A decision to propose a new hospital for Allen County came within an eyelash of becoming official this morning and it is expected to at the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday morning.
Members of the Hospital Facilities Commission unanimously recommended to county commissioners that they vote to build a new hospital on another site.
“We need to consider all the hoops,” said Commissioner Dick Works, in recommending a binding decision by commissioners be made at their meeting Tuesday morning. Commissioners Gary McIntosh and Rob Francis concurred.
Also Tuesday, commissioners will decide what continuing role, likely including input on a site, that members of HFC will have. All said they were eager to participate in campaigning for a new hospital.
Deciding a package of possible funding is first among commissioners’ tasks.
Medicare participation and profits generated by the hospital are expected to meet debt service on construction bonds — the estimate is $25 million for a new hospital. An additional $5 million is needed in startup capital from a shorter-term loan, hopefully from local bankers.
To meet that obligation, discussion has centered on sales tax revenue, perhaps including a portion of city of Iola sales tax collections meant for physical improvements. Preliminary discussions have targeted about half of $750,000 required in sales tax money coming from the city and the remainder being raised by a quarter-center countywide sales tax.
That would be the issue for a referendum, expected to be decided at the Nov. 2 general election.
WHILE THE HFC recommendation was unanimous, member Mark Boyd noted, “We all have small questions.” But none, he and the others said, about their recommendation that a new hospital on a new site was the best approach.
A new hospital wasn’t always each member’s expectation.
David Toland said he thought remodeling might be the better course when the commission began its meetings and exhaustive investigations, but “at the end of the day the direction was clear, it (a new hospital) was an easy decision for me.”
Monday night representatives of the county’s consulting firm, Health Facilities Group, made it clear that doing nothing other than maintaining Allen County Hospital was not a viable option and that expansion and renovation, at $29 million, was more expensive by $4 million and would take longer to accomplish by four months than building a new hospital elsewhere.
Each HFC member digested the full 140-page report from Health Facilities Group before meeting at 8 a.m. today, half an hour before making their recommendation to county commissioners.
“We thought a new hospital was a good idea when we (HFC) started,” Mary Kay Heard said. “Now we know it is the right thing to do.”
“If everyone in the county would have seen what we have,” at ACH and in visits to area hospitals, “they’d also be for a new hospital,” Terry Sparks said.
HFC members encouraged Allen Countians to read for themselves the HFG report, either in full or at the very least a two-page executive summary, which sets out why a new hospital is the best option. That information is available on the county’s website, allencounty.org, or in written form at the county clerk’s office.
