Advertisement

The soil borings had already been conducted, after being approved by the Building Committee due to timeline considerations. The low bid of $1,866.25 was submitted by Construction Testing Services of Burton.

Executive Director Dr. Roger Dean said they are putting together the final plan and have not set a groundbreaking date yet.

Mental Health is going to build a 32,000 square foot one-story handicap-accessible building for an estimated cost of $4.5 million on about five acres of farmland northeast of the Ehardt Center-Kids' Connection in Sandusky. The building will contain office space, classrooms and day-program space, and house programs and the administration presently located in the health department and College for Independence on Dawson Street, and the Warren-Wilson building on Delaware Street.

In other business, Dean reported that the U.S. House overwhelmingly approved placing proposed changes to Medicaid funding under a one-year moratorium in the Iraqi War funding bill, and that language the president threatened to veto has been removed.

The proposed changes could have cost the state about $1.2 billion and would have had a huge impact on the agency's developmentally disabled clients.

*Dean reported staff have been discussing a possible partnership between the County Recycling Center and Creative Enterprises to see if there would be any efficiencies in combing the groups. Creative Enterprises has a paper shredding business staffed by clients.

*He also notified the board that Oetiker Inc. of Marlette is going to send the agency 11 additional machines by mid-July, which will increase their work orders considerably. In May clients earned $3,620 producing parts for the company. Presently Numatics of Sandusky does the most business with mental health clients, $63,467 in May.

*The board appointed fellow members Elva Mills, Kent France, Randy Foco and Steve Coffelt to a negotiating team to handle negotiations with the union. The union contract expires September 30.

*They approved the low bid of $10,900 to remodel the bathroom of a mental health consumer's family home to meet the accessibility needs of the consumer. The consumer has grown and transferring the person to and from the toilet and bathtub has become a safety issue. C&D Drywall & Construction of Sandusky submitted the low bid.

*They board also approved a summer student car wash program at a cost not to exceed $1200. The Intermediate School District students will obtain work training and experience to help them prepare for employment after graduation. The board asked Dean to see if the ISD would contribute to the funding.