SWMC: group key to hospital bond's passing

The election results for the Southwest Medical Center's $17 million general obligation bond became official Friday morning by the Seward County Commission.

The county election office staff brought before the commission 32 provisional ballots for consideration. Eleven votes were deemed unaccepted because of no signature or because the ballot was casted by an unregistered voter.

The election abstract was released with 1,135 votes in favor of the $17 million hospital renovations and additions and 255 votes against.

SWMC public relations director Nancy Kletecka reported the hospital spent $10,720.50 between August and March regarding the project. The funds went towards advertisements in: The Southwest Times, KSCB, KSMM, The High Plains Daily Leader, Mitchell Theaters and The Liberal Light.

SWMC President Norm Lambert credits the bonds passing to two factors: community need and support from The Citizens for Hospital Improvement group.

"We had large support from The Citizens for Hospital Improvement,” said Lambert. “They spent a lot of time getting information out to our community. I've heard a lot of comments from people who said they appreciated being able to read about the issue broken down into smaller points in the newspapers. I think that helped a lot. Of course, it always helps that we had a good project.”

The Citizens for Hospital Improvement was a group formed by local community members out of concern for the bond not passing. The group placed heavy emphasis in getting information out to the community. A campaign was created for the proposed hospital project. The campaign addressed the need, what it would bring to the community and informed the community no taxpayer dollars would pay for the project.

"The atmosphere of economic hard times and the two failures of the school board votes combined to make it a hard timeto go for a bond issue,” said committee member Paul Hoag. “We have to have a hospital, so we had to campaign hard on the necessity for hospital improvements.”

The campaign conducted dozens of presentations to community groups, service organizations, the Senior Citizens Center and a public meeting at the Depot to address the project and answer community questions.

The committee raised between $3,000 and $4,000, estimates Hoag. Funds were raised through contributions made by local community members.
In addition, the committee placed radio ads and newspaper ads. The ads listed the voting date of March 2 and early voting information. County records show 538 votes where casted before election day through early voting at the county building or through mail ballots.

The SWMC bond passed without difficulty unlike the last two special elections.

In October, voters had the opportunity to determine the fate of a proposed USD 480 capital outlay resolution that could have levied a maximum of eight mills over the next five years. The funds were to finance school building repairs. The bond failed at 52 percent against.

Months earlier, USD 480 approached voters with a $61 million general obligation bond to make improvements to all schools and the athletic facilities at Liberal High School. The bond failed at 59 percent against.

Tuesday's SWMC hospital bond election was not the only hospital bond for Western Kansas voters. Eighty miles northwest of SWMC, Stanton County held a vote for a $12.7 million general obligation bond to finance renovations to its hospital in Johnson, Kan.

Election results were so close the bond passed by 45 votes in Stanton County. Official results list 257 in favor and 212 against the proposed project to update the infrastructure of the hospital and renovations to create new patient exam rooms. The hospital has not been updated since 1969.

Stanton County hospital administrator Shae Veach said the close vote is reflective of the economic times the nation faces. He understands voters' concerns to a raise in taxes while budget cuts are being made at the federal, state and local school level.

"We asked for $12.7 million, not a small amount,” said Veach. “That number is based on building costs at an all time low and bond financing is at the lowest level in 23-years. From a building standpoint, it just makes sense. The vote outcome was definitely because of the uncertainties of where we are in the economy.”

Stanton County staff held four town hall meetings in February to familiarize county voters with the project. Veach said the meetings averaged 60-to-70 people in attendance.

For full story please see Sunday's Times

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