Today's
Feature
Lease Option
Still Debatable.
The Carthage City
Council met in Special Session yesterday at noon
in the McCune Brooks Regional Hospital board room
for a work session to learn more about the lease
agreement proposed for a new Emergency Medical
Services building. The proposal failed to gather
the needed six votes during last weeks regular
City Council meeting.
Member Bill
Johnson was absent during that regular meeting,
and the vote stalled at 5 for and 4 against.
Johnson made comments during the work session
that indicated he would vote for the measure if
it was reconsidered.
Those who opposed
the lease plan stood mainly on grounds that it
was just too expensive. The arrangement would
have Crossland Construction build the 4,283
square foot structure on hospital property that
would be leased to Crossland, which needs the
approval of the City. Crossland would then lease
the building to the hospital for a term of 29 and
one half years and would allow the hospital to
purchase the building at five year intervals. The
lease amount would be $81,377 per year for the
first five years with a five percent increase at
each five year interval. In year six the building
could then be purchased for $1,068,075. The
purchase price would increase at each five year
interval until in the twenty-first year the price
would be $1,236,425.
Crossland Director
of Real Estate Patrick Carroll told the Council
that the building could be built for cash for
about $715,000 by Crossland using the plans
already in place. MBH CEO Bob Copeland told the
council that a lot of the hospital reserves had
been used in the construction of the new
hospital, and that at this time they need to
conserve reserves.
The possibility of
the City financing the construction was discussed
and City Administrator Tom Short was asked to
find out what it would cost to issue certificates
of participation and raise the $715,000.
The main objection
to that plan is the delay in construction. The
funding and putting the project out to bid would
push back completion time by at least two or
three months according to Short, maybe longer.
Copeland said that
they expect the new hospital to be completed by
the end of this year and the EMS building needs
to be competed as near to that time as possible.
Carroll said they
were already six weeks behind schedule to
complete the building and time was pressing.
The Council will
meet again next Tuesday evening in regular
session and a motion to reconsider the bill
authorizing the lease of the land is planned. To
open a defeated bill for reconsideration takes a
two-thirds majority and is a debatable motion
according to City Attorney Nate Dally. If that
motion is passed, the bill will be brought back
to the floor and be open to debate again. A
majority of the elected Council, six, will be
needed to pass the bill.
Mayor Jim Woestman
will not be at the meeting and Mayor Pro-tem Tom
Flanigan will preside. Flanigan will be able to
vote his chair as Councilman.
Approved
Boundary Adjustments.
The City Council
Public Works Committee this week approved a
motion to allow boundary adjustments for lots in
Chapel Estates Phase II.
The subdivision is
being built by New Beginnings, a division of
Kodiak Resources, Inc. of Rogersville MO. Kodiak
Resources provides low income housing in Missouri
with assistance from the Missouri Housing
Development Commission.
New Beginnings
originally intended to build 34 homes in the
second phase of construction for the Chapel
Estates neighborhood. However, the funding
received only allowed for the completion of 20
homes, according to Public Works Director Chad
Wampler.
There are five
different floor plans for homes to be included in
the area. The requested boundary adjustment would
allow for a variety of each of the homes, a minor
property line shift which would keep the setback
area between houses up to the specifications in
the City code.
The Committee was
unanimous in its approval of the adjustment.
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