Hospital trustees reach ‘point of no return’

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November 23, 2011 - 12:00 AM

Tuesday night was the “point of no return,” for trustees of Allen County Hospital when they voted to issue revenue bonds to build the $30 million hospital.
Chuck Wells, financial adviser to trustees, said the A-rated bonds will go on the market Monday and should sell “either by Monday or within a couple of days.” The bonds will be sold in two lumps. First $10 million, then another $15 million come January.
A $5 million loan from UMB of Kansas City will provide startup capital.
Trustees also voted at their meeting to accept terms of a sales tax disbursement agreement between the county and city.
Though trustees were not happy the agreement did not contain parameters of when the hospital had “enough” capital to refund the city’s $350,000 contribution, trustees went with the city’s demand that the terms be vague.
“It leaves open the opportunity to define those things later,” said Jay Kretzmeier, a hospital trustee.
Trustees agreed it probably won’t be a problem for the first several years of hospital operations when the hospital is expected to struggle in establishing a bigger footprint in the patient market.
“Our first few years will be tight,” said Debbie Roe, also a trustee.
Trustees noted that no 
representative from the city was present Tuesday night, despite the city’s expressed desire to have a role in hospital discussions with an ex officio member appointed to the board. All hospital meetings are open to the public.

TOWN HALL meetings about the hospital project drew small crowds in Humboldt and Iola Monday night.
About 15-20 people attended.
Engineers and architects from Wichita and Kansas City were on hand to give PowerPoint presentations and to answer any questions.
Sean McReynolds, hospital trustee from Humboldt, said participants there expressed their appreciation that as much local labor as possible will be hired to build the 60,000-square-foot hospital. They also like the “frugality of reusing current hospital equipment” when possible and liked the design of the hospital being a single level.
The possibility of a walking trail around the 30 acres of hospital grounds also was greeted with enthusiasm.
Many asked why a $5 million capital campaign for the hospital was necessary.
According to literature provided by the United for Excellence campaign group, an additional $4 million will be needed to buy equipment for the new hospital and $1 million to establish an endowment for future expenses.
The $30 million for the hospital was established because that was the amount Allen 
County commissioners were comfortable taxpayers could afford without raising property taxes.
“It was as much as we could afford without burdening the taxpayers,” said Harry Lee, chairman of trustees.
Two more town hall meetings will be in Moran and LaHarpe on Dec. 1. In Moran, the meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Moran Community Center. In LaHarpe, the meeting begins at 7:30 at LaHarpe City Hall.

IN OTHER news, Cris Rivera, chief executive officer of ACH, said the hospital had received preliminary approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to relocate the hospital to North Kentucky street. Several months after the move, expected to be in late summer of 2013, the hospital will need to provide CMS “very specific information,” about its new facility, Rivera said.

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