The politics surrounding the second York County hospital have torn the already-fractured York County Council further apart, with accusations of hypocrisy and impropriety flying in public meetings and in the media.

More than a year ago, Piedmont Medical Center asked the state for permission to build a hospital in the fast-growing Fort Mill area. Three other companies joined the request and vied for the bid, which was awarded June 1 to Piedmont.

Since that decision, the County Council has been roiled by revelations that Updike, McNeely and Councilman Rick Lee visited the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to lobby for Piedmont.

The council had agreed to take no formal position on the hospital. But two weeks ago, Councilman Buddy Motz revealed that the three visited DHEC on separate occasions in the months preceding the decision.

News reports about the meetings brought protests from people who opposed Tenet, which operates York County's existing hospital in Rock Hill. Updike and McNeely believe the controversy was a deciding factor in last week's primaries, which saw Updike lose his District 1 seat and McNeely forced into a runoff next week.

The three members say they did not act on behalf of the entire council -- they acted according to their consciences and what they felt was in the best interest of taxpayers.

Still, Motz, who supported a bid by Presbyterian Healthcare, says he is angered and embarrassed by the visits.

The debate pitted Lee against Motz this week and left questions about whether the long-feuding council will compromise anytime soon. Lee chastised Motz at Monday night's council meeting, saying Motz's support for Presbyterian was hypocritical. Motz said he has done no lobbying for Presbyterian.

"The trust has been broken," Motz said Tuesday. "It's been broken too many times. The bridge was broken and burned last night. I'm going to have to wait until January to have hopes we'll be moving forward. We'll limp along till then."

New council members officially take office in January.

Lee says he said everything he needed to on Monday night, when he read a six-page statement about the past 18 months of power struggles between councilmen.

Now, Lee wants to move forward and says he'll be the first to put aside old animosities.

"I'll buy the dinner to get everyone together," Lee said on his cell phone from Alabama. "I'll pay for the mediator, the facilitator. I'll bring them to my house, whatever it takes. We have got to get past this continuing fanning of the flames."

Hospital dealings backfired?

McNeely went to DHEC in March to talk about the second hospital, and maintains that his position has been the same since the process began. He supported Piedmont because, as a for-profit company, it would pay property taxes on the second hospital. Two of the other companies are nonprofit and would not have paid property taxes.

"I've said from day one, whoever got the hospital deal should pay taxes," McNeely said. "I don't think any corporation should come into York County without paying taxes."

Updike and Lee, who went to DHEC in May, maintain they were acting as individual council members, not on behalf of the entire council but also not as private residents.

"They did tell me they were on the County Council," said Joel Grice, head of DHEC's Bureau of Health Facilities and Services Development.

Grice, whose office ultimately made the decision to choose Piedmont, said the agency listened to the men and got information from them, but their support was one factor of many considered.

"That doesn't make our decision for us," Grice said. "We had our information regardless of whether any County Council member came or not."

Motz said he had opportunities to lobby Grice but didn't, and he doesn't understand why the others went without telling the rest of council.

"They had four votes," Motz said. "Why didn't they have the debate? Why didn't they vote to support Piedmont and then go down there? I don't mind losing a vote, but what about having the opportunity to vote?"

The hospital debate has gotten emotional, Grice said, which often happens after a decision and before the appeals.

"It's because somebody makes it get emotional," he said. "It's generally the applicants who don't get what they want, they're working behind the scenes."

The fallout

The day of the June 13 primary election, The Herald ran a story outlining the visits of the three councilmen and the charges of impropriety from Motz.

Jeff Updike lost his seat by 123 votes, and McNeely faces a June 27 runoff with Republican challenger and Sharon Mayor Joe Cox.

Did the Piedmont allegations matter in the election? Both men think they did. And since the hospital decision came June 1, vocal Piedmont opponents have written letters, posted on Web sites and lobbied against the hospital.

Meanwhile, DHEC officials work through the appeals process. Carolinas Healthcare System, one of the four applicants to build the hospital, filed its appeal last week. Presbyterian Healthcare has asked DHEC to reconsider its decision.

The York County Council will wait to see whether members can move forward after being walloped by the politics of York County's second hospital.