Mexico’s City Council chambers were packed on March 9 to the point where a number of spectators had to pull up a seat in the hall.

A resolution authorizing City Manager Bruce Slagle to sign Task Order 3 with Navigate Building Solutions LLC for owner representative services failed to pass at the Mexico City Council meeting.

Had it passed, the proposed bill would have allocated $366,000 from the City Hall Building Fund to secure services from Navigate Solutions LLC for the design, bidding and construction phases necessary to turn the former Audrain Medical Cancer Center into a new City Hall and Public Safety Department.

The City of Mexico budgeted $500,000 in Fiscal Year 2026 for the City Hall Building Fund and to date, $10,508 has been used, so sufficient funding was available and the money saved for the city hall project cannot legally be spent on a hospital.

Addressing rumors

Upon introducing the resolution, Slagle said he wanted to discuss the facts around the project due to “substantial conversations” circulating online regarding the project.

“We all want and need a new hospital,” Slagle began. “The city is not looking at a new City Hall/Public Safety facility instead of a hospital. Both projects are actively moving forward.”

Alan Winders, presiding commissioner of Audrain County, also weighed in on behalf of the commission, after reviewing a draft of the city’s Letter of Intent.

“We are aware that there are those who believe that the city’s use of the former Cancer Center would be detrimental to efforts to reestablish a hospital here,” Winders said in an email to Slagle on March 9. “We disagree with that assessment and believe that it would likely be helpful instead.”

Slagle added that the progress on establishing a critical access hospital has slowed, largely due to changes to Medicaid reimbursement that have “drastically changed” the healthcare landscape, not just in Mexico, but across the country. Despite this, the City of Mexico, public health and the county continue to meet weekly with Boone Health.

“The county and city are moving forward to create a build-ready site so that it will be fully prepared for them when they are ready,” Slagle said

According to Slagle, Boone Health has reviewed the former hospital buildings and has deemed them inadequate for a new hospital. The sites will not meet current licensing or code requirements for a hospital set by the state of Missouri and this was confirmed by state officials.

“If it was possible to use the existing buildings, it would have been done,” he said. “It’s time to try a new approach.”

Boone Health backs co-location

In an email sent the morning of March 9 to Slagle, Brady Dubois, president and chief executive officer of Boone Health, asked the city to consider construction of a new city hall and police and fire station adjacent to the future hospital site.

“The campus of the old hospital is very large and has plenty of room for not just a Critical Access Hospital, but also several other outbuildings for future medical office space,” Dubois said in the email. “Any hospital fortunate enough to be co-located with public safety resources is a step ahead and an envy of other hospitals.”

Also in the email, Dubois shared what he called “disturbing statistics” gathered nationwide and in Missouri regarding workplace violence against medical personnel to explain the appeal of co-location and how it can support the workforce and employee retention.

“Based on recent surveys and studies, nearly 25-30% of healthcare workers who experience workplace violence (including verbal and physical assault) reported considering leaving their jobs, while some studies show that roughly 9-10% actually do leave,” he said. “One of the keys to preventing workplace violence is presence and proximity to law enforcement.”

Questions remain

The resolution proposed at the March 9 meeting failed twice. Vicki Briggs, council member, made the first motion for reading of the bill, but when no other council member seconded, Mayor Steve Haag said the motion died for lack of a second.

With unanswered questions remaining, Council Member Ron Ray remotioned and Briggs seconded. Haag also accepted the new motion.

Chris Miller, council member, said he was against motion because the Mexico City Council never officially approved the Cancer Center option.

“I don’t see how we can vote for $376,000 to be spent on a building we haven’t decided we’re going to use yet,” he said.

Haag echoed Miller’s sentiments.

Ray asked if this resolution “kills two birds with one stone” — proceeding with Navigate Building Solutions LLC and accepting the Cancer Center as the new location. Slagle responded that was the way he understood it, but still the council remained divided.

“I think I mentioned before and I’ll mention again, that I’m not ready to say that that’s the right location,” Larry Webber, council member, said. “I think there’s still other options we need to look at.”

Ray and Briggs voted yes for passage of the bill while Haag, Miller and Webber voted no.