39 Erie County Medical Center 1978-Present Completed ECMC Tower. The oversized scalpel used for the groundbreaking with the signatures of the hospital’s staff. A critical vote for ECMC. In 1977, before the opening of ECMC, the county executive drafted a proposal to transfer control of the hospital over to Buffalo General Hospital with a 40-year lease. The county saw an opportunity to save money by “getting out of the hospital business” and turning the new institution—then called the Erie County Comprehensive Health Care Center— over to Buffalo General Hospital. The amendments proposed specific concessions to the unions and nurses at Meyer Memorial and assurances of care for the uninsured designed to ensure passage of the lease in the legislature. At that time, Buffalo General Hospital did not yet have their current hospital building and needed more space. So they negotiated with the county to lease the building with a 40-year lease and the county executive put together the details. When the vote came up in the legislature to lease the building to Buffalo General Hospital, there were 13 votes in favor and seven opposed. But the lease agreement required 14 votes out of 20 to pass the legislation. So ECMC exists today because the legislation was one vote short and the lease was defeated and now long forgotten.