The Wamego City Commission heard the annual hospital report at Tuesday’s meeting, Wamego Hospital Association President Lanny Bosse, reported the Wamego Health Center is in good shape. He said since the indebtedness is paid off, they are able to build up reserves. Commissioner Bill Ditto asked the amount of those reserves, which Bosse reported a total of $800,000 at the end of the year.
In addition, Bosse reported three major projects completed last year. The projects included expansion of the west parking lot to allow easy access for the MRI Trailer and Physical Therapy patients to the hospital, and remodeling to provide office space for both Dr. Dane Ditto and the Steve Land’s Physical Therapy department. Bosse said the board continues to monitor the progress of the hospital and look at the patient ratios.
The commission reviewed a utility re-connection policy. City Manager Merl Page said he was contacted by an individual last week questioning the City’s re-connection policy about not accepting promissory obligations from outside sources. After Page went over the policy in detail to the Commissioner’s, Commissioner Bob Morse said he didn’t see a need to change, and Commissioner Tom Beem said we can’t deviate from the current re-connection policy rules. Page said there about 10 out of 2000 that are affected by the current policy.
Page said the City was forced to upgrade the City’s main server, which led into the work stations and software replacement. The most favorable bids were from Networks Plus for the computers and software, with Best Buy having the best price on wireless keyboards. The total cost came to $16,074. Page said the replacement wasn’t scheduled until 2016, but problems surfaced and there were funds in the budget for the replacement. A vote of 5 to 0 approved the purchase.
In other business, the Commission approved the Comprehensive Plan Update, which is done annually by the City staff.