The Clinton County Commissioners approved the schematic design proposal from American Structurepoint for $142,455 fhe new EMS building at a special meeting on Friday. Commissioner Josh Uitts talks about where the new building will be located.
“It’ll be in close proximity to the old office (at the Clinton County Fairgrounds),” said Uitts. “It’ll be on the very western edge of the Fairgrounds towards the north end. We felt like that the best place to put in for a lot of reasons. One was location. Two there was no land acquisition that we had to go through and there was no demolition.”
Uitts said the next big step for the project will be to secure the funding for the building design which also includes the architecture and the bidding process.
Uitts talks about the overall cost of the project.
“We have budgeted next year a total of $1.5 million which we are going to utilize to construct two buildings,” he said. “A headquarters building and a satellite station somewhere north of Frankfort towards the areas of Rossville and Mulberry.”
Also at the special meeting, the Commissioners elected to change their health benefits provider for 2018 as they chose IU Health to replace United Healthcare, who has been the county’s insurance provider for the past four years.
“They (employees) will have two plans to pick from,” said Commissioner Steve Woods, who served on the insurance committee. “It depends on the issues they have going on and they may elect to choose one over the other. There are some savings involved that would make it very much worth their while.”
Woods said the overall difference between the two companies was around 15 to 16 percent. But, he said some of that savings would be rolled into a health wellness clinic which would be for those who have the insurance and their family members. That clinic is contingent upon the city joining the plan among others like the utilites.
“We have some other entities in the county that is very interested in it,” said Woods. “We can make it work with the employees we have involved in it if the city comes on board.”
The wellness clinic would be located near the new Jimmy John’s on State Road 28 West.
The Commissioners also elected to make a change in their next meeting date as they will meet Friday, October 13, at 9 a.m. in the Commissioners Room of the Courthouse. The normally scheduled meeting for Monday, October 16, has been cancelled.