Independence, KS city offices and Mercy Hospital

[Mom70x7]

From Facebook, Montgomery County Chronicle, posted Aug. 13, 2016:


CITY TO BUILD TEMPORARY FIRE-EMS FACILITY FOR $316,000; PRELIMINARY COST TO REMEDIATE CITY HALL IS $2.6 MILLION

The Independence City Commission on Thursday voted to spend $316,810 to erect a temporary building on the grounds of the former Mercy Hospital to house the city's firetruck and ambulance fleet during the time in which the current City Hall is remediate of mold and other hazardous issues.

The vote was 2-1, with commissioner Leonhard Caflisch casting the lone dissenting vote.

Considerable debate was given to the topic with commissioners at one point voicing concern about the need to spend money on a temporary building. The 100' x 80' building will be dismantled and relocated to another location for use as a city sanitation vehicle facility once its use as a temporary shelter for firetrucks and ambulances is completed. It's unknown what the relocation and reconstruction costs will be.

Because the facility will be used — eventually — as a permanent sanitation facility, commissioners learned that the money to pay for the facility as a firetruck/ambulance facility will come from the city's sanitation fund.

It was during the course of the discussion that commissioners also learned of the earliest estimates to remove mold from City Hall. David Cowan, public works director, said the preliminary price tag will be $2.6 million for a full-scale mold remediation and structural repair. This does not include the costs to remodel city offices, should the city commission choose that as an permanent option for City Hall.

City offices relocated to the former Mercy Hospital facility, which is now owned by Independence city taxpayers, last week after a mold led to the illness of a city employee. A worker's compensation claim was filed by the employee against the City of Independence. The City's physician who handle worker's compensate diagnoses joined the city's legal counsel in recommending that the city offices move to the former Mercy Hospital on a temporary basis due to the mold.