Florida State University presenting its healthcare partnership proposal to the Tallahassee City Commission.

When control matters more than care, it's our community that pays the price.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) Board continues to push back against the FSU Health partnership—launching PR campaigns, resisting compromise, and digging in against meaningful collaboration. But recent polling shows just how disconnected TMH leadership has become from the very community they claim to represent.

A Sachs Media poll found that over 60% of Tallahassee residents believe the hospital would be better run under FSU Health. In the same poll, 65% of residents living in Tallahassee indicated that they have traveled outside the city to receive medical care—a clear sign that our current system isn’t meeting the community’s needs. Another independent survey showed that more than 75% of the community supports the creation of an academic medical center through the FSU–TMH partnership. Despite this overwhelming public support, TMH’s board appears more concerned with preserving control than improving care.

Dianne Williams-Cox: "All I wanna do is get it done because this idea is ripping our community apart,"

Case in point: After news broke that TMH had refused to allocate a seat to TSC, City Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox proposed a reasonable compromise, expanding the newly formed hospital board from 17 to 19 voting members to include both FAMU and TSC.

Her proposal was simple.

• One new seat for Florida A&M University (FAMU), appointed by the FAMU President

• One new seat for Tallahassee State College (TSC), appointed by the TSC President

Importantly, the existing agreed-upon board structure would remain untouched. Commissioner Williams-Cox’s plan would have simply expanded the board to create room for broader representation.

The proposed new board composition would have been:

TMH: 9 seats (TMH is still having 1 seat advantage over FSU)

FSU: 8 seats

FAMU: 1 seat, directly appointed by the FAMU President

TSC: 1 seat, directly appointed by the TSC President

She also proposed adjusting the supermajority requirement for major decisions to more than 14 votes, ensuring that no single group could control the board. Even if FSU, FAMU, and TSC—or alternatively, TMH, FAMU, and TSC—voted together as a bloc, they would still need at least four additional votes to approve major actions like hiring an FSU Health CEO.

FSU agreed to this compromise. TMH rejected it.

Gary Yordon, known lobbyist and political consultant, pictured with the TMH Board.

Instead, TMH responded—in a blatantly self-serving move—with a counterproposal that would give itself even greater control over the board:

TMH: 10 seats

FSU: 7 seats

FAMU: 1 seat

TSC: 1 seat

Their justification? That they needed to protect “community seats” from “higher education appointees.” It simply doesn’t make sense—not with the supermajority rule already in place protecting each institution.

This isn’t how you negotiate with a willing partner, FSU, which proactively agreed to include FAMU and TSC to create a more diverse and inclusive board, despite having no obligation to do so. TMH’s response isn’t just inflexible, it’s a deliberate attempt to stall progress and deny this community the stronger, more equitable healthcare system it deserves.

TMH keeps pretending it’s acting in the community’s best interest. But are they really?

TMH has reportedly invested $60 million—drawn from operations on its Tallahassee campus, which it leases for just $1 a year—into a new hospital in Panama City Beach. Meanwhile, patients here at home endure hours-long ER wait times and a Medicare “D” rating for quality of care. Shouldn’t we be investing in healthcare here at home first? Who approved this? And was the public ever informed?

TMH is not subject to Florida’s sunshine laws—meaning the public cannot request board minutes or financial records. In other words, the board answers to no one but itself.

So how “community-led” is this really? And how diverse, transparent, or representative is the current TMH board?

At this point, TMH’s board is just resisting progress. Their claims of “protecting local control” are nothing more than a smokescreen. What they’re really protecting is a closed system, unaccountable to the public, insulated from scrutiny, and increasingly out of touch with the community they’re supposed to serve. Again, when control matters more than care, it's our community that pays the price.

I would love to hear your thoughts! Do you like how TMH has been managing the hospital—or is it time for a change? Join the conversation on our social media platforms. Your voice matters!

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This article is an opinion piece by Bugra Demirel, a longtime Tallahassee resident, entrepreneur, and community advocate. A graduate of Florida State University and Tallahassee State College, Bugra was inducted into the Tallahassee State College Alumni & Friends Hall of Fame in 2024 and honored as a Seminole 100 recipient for leading Demirel International—one of the fastest-growing businesses owned by an FSU alumnus. His company holds investments across retail, hospitality, manufacturing and commercial real estate industries.