CCHC to have public meeting on hospital project

Cloud County Health Center has filed a pre-application with the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, for financial assistance to acquire and/or develop a new hospital facility.
The area to be served by the project is Cloud County.
A meeting regarding the proposed project will be held August 22 at 5 p.m. in the Concordia City Hall meeting room, 701 Washington St.
The public is invited to the meeting to provide comments on the proposed project.
Cloud County Health Center (CCHC) administrator David Garnas announced on July 15 the plan to build a $40.35 million hospital on College Drive without seeking taxpayer support.
CCHC will be seeking financing for the construction of the 74,000 square-foot, 14-bed hospital through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Before loan or grant approval from the USDA, CCHC must hold at least one public information meeting to allow the citizenry to become acquainted with the proposed project.
CCHC is working with Dougherty Mortgage, LLC on the preliminary discussions with the USDA regarding the loan application for the Rural Development program which offers loans, grants and loan guarantees to help create jobs and support economic development and essential services such as housing, health care, first responder services and equipment and water, electric and communications infrastructure.
The Concordia city commission, on July 17, approved authorizing Mayor Mark Matthew to sign a development agreement with CCHC for Lot 5, Block “A”, College Drive Park for the purposes of constructing the new hospital.
The Cloud County Community College board of trustees approved entering into a development agreement with CCHC for Lot 6 on College Drive for the construction of the hospital.
CCHC hopes to have an answer from the USDA about approval of their loan application by December.