On Wednesday evening, the community is invited to get together at Butler County Community College to talk about the future of Butler Memorial Hospital. Given the momentous decisions facing the hospital administration and board of trustees, the more people who attend and the more robust the discussion, the better.

More information, more discussion, more questions and more debate can help ensure that the best decisions are made. There is no downside to additional information and discussion.

The 7 p.m. meeting at Butler County Community College is being sponsored by the Butler County Democratic Group for Saving Our Hospital and is intended to provide a public forum for questions and answers about the hospital's future direction - specifically the current plan to build an entirely new hospital at a new site.

The sharp divisions that exist between those who favor a new hospital at a new location and those who believe it is more financially prudent to build a new or largely new hospital at the current location might not be erased by Wednesday's meeting, but there are many issues that deserve to be publicly discussed.

To their credit, the hospital administration and board conducted a series of public meetings concerning the new-hospital issue in late 2003 and early 2004. But for the past year, the hospital has not had any additional open dialogue with the public. There have been direct-mail pieces and television ads from the hospital - but public relations is not a substitute for dialogue.

Wednesday's meeting at the college's Succop Theater is intended to bring together members of the hospital administration and board of trustees with former members of the board and others who have serious reservations about current plans for a new hospital.

All Butler County residents who view Butler Memorial as their hospital should be interested in learning more about what the board has in mind for a new hospital and the financial viability of that plan.

There are many topics for discussion, including:

n Whether the board will reconsider the offer by the Butler Eagle to pay $50,000 for completion of a feasibility study by the architectural firm of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann for building on the current campus.

n The current status of the proposed joint venture with the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs involving building a new hospital on the VA campus and providing free care to veterans in return for land.

n The board's reaction to the full Hammes report that reviewed previous consultants' reports and studies.

n The status of the proposed bed count for a new hospital, and whether those beds will be in private or semi-private rooms.

n The board's current plans for accommodating the needs of psychiatric patients in a new hospital. (The current hospital has approximately 60 beds for psychiatric patients.)

n What planned improvements to the Emergency Department can be expected with a new hospital?

n What are the plans for some level of pediatric care in a new hospital?

n Will a new hospital be built to take advantage of all the latest technologies in terms of being a fully digital hospital?

n Has the hospital's financial position changed since the time, nearly two years ago, when investment advisers told the board its likely borrowing limit for a new hospital would be approximately $150 million? A related issue involves the outstanding debt of about $25 million associated with buildings on the current East Brady Street campus.

n What impact is general inflation and the escalating price of steel likely to have on a new hospital being built four or five years from now, compared with cost estimates well over a year ago?

n What is the board's opinion regarding reinstatement of the hospital association to establish some level of accountability to the public and to increase transparency of board operations?

There are more issues to consider, but the public will benefit from the board's current thinking on these topics.

Such dramatic changes to a community hospital and the magnitude of the financial investment are rightly viewed by many as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As such, the public deserves to be fully informed as the project moves forward.

Wednesday evening's meeting could help to establish the kind of dialogue that should exist (but doesn't) between the public and the hospital's administration and board of trustees.