At the Sept. 18 meeting of the Hospital Commission, Chair Michael Merry’s opening statement, “We’re in a holding pattern. We’re waiting for next month,” referred to progress on whether the commission and Allegiance Health Management will move forward on either extensively rehabilitating the Eureka Springs Hospital building or actually razing and rebuilding sections of it.
Merry said Mayor Butch Berry’s office sent out Requests for Proposals for creating preliminary plans to assess what the project might cost. Deadline for responses is Friday, Oct. 13, just before the Oct. 16 commission meeting.
Merry said Barbara Hicks will represent the commission at the bid opening, and bids will be presented to the commission at their meeting the following Monday.
Kim Stryker, mayoral assistant, said she has been inundated with calls from architectural firms from all over the country – Mississippi, Chicago, San Francisco, the Great Lakes area – with a variety of questions about the project.
Vicki Andert, chief of nursing at ESH, said several architectural groups have been to the property to assess the exterior of the facility, so she concluded there definitely must be an interest in the project at this point.
Merry stated ESH Community Liaison Catherine Pappas had commented in an email that when asked about signing a performance bond, Allegiance responded it wanted to see completed preliminary architectural renderings first. Merry said the architectural firm chosen would provide those drawings.
Next meeting will be Monday, Oct. 16, at 1 p.m., at ECHO Clinic.