Bidders interested in buying the beleaguered Natchez Regional Medical Center have until 5 p.m. Monday to get their bids submitted.

And that’s also how long members of the Adams County Board of Supervisors have to decide how to handle the opening of those bids.

Interim hospital CEO Scott Phillips, whose firm was hired to get the hospital stabilized and handle the sale of the hospital, wants to open bids in private. Phillips wants just a select few people involved — including supervisor’s president Henry Watts and hospital board chairman Dan Bland.

By late Friday it appeared that a majority of the supervisors sought those bids to be opened in public.

Phillips says opening the bids publicly prevents further negotiation to potentially get a better price for the facility.

Perhaps, but this isn’t a privately owned facility or a private transaction. This is public property and thus any sale must be handled above the table.

Supervisors would be wise to either open the bids publicly or seek a ruling from the Attorney General’s office on how they can defend their actions to the citizens of Adams County.

We believe the right thing to do is keep the transaction above reproach.

If supervisors ultimately decide they don’t like the bids, they don’t have to accept them. But regardless of how they like the bids, they will have to accept severe scrutiny by voters if they choose to sell the hospital behind closed door or in a meeting of “select” citizens.

The hospital belongs to the citizens of Adams County and thus the public must remain informed on the sales process.