Hospital board continues to wrangle with increasing project costs

The North Big Horn Hospital District remains flummoxed by construction costs as the price for multiple projects continue to rise beyond what the district was prepared to pay.
The most significant example is also the most urgent. The district only received one bid to fix the leaking care center roof of the patio of the second floor. The bid, from Groathouse Construction, has a significant pricetag of $502,000.
Hospital CEO Eric Connell described the current weaknesses of the structure to the board.
“As the concrete has cracked and shifted, that has caused the membrane to fail. As they look at how the structure was built, they don’t believe the membrane goes up the sides of the building enough to prevent water penetrating down it,” Connell said. “What’s happening right now is water is going through the cracks, going through the concrete into the metal surface and then finding the path of least resistance and ending up in multiple areas within the patio.”
That damage means that significant actions will be needed to effectively repair the area, Connell said.
“We’re going to demolish the current roof down to the membrane, and then we’re going to take the stucco and all the siding and cut that back at the window level around the patio, bring the sides of that new roofing membrane up and install a new patio paver system on top of that,” Connell described.
Connell said, if approved, the demolition will occur over the winter, meaning the space will be repaired in time for late spring.
“The reality is that we’ve got a leaking roof,” Connell said. “I wouldn’t propose that we continue to delay the repair. This repair will be a definitive repair. It will make the space usable and not create additional problems for the facility. I’m not pleased with those cost, but we would love feedback from the board on this.”
Board member Todd Simmons was the first to resist approving the bid, asking why a representative of Groathouse Construction was not present at the meeting to defend the cost.
“Where’s Fred?” Simmon asked, speaking of Fred Bronnenberg, who would oversee the project. “I’d like to see him in a meeting, allow us to ask questions, and give us his professional opinion on why this project is 500,000 dollars and what it entails. I have every confidence in the world with Fred. I know he will do a phenomenal job. But for 500,000 dollars, he should be here to answer our questions.”
Board member Brett Crosby balked at the price.
“I bet you get two farmers and a logger together and they do it for 50 grand. You get the sugar factory machinists together they can probably fix it in 20 minutes,” Crosby said. “It just bugs me that everything for a hospital or a school, contractors just seem to automatically add another 50 percent.”
“Is Crosby Roof Repairs ready to put in a bid?” board member Ron Christensen quipped.
But, Crosby returned soon after with a less satirical point.
“At our current cash flow trend, we’re talking about spending half of the cash we generate this year on one project,” Crosby said.
The board agreed to table their decision on the bid until they could meet with representatives of Groathouse Construction to discuss the cost and details of the project, but board member Garret Frescoln reminded the board that no matter the cost, time is of the essence for making the needed repair.
“It’s only going to get wetter these next couple months,” Frescoln said.
It’s not a story only isolated to the roof project. Connell said hospitals statewide are seeing similar situations across the board.  
“Whatever we thought we could get projects for, it’s not the reality at this point,” Connell said. “Costs are not comparable to what they were even two years ago.”
Case in point, the lab repair project. NBHH obtained $175,000 to renovate and update their lab from the State Loan and Investment Board, most consequentially aiming at expanding the lab and allowing more space and storage within the unit.
But every bid received so far has significantly outpaced that cost.
“We have bid out this project multiple times and not had success getting reasonable pricing relative to our expectations,” Connell said.
The district is taking a more creative approach with the lab project, though. Connell said the district has received word that another project in the state saw SLIB funds contributed toward it increase by 25 percent in order to meet rising costs.
Connell said the hospital is prepared to press its luck and try for the same increase.
“We’ve decided to put this out to bid one last time and get an up-to-date price that we can take to the SLIB board and show them what the costs are,” Connell said. “We’ve beat this to a pulp, so hopefully we can get some increased funding from the SLIB board and get this past the finish line.”
Other news
Connell said plans are continuing to make an MRI service available on hospital grounds. The hospital plans to contract with Monida, which will rent an MRI device, along with the personnel to operate it, to the hospital. Connell said the company is working on making staffing available in the area, allowing the project to move forward. Connell said the hospital was presented with two options by the company, either the rental option or a co-ownership option.
According to Connell the hospital is not prepared to move forward with the co-ownership option at this time, but stands ready to re-evaluate the option at a later date. Projections shared in 2022 said that the hospital will gain an increased revenue of up to $65,000 a year from having a n MRI device.
Connell also shared that the hospital clinic is continuing to strive toward offering same-day and walk-in care. Connell said the district has been working to expand the availability of its clinic providers as the clinic works toward the change, stating that an agreement with Dr. Michael Asay has been reached to provide coverage for the clinic on a regular basis. Connell further stated that the hospital aims to have the same-day clinic  service launched by January 1 of next year.