By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The next step in preparation for construction of a new Aurora Health Care facility in Burlington was scheduled to be discussed Wednesday night at the City of Burlington Common Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
The meeting was postponed a day due to Tuesday’s election.
Only three items were on the meeting agenda, with the awarding of a bid for the first phase of the project to Globe Contractors. The item was set to be voted on the same evening.
The amount of the contract is for $1.73 million. The bid includes the first phase of offsite work for the new complex, including extending sanitary sewer and water mains to the site on Spring Valley Road. There will also be road reconstruction.
Mayor Bob Miller wasn’t sure Tuesday when work would actually start.
“It’s hard to say,” he said. “We’ve got to get the bids out, and get the bids back. It’ll be late spring at the earliest.
“There’s plenty of time to get their lines in,” Miller added.
Globe Contractors was listed by the city as the lowest responsive bidder.
Aurora unveiled plans for the $75 million medical facility last September. The site, off Spring Valley Road and bordered by Highway 36, will include a 160,000-square-foot building housing the care center and professional offices for physicians and support staff.
The facility will feature cancer treatment services, an accredited breast care program, outpatient surgery, endoscopy, physical rehabilitation, imaging – including a woman’s imaging department for procedures such as mammograms – orthopedics and sports medicine, a pharmacy and lab services.
Site work has already begun and the facility is expected to open in 2016.
It’s very sad that Aurora doesn’t care enough about our community to have an OBGYN Wing. Caring for the sick and dying is important but a community that doesn’t do everything it can to attract the next generation will sadly find that it too is sick and dying.