Commissioners move bond to renovate hospital to November

District will tackle mandated electrical upgrade first

Hospital district officials have faced a challenging process during the past year in an attempt to improve the facilities the district uses to provide local healthcare and emergency services.

The failure of a general obligation bond last August was immediately followed by both the state and federal governments citing the district for an aging, failing and unsafe electrical system, and for the lack of a fire suppression sprinkler system on the main floor of the hospital where patients and staff are located.

At the end of last year, the district sought the services of Apollo Solutions Group to complete an energy audit of the facility and to help the district address the state and federal concerns.

In November the commissioners then opted to run a new general obligation bond to cover the cost of a total renovation of the existing hospital instead of constructing a new one. Back then; the plan was to run the bond on the April ballot.

Thursday, Dec. 19, commissioner Jerry Snyder, chairman of the district’s building committee, updated the panel. After careful deliberation, the building committee recommended the district proceeds with the mandated upgrades immediately and delay the general obligation bond for the remainder of the project until November.

A key reason for dealing quickly with the mandated upgrades is the deadline to act. Both the state and the federal government have approved waivers giving the district until mid-2015 to complete the work. The waivers require regular updates on the project as proof forward progress is being made. Failure to comply could result in the district’s loss of funding from Medicare and Medicaid.

The delay for the bond until November is to allow plenty of time to gather official, concrete figures for what the renovation will cost and what the finished product look like.

“We don’t have hard numbers,” Snyder said. “We won’t have hard numbers until the middle to the end of March.”

The commissioners have committed $4 million of the district’s reserves for the compliance work. The total in reserves is $5,396,269.

Apollo is also preparing an energy efficiency grant for the district, which could provide up to $500,000 in 2014 for the electrical system upgrades. That grant application must be submitted in January.

Tentatively, Apollo predicts the cost of a new electrical system, new roof, new energy efficient windows, new heating and air conditioning system and the sprinkler system will exceed the district’s investment.

Conventional financing may be needed to cover the balance of the costs over and above the district’s $4 million.

Snyder presented the motion to move the bond measure to the November ballot. Eric Walker provided the second. The motion passed unanimously.

The district also plans to retain a Spokane architectural firm, NAC, to develop a facility master plan. The company works with Apollo and routinely provides the design elements that accompany the engineering projects Apollo handles.

Bostrom will meet with NAC representatives in early January. He will be negotiating an agreement with NAC for the necessary services, not to exceed $75,000. He expects the cost to be significantly lower than that amount.