Appearing with a pair of her board members, Kiowa County Memorial Hospital Administrator Mary Sweet and Kiowa County Commissioners discussed at length at last week’s meeting how best to proceed with the County’s future relationship to the hospital-related, but County-supported ambulance service.
   Noting operation of the service has been ongoing without a formal contract between the hospital and County since expiration of the last agreement in 1995, Commission Chair Gene West told Sweet, “We need to get something in writing that pretty much reflects what we’ve been doing since 1995.”
   It was revealed during the discussion that a proposed contract between the County and KCMH Board drawn up and submitted by Assistant Kiowa County Attorney Dawn Hayes had not been agreed to by the Board’s legal representation over several issues.
   While urging a timely resolution of such issues, the commission stressed to Sweet the eventual contract needs to be between the County and the Hospital Board, rather than Great Plains Health Alliance, the entity managing the hospital’s operations.
   “I don’t have a problem with Great Plains running the ambulance service, but I don’t think the County can contract with them,” West said.  “We can contract with the Hospital Board and you can then contract with Great Plains…The County will deal with the Board and the Board can deal with Great Plains.”
   In another hospital-related matter, the Commission agreed to use $51,000 of the nearly $500,000 currently sitting in the Phillips Fund to bridge the funding gap for acquiring the former BTI site for location of the new hospital and ambulance service.  The remainder of the purchase price will be met with State CDBG grant money.
    As for disposing of the land on which the former county hospital was located, Emergency Preparedness Director Ray Stegman revealed a pair of bids, each below the nearly $50,000 the Commission had been hoping to be offered for the land.
   While Mennonite Housing offered $22,500 for the property, Commercial Group of Topeka tendered a bid of $21,000.
   Mennonite Housing President Andrew Bias explained in his written submission his group expects “to build nine houses on the land” and that it’s offer was based on having previously purchased lots in Greensburg for $2,500 each.
   Commercial Vice President Don Cooper’s letter referenced the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation having “allocated housing tax credits to Greensburg Homes, L.P. to construct single family homes in Greensburg” as well as “multi-family housing” units in the community.  He goes on to say the former hospital site would be used by Commercial to “accommodate either single family homes or a multi-family housing complex.”
   “It doesn’t look like we’re going to get what we’re wanting for this property so maybe we ought to consider what we’re going to do next,” Commissioner Don Richards commented.
    West replied he thought the commission “needs more information from both groups by” the time of the group’s next scheduled meeting of April 7.
 In other matters…
nWest said the commission would now plan on locating the new Road and Bridge facilities on its former site on South Grove in south central Greensburg in light of recent efforts to build on several other sites having “fizzled out.”
   As for the preliminary Road and Bridge plans submitted in February by CS Building Systems’ Russell Gadberry of Bertrand, MO, West said, “That’s a 30 to 40-year building and I want something that’s going to last longer than that.”
   West also told Stegman to speak with MVP Architects about “having a buffer between them (the new Road and Bridge office and shop) and the residential area (in south central Greensburg).”  He also suggested locating the new recycling facility on the original County Highway yard as it was before the tornado.
   “Landscaping will be a critical element of this,” West said in reference to the Highway Yard again being in a residential area.  He also referred to the new recycling building being “bigger” than the one lost May 4.
nRoad and Bridge Superintendent Doyle Conrad told commissioners he’d been “getting calls” asking what he was intending to do with all the recyclable material that will likely be yielded once building supplies for the business incubator, hospital and BTI dealership being arriving in the coming weeks.
   “We need a building close by where we could store that stuff until we can get it weighed and hauled off,” Conrad said.  “Something like a transfer building.”
   Conrad said he didn’t “think so” when asked by West if the new recycling building would be big enough to handle the temporary storage of such materials.
   “Are you looking for something like a 40’ X 40’ pole building?” West asked.
   “That would work,” Conrad answered.  “Something so it’ll stay dry, maybe with a crushed rock floor.”
   “If we do this right, it’s something we could use later to store equipment in later,” West said.  “Let’s look into this and see what we can find in the way of an existing building first.”  He also said if such a building has to be constructed, it likely could “go on the original site since it looks like we’ll rebuild there.”
nConrad displayed the award he’d received March 27 on behalf of the County at the waste management conference held in Overland Park.  The award was in recognition of the County’s effort to recycle debris generated by the May 4 tornado, and was presented to Conrad by KDHE director of Waste Management, Bill Bider.