City Council Approves Hospital Purchasing Portion Of Hoyt Park

Over the next few years, the community will see continued changes at Hoyt Park. In addition to the swimming pool, which is currently in the demolition phase, residents will see the transition of part of the park into a parking lot for Fraces Mahon Deaconess Hospital (FMDH).

During the Glasgow City Council’s regular meeting on March 18, the Council, with council member Stan Ozark abstaining, voted to accept the recommendation from the hospital review committee to allow FMDH to purchase a portion of Hoyt Park for parking expansion purposes. Prior to fully moving forward however, the public has the opportunity to attend and speak at a public hearing, which will be held on Monday, April 15, during the Council’s regularly scheduled meeting, 5 p.m., in the Council Chambers. Residents of the city can also submit letters of support or opposition for this location to the Glasgow City Clerk’s Office, 319 3rd Street South, Glasgow, MT 59230. Letters for the council’s review should be received by Wednesday April 10, at 12 p.m. to be included in the council packet for the Monday, April 15, regular council meeting.

The proposal was first presented to the Glasgow City Council in October when FMDH’s Chief Executive Officer Nick Dirkes explained to the Council the need for the facility to have additional property, stating at the time, “Due to constraints around our existing building from the levy, we are concerned that we could outgrow our existing property in the near future. We have made significant investments into our campus and it would be unfortunate if we had to abandon this space to grow and expand our services. To that end, FMDH intends to hold the land until we deem it necessary to add on to our existing building. At that time, we could use this land to construct a parking lot. Until then, we would lease the land back to the City for a nominal fee.”

An updated proposal was presented by Dirkes at the March 18 meeting, where he explained the hospital is proposing a price of $550,000 and the land would transition into a parking lot. He made sure to stress that the parking lot would not only be utilized by FMDH but an agreement would be made between the City and the facility in order for the public to utilize the parking lot as well when using the new pool.

He also stated the city park would still be accessible to the public until construction begins, which is expected to be in three to five years, however it is dependent on the next legislative session. Current drawings have been drafted up on how everything would look, however those drawings are just drafts as the actual design phase hasn’t begun yet. No matter what the final design will look like, the Melissa Greenhagen memorial will stay where it is.

Since Dirkes first made his proposal to the Council in October, legal guidance on both sides have been provided to find out the history of Hoyt Park and how to properly move forward. During the March 18 meeting, City Attorney Pekovitch said that the city can sell a portion of the park to the hospital, they have done it in the past.

The Glasgow City Council meets in regular session the first and third Mondays of each month, 5 p.m., in the Council Chambers which is located in the Glasgow Civic Center. Agendas are posted online at http://www.cityofglasgowmt.com and when made available are available at the Glasgow Courier’s Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/glasgowcourier.