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3. July 13, 2009: New Life for the Old Hospital
New Life for the Old Hospital
But at what Cost to the Taxpayer
“I wrote this article in 2008, but Hernando Today wouldn’t publish it, because at the time I was running in the race against then Commissioner Rowden. I think it still has relevance today, so I am posting it for you to read.”
Wednesday morning May 28, 2008 at ten o’clock a small group gathered with its new owners to mark the progress of the renovation of the Old Hospital in Brooksville. Mr. Bill Rain, President of Metro Bay Development LLC., shared with us how he had once sat and looked at the empty building and had a Vision. He went on to say, “The building was a really good structure, the building had really good bones”. He went on to add they looked at the negatives and dealt with them. But before I go on talking about this morning let me go back in time and remind ourselves how we got to this morning.
In 2001 the State approved the new Hospital site. The Commissioners did nothing.
In 2005 The County received 11 Million dollars from the Old Hospital as part of a settlement, (remember this amount). The Commissioners took the money and did nothing.
In 2005 the County paid 85 thousand dollars to Clemmons, Rutherford & Assocs. for an Architectural study for renovating the Old Hospital. The Commissioners did nothing.
In 2005 the Commission formed a 25 person Committee of which I was a part to look at ways of dealing with the Capital Improvement Plan. The number one item on the County’s list was a new 40 million dollar Government Center. The County also briefed the committee that they could float a bond (loan) for the 40 million dollars which in reality means a 70 million dollar cost to taxpayers. The Committee went on to ask to have the original Architect come back and brief the Commissioners on the condition of the Old Hospital.
On April 26, 2006 the Commissioners convened their meeting in the old Hospital and Mr. William Rutherford the original Architect again stated: "The building was in good shape, would function well as administrative space, would last another 40 years and the renovation could be done in phases." He reminded the Commissioners that his 2005 cost estimates have probably gone up because of the time period that had passed with nothing being done. He went on to say the Commissioners, "had a very valuable asset here to deal with."
The Commissioners with staff input had come up with 7 tasks comprising of 9 elements concerning the Old Hospital including how to get rid of it. Chairperson Rowden insisted it was necessary to still accomplish all the tasks first. At the close of this very positive briefing by Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Kuhl said, the County could probably get the tasks done in three months, but Rowden then asked Mr. Mixon, the County Engineer how long it would take to get the tasks done. He answered; “it would take a year and cost 600 thousand dollars.” The Commissioners did nothing. (* Please See Note Below *)
On August 11 2006, a committee of four County employees Including Mr. Mixon and Chairperson Rowden convened with Rowden as the chair. Their purpose was to review the proposals of three Architectural firms for renovating the Old Hospital (again) and included the conversion of the Brooksville Government Seat to a judicial building. The three presenters would be graded with a score of 100, 75, or 50 based on their rating by each member of this committee. The last presenter was Mr. Jim Strollo of Strollo Architectural Firm. He said he didn’t have a dog and pony show for them and the whole idea of renovating the Old Hospital was a bad idea and the county should build a new building. Chairperson Rowden loved this idea, she went on to say, "once an old building always an old building". Then came the vote for ranking, Mr. Greg Sutton, Asst. County Engineer, gave Strollo a zero because in his words, “they didn’t follow the scope of services that all of the presenters were given”. After much pressure from Chairperson Rowden and Mr. Mixon, Mr. Sutton was forced to re-score Strollo Architectural, which placed them in first place. Weeks later when the results of this committee came to the commission meeting, Mr. Hogan, acting Commissioner, stated that he had reviewed the DVD of the committee meeting and the process was flawed. A motion was made and passed throwing out the results of the committee Rowden had chaired. As a result, all that came out it was the time Rowden had wasted equaled about 100 thousand dollars in lost taxpayer’s money for the upkeep of the Old Hospital. The Commissioners did nothing.
We arrive at the day the Commissioners are listening to the interested parties who want to buy the Old Hospital. I reminded the Commissioners that the committee of 25 that they had formed had made two recommendations. Cut operating cost of the county by 10 percent and reuse the Old Hospital, they obviously ignored both. After hearing Mr. Rain share his company's accomplishments in building renovations, I told the Commissioners if they couldn’t figure out how to renovate the Old Hospital maybe they could hire him to do it. I also told them that this sale would come back to haunt them, I should have said “haunt the taxpayers”; the old Hospital which consisted of 118 thousand sq ft of building on 14 prime acres was sold for 1.1 million dollars.
Now back to the morning of May 28. Before the program started I spoke with Mr. Ray Chenoweth of Wall Touch Systems from Tampa. He is the Project Manager for the company doing the actual renovation work on the old Hospital. I ask him what the entire cost of the renovation of the old hospital was going to be including the price of the land. He told me the cost would be right at 4 million dollars. Remember the 11 million dollars the county had already received from the old Hospital and chose not to reinvest in it.
These companies who invested in the old Hospital are to be commended for their VISION. They saw a silk purse while the commissioners saw a sow’s ear.
But for us taxpayers there is still a state-mandated need for more judicial space. I can assure you we will be expected to foot the bill for a new Government Center for Commissioner Rowden to put her name on.
(* NOTE *) June 1, 2009
In March of 2006 Ms. Rocco declared as a Democratic Candidate for County Commission, after being drafted by Diane Rowden. Rowden quickly became Rocco’s mentor and would have told Rocco that the Old Hospital had to go! So it comes as no surprise if you watch the DVD of the April 26, 2006 meeting you will see that Rocco was at the meeting, but got up and left the meeting before the Architect even began his presentation. She had already been told how to vote on the Old Hospital. Sure enough when elected, Rocco quickly voted to get rid of the Old Hospital. Fast forward to 2009, Rocco has now voted to set aside 18 Million dollars toward the 50 + Million for a new building.
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Political advertisement paid for and approved by Wayne Dukes (R) for Hernando County Commissioner District 2
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