PERRY COUNTY STUDIES BIDS ON NEW HEALTH BUILDING

PERRYVILLE -- The Perry County Commission expects to decide by Thursday who will build the county's Health-Mental Health Building.

Commissioners opened bids Thursday but decided to explore all options before making a decision, said County Clerk Randy Taylor. The bids included a main plan and seven alternates.

Perry County's health and mental health departments currently rent office space in a strip mall, Perry Plaza, and have outgrown the space, said Judy Laurentius, administrator of the Perry County Health Department.

Nurses who now are doubled up would have their own offices, she said, while the clinic could expand from two to four clinic rooms.

The Perryville Community Counseling Center plans to double its space when it moves into the facility. Currently a case manager has to leave her office so a psychiatrist can meet with patients, said Doris Sutterer, the center's director.

The center now houses a day treatment center in one room. Patients with chronic mental illnesses come Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The new center will have an activity room, a quiet room and a kitchen for the treatment center. That way different patients can do different kinds of activities at the same time.

"Now they're all in the same room and they all have to be doing the same thing or distracting each other," Sutterer said.

The county plans to the build the clinics on a one-acre lot it owns on Spring Street behind the Perry County Administration Building. Bids on the main proposal ranged from $1,245,528 from Zoellner Construction Co. of Perryville to $1,432,000 from Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson.

The Perry County Mental Health Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Counseling Center to discuss the bids.

The two departments have about $750,000 set aside for the building from their tax revenues. They plan to make up the rest by borrowing from local banks and paying them back from anticipated revenue, Taylor said.

The other bids: Kiefner Brothers Construction Co. of Cape Girardeau, $1,279,000; Herzog Construction Co. of Ste. Genevieve, $1,287,000; and Donze Construction Co. of Ste. Genevieve, $1,313,595.