Kossuth Regional Health Center seeks county EMS building to expand lab; board orders walk-through and study

Kossuth Regional Health Center (KRHC) CEO Dar Albert told the Kossuth County Board of Supervisors the hospital is “strapped for space” and is preliminarily pursuing purchase of the county EMS facility to expand laboratory services and improve adjacency to the emergency room.

“Our lab services have increased…we’re servicing 100,000 patients a year through our lab,” Albert said, arguing the EMS building offers a secured, adjacent location that would better meet staffing and logistics for after-hours lab work. Albert said KRHC has begun long-range facility planning and prefers repurposing existing space rather than building new brick-and-mortar at this time.

Board members voiced a mix of support for investigating options and reservations about legal, operational and financial implications. A county official noted existing transfer and lease language with the city that could constrain an ownership change: the contracts include clauses preventing assignment or material alteration without the city’s written consent, and could require services to revert to the city if conditions change.

Commissioners stressed the EMS building also houses emergency management, the county emergency operations center and serves as a shelter and training site. Supervisors and emergency-services leaders warned that moving EMS operations or displacing emergency management functions would require careful planning on ambulance circulation, shelter capacity and alternate locations.

Board members and KRHC agreed on next steps: conduct a joint walk-through of the Emergency Services Complex, include the Emergency Management Commission and city officials in planning, and evaluate outside professional study options to analyze costs, site logistics and potential impacts on EMS service delivery. The board set a preliminary walk-through for next Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. (to occur outside a regular board meeting) and asked Phil, Jacob and hospital leaders to identify candidate firms for an engineering/site study.

No purchase decision was made. Albert said KRHC has not yet determined a valuation for the facility and that any transaction would likely contemplate a fair-market purchase with KRHC accepting responsibility for renovation costs if the board and stakeholders decide to proceed.

The board repeatedly emphasized that no single entity can unilaterally change the facility’s use. As one commissioner put it, “we need to figure out what kind of dollars do we need to make it work,” and any transfer would have to protect taxpayers and honor contractual city protections.

The board directed staff and interested parties to proceed with the site visit and return findings and cost estimates for further discussion.

Ending: The discussion closed with agreement to gather more technical information and conduct the walk-through; the board did not vote on any sale or commitment during the session.