The first phase of necessary preparations for the demolition of the Audrain Medical Center is underway.

The Mexico City Council discussed the site-wide asbestos and hazardous material and universal waste abatement at the Nov. 10 meeting.

“This is a big step,” Drew Williford, deputy city manager, said. “A lot of people have been mentioning the ‘lack of progress,’ we’ll say, at the hospital but I think, now, people are going to start seeing movement on the site.”

Phase one, asbestos removal, covers everything on the site, including the Stribbling House, Cornerstone building and the main AMC complex.

Initial bids were sent out in July 2025, but Williford reported inconsistencies in the bidding process. As a result, the city decided to rebid the project on Oct. 8.

While the City of Mexico will be administering the project, the contract will be with Audrain County as part of a cost-share agreement. A payment of $750,000 will be made by the city to the county as a reimbursement for project related costs.

The council unanimously voted to move forward with the project, awarding it to ARSI Inc. of Jefferson City for $758,878. This decision was backed by the Audrain County Commission, which voted in favor of ARSI Inc.’s bid at its Nov. 5 meeting.

“We anticipated quite a bit of this project being done in the prior budget year, and then some of it being done in this current fiscal year,” Williford said. “Because of the delay, all of it’s going to be done in this current fiscal year, so we do anticipate having to do a budget amendment to accommodate this.”

Boone Health reiterated its intentions to establish a critical access hospital using the AMC hospital site for development in October.

City Manager Bruce Slagle said that the government health committee — which consists of Audrain County, the City of Mexico and Audrain Public Health — is in full support of mitigating the blight of the old building.

A team of volunteer city staff members visited the site on Nov. 8 to kick-start the project by cleaning up the cancer wing.

Slagle said there was a mess of paper, garbage and other debris left behind after the furniture and medical equipment was removed.

“We went in there and cleaned that all out and wiped stuff down with the idea of preserving that portion of the building the best we can as it goes into next year,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that we’re protecting it the best that we can until some decisions are made.”

Phase two, which Slagle said is expected to begin in spring 2026, will consist of the demolition of the Stribling House and Cornerstone building. The final phase, expected in fall 2026 will be the demolition of the larger AMC complex as well as restoration.