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Thursday, Oct. 02, 2008

Hospital authority pursues efficient construction method

FORT VALLEY -- The Peach County Hospital Authority voted Wednesday to declare its intent to pursue negotiating a contract using the design-build construction method for its new $27 million facility to be located on the Ga. 247 Connector.

Peach County Hospital Authority board members met in a lengthy special called meeting to discuss the option.

Mike Purcell, the hospital's project manager with Parsons, an engineering and construction firm out of Nashville, Tenn., informed the group the option would allow the authority to have a fixed-cost contract where the contractor would be responsible for paying the upfront engineer and design fees.

"It forces the contractor and architect to sit down and design it to budget," Purcell said.

As currently written, the contract with contractor Brasfield and Gorrie would call for the hospital's current architecture firm, Hinson Miller Kickirillo Architects, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based firm, to stay on board. The document also would call for the construction costs to total about $19 million for the 60,000 square-foot building, which would contain 25 beds. The remainder would go toward other items, such as the interior and medical equipment.

Hospital authority officials plan to negotiate for a way to split any savings from the project with the contractor.

If the contract is approved, the document calls for construction to begin in March 2009 and for the project to be completed by May 2010.

The clock is ticking for the hospital authority as they need to have an agreement underway before they can secure funding. The hospital is closing in on its application to seek funding from Rural America Capital Group and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA would have to add its own terms and conditions to the contract as well, Purcell said.

Choosing the option also would mean that a $380,000 loan requested from the Peach County Board of Commissioners allocated for architecture fees could be used elsewhere for the hospital that is dangerously low on cash.

The board members in the room agreed that it was a feasible option.

"I'm not sure we can afford to do it any differently," Mayor John Stumbo said.

To contact writer Natasha Smith, call 923-3109, extension 236.