Trespassers are cutting wood on the site of the new Allen County Hospital to the consternation of hospital trustees.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Trustee Tom Miller said he had fielded several calls asking if it were OK to cut felled wood on the site.
“I told them no, the land isn’t in county hands, yet.”
And even when the deed is transferred by next week, trustees still question whether it is a good idea to allow woodcutters on the site.
“If the trees have been dozed out, then those could be harvested,” ventured Harry Lee, trustee chairman.
But then the concern arose on how to prevent live trees from being culled from what trustees envision a buffer zone of trees between the hospital and the residential area to the south and west.
For the moment, board members left the issue unresolved.
IN OTHER NEWS, the second issuance of bonds, this time for $15 million, went on sale this morning. The first issuance of bank-guaranteed bonds for $10 million “went extremely well,” said trustee Jay Kretzmeier in relaying a conversation with Scott Crist of United Missouri Bank in Kansas City, who monitored the sale.
Put together, the interest rate of the two issuances will reflect a favorable rate of 3.0334 percent.
The terms of trustees Debbie Roe and Lee will expire at year’s end. When the hospital board was formed last year, the years of service were staggered so that each year only a few members’ terms would expire. Of the seven trustees, two received one-year appointments, three received two-year appointments, and four were appointed for three years. Each member, if approved, may serve for two consecutive three-year terms.
Board members voted to present county commissioners a resolution approving the reappointment of Roe and Lee, allowing them to serve up to two full terms.
Hospital trustees meet again Dec. 27.
