[StBernard] Construction could begin by year's end on St. Bernard Parish hospital

[Westley Annis]

Construction could begin by year's end on St. Bernard Parish hospital

Published: Wednesday, November 03, 2010, 6:45 PM     

Updated: Wednesday, November 03, 2010, 6:49 PM

 Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 

After voters in St. Bernard Parish approved an 8-mill hospital property tax
Tuesday that was billed as crucial to the success of a planned 40-bed
hospital, a contractor to build the project could be selected as early as
next week.

That would mean construction of the planned hospital and medical office
building on a donated piece of land in Chalmette could begin before the end
of the year, following required reviews from the state. St. Bernard has been
without a hospital since Hurricane Katrina destroyed the former Chalmette
Medical Center, which never reopened and has since been demolished.

The parish's hospital service district board has cobbled together $69
million in construction funding from various federal and state grant and tax
credit programs. But the question of how to run the hospital after it is
built had never answered.

That was the intention of the 8-mill tax on Tuesday's ballot: generate a
steady revenue stream that could be leveraged to yield an initial $16
million to pay the first three years of startup costs for the hospital. The
money would cover everything from payroll to basic supplies to recruitment
of specialists.

The tax can only be applied to the hospital and cannot be shifted to any
other parish government entities. It passed by 534 votes, with 4,220 voters
in favor of it and 3,686 voting against it.

A Tuesday night's Parish Council meeting, which took place as the returns
were coming in, the millage took center stage as discussions continued about
the merits of the tax and barbs were traded about misinformation relayed to
voters in recent weeks.

"I want to thank the people of St. Bernard for coming to the line," said
Parish Councilman George Cavignac, who is also on the parish's hospital
board. "I absolutely know how hard that was, but our people recognized the
importance and they came to the line for our community."

But Cavignac went on to question statements made at public meetings in
recent weeks by various elected officials. For instance, he took issue with
a statement by Parish Councilman Mike Ginart at a town hall meeting last
week that a larger, 60-bed hospital was being built in Picayune, Miss., for
a cost of $50 million.

"I appreciate the fact that he takes time to go look at other projects, but
no one on this body (the Parish Council) has yet come to us, your hospital
board, and asked the facts of our project," Cavignac said. "I would just ask
that any member of this body that has questions about this project ...
before they make public comments and confuse the public any further, to
please come to your hospital board and have faith that we're moving forward
on this project - with great haste, I might add."

Factoring in the cost of land and a medical office building, Phil Wendling,
who works for Hammes Company, the project manager for St. Bernard's
hospital, said the Mississippi hospital would cost about $75 million,
although he added that it is almost impossible to do an apples-to-apples
comparison of any two separate hospitals.

Ginart said he still believed the hospital could be built for less, and that
the tax was not necessary.

"I think over the long run, I hope and pray that it works out as they say
and that they're not going to have to come back for more," Ginart said.
"I'll be pulling for them. I certainly don't want to have to come out of
pocket for some more or have to have some other company take it over."

Opponents of the tax also took aim in recent weeks at the need for the
medical office building attached to the St. Bernard hospital project. But
Parish Councilman Wayne Landry, who also sits on the hospital board, said
the building is needed to attract doctors or specialist services to the
hospital that would be profitable - and could counteract the money-losing
sectors such as the emergency room.

Landry was also upset that so few other politicians came forward to support
it.

"I felt like I was carrying the burden of the parish on my shoulders,
because I felt like the leadership of this parish either didn't take a
position or underneath they took a position against it for political reasons
and not because of what was in the best interest of the parish," Landry
said.

Initial site preparation to begin construction began this summer and is
already nearly complete. That means that once the selected contractor is
issued a notice to proceed, potentially within a month, the work will begin.

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