City commits funds for nursing home project
Staff reporter
A letter was approved during a special meeting April 26 by Hillsboro City Council to provide funds for improvements to Hillsboro Community Medical Center Long Term Care Unit.
The hospital will apply for a $250,000 tax credit for the $363,950 project. The city agreed to pay a difference of $113,000.
Exterior improvements include a parking lot for an upper level entrance and the addition of a sun porch day room.
Mayor Delores Dalke commented that it was "nearly impossible" to take people in and out the front entrance.
In other business:
— Dalke suggested the council consider increasing the prices of lots at Hillsboro Heights and change the price structure.
Currently prices are based on acreage which is inconvenient to have to figure the price of each lot. For example, lots in the first row from U.S.-56 are $20,000 an acre, lots in the second row are $15,000 per acre, and lots in the third row are $12,000 per acre. The city spent $1 million for the infrastructure at the park.
Councilman Matt Hiebert said lot prices were a starting point. Dalke said that was true, however, all buyers have paid full price for the lots. She also noted there were only three lots remaining on the first row.
Dalke also said there would be flexibility for the buyer because the value of the lots would then increase even if the buyer didn't pay full price.
"You cannot give away anything for economic development because everybody does that," said Dalke. "Cheap lots are not the way to go."
She added the buyers need to be sold on the community and want to develop at Hillsboro.
More information will be presented at a future meeting.
— City administrator Steve Garrett reported he recently attended two meetings with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding water issues at Marion Reservoir. Garrett said it appears officials are "getting closer" to taking action to address the issues. Federal funds will be used for barriers around the reservoir and additional studies are recommended.
— Garrett and Mike Duerksen, the city's electrical superintendent, recently attended a power pool meeting. Garrett said the information from that meeting will be useful when the city negotiates with Westar Energy in 2007 for the city's franchise contract.
— Garrett said he met with a representative from Eagle Communications that is in the process of purchasing Galaxy Cablevision.
— A letter was received by the city from Don Hellar, engineer for the city's water treatment plant upgrades. The letter addressed the need for new filters for flow meters on the back wash pump. Price estimates are $2,500 to $3,000 each. Hellar will attend a future meeting with additional information.
— The council entered executive session for 30 minutes to review the city administrator's position. The meeting reconvened with no decisions.
