Old Hospital's Appraisal $395,000

The appraisal for the former Kimball Health Services hospital building was accepted at the June 18 county commissioners meeting. Brandt Appraisal Co. determined that the former hospital building and parking lot adjacent to the property should be appraised at $395,000.

The commissioners held a public hearing to allow comments from any interested parties to speak for or against the sale of the former hospital at 505 South Burg St.

Sheriff Dave Hottell talked about the possibility of the county keeping the generator that is located at the former hospital. He said that would run the entire courthouse in an emergency.

In a related action item, the commissioners set the asking price for the former hospital at $950,000, and advertising for the sale of the building will begin immediately. The last day to submit a bid on the hospital will be July 15, and the bids will be opened on July 16.

No action was taken on a discussion item to relocate the current High Point Welcome Center. It was mentioned that the High Point RV Park is remodeling a building, and it could be relocated there while the truck stop begins construction.

Next spring is the anticipated date of construction on the new Big D Truck Stop at the welcome center site. The county pays $500 a month plus electricity for the current building. When Big D begins construction, the High Point Welcome Center will be demolished.

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office will be receiving an electronic fingerprint machine courtesy of the Nebraska State Patrol. The sheriff’s office is one of the few that still do fingerprinting by hand. If the finger is not rolled correctly or a smudge occurs, this delays registering the prints.

The state patrol will update the equipment and Kimball County will sign a five year contract for $977 a year for the equipment. The equipment will automatically tie into the state system.

Randy Bohac was appointed to the Panhandle Public Health District Board as a Community Spirited Citizen to fill a vacancy.

Several fund transfers were approved, including $50,000 from the road fund to the road sinking fund, $125,000 to the road fund from the general fund, and $20,538 from the landfill fund to the general fund. In addition, the sanitary landfill fund was closed.

A city/county joint meeting is scheduled for July 2 at 4 p.m. in the KCTS meeting room.

The next regular meeting of the Kimball County Commissioners will be July 2 at 9 a.m. in the courthouse.