Land still dominant issue for trustees

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February 10, 2011 - 12:00 AM

By their meeting Tuesday night, Allen County Hospital trustees had only half of the expected land appraisals in hand for the future site of the new hospital.
The delay helps puts the project at least one month behind schedule, said consultant Chuck Wells.
The deadline for the 11 appraisals by Aul and Hatfield of Lawrence was Friday. The room was heavy with frustration, with trustees trying to arrange a last-minute meeting if and when the last of the appraisals arrived.
The evaluations are necessary to determine if the desired land is affordable and would signal a starting point for negotiations with the eight property owners of the land that borders the north side of the 1400 block of East Street.
Trustees plan to meet individually with the landowners with the appraisals in hand to discuss their purchase. The parcels are deemed the best site for the new hospital because of their accessibility to utilities, their easy approach from U.S. highways 54 and 169, and the fact that they have been long-neglected and pose a not-so-attractive entrance to Iola from the east.
Trustees are now shooting for an Oct. 18 groundbreaking for the 61,000-square-foot facility.
With the holdup on the land, the design end of the hospital is also limited.
Joyce Heismeyer, chief executive officer of ACH, said architects with Health Facilities Group have been meeting with hospital personnel to get a grasp of how to accommodate existing equipment and plan for future trends in health care.
“We want documentation that each primary player in the hospital has given input into the design of the new hospital,” Heismeyer said.
“They’ve taken thousands of pictures of each room,” Heismeyer said of the architects, from which they will cull what will be transferred to the new facility. From the conceptual designs will come more detailed designs once the layout of the building can be determined.
Architects hope a schematic design of the hospital can be completed by the end of April.

IN EARLY March trustees hope to settle on an accounting firm that will compile a forecast of the financing of a replacement hospital as well as conduct an annual audit for three years running.
Representatives from McGladrey and Pullen, BKD, LLP, and Wendling, Noe will present their requests for proposals possibly as soon as March 1.
McGladrey and Pullen and BKD are firms in Kansas City, Mo.; Wendling, Noe is a Topeka firm.
All three have extensive dealings with hospitals.
Trustees meet again at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Mary Ellen Stadler Room in the basement of the hospital. All meetings are open to the public.

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