Health board votes to proceed on renovation of PHC building in Cape Girardeau

Cape Girardeau County's Public Health Center Board of Trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward with a project reconfiguring PHC's lobby and renovating office space in the center's headquarters at 1121 Linden St. in south Cape Girardeau.

PHC's main building, also referred to as "Building A," was originally constructed in 1989.

Jackson architect Amee Boettcher gave an extensive presentation to the five-member trustees panel but cautioned PHC members from depending on a fixed price tag for the work at this early stage given the volatility of material costs.

"With current construction, we can't count on a price from one hour to the next," Boettcher said.

"Even before COVID, we realized our front lobby area could provide more confidentiality," said PHC director Jane Wernsman, adding a re-imagining of the space could enable greater social distancing, in case an emergency such as COVID-19 arises again.

Wernsman added the project's bid process should begin this summer with an eye toward completing the project, if all goes well, by April.

"We were in the preliminary stage of this (renovation plan) pre-COVID (and) I feel very comfortable with this," said PHC chairman John Freeze, with board vice chairwoman Georganne Syler adding "funding was lined up" before the pandemic.

Autumn Bivins-Grim, PHC assistant director, reported COVID cases in the county "have leveled off," while noting a slight but not unexpected increase in cases of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, typically caused by tick bites.

Board members discussed adding written or emailed comments as attachments to monthly board minutes, "in the event someone asked to see (those comments) later," said the newest addition to the panel, William Lewis, who was elected in April.

In the public comment section of the meeting, people spoke about baby formula media coverage and the monkeypox virus.

One commenter expressed a desire to see PHC's medical director, Dr. John J. Russell, at future monthly meetings.