Allen County commissioners may get some idea later this month about what to do with the current Allen County Hospital once the new hospital opens on North Kentucky next year.
County Counselor Alan Weber told commissioners Tuesday morning he and Cris Rivera, ACH executive director, would meet Oct. 19 with a representative of a firm that had had experience in rehabilitating abandoned hospitals.
Weber said he didn’t know what might be discussed, although it was his understanding that other hospitals had been converted to care facilities, offices and housing for low-income individuals or families.
Factors that will enter the equation are how extensively the building would have to be remodeled and what might to be done to provide power. Older buildings — the hospital is approaching its 60th birthday — often lack power systems to accommodate modern technology.
Weber said abandoned hospitals typically were donated to a business or some other concern with tax considerations to make cost of refitting more attractive.
“That way it eventually will go onto the tax rolls,” Weber said. “It would be great if we could avoid razing the building.”
COMMISSIONERS approved a payment of $788,992 to the Murray Company, prime contractor for construction of the new hospital.
The latest payment brings payments made to Murray to $4.8 million, Weber said, with about $13.3 million remaining on the contract.
