Council approves Bothwell’s property purchase

Bothwell Regional Health Center has room to expand.

The Sedalia City Council approved at its meeting Monday night the hospital’s purchase of 669 E. 14th St. for $40,000 from Danny and Linda Volden.

Mark Hirshberg, Bothwell’s chief operating officer, said 669 E. 14th St. was the only property on the block not owned by the hospital.

“In order to expand to the east we need that property,” he said.

Hirshberg said the hospital has yet to decide details of a possible expansion.

The council also decided to add two members to Bothwell’s board of trustees,expanding it from seven to nine. The ordinance approved Monday also lifts regulations requiring three-fifths of the members be Sedalia residents, and adopts the standards that all the trustees must be state residents.

Some on the council said they wished the ordinance specified how many trustees should be from Pettis County. Others said some members should naturally be from other counties where the hospital is expanding, such as Benton County.

The council approves all appointments to the hospital board.

In other action, the council accepted deeds to 612 S. Ohio Ave. and 614 S. Ohio Ave., part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the buildings’ owners, Vladimir and Yelena Valesa and Ivan and Lily Pitsul, who alleged their property was damaged by construction activity. Terms of the settlement were not available Monday night.

In other business, the council set the 2008 tax rate at 96 cents per $100 assessed valuation and 62 cents per $100 assessed valuation in the special business district.

The tax rate increased slightly from 2007, which will result in an additional $5,800 for the city’s general fund. City officials use a state formula based on the city’s assessed valuation and the consumer price index to figure the tax rate.

The city’s assessed valuation decreased by about $1 million, so the tax rate had to increase slightly, said City Administrator Keith Riesberg. The owner of a home with a market value of $150,000 will pay about $2 more in taxes.

The council:
•Awarded a $628,147 contract to Emery Sapp & Sons, Inc., of Kansas City to reconstruct the southbound lanes of State Fair Boulevard from West Broadway Boulevard to West 16th Street.

•Awarded a $4,490 contract to Morton’s Custom Contracting, of Sedalia, to demolish a building at 1326 E. Ninth St.

•Approved a $10,280 change order to a sewer agreement with Sedalia 200 School District due to improvements to the electrical service and fencing surrounding the lift station near the new high school. This increased the reimbursement to the school district from $214,100 to $224,382.

•Annexed 1.4 acres of land owned by E. W. Thompson Inc. west of Mitchell Road.

•Approved the appointment of Sean Pilliard as substitute municipal judge. Myron McNeal recently resigned as the substitute judge.

snail@sedaliademocrat.com