Posts by CTC

The Salem Memorial District Hospital Board of Directors met for the regular meeting Tuesday evening at the hospital library. After reviewing the April 4th election results, Attorney Mark Weaver administered the oath of office to Sue Terry and George Gruendel. The Board heard a proposal from City of Salem’s City Administrator Ray Walden and Sewer and Water Supervisor Jack Emory on attaching the hospital to the city’s sewer system. Walden described the DNR mandated sewer upgrades that the city will be implementing over the next couple of years. These upgrades will cost $1.1 million. To try and recoup some of the construction costs the city is looking at ways to add more customers to the city’s water and sewer system. The city is offering the hospital an opportunity to get connected to the city’s sewer system with no upfront costs. The current sewer rate is .0003 cents per gallon and the water rate is .00027 cents per gallon. This would allow the hospital to stop using the current lagoon system that has tremendous DNR regulations and oversight. Connecting the hospital, and then potential future customers near the hospital, would mean that the water and sewer lines would need to be located across private property and easements would need to be obtained. The city was asking for a written confirmation that the hospital would agree to connect to the services once they were built and made available. No decision was made at this time. Chief Financial Officer Monica Gargus gave the summary of operations for March that the hospital had a gain from operations of $108,333 with an excess of revenues over expenses of $144,549. Chief Nursing Officer Debbie Hines reported during the month there were 75 acute care admissions plus 857 emergency room visits with an average turnaround time of 127 minutes. Also during the month, there were 229 ambulance runs, 23 surgery cases, 1,700 outpatient registrations, 2431 home health visits, 8,575 lab tests, 1,073 radiological procedures, 197 CT scans, 335 MRI scans, 6 nuclear med scans, 798 rehab treatments, 173 dialysis treatments and 371 clinical visits. Hospital Administrator Kasey Lucas reported the Hospital Auxiliary met this month and is working on future fundraisers. Their next meeting will be May 5th at noon at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. The Foundation will have a Golf Tournament on May 5th at the Spring Creek Golf Club. The next health screening dates will be May 10th and 11th at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. Lucas reported on the Patient Satisfaction surveys for the Emergency Department. All surveys results were very good if not excellent in all areas. Gargus gave the Finance Committee report and reviewed the proposed 2018 fiscal year budget with the board. The committee is proposing a total budget of $22,138,082 in revenue and $21,975.112 in expenses. The budget includes a 4% increase in rates as well as salary increases with and $320,200 for new capital expenses. The board approved updating several bank signature authorizations by making Lucas, Gargus and Hines as the authorized signers on the accounts. The Board approved the budgeted purchase of a heat press for the materials management department at a cost of $1,755 from Penn Enterprises and 25 IV pumps to be used hospital wide for a total of $92,422 from BBraun. The board then went into closed session.

An accident occurred at 9:45 Wednesday morning in Iron County on county road 86 about 43 miles south of Viburnum. According to the highway patrol report, a Kawasaki Brute Force ATV driven by 64-year old Ricky Dotson of Bixby was traveling southbound and the ATV overturned, ejecting the driver. Dotson suffered serious injuries and was taken by Air Medical to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. He was not wearing a safety device at the time of the accident. The ATV sustained minor damage and was removed by the owner.

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22. Worldwide, various events are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. There were Earth Day events in more than 193 countries. The Earth Day Network now coordinates events globally. Earth Day’s goal is to bring awareness to pollution. Back in the 1970’s when Earth Day was founded it was legal for industrial plants to release huge clouds of black smoke into the air or to dump chemicals into water sources. There was no EPA to monitor these factories, and it was not promoted to take these business’ to court for the damage they were doing to the environment. Earth Day was founded to celebrate clean air, water and land. To learn more about Earth Day you can visit epa.gov/earthday.

The Salem Board of Aldermen met Monday evening at the Council Chambers for their regular meeting. After approval of the consent agenda, the board canvassed the election results of the April 4th election and approved Resolution No. 3-2017 declaring the results valid. City Clerk, Mary Happel, then administered the oath of office to Dr. Haydn Powell for East Ward Alderman and Chad Heithold as West Ward Alderman. The board then approved Dr. Powell as President of the Board of Alderman. Mayor Brad Nash nominated and the board approved Mary Happel as City Clerk and Camm Seay as City Attorney. Three bids were presented to replace the roof at the Al Brown Concession Stand and the board approved John Woods Roofing, the lowest bid, for a total of $3,280. City Administrator Ray Walden reported on a recent Planning and Zoning Workshop where the committee is currently assessing all parcels inside the city limits for zoning classification. After this assessment is complete, a map can be created of all classifications of zoning in the city. The Salem Community Center @ the Armory assisted 6,742 people at their facility for the month of March. The Chamber of Commerce Business Expo will be held this Saturday from 9 am-12 noon at the Salem Community Center @ the Armory. A GRO Economic Development meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 25th at 5:30 PM at the Bank of Salem Courtesy Room. The City Wide Yard Sale will be held on May 6th and spots are still available at the City Administrative building parking lot. Spring Clean-Up days will be the week of May 1st thru 5th and May 8th thru 12th. Healthy Dent County will be selling lanterns for $10 each with a Lantern Lift-Off to be held at the Commons on the Fourth of July prior to the fireworks display. All proceeds from the Lantern Lift-Off will go towards next year’s fireworks fund. Walden stated that a Request for Proposals will be published in the local paper asking for proposals for the future development of the former high school located on 10th Street. An architectural consulting firm will be retained to help evaluate the proposals. Water/Sewer Superintendent, Jack Emory, requested approval to repair 2 Flygt Mixers at the Waste Water Treatment Facility. The board approved the repairs at $2,903.50 and $3,514.78 before going into closed session to discuss contracts, litigation and real estate.

The Dent County Sheriff’s Department has released a number of reports. On Tuesday, April 4th, deputies responded to the 6400 block of Route K in attempt to locate a fugitive with an active warrant. A consent to search the residence was granted by the home owner. Once inside, deputies located Jeanne Bourbon of Salem. Bourbon was wanted out of both Crawford and Texas Counties for probation violation warrants. Bourbon was arrested without incident. Upon arrival at the Dent County Jail, Bourbon was found in possession of suspected methamphetamine and prescription pills. Bourbon was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance. She is currently incarcerated on a $50,000 cash only bond as well as her charges from Crawford and Texas Counties. On April 5th, deputies responded to the 3200 block of south Highway 19 and arrested Josh McAfee who had an active felony warrant for his arrest. McAfee was arrested without incident. Also arrested was Bethany Knight of Salem. During a consent search of Knights purse, deputies located suspected marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Knight was transported to the Sheriff’s Office, issued a summons to appear in court, and released. McAfee was incarcerated at the Dent County Jail on no bond. On April 6th a subject walked into the sheriff’s office to report fuel missing from a storage tank located at Indian Trail Park. They reported that 142 gallons of fuel has gone missing from the tank. This report is under investigation. If you have any information on ongoing investigations, feel free to call the Dent County Sheriff’s Department at 729-3241.