Plans for a $2.1 million COVID-19 Emergency Response Building were revealed Tuesday at the Bradley County Quorum Court meeting.
Architects Blakeley C. Dunn and Matthew Roberts of CADM Architecture Inc. of El Dorado explained the plans.
County Judge Klay McKinney said the county received funding for the building through the American Rescue Plan Act. First Assembly of God gave the county 2.5 acres of land next to Grace Cowboy Church on U.S. 63.
Top photo: Architects Matthew Roberts, left, and Blakeley Dunn explained plans for a COVID-19 Emergency Response Building to Bradley County Quorum Court justices Tuesday. Photo by Tim Kessler.
The building will be 4,000 square feet. It will contain a drive-through COVID testing and vaccination facility, plus it will have bathrooms, showers and a stand-alone generator which would allow it to also be used as an emergency shelter. McKinney said it will have a banquet hall which could seat 300 people. Other uses include a command center during emergencies and an area for voting booths. It will have a fully equipped kitchen and 80 parking spaces.
Dunn said the county would do some of the preparation work to lower the overall cost. He estimated it will take 8-10 weeks to get specifications ready to bid out by mid-May. Construction could start in June and it will take about 10 months to one year to complete, depending upon availability of materials.
“This is a project for all the county,” McKinney said.
In other action:
- Bradley County Medical Center CEO Leslie Huitt said $60 million in ARPA funds was set aside for hospitals but it didn’t appear that the local facility qualified for those funds. However, as part of the process, Arkansas Department of Health asked for data from BCMC and that led to Alvarez and Associates getting ready to meet at the hospital to conduct an operational assessment.
Huitt also addressed a 2021 state audit report that found a supplemental code that allowed the county to pay a third-party vendor directly on the hospital’s behalf. McKinney said the problem had been corrected. A motion was approved to accept the audit report.
- In regard to Sheriff Herschel Tillman’s report, a discussion was held about prisoners’ upkeep. McKinney said those costs average about $30,000 per month with about 28 prisoners per month kept in jails in Dallas, Calhoun and Ouachita counties. Tillman noted that after a prisoner is found guilty on state charges, it might take up to two weeks to get that prisoner transferred to an Arkansas Department of Correction facility. During that time, the county is still responsible for housing costs for that prisoner.
“We’re going to have a serious discussion long-term on the jail situation,” McKinney said. A previous proposal to build the Southeast Arkansas Detention Facility housing prisoners from Bradley and Drew counties, plus state prisoners, was deemed “economically unfeasible” by LaSalle Corrections.
Income for January included $4,490, Municipal Court Virtual Justice Fund; $130, Circuit Court service fees; $590, Circuit Court fines; $60, Ordinance 291 bond fund. There were seven transports totaling 1,232 miles, 48 papers served, 12 tickets/citations issued, 24 inmates currently incarcerated and one inmate on an ankle monitor. The total paid for housing inmates in January was $22,246.
- McKinney said the last three wooden bridges in the county would be replaced by concrete ones as Southern States Construction got a bid for $49,500.
He said he met with Arkansas Department of Emergency Management about county damages from the ice storm.
A $17,000 solid waste grant was approved and the county will build an equipment storage shed with the funds.
We have a falling down cultural center, a hospital that needs a total redo, buildings falling down all Downtown and city government wants to build an Emergency response building for COVID for 2+ million dollars? There is a vacant armory isn’t there? This is terrible, I’m sorry. So much more 2.1 million could be used on in Warren besides this.
not the city! Covid center is all county!
What a waste of money. So many other things Warren needs besides this useless building.
That’s right it’s not the city, because they are too busy planning the destruction of a small business, The Sandwich Shop, which has been in Warren 27 Years! That should cost a Tidy sum of several hundred thousand dollars, hmm I am no rocket scientist but why not help a Business Stay Put instead of Putting them out.