Hospital board considers buying building

The Donley County Hospital District is working towards purchasing an office building it sold with the Medical Center Nursing Home seven years ago.

At two recent meetings, the hospital board and Dr. Richard Sheppard have discussed buying the professional services building for $85,000 with the district paying $60,000 and the dentist contributing $25,000.

Negotiations to buy the building located immediately east of the district’s ambulance barn have been underway for some time. The district initially offered owner Royce Freeborn $60,000 for the property several months ago, but at that time he was asking for a six-figure sales price.

Then at the board’s November 17 meeting, Dr. Sheppard announced that Freeborn had agreed to an $85,000 sale price and proposed working with the district to purchase the property. Sheppard would put $25,000 into the deal in lieu of paying rent for a period of time.

The hospital board at that time expressed its desire for the deal to include more land than just the professional services building. The district has become concerned that if a disaster ever struck the Hwy. 70 Bridge over the BNSF railway, it could cut off ambulances from getting to town.

Sheppard approached the property owner again, and he agreed to include a strip of land immediately north of the professional services building that extends east and connects to and includes a road that provides an alternate entrance to the medical center campus from Front Street. The district could then pave a connection from that road to the ambulance barn.

At a called meeting of the hospital board last Tuesday, December 1, Sheppard updated the board of the owner’s willingness to include that land at no extra charge.

Board members were in favor of pursuing the deal but took no action last week, giving the hospital district’s attorney time to look at the details of the agreement.

The building was constructed by the district at the same time as the ambulance barn, but was included in the sale when the district disposed of the nursing home in 2008.

If the current deal goes through, Sheppard would continue his dentistry practice in a portion of the building, and the district would probably utilize the rest of the building for record storage and as quarters for on-call EMS personnel.