SCAD to take bids on paving parking area

The Stoddard County Ambulance District (SCAD) Board of Directors voted to take bids on paving a parking lot on the western edge of their property on Cooper Street at their meeting Wednesday night. The annual premium for property and liability insurance was discussed and paid at a cost of $81,036.25. The board also unanimously approved withholding the $9,708.40 final payment to Sikeston Kitchen Equipment due to problems with the installation of a stainless steel countertop and the dishwasher in the kitchen of the new administrative facility.

The board set a special meeting for Nov. 5 to open bids on paving for the west parking lot. The estimated cost of the project is $112,000. The engineering firm, Sam A.Winn and Associates, will be present at the bid opening and take the bids back for review. The contract will be awarded at the Nov. 18 meeting of the board. Advertisements for bids on the project will begin Thursday.

Construction of the new SCAD building did not include paving the parking lots, according to SCAD Director Dave Cooper. The board approved paving of the parking area immediately surrounding the new building by a telephone vote on Sept. 28. Board Chairman Sam Huey and board members Anthony Sifford, Al Banken, Sue Welborn and Chad Maddox were all contacted by phone and approved the paving of the main lot on the front and back parking lots. That contract was awarded to Sides Construction Company of Cape Girardeau at a cost of $53,336.57 for the main lot and $19,997.58 for the back lot.

Cooper said the district obtained prices for both concrete and asphalt for those parking lots and the concrete came in as the least expensive. Sides Construction submitted the bids which showed asphalt to cost $57,962.75 for the main lot and $23,834.33 for the back lot. Sides Construction is the contractor for the new ambulance facility as well as the remodeling of the old building.

Cooper submitted information to the board about renewing the annual property and liability insurance. The premium paid to the Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services was reviewed at a previous meeting. The insurance is administered through Countywide Insurance. Cooper said the district has contacted two other insurance companies, Missouri Rural Services and MOPERM, but their quotes did not include key provisions necessary for the ambulance district. The district faced an increase in premiums and the new policy does not include glass breakage because of claims last year which were causing the premium to increase. The $81,279.20 policy includes property and crime coverage, inland marine, liability, automobiles, earthquake damage to buildings and contents and flood insurance.

Cooper asked for instruction from the board about paying Sikeston Kitchen Equipment for equipment and its installation in the new kitchen. Sikeston Kitchen Equipment was awarded the bid at a cost of $20,208.40. The district recently paid the contractor $10,500 of the amount and withheld $9,708.40 in payment at the request of the engineer over the building project.

Sam A. Winn and Associates sent a letter to Sikeston Kitchen Equipment asking them to address problems with the installation of some of the equipment. The problems are with a stainless steel counter top, a leaking ice machine and an improperly installed dishwasher, according to the letter.

Banken said the countertop "does not fit." He went on to say that there is about an inch of wood exposed between the countertop and the wall. He also said there was a problem with the weld on the countertop in that "it got too hot and caused the top to bow."

Banken asked if the district had heard anything from the equipment company since the letter was sent on Sept. 22.

"I've heard nothing from them since the last meeting," Cooper responded.

Welborn stated, "It needs to be done right."

Both Huey and Sifford agreed that the issues needed to be addressed before final payment is made. The board then put into the motion to withhold the final payment to Sikeston Equipment and that the company be given 30 days to repair the problems and it passed by a unanimous vote with all members present.

Cooper informed the board that Kay Sims, owner of The Sims Agency, would be meeting with employees and administrators of the ambulance district next week to discuss health insurance. The district faces large increases in the cost of employee health insurance and met with Sims last month to discuss ways to cut the cost of the insurance. One of the options was to begin a health savings plan for each employee.

Cooper said, "We are still trying to figure out what we're going to do."

Currently the district pays health insurance benefits for all employees, but administrators are considering an increase in the deductible or moving to an employee savings plan. Cooper invited board members to the meeting with Sims which will also include representatives of Principal Insurance, the provider.

The board voted 6-0 to authorize four members to sign checks on a construction loan account. The board previously voted to take out a construction loan of up to $1,000,000 from Southern Bank. The board took bids on the loan. Board members Huey, Stubee May, Banken and Welborn were authorized to sign the checks, with two of the four signatures needed.

The September financial report showed the district had $881,000 in their checking accounts. Cooper said that was down from $1.6 million a year ago, but that was built up to help with construction of the new building. The cost of the new building is $2.5 million and the district has already paid out an estimated $1.6 million.

Cooper pointed out that patient revenue was down about $36,000, but much of that was because the district was slightly behind on Medicare billings during the move to the new facility. He said those numbers should "come back up" when payment is received on those accounts. He added that overall revenues were up by $47,000 from last year.

It was reported that there were 4,029 ambulance runs for the year. Cooper said the yearly totals were behind last year when they had 5,410 for the year, a record.

There were 1,110 calls to the 911 Services dispatch center with 66 percent of those coming from cell phones.