How important is Long Term to you? That was the question asked at a September Merrick County Board of Supervisors meeting and many community members responded with great support for Litzenberg Long Term Care in the weeks following. Community members will have another opportunity to let their voice be heard Wednesday, January 11, as the Board of Supervisors and the Litzenberg Memorial Merrick County Long Term Care Board hold a joint public meeting.

The special meeting will be held at the Merrick County Fairgrounds, Conference Room, 1784 Fairgrounds Road, beginning at 6:00 pm. The meeting is in regards to the future of Litzenberg Memorial Merrick County Long Term Care and is open to the public. 

The discussion on the future of the facility ramped up once again on last Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors met with representatives of Prochaska and Associates during their normal board meeting. Paul Ryan with Prochaska and Associates informed the board that at the Bid Opening for the Litzenberg Memorial Long-Term Care Utility Separation Project which was held on December 20th at the courthouse and that there was only one bid submitted. 

Rutt’s Heating & A/C, Inc base bid for the project was $2,405,400.00 with an allowance of $18,000.00 for sanitary sewer cleaning and inspection. 

Total bid price for the project came in at $2,423,400.00 with a proposed start date of April 1, 2023 and proposed completion date of September 30, 2023. The bid is good for 60 days.  The board concluded to hold a Special Joint Town Hall Meeting with the board from Long Term to allow the boards to listen to any concerns and/or suggestions from constituents.  The meeting is open to the public and Paul Ryan with Prochaska and Associates will also be in attendance.

“We had Prochaska come and give us an estimate of what they thought it would cost to separate the hospital and Long Term Care and that was around $1.4 million,” says Merrick County Board of Supervisors Chairman, Roger Wiegert. “Then our bid came in around $2.4 million, almost a million more then anticipated. That is a lot of money to put into an old building, but we want to try and keep the long-term care too. We thought it would be good to hold a town hall meeting and hopefully some people come to give us some feedback.”

The project first came to light as Merrick Medical Center announced that they would be moving to a new facility in 2022. After a discussion with Long Term Care leadership, the need to keep the facility in Central City was recognized by the Board of Supervisors who planned to use ARPA funds to complete the project. On Tuesday that plan was again changed as the new $2.4 million price tag exceeds the amount of ARPA funds thought to be necessary and on hand. 

While the Board of Supervisors and the Long Term Care Board are in agreement that the facility plays an important role in Merrick County, there are plenty of questions that still remain to be answered. The largest will be in the form of how to finance the project if Supervisors ultimately decide to move forward with the renovation plans. The future may be undecided, but the January 11, meeting is sure to serve as a stepping stone towards the future.