(a) The commissioners appointed pursuant to this chapter shall have full and complete authority to manage, operate, maintain, and keep in a good state of repair the municipal hospital. They shall have full and complete charge of the building, with the power to handle it as the commissioners shall see fit and deem to be in the best interests of the city.
(b) The commissioners shall have the right to employ or remove managers and all other employees of whatsoever nature, kind, or character and to fix, regulate, and pay their salaries, wages, or other compensation since it is the intention of this chapter to vest in the commissioners the authority to operate, manage, maintain, and control the municipal hospital and to have full and complete charge of it, including the same discretionary powers afforded to the boards of trustees of benevolent or nonprofit corporations in this state; however, the commissioners shall not have the authority or power to sell, mortgage, or encumber the municipal hospital unless otherwise authorized by the statutes of Arkansas.
(c) The commissioners, however, by and with the consent of the city council, shall have the authority and power to lease the hospital to a nonprofit or benevolent organization upon such terms that no profit or dividend shall ever be paid to any person, firm, or corporation; however, nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the use, either by the commission or any lessee, of profits arising from the operation of the hospital for the repair, improvement, or additions to the hospitals or the equipment thereof, or for charitable purposes in connection with the operations of the hospital.
(d) The commissioners shall have the exclusive right and power to make purchases of all supplies, apparatus, and other property and things requisite and necessary for the management and operation of the hospital; the management and operation of the hospital shall include the construction thereof and repairs and additions thereto.
(e) The commissioners shall be afforded the same protection from personal liability for their acts as commissioners as is afforded to school directors in connection with their duties in behalf of the school districts which they represent.