Every other month, city officials within Audrain County come together for a meeting of the minds where they receive updates on surrounding areas and get connected with resources.

This is all part of the municipalities program, led by Audrain County Eastern District Commissioner Leslie Meyer.

Mayor of Ladonna, Tresa Hodges, hosted representatives from Central Missouri Community Action, Farber, Benton City, city of Mexico, and the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments during this month’s meeting, held at Laddonia at City Hall Monday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m.

Meyer began the meeting by leading the Pledge of Allegiance, introducing guest speakers Darin Preis, executive director of CMCA and Jayme Prenger, director of the Missouri Women’s Business Center before launching into her first order of business – the future of Audrain Medical Center and updates from Boone Health.

Audrain County officials are meeting weekly with Brady Dubois, CEO of Boone Health, and separately as a government committee.

“It is still progressing; I like to look at this as a marathon and not a sprint,” says Meyer.

Concerns about rushing through the hospital process have played a major role in the timeline.

“When Nobel was jumping on board and saying, ‘We’ve got this; we’re going to do this’, Platinum jumped in and there really wasn’t a whole lot of preparation on their end and tons of promises; we saw what happened,” Meyer explains.

Instead, the county, and Boone, are “doing due diligence” walking through the establishment of a critical access hospital step-by-step.

“It’s an actual process, which is a wonderful thing to see,” says Meyer. “The longer it takes, the more that they’re investing in our community and the closer we are to sustainable health care.”

As far as the existing building is concerned, Meyer reports it is almost completely empty at this point between the auction and donations of medical equipment.
“They have donated a lot to local organizations to benefit several of the nursing homes and several programs, including the Mexico Senior Center,” says Meyer.

The physical state of the century-old facility, however, brings its own challenges and safety concerns. A recently conducted asbestos study found asbestos in the curtains and potentially more parts of the hospital.

“We need to undergo those studies to see what it is going to entail to knock that facility down,” says Meyer.

The plan to preserve the cancer wing in order to create a beneficial “district destination”, is still on the table, according to Meyer, who believes the city is “the perfect visionary” to turn the cancer center into something special.

“I know Brady (Dubois) is super excited to have the city hall right there as well,” Meyer adds.

The purchase of the hospital included 56 parcels, which included a section of the condominium on E. Summit St. known as the Summit Building.

The county is currently accepting proposals for uses of the Summit building.