QUINCY — A general contractor for the new Quincy Valley Medical Center is scheduled to be hired by the end of January, with the goal of starting construction in the summer of 2023. Hospital district commissioners authorized the sale of $46 million in construction bonds at the regular meeting Monday.

“That is a big deal,” said commissioner Anthony Gonzalez.

The vote to authorize the bond sale was 4-0; commissioner Sherri Kooy was absent.

“That is a huge deal,” commissioner Michelle Talley said in agreement with Gonzalez.

Joe Kunkel, the consultant working with QVMC officials on the new hospital, said the project is still following the projected timeline.

“We’re still targeting the end of next summer to be coming out of the ground,” Kunkel said.

Hospital district voters approved a construction bond for up to $55 million in August. Jim Nelson, senior vice president of D.A. Davidson, working with district officials on the project financing, said the bonds will be evaluated by agencies that rate those kinds of projects in mid-January. That rating will determine the amount of interest the district will pay, Nelson said.

He estimated the bonds would be sold in early February, with the district receiving the money by the end of February.

The bond resolution approved by voters provides for a 30-year payback period. Nelson said the current projection is that the bonds would be paid back in about 25 years.

Kunkel said the request for proposals from construction firms for the project was advertised last week. Proposals will be accepted through Jan. 12, he said.

“We had a non-mandatory site walk (Monday) for contractors who may be interested in understanding the site a little bit better before they issue their proposal,” Kunkel said. “We had 10 different contractors, which is phenomenal.”

The hospital’s building and grounds committee will review the contractor applications, narrow them down and go through a selection process, he said.

“We will select our general contractor by the end of January,” he said.

Kunkel said the project architects from NAC/Trinity, Spokane, have been meeting with hospital personnel and department heads to talk about the design and how the different departments will work together. Those meetings will continue in mid-January, he said.

“We will nail down our site layout and our preferred layout adjacencies - where’s the ER in relation to inpatient in relation to (diagnostic) imaging, those kinds of things,” Kunkel said.

Among the decisions to come is whether the new hospital should be one or two stories, and where the new building will be situated on the site.

Part of the design process is building full-scale cardboard mockups of proposed layouts for some of the rooms, so QVMC staff - and eventually district patrons - can experience for themselves how the rooms would function.

“Traditionally, most everybody looks back and says that was kind of a critical piece,” he said. “To be able to actually see and experience it in 3D really helps folks who don’t do design projects every day. It’s hard to get a feel for it if you’re just looking at a two-dimensional plan.”

Commissioners may take a look at the mockups at the January board meeting. Chief Executive Officer Glenda Bishop said it was a valuable experience.

“It’s very cool, I can tell you. It’s not like anything I imagined,” she said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at [email protected].