Local News – Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024
The Salem Memorial Hospital Board of Directors held a special meeting on Tuesday evening in the hospital library. Mike Swyers called the meeting to order while Chairman Ray Bruno attended via zoom. Interim CEO Jason Edwards presented a financial update through December 2023. The beginning balance for account activity in September was $368,394 with an ending balance of $398,878. In December, the beginning account balance was $38,300, with an ending balance of $212,209. The Operating Account activity for September was $2,247,600 and was down to $1,572,597 in December, which includes $800,000 in CDs. This is less than 21 days with cash on hand. CFO Doug Hoban presented an Accounts Payable history that showed the hospital has outstanding balances of $1,278,485 which is up from $690,543 in July. Some vendors won’t ship supplies until the hospital pays first, and others have the hospital on a credit hold. Current outstanding accounts payable are at $1,649,365. Some invoices were being paid 120-200 days late with interest being charged for late payments. Hoban is expecting to receive $200,000 from the 2019 Medicaid Rural Health Clinic Settlement and another $233,000 from 2020. Property tax payments have been recorded in December of $109,000 with more expected in January. Hoban expected to be able to meet the January payroll, but CDs might need to be cashed in to do so. The accounts receivables owed to the hospital for December totaled $3,392,957, with $1,155,526 being received. Edwards reported the hospital currently has a hiring freeze and they have eliminated and/or consolidated 14 positions in the last five months. The meeting was adjourned, and the board went into a closed session.
The Missouri Department of Revenue is announcing the upcoming Request for Proposal (RFP) of the license office in Salem located at 1104 South Main Street in the Crossroads Shopping Center. Bids will start being accepted January 10, and must be submitted by January 24. For a list of bid opportunities and bid response instructions, please visit Missouri’s statewide electronic procurement system, MissouriBUYS, at missouribuys.mo.gov. Interested groups or individuals who wish to bid to operate the Salem License Office must have an active Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) and must submit the proposal under the legal entity name for which the FEIN was assigned. The Missouri Department of Revenue, through the Office of Administration, is posting an RFP for the Salem License Office contract, since the current contract is close to expiring. Interested bidders will have approximately 10 business days to submit their proposal for the operation of the license office in the competitive bid process, as outlined in the RFP. A scheduled tour of the current location may be requested by emailing the procurement contact listed on MissouriBUYS. Proposals will be evaluated on items as outlined in the RFP. All of the proposals will be evaluated by a review team at the Department of Revenue, and the proposal that scores best in the areas outlined in the RFP will be selected to operate the office.
Colonel Eric T. Olson, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, provides the following preliminary statistics related to the New Year’s holiday weekend. Five people died and 59 were injured in 115 traffic crashes during the 2024 New Year’s holiday counting period, which began at 6:00 Friday evening, December 29th and ended at 11:59 Monday night, January 1st, 2024. There were 139 DWI arrests. There were no boating crashes and no drownings over the 2024 New Year’s holiday counting period. During the 2023 New Year’s holiday counting period, six people were killed and 345 injured in 925 traffic crashes statewide. In 2023 Troopers arrested 105 people for driving while intoxicated. There were no fatalities on January 1st, 2024. The fatality statistics in this news release could change if late deaths occur, or if other departments report fatal traffic crashes after this news release is sent to the media.
Live Christmas trees after the holidays are a win-win for fish and angers if you have a pond or lake. They can create an underwater condominium for fish to take a load off. In turn,they can also be popular spots for anglers who are searching for their next big fishing jackpot. The trees benefit some of the most popular fish that anglers like to reel in, including large mouth bass, bluegill, red ear sunfish and crappie. If you don’t have a pond or lake, and your community does not offer a tree-recycling program, there are several creative ways to make further use of your tree. You can place the tree in the backyard to offer cover for wildlife, or under bird feeders to provide nesting locations in the branches. Your tree can also be shredded or chipped for mulch. If you used a live evergreen and your ground is still soft enough to spade up, add your tree to your home landscape for years of enjoyment and wildlife cover.
The Missouri Highway Patrol reports trooper Aaron M. Cunningham, a member of the 118th graduation class from the Patrol Academy, will report to duty on January 8th and will be assigned to Zone 3 in Crawford County. Trooper Cunningham’s field training officer will be Corporal Nick Summers. Trooper Cunningham is a 2018 graduate of the Rolla High School. Trooper Cunningham’s father is Sergeant Steve Cunningham who is a 21-year veteran of the Missouri State Highway Patrol and serves the Phelps and Maries county area.