PELL CITY — The St. Clair County Healthcare Authority took yet another step in the project to build a new hospital in Pell City last week.

At its regular meeting in Pell City, the Healthcare Authority voted unanimously to hire Hoar and Goodgame Construction Companies (partnering on their proposal) as construction managers for the new St. Vincent’s St. Clair, which will be located on the Jefferson State campus on Interstate 20.

The board chose Hoar and Goodgame over two other companies, Brasfield and Gorrie LLC and Robins & Morton. Hoar and Goodgame’s estimated fee for the project — $905,346 — is actually higher than the other two.

According to chairman Lawrence Fields, the deciding factor was the number of local people the company plans to employ as sub-contractors. According to their joint proposal, Hoar and Goodgame expect to employ St. Clair County residents for 50 to 75 percent of the work on the hospital.

“There wasn’t a lot of difference as far as money,” Fields said. “We wanted to employ as many local people as we could. That’s the reason we did it.”

Hoar and Goodgame also say in their proposal that they plan to return 100 percent of the savings on the project to the Healthcare Authority.

County Commission chairman Stan Batemon echoed Fields’ sentiments and said the commission feels the same way.

“(The commissioners) wanted the best hospital we could get at the best price,” he said. “Any of the three who applied could have provided that.

“Next, we also wanted as many local people to have access to working on the project as possible. The package by Hoar and Goodgame, in our opinion, was the best way to assure that would happen.”

Healthcare Authority attorney Bill Trussell said Monday the board is not bound to the low bid in the contract, according to state law specifically exempting health care authorities from the bid law. Batemon said the difference in money between the three proposals is nominal.

“The price is virtually the same,” he said. “I think the combination of Hoar and Goodgame might produce some savings in the total cost of the project in the long run.”

At a previous meeting, the board approved hiring Birchfield Penuel and Associates to handle the architectural work for the hospital. The total cost of the project is not to exceed $28.4 million, according to the contract approved by the county.