Laying utilities to the site of the new Allen County Hospital will come to a standstill quickly if permission to cross the property of two landowners is not OK’d, said Corey Schinstock, assistant city manager.
“We’re at a standstill now for the gas lines. We’ll have the water lines taken as far as we can by the end of the week,” Schinstock said.
At issue are the necessary utility easement rights held by Bob Macha, a private landowner, and Della Monsour, owner of Fountain Villa Residential Care Center, along North Kentucky Street.
Harry Lee, chairman of the Allen County Hospital board of trustees, said he’s been in contact with Monsour and she was amenable to granting the necessary easement.
Trustee Jay Kretzmeier said he would contact Macha to push the process forward.
Trustees hope to break ground on the new hospital in April.
TRUSTEES APPROVED spending $16,000 for a redesign of the hospital to allow the installation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment down the road. The technology has a growing presence in the health industry, trustees said. An on site MRI will be more efficient for patients and staff, said Cris Rivera, chief executive officer of the hospital, and will serve as a powerful recruiting tool for prospective physicians.
“We see four times the volume for MRI images than CT scans,” said Larry Peterson, chief financial officer for the hospital.
An MRI machine costs about $750,000, Peterson said.
Until an MRI can be purchased, the hospital will continue to provide mobile MRI services three days a week.
IN OTHER NEWS, trustees set the ceremonial groundbreaking of the new hospital to occur the week of May 6 which coordinates with National Hospital Week.
In the public forum, resident Paul Sorensen asked trustees if concrete was the right medium to use for the new hospital’s parking lot, because “here in Kansas concrete gets big cracks.”
Architect David Wright said a wire mesh most likely will be used in the concrete formation and will incorporate “enough joints, so the concrete will crack where we want it to crack.”
Trustees authorized paying three bills: One to Murray Construction for $51,022; legal fees to Seigfreid Bingham of Kansas City amounted to $4,612.12, and Health Facilities Group, architects, were paid $62,503.46.
