Concordia Police Chief Chris Edin put an end to rumors swirling around town about an abandoned baby left at the hospital over the weekend, during Wednesday's routine City Commission meeting.
During the overnight hours of Saturday, Aug. 28, a transient woman gave birth to a baby at Cloud County Health Center. The woman, Edin said, made reference to not wanting to keep her baby, and slipped out of the hospital.
She gave a false name and address, and officers were not able to locate her. Edin said the Kansas Newborn Infant Protection Act allowed the woman to leave her newborn without threat of criminal charges.
The purpose of the law, commonly referred to as the safe haven law, is to ensure unwanted infants are left with persons who can provide the immediate care needed for their safety and well-being. The Act became law in January 2007, and allows a parent – or other person having lawful custody – to surrender an infant to any employee who is on duty at a fire station, city or county health department, or medical care facility. The infant must be 45 days or younger.
In addition, K.S.A. 21-3604(b) protects the person leaving the baby from prosecution for abandonment of a child if the infant has not suffered bodily harm.
"It sounds really cold, but it makes sense because the alternative is the parent kills the baby," Edin said.
He said that while the law prevents law enforcement from pursuing criminal charges for leaving the baby, they are investigating it as a criminal case.
"We are doing a criminal investigation as a result of things this mother has done beyond just dropping this baby in the hands of the police department and the hospital. She has an extensive background," Edin said.
Edin said he wanted to let Commissioners know the facts of the case, in case there was the perception in the community that officers were not doing their jobs.
"I want to make sure you know that what we can do is get the baby and get it to state services, which is better than the alternative of death," he said.
Kansas Attorney General Steve Six called attention to the law in July when he announced that a 20-year-old Marysville woman, Lauren Holle, had agreed to plead guilty to charges of second degree intentional murder, aggravated abandonment of a child, and abuse of a child. The charges stemmed from the June 2009 death of her baby.
Holle had kept her pregnancy a secret. After giving birth in a bathroom at her parents' house, she wrapped the baby girl in a plastic garbage bag and put her on the backseat of her car, where the baby later died.
Edin said, as far as he knew, a case of a mother leaving her baby has never happened in Concordia.
During the city manager report, Larry Uri updated the Commissioners on the county's use of dispatch services. Uri said that from 2002 to 2009, the fee paid by the county, which is $80,000 per year, has on average adequately compensated the city for dispatch services provided to the Cloud County Sheriff's Department and rural fire districts.
At the August 4 study session, Mayor Greg Hattan said he thought dispatch should be taken over by the county. In 2002, the city and county signed an interlocal agreement to share dispatch services, with the county's share being $80,000.
After researching the issue, Uri said over the past nine years, the county's payment has covered the services it receives. However, in 2011, when the city will add another dispatch employee, the county's current payment may not be sufficient.
"Trends indicate that the county's current payment will not cover the county's use of services in 2011 and future years," Uri said.
Uri said he would deliver his dispatch research to the County Commissioners, and discuss the issue with them.
In other business, the Commission signed an agreement for the Community Development Block Grant for the Broadway sewer.
The city received $466,500 in grant funds to help replace the Broadway sewer from Third Street to between the alley of Fifth and Sixth streets. The city has pledged $71,500 toward the project. Uri said the hope is to complete the project this winter.
The Commission approved a five-year contract with Nex-Tech Wireless to lease space on the east water tower for a cell phone tower. Nex-Tech will pay the city $600 each month, which Uri said is the same as what other companies pay in rent to the city for leasing water tower space.
A document imaging system was also purchased for city hall. The five-year contract with DocumentMall is for $104.91 per month.
Document imaging is a computerized way to convert paper documents into electronic images on a computer.
The purpose of document imaging would be to catalog all the old files that are currently stored in the basement. New documents will be scanned as they come into City Hall and won't have to be stored in boxes.
During the city manager report, Uri said staff met last Friday with Steve Womack, Tom Tuggle and Cloud County Community College President Danette Toone and Kim Krull, vice president for academic affairs, to discuss the configuration of land around the proposed flood control project in the south development.
Uri said the meeting gave Frank Mercurio of KLA Environmental Services, the city's engineer for the dam project, a better idea as to what everyone wants. He said both Womack and the College plan to hire engineers to prepare site plans for their respective pieces of land.
The College, Uri said, is discussing a parking lot south of Pawnee Mental Health, and Womack has a very firm idea of what he wants for his new dealership.
Uri also reported that the College will be host for the next intergovernmental meeting, scheduled for Wed., Sept. 8, at 6:30 in Room 257 at the College.