CCMSD applies for reimbursement funding

Conceding that it simply won’t be possible to secure CARES Act funding through the State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB) for a new hospital or a remodel of the current building, the board of trustees has authorized an application that would instead see Crook County Medical Services District (CCMSD) reimbursed for some of its pandemic-related expenses.

Due to the unprecedented situation created by COVID-19 and the end-of-year deadline for spending the money, the state was at first distributing CARES Act while simultaneously working to figure out exactly how it could be allocated under federal rules.

At first, it seemed it may have been possible to use the funding to build a new hospital. Later, the board wondered if it might fit with the rules to request funding for a remodel to better equip the hospital to handle a breakout of an infectious disease.

However, said Board Attorney Kara Ellsbury last week, the guidance has now made it clear that neither of these things are possible – but the district can still apply for its share of the funding.

“The money has to be towards necessary expenses due to the current COVID-19, which SLIB is interpreting as not necessarily extending into next year…it is absolutely not to prepare for future pandemics or other things,” she says.

Any funding requested also needs to be unaccounted for in the most recent budget, she said, and the expenses have to be incurred by the end of December. Capital construction is not eligible.

“The guidance is very, very specific,” she said.

Ellsbury expressed that she is now confident that the district cannot apply for funding for a new hospital as it is capital construction, and cannot apply for funding for a remodel because it would be impossible to complete the work before the December deadline.

Ellsbury suggested it may even be problematic to apply for a structural study that could guide the district in future remodeling efforts.

“It would, again, have to be done before year’s end,” she said.

However, said Ellsbury, in her conversations with the Attorney General’s Office, she has been able to ascertain that there are specific amounts allocated to Wyoming’s districts, towns and other entities. For CCMSD, this total is around $830,000.

Applications are being accepted for reimbursements, she told the board, including for such things as allowable payroll costs or personal protective equipment (PPE).

The district bought PPE to handle the pandemic all the way back in March and April, Ellsbury said, and could now send in an application to be reimbursed for it. This, she said, could help the district to maximize on its $830,000 allocation.

Interim CEO Micki Lyons agreed with Ellsbury’s summary, having worked on the issue independently and come to the same conclusion. Lyons commented that she sat through an eight-hour SLIB meeting and watched as applications for construction projects were turned down because the board felt they couldn’t be completed in time.

CCMSD’s application for an ambulance having already been approved – and the process of obtaining that ambulance now in progress – Lyon’s added that the district has already had its request for a second or third ambulance turned down. There would therefore be no point considering an application for another ambulance, she said.

From this, Lyons concluded that there is little chance SLIB would approve a remodel at this late stage of the year. She, too, recommended applying for payroll reimbursements and PPE.

The board moved to grant approval for Lyons to prepare a list of specific items for reimbursement and submit them to SLIB within the deadline for consideration at its November 5 meeting.