SCAD board opens bids on construction loan

Mike McCoy photo Stoddard County Ambulance District Board Vice-Chairman Al Banken, left, swears in new board member Chad Maddox at the Thursday night meeting of the ambulance board. Maddox, from the Essex/Grayridge area, replaced Allen Horton who resigned. Banken chaired the meeting in the absence of Chairman Sam Huey.

The Stoddard County Ambulance District Board of Directors opened bids on a construction loan of up to $1,000,000 at their Thursday night meeting and referred the bids to the Building Improvement Committee for a recommendation at their August meeting. The board also swore in new member Chad Maddox from the Essex/Grayridge area. Maddox replaces Allen Horton who resigned after he moved from the district he represented.

The board received five bids on the construction loan. SCAD Director David Cooper said letters soliciting bids on the loan were sent to every bank in the county. The ambulance district is in the process of renovating and expanding their facility in Dexter. The total cost of the project will be approximately $2.5 million.

Bids submitted by the various loan institutions were based on a 10-month construction period, with varying interest rates for additional lengths of loan repayment. The board received the following bids, based on the construction period only, for up to $1 million: 1) Montgomery Bank, 3.80 percent interest; 2) Southern Bank, 4.50 percent; 3) First National Bank, 4.50 percent; 4) First Commercial Bank, 1/2 percent below the prime rate with a floor of 4.50; and 5) First Midwest Bank, 5.50 percent. Each bank varied on the amount of interest to be charged for the loan over a certain time period.

Cooper recommended board member Anthony Sifford, a banker from Puxico, review the bids and make a recommendation to the Building Improvement Committee.

Board member Sue Welborn made a motion to have Sifford make a recommendation to the committee and then have the committee bring a recommendation to the full board at their next meeting. The motion passed by a 3-0 vote. Board member Stubbee Mayand Board Chairman Sam Huey were not present. Vice Chairman Al Banken presided at the meeting in the absence of Huey.

Cooper advised the board that the 911 dispatch center would be moved next week to temporary quarters due to construction. Cooper said 911 calls would be routed through the Sikeston Department of Public Safety during that time. He estimated that the move would take one day and the move would take place Aug. 4.

"The public will not even notice," Cooper told the board.

He said dispatch personnel had met with Sikeston 911 personnel to assure that the transition would go smoothly. He said the Sikeston center is already the backup for the Stoddard County 911 system and that the system is set to automatically roll-over to Sikeston when their is a disruption in service. He said the system is designed to roll-over to Sikeston first, and then to Poplar Bluff. Stoddard County serves as the primary backup for Sikeston and secondary backup for Poplar Bluff.

"The system is designed so that no caller ever gets a busy signal," Cooper said. If all lines into the dispatch center are busy, then the call rolls-over. Cooper said both the Sikeston and Poplar Bluff dispatch centers are prepared to route the calls to the proper agencies as they come in. He also added that one of the Stoddard County 911 dispatchers will be assigned to the Sikeston office to help with any situations that might arise.

"That is why we have such a redundancy in our systems," Cooper stated, "We are confident that everything will go smoothly and the public will not notice the transition."

Cooper gave an update on construction progress. He said the contractor will be cutting the walls between the old building and the new building next week. The work will require some of the office staff to set up temporary work stations in the old board room.

Cooper said the architect for the project recently compiled a "punch list" of minor items that needed attention. He said most of these items were "minor stuff like paint, trim and some wet concrete blocks." He said "paint issues" were the biggest problem. He noted that some areas had not received two coats of paint, or there were some blemishes, but these were being corrected. The wet concrete blocks were a result of some "seeping" behind a flashing, and that was being corrected. There was also some settling in a corner of the garage, but it was minor at this time. He said the architect would keep a "close eye" on the situation to make sure that it doesn't become a problem later. He was asked what would have to be done if the settling continued, and he said the concrete would have to be cut and replaced, but he said that wasn't needed at this time.

Cooper also reported that exhaust fans in the parking garage were designed to automatically activate when carbon monoxide levels reached a certain point. He said the problem was that the fans could not be manually "turned on." He said they were discussing the installation of a by-pass switch to turn the fans on manually.

Banken said he had met with the architect about a sprinkler system, but the project specifications did not call for a sprinkler system.

"I think, personally, they should be there," Banken stated, "But the building will meet all federal building standards."

He added that sprinklers will be added in some utility room areas.

Cooper said two-hour firewalls were being constructed between each of the sections and the rooms were constructed with a one-hour fire wall between them. He said fire resistant paint was also being used in some areas. He noted that the building would meet all federal standards for safety.

The board unanimously approved the monthly financial report that showed $69,447.04 in write-offs and $41,984.54 in accounts payable. Cooper said the district was approximately $450,000 down in their revenue balances from last year, but he noted much of that was due to paying out nearly $1.5 million in construction costs. He added that patient revenue was down about $40,000. He said the district was also not drawing interest on the reserves that they once had due to the money expended on the construction project.

Cooper reported that the ambulances in the district logged 20,783 miles in June. There were 436 runs in June and 2,626 for the year.

In final action, the board approved the hiring of Angie Taylor and Larry Davis as part-time EMTs/paramedics and accepted the resignation of Eric Nunn.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the August meeting of the ambulance board was moved from Aug. 13 to Aug. 20.