Health Center narrowing the scope of remodeling project

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

The remodeling project in the works for Henry County Health Center is being fine tuned, narrowing the scope and cutting costs on the project.

?It will still potentially have a place for surgery and a physical plant,? Robb Gardner, HCHC CEO told the board of trustees on Tuesday.

Originally the plan for the renovation was focused solely on the surgical area of the hospital. However, at the April board meeting, Gardner announced that the plans had expanded to include areas of the entire facility, planning to fit the needs of the facility for the next 20 to 50 years.

This month, it was announced that project planners have looked at ways to reduce the cost and scope of the project, focusing on what is in the best interest of the facility.

Board member Megan Wenstrand, suggested adding the removal of the outside brick to the project and replacing it with a substitute. She recently completed a hospital inspection of the outside of the facility, which included the brick area that was recently being repaired. She commented that a substitute may be a better, more durable option.

Gardner said he hopes to have a master plan for the project available to the board at its June meeting. However, he said this plan would be limited in scope and not include fine details or design specifics. Once the board approves of the overall plan, then the project will move into the design phase.

Board member Richard Garrels said that he would like to know the anticipated costs for maintenance in the updated facility, comparing what the costs have been recently to the anticipated savings with the new facility.

In recent months, the maintenance bills have been high for the hospital. In his financial report to the board, CFO Dave Muhs reported that the maintenance department was $20,000 over budget. At the last meeting he had reported that maintenance costs were $200,000 over what they were the previous year.

These high maintenance costs contributed to the plans to include other parts of the facility in the renovation, because by updating problem areas, the maintenance costs for the facility could be decreased.